Having kicked off 2022 with three wins, albeit one on penalties, a visit from Marseille would be a real test of Lens’ mettle.
Although too far off Paris Saint-Germain to provide any real title challenge, Marseille came into this game looking to solidify their Champions League place. Jorge Sampaoli made two changes to the team that drew with Lille, replacing Arkadiusz Milik and Pol Lirola with Luis Henrique and Valentin Rongier. Marseille set up in a 4-1-4-1 shape.
Franck Haise also made two changes to the side that beat Saint-Etienne. With Jean-Louis Leca now 36 years-old, Haise announced his intention for the Corsican and Wuilker Fariñez to share the goalkeeper spot as Lens prepare for the future, giving the Venezuelan the nod here. Florian Sotoca replaced Arnaud Kalimuendo in attack as Lens stuck with the 3-4-3 formation they have often used this season.
Marseille took control of the match quickly. They did this by pushing Gerson and Mattéo Guendouzi forward and therefore pushing Cheick Doucouré and Seko Fofana back towards their defenders. This opened up space for Dimitri Payet to drop into but also for Rongier to come inside into the centre, while Luan Peres would take up a position deep in the left inside channel too, with Jonathan Clauss rarely wanting to step out to meet him due to the wide positioning of Henrique. Lens’ forwards had started the match pressing, but with such a massive gap opening up between them and the midfield, they soon started to drop back instead, handing control over to Marseille.
Having forced Lens back, they now had to break them down though, which was a different matter entirely. They used fluid positioning to try to disrupt Lens, with Payet dropping deep or pulling out to the left, the midfielders pushing forward or dropping deep, and the wingers sometimes tucking inside although they mainly hugged the touchline. This meant Marseille kept hold of possession, passing it around Lens, but they rarely actually threatened them. It wasn’t unusual for Marseille to not have any players in central attacking positions as they drifted around to get on the ball, leaving no one to actually attack the box and score a goal.
With Marseille holding onto possession, Lens rarely got the opportunity to attack, and when they did it was usually them pumping a direct pass in behind Marseille’s high line. Marseille switched between pressing high with the wingers and Payet stepping up to the centre-backs, or pulling the wingers back in line with the midfield and making it difficult for Lens to play through them. Even when they dropped off a little, Marseille generally kept a fairly high line, so Lens aimed to simply attack the space in behind them, with Marseille relying on the pace of their centre-backs to recover.
Boubacar Kamara would also drop into the backline, adding another body, but allowing Marseille’s defence to play wider too, lessening the threat of Lens’ wide players.
Marseille did eventually take the lead though, through a penalty. Lens attempted to press Marseille as they played out, but with Gerson occupying Doucouré, Payet dropped deep to receive the ball, turned and sprayed a pass in behind Lens’ backline. Cengiz Ünder, popping up on the left, ran in behind and squared the ball to Guendouzi. Facundo Medina was racing back after him, but was unable to get ahead of him as Ünder pulled the ball back – there was minimal contact, but Medina was scraping down the back of Guendouzi’s legs as the ball came in and the referee pointed to the spot. With Marseille usually forcing Lens back, this was one of the few times they got the chance to run in behind them.
Having taken the lead, Marseille sat back more in a 5-4-1 shape, allowing Lens to have more of the ball. This allowed Lens to finally have some control over the game and Jonathan Gradit in particular made use of the space he was afforded to combine with those ahead of him and move the ball into attack.
This continued into the second half, with Medina pushing up into Marseille’s half too. The roles had reversed, with Lens now in control and Marseille sitting back to protect their lead.
Marseille made it more difficult for themselves to play out from the back in the second half by having Rongier tuck inside into the centre alongside Kamara, leaving only Ünder, too far forward in attack to easily receive the ball, on the right.
They still managed to double their lead though. Gradit was pulled out to substitute Cédric Bakambu to avoid him receiving the ball in space, with Lens’ midfielders pulled inside, however the new signing flicked the ball around Gradit to Guendouzi before sprinting into the space he had left, getting the ball back and firing past Fariñez from a tight angle – the goalkeeper not quite getting his feet right.
It was enough to seal the three points for Marseille.
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