Metz’s bid to avoid relegation is looking less and less likely by the week, whereas Lens are increasingly finding themselves trapped in mid-table purgatory – already well clear of relegation, but falling behind in the race for European football.
Frédéric Antonetti made four changes to the team that lost to fellow strugglers Saint-Etienne, replacing Jean-Armel Kana-Biyik, Ibrahim Amadou, Bobubacar Traoré and Opa Nguette with Jemerson, William Mikelbrencis, Kévin N’Doram and Pape Matar Sarr as Metz switched to a 5-4-1 shape.
Franck Haise made just one change to the side that lost at home to Stade Brestois, swapping out Jean-Louis Leca for Wuilker Fariñez in goal. Lens moved away from the 3-5-1-1 shape they have been using recently to a 3-5-2, with Florian Sotoca moving back into his more natural position in attack and Gaël Kakuta dropping back into midfield.
It was not a good game in part because Metz were very much playing in a 5-4-1 rather than a 3-4-3. They would push forward Farid Boulaya and Nicolas de Préville to join Louis Mafouta in attack then pump the ball long to them, but Lens would easily recover the ball and come forward.
Lens’ centre-backs were given space to push forward on the ball into Metz’s half as Mafouta would be left alone in attack, however, as Metz would quickly retreat back into a 5-4-1, there was never any space in actually useful areas for Lens due to Metz having ten men back. They might be able to pull a midfielder out to create a little space between the lines for someone, but with five defenders, Metz had someone spare to step out and plug the gap.
There was never much chance of Lens catching out Metz on the counter either, as the home side would keep the majority of their players back in defence. Both the centre midfielders and the wing-backs would hold their positions rather than pushing forward to join the attack, meaning the forwards had little support, but they were never too far from their defensive positions once they handed the ball back to Lens.
Lens would sit off a little in their 3-5-2 shape, with Arnaud Kalimuendo and Sotoca generally aiming to block passes into N’Doram and Sarr rather than press, so Metz’s outside centre-backs often had space ahead of them to push forward into, yet they were reluctant to take risks, preferring to instead turn around and play backwards whenever they came up against an opponent rather than play forward and risk getting caught out of position should they give the ball away.
That was essentially the pattern of the game over the 90 minutes: Metz would pump the ball long, barely threatening as they handed the ball back to Lens, but would then have so many men back Lens couldn’t break them down, meaning they would inevitably reclaim the ball back at some point and repeat the process.
In some ways, Antonetti’s approach is understandable – his team are bad and he needs to ensure they don’t lose – but it’s also extremely short-sighted. Metz desperately need wins: solitary points from draws aren’t enough to save them from relegation, as shown by the fact Metz have the most draws in the league and still sit 19th. It’s very good being hard to beat, but, if you are staring relegation in the face, at some point you have to actually bite down and push for goals yourself or you will go down.
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