“We are competitors and the motivation is thereassures the French central defender. With the staff, we want to take on one last challenge this season, namely to break the record for points obtained in the division. The ratio to exceed must be 2.2 or 2.3 points per game.”
The trip to the Olympic will necessarily be a little special for Maxence Maisonneuve since it is there that his adventure in Belgium began last season. “I came into contact with the Olympic through a friend of a friend who knew Mohamed Dahmane. In a few hours, I packed my things and went to Belgium. It was my first experience at abroad. I have a lot of respect for this club.”
When talking about his footballing future, Maxence prefers to talk about the present moment and the title. “In January, I said that I was focused on moving up to D1B and winning the title. Now that we've achieved that, let me just enjoy this coronation. The future, we'll talk about it later.”
Author of a full season with only two missed matches, once due to suspension and another due to a slight injury, Maxence Maisonneuve is enjoying being in Belgium. “Apart from the weather, things are going very well. Last weekend, I stayed at the stadium until 2 o'clock and it was nice to see the people happy. I meet the supporters regularly during matches and we sees that there is a lot of enthusiasm around the club.”
Constant questioning
In two seasons, the player from Istres says he has progressed for a very simple reason: the sequence of matches. “It's important to have a series of matches for confidence and automatisms. In France, I had the opportunity to play sometimes for the title, sometimes to maintain it and over these two seasons in Belgium, I each time played at the top of the table with a competitive group, just physically, it's a plus to play all the time, at the Olympic, I played 35 games out of 38 and here, I only missed two.
Maxence expected to see Lokeren play the leading roles, as well as teams like Ghent B. If the RAAL was able to make the difference, according to him, it was thanks to its consistency. “La Louvière finished fourth last season and the club gave itself the means to take a new step. We questioned ourselves all the time. That's how we remain efficient.”
Concerning the core, Sam Gueulette is suspended while Soumaré, who suffered a knee infiltration, is unavailable, as is Lahssaini.
The group: Vanhamel, Valkenaers, Ito, Benoit, Corneillie, Faye, Maisonneuve, Cenci, Dianessy, Pau, Bongiovanni, Gobitaka, Liongola, Maës, Kiankaulua, Kanouté, Vancamp and Calant.
