France Ligue 2: AC Ajaccio- Valenciennes

 

The visitors served us well by conceding three goals at home to Dijon on Monday, ahead of which I wrote ......
 

Valenciennes are without three defensive midfielders in Sekou Baradji, Eloge Enza-Yamissi and Marco Da Silva, plus left back Saliou Ciss, Moussa Niakhaté has been added to the squad for, I believe, the first time, he only turned 18 in March and can play at right back or in central defence. Ciss has missed 14 games over the last two seasons, just one clean sheet for VAFC through those, conceding an average of two goals per game, of course last year was a relegation season, so form was bad anyway, but his absence is a loss especially with the lack of protection in the holding role and they look vulnerable defensively given their paucity of options and might view attack as the best form of defence.

 

They now have to handle the always tough Monday- Friday turnaround and also make the long trip down to Corsica with an identical squad, so still hard hit defensively and seemingly firing blanks up front, by the way, young Moussa Niakhaté (see above) got about ten minutes of game time from the bench.
 

Hosts have had an extra 48 hours recovery time following a 1-1 draw at Clermont, where they played reasonably well, but it was not enough to stop coach Christian Bracconi losing his job and being replaced by assistant Thierry Debes on a temporary basis, the former ACA keeper is a popular figure at the club and will have the support of the players, who will doubtless be looking to impress both him and the new coach, who might even be appointed over the weekend. We spoke about the hosts ahead of that trip to Clermont ....

Since a cup win at Troyes, Ajaccio are without a win in six, taking just two points from three home games which included visits from poor travellers Niort and Chateauroux, goals have been very hard to come by and they have failed to score in six of their ten starts. Coach Christian Bracconi looked like a man on his way out in his pre match website interview and he and his team are done no favours today, by having three players suspended in right back Laurent Abergel, top scorer Nicolas Fauvergue and defensive midfielder Gary Coulibaly, usual starting right back Eric Marester and central defender Ronald Zubar are injured. No right back and the defensive spine hard hit, plus Fauvergue who has scored 3 of just 7 league goals ( no one else has more than one) is sidelined.
 

As you can see from my notes, Bracconi was already a "dead man walking" and I think they had a replacement in waiting and are only waiting a week to make the appointment to save face on all sides. Anyway, we often see an immediate improvement after a coach departs amd the hosts could not ask for a better opponent and they get a major boost with the return to action of Abergel, Fauvergue, Coulibaly ( see all above) from suspension and I favour them to edge this.