Valenciennes once again finished the Ligue 2 campaign in the lower mid-table portion of the division. They scored more goals than they did last season and conceded fewer, yet the campaign ended with a taste of dissatisfaction in the mouths of the fans as they felt their players were capable of achieving more.
Certainly, there was never a prospect of a playoff challenge, but finishing in the top 10 was not beyond them after a promising spring in which they were scoring freely and playing well.
Although they won the opening two matches of the season, they struggled thereafter for three months and head coach Reginald Ray was coming under pressure. Things improved but regressed by the end of the campaign.
The midfield was the impressive sector of this Valenciennes side, with Tony Mauricio outstanding over the course of the entire campaign. Their other important performers, such as Sebastien Roudet and Gaetan Robail, missed key chunks of the season. Robail’s absence at the beginning of the campaign was one of the seasons they began so slowly; by the end of the season he had chalked up double figures in goals and a healthy number of assists. Florian Raspentino was their most effective player at centre forward, despite not being natural in that position. He finished up with 11 goals. Beyond him, no-one really impressed, including Nathael Julan, who arrived in January on loan from Guingamp with high hopes of getting his confidence back after injury.
If Valenciennes felt undermined going forwards due to a lack of centre forward, they certainly were at the back, where they were largely without quality and suffered because of Elhadj Dabo’s long-term injury and a lack of confidence in Sikou Niakate. Frederic Bong’s arrival in January should have solved that issue, but he spent much of the second half of the season injured. Saliou Ciss, the other January arrival, once again proved himself more effective going forward than defending.
Goalkeeper Damien Perquis actually had a very fine season, despite conceding around 1.5 goals per game.
Uncertainty surrounds the future ownership of the club, which could well be determinant in terms of how they perform next term. With Robail and Roudet set to leave, alarm bells should be ringing.
