Edmonton remains wary of struggling Valour FC
FC Edmonton head coach Jeff Paulus knows better than to underestimate Valour FC despite their recent struggles in the Canadian Premier League.
Valour FC comes to face FC Edmonton on Wednesday
(7 p.m.) at Clarke Field on a sixgame losing skid, having yet to open its Fall Season campaign.
Valour FC has not played a CPL game since losing its Spring Season finale 3-1 at home to York9 on Canada Day.
“They’ve gone through a rough spell, but it’s not because they’ve played bad football,” Paulus said. “They have some very good attacking players; they’re obviously struggling with injuries, so you’re bringing in new players into the lineup all the time and unlike us who’ve been able to keep the same lineup, they’ve had to rotate theirs quite a bit because of some of the injury issues and it’s just hard to find a rhythm when you do that.”
Valour FC finished last in the Spring Season standings with a 3-7-0 record. They are expected to be without midfielder Michael Petrasso and forward Ali Musse, who are both recovering from injuries. They will also be missing midfielder Louis Belandgoyette, who is suspended due to yellow-card accumulation.
“They are definitely better than their recent results,” Paulus said. “They’re a better side than that for sure, so it’s a team that we have to make sure we get a lot of players behind the ball, that we stay compact because they have players that can break you down one-versus-one.
“They have players that are very good at finding those little spaces, (Dylan) Carreiro and (Marco) Bustos in particular, are very good at getting into those little channels and gaps and getting the ball and running at you. So we have to make sure we don’t give them space to play, we have to make sure we match their runs.”
FC Edmonton handed Valour FC its first loss of the season back in early May and the teams met again a month later when the Winnipeg-based club pulled out a 1-0 victory at Clarke Field. It was Valour FC’S last win. They lost the final four games of the Spring Season and two Canadian Championship games to the HFX Wanderers.
“They’re a good side,” Paulus said. “They’ve just signed a Spanish player and it’s my understanding he might play against us.”
Jose Galan, 33, is a well-travelled player who along with playing in Spain has also been to Thailand, Indonesia, Austria, Jordan, Romania, Cyprus, Finland, Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia.
“You expect a player like that with his experience and age to technically be very, very good and to have good vision,” Paulus said. “We have to be aware of that and for us to make sure we don’t let him dictate the game and not give him time to make those decisions and not let him get the ball forward.”
Valour FC also signed Italian forward Michele Paolucci on Tuesday.
“We have to respect them,” Paulus said. “Every single team in this league has to be respected when you play them. Even though at the moment you’re seeing Calgary (Cavalry FC) well on top, there have been a lot of these games against every team that have been one-goal games.
“This league is that tight that if you take anyone for granted, you’re going to get beat.”
FC Edmonton had a fourgame win streak end Sunday in Ontario, losing 2-1 to York9. FC Edmonton finished third in the Spring standings at 4-4-2.
“I’m happy at the moment,
I’m delighted with the players,” Paulus said. “They’ve come in through the season and gone through training camp expecting to play one way and we tried that at the beginning and we’ve had a complete change of thought.
“We’re now playing a different system, we’re a bit more structured defensively and we’re definitely making sure we have our defensive lines very compact and we’ve also been working on different ways we want to attack the goal and the players have bought into it.”
FC Edmonton lost five of six games, including a Canadian Championship encounter against York9, before finishing the Spring Season with three wins. They opened the 18-game Fall Season with a 2-1 win against Forge FC of Hamilton before losing to York9 on Sunday.
“I thought it was a good performance against York,” Paulus said. “We started off OK and then we had some good looks and we were a bit unpolished in front of goal and we should have scored with the first two or three chances that we had for sure. I thought we did a good job of limiting their opportunities.”