After defeating the reigning champions on Thursday, Lens travelled to face a more familiar foe: Lorient, who were promoted from Ligue 2 alongside them last year.
Sticking to their 3-4-1-2 formation, Franck Haise returned Ismaël Boura, Florian Sotoca and Yannick Cahuzac to the first eleven, while Corentin Jean made his first start of the season and Jonathan Clauss his debut in a Lens shirt.
Having had longer to prepare, Christophe Pélissier made just two changes to the team that lost to Saint-Etienne, bringing in Stéphane Diarra and Sylvain Marveaux in place of Enzo Le Fée and Laurent Abergel, and keeping to their 4-3-3 shape.
Lorient would push Yoane Wissa and Diarra up alongside Adrian Grbic to press Lens’ centre-backs three-against-three, however this would leave Lens’ wing-backs free on the flanks.
Lens could easily pass out to Boura and Clauss or switch play with cross-field passes and have them advance down the flanks. When the wing-backs picked up the ball, Quentin Boisgard and Marveaux would move out to close them down, but they would simply tap the ball back inside to Cheick Doucouré or Cahuzac. With a midfield line of four against Lorient’s three, Lens could easily stretch the opposition and find a free man.
The attackers were perfect to exploit this too: Gaël Kakuta would take up positions to receive the ball between the lines and even when he had someone close to him he could protect it well and spin, while Jean and Sotoca were happy dropping off to receive the ball to feet or pulling wide.
If Lorient pulled back Wissa and Diarra into midfield, Jonathan Gradit and Facundo Medina simply had time to push forward on the ball and pick out passes themselves.
While Lens’ attacks seemed like they could start from anywhere, Lorient really didn’t offer much. They mainly looked to double up on the flanks by getting the full-backs to push forward, particularly Houboulang Mendes on the right. They would bait the Lens wing-backs far out by having the full-backs position themselves quite deep, then try to attack the space behind them, however Medina and Gradit were comfortable covering out wide and Lens’ back five meant they were never really left stretched.
An exception was the opening goal. Gradit was pulled forward and missed his challenge, leaving Loïc Badé and Medina outnumbered in defence.
The scoreline soon began to reflect play though. Lens first won a penalty as Kakuta and Sotoca combined between the lines to play in Jean, then took the lead from a free-kick thanks to a spectacular overhead kick by Medina. They sealed their win in the second half with the goal that best-reflected their attacking play: Doucouré receiving the ball on the left flank behind Lorient’s press, just as the wing-backs had been doing, advancing freely down the wing and passing it on to Sotoca pulling out to the touchline to play in substitute Ignatius Ganago.
Lorient pulled one back late on in injury time as Badé gave away a penalty and was sent off, but Lens were convincing winners.
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