It was a real Jekyll and Hyde season for Valenciennes. They were situated just one point off 3rd place after 15 games and at the halfway stage of the campaign they were in a very competitive 6th position on 29 points. However, they managed to obtain only 19 more points during the second half of the season, and were it not for a decent last few games, would have finished only just above the relegation zone. VA were tipped by most people to have an average midtable campaign, with the possibility of being sucked into trouble should things start to go pear-shaped. They will be annoyed that a season which started with so much promise fell flat on its back. Nevertheless, they would have signed up for an 11th place finish back in August 2012.
They started well winning two of their first three games, before a slight blip. One of their best performances and results of the season was a superb 4-1 victory at home to Marseille, who at that stage still had a 100% record. The northern outfit had a great autumn and won four out of six games during the October/November period. They were maintaining a position in the upper reaches of the table and playing some pretty decent football, especially at home. However, their bubble was to burst just before the winter break, a thrashing at home to Paris Saint-Germain perhaps the catalyst for their demise.
The 0-4 shellacking at the hands of the champions was arguably Valenciennes’ key game of the season. They were absolutely battered and put to the sword by Carlo Ancelotti’s men. There’s no doubt it dealt the team a severe psychological blow which was difficult to recover from. They were simply far too adventurous and left themselves really open against the PSG counterattacking force. In many ways, this defeat gave other teams a blueprint of how to play against them.
It certainly started a downward spiral of results and they lost six of their next nine fixtures. Only victories against poor outfits Brest and Evian stopped them completely catapulting down the table. The winter break did them few favours and shockingly they won just one match between January and late April. It is difficult to explain why their form turned for the worse. Injuries to Gael Danic and Anthony Le Tallec didn’t help their cause, but overall the squad stayed fairly fit. Valenciennes did at least end the season well, only losing one of their last seven games. This enabled them to finish in 11th place, but they must surely have a sense of regret of what ‘might have been’ following their excellent 1st half of the campaign.
The standout performer for VA this season was Gael Danic. The left winger was in superb form before the winter break and overall he weighed in with 11 assists and 5 goals. Sadly, an injury against PSG put him out of action for about 2 months and he didn’t really manage to hit top form again when he returned. But it was still a very strong campaign and the standard of his crosses and creative vision was excellent at times. Another mention must go to centre back Nicolas Isimat Mirin who was regularly a rock at the heart of the defence, and it would be a surprise if les Rouges et Blanc manage to keep him this summer. Gregory Pujol topped their goalscoring charts scoring 8 times, but as usual he had injury problems which plagued his campaign.
Daniel Sanchez will need to freshen up his squad a bit this summer. He can’t afford his side to play like they did in the second half of this season again otherwise they will be relegation candidates. There were certainly positives for them to take away from this campaign, but also negatives. They need to stay consistent throughout the whole season if they are to break into the top ten.
FINAL POSITION: 11th
Review by @meatmansoccer