Ten years after last managing a team, the disgraced Raymond Domenech returned to French football in charge of Nantes. He hasn’t exactly hit the ground running though, getting two draws as Nantes hover above the relegation zone.
Domenech kept with the same team that drew against Montpellier, setting up in a 4-4-2 formation.
Lens haven’t returned from the winter break in top form either though, having lost both of their games. Franck Haise made four changes to the team that lost in the fog to Strasbourg, Steven Fortes replacing the injured Loïc Badé in defence, Jonathan Clauss and Ismaël Boura coming in for Clément Michelin and Issiaga Sylla at wing-back, and Ignatius Ganago taking Arnaud Kalimuendo’s spot in attack. Instead of their usual 3-4-1-2 formation, Lens set up in a 3-5-2 shape, with Gaël Kakuta moved back into midfield – something only usually used when they are defending a lead.
This set-up matched up really well against Nantes. Florian Sotoca and Ganago could pick up the centre-backs, while Seko Fofana and Kakuta could get tight to the two central midfielders, forcing Nantes into playing wide. From there, Lens’ wing-backs could push up to close down the full-backs as the outside centre-backs moved wide to pick up the wingers behind them.
In possession, Yannick Cahuzac would stay in front of the defence, meaning the Nantes forwards couldn’t cover the midfield without leaving space for the outside centre-backs – particularly Jonathan Gradit – to push forward. Kakuta and Fofana also occupied the central midfielders, leaving space for Sotoca and Ganago to drop off into behind them. This saw Lens play through the centre more than usual, with the wing-backs used to stretch the play when the opportunity arose rather than as the be-all and end-all of Lens’ attacking.
This came together nicely half an hour in as the defensive quartet played around the Nantes’ forwards and switched the play to Clauss wide right. Sotoca made a run in behind the full-back in support, receiving a first-time pass, then cut the ball back as Clauss made a run inside, only to be felled by Fabio to win a penalty.
Kakuta then proceeded to sky the penalty over the bar. He was having a rare off-day, misplacing several of his passes prior to this.
Nantes then proceeded to go down the other end and win a penalty of their own. After racing back to defend, Clauss was robbed of the ball on the right flank by Fabio. He played in Randal Kolo Muani ahead of him, who was clattered by Gradit as he cut the ball back just inside the box. There was a touch of déja vu about this, as Gradit had done the exact same thing to the exact same player in November to gift Nantes a late penalty, throwing away two points. Unlike Kakuta, Imran Louza tucked his penalty away.
After the goal, Kakuta stayed forward more rather than tracking back. Especially in the second half, it looked like Lens had reverted back to their usual 3-4-1-2. Fofana would still push forward, but it did make sense for him to play alongside Cahuzac as Nantes had been able to play long balls forward in the first half and the Corsican was too short to compete in the air. In possession, Cahuzac could still stay ahead of the defenders to provide a pass into midfield, Fofana could still push forward, and Kakuta could position himself in the gap behind the midfielders.
With the team playing well, Haise didn’t change much in search of a goal. He freshened up the frontline by bringing on Simon Banza and Kalimuendo, then, with 12 minutes remaining, he brought on Tony Mauricio in midfield in place of defender Gradit, changing to a 4-3-1-2.
A minute later, Lens sprung forward after winning a header in midfield and won a corner. At the resulting corner, Kakuta was left completely free – this wasn’t him losing his marker, he simply didn’t have one – so Mauricio picked him out. He had the space to take two touches to control the ball, then slipped it past Alban Lafont, making up for his earlier missed penalty.
Although the result could have been better, it was an impressive performance by Lens, addressing many of the issues we identified in our analysis of them.
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