Lens remain winless since the international break but their draw with Paris Saint-Germain, where only an injury time equaliser rescued a point for the Parisians, suggested their form had picked up again.
Franck Haise made three changes to the eleven that started against PSG: in came Florian Sotoca, Yannick Cahuzac and Massadio Haïadara, with Przemyslaw Frankowski swapping from left to right, out went the injured Gaël Kakuta and the suspended Cheick Doucouré and Jonathan Clauss. Lens set up in a 3-4-1-2 formation.
Former Lens coach Antoine Kombouaré took over at Nantes, his first professional club from his playing days, in February, rescuing them from relegation. He made four changes to the side that beat Lorient, bringing in Fabio, Nicolas Pallois, Wylan Cyprien and Willem Geubbels for Dennis Appiah, Samuel Moutoussamy, Moses Simon and Kalifa Coulibaly. They lined up in a 3-4-3 shape.
Although it worked on paper, Nantes’ shape didn’t quite line up with Lens’ on the pitch. Their wingers were caught between pressing Lens’ back three and staying back to help out the midfield, not quite managing to do either. Seko Fofana and Cahuzac would take it in turns pulling wide and joining the attack – Fofana to the left, Cahuzac to the right – while the other held their position at the base of the midfield. With the midfielder joining David Costa and Sotoca between the lines, Lens were able to outnumber Pedro Chirivella and Cyprien in this area when Nantes’ wingers pushed up to pressure the backline, but if they didn’t step up to press then Lens’ centre-backs were left with time and space on the ball.
This issue was on display as Lens took the lead. Ludovic Blas was drawn forward as Nantes pressured the Lens backline, leaving space behind him for Fofana. Facundo Medina passed into Fofana, who powered forward into the open space and passed wide to Haïdara. The wing-back’s cross was punched away but fell to Costa, left untracked by Chirivella, to volley home.
Lens then doubled their lead on the counter minutes later. Blas found himself surrounded and lost the ball to Kevin Danso, who picked out a pass into Costa behind Nantes’ midfield. Costa dribbled forward then slipped a pass through to Arnaud Kalimuendo, who timed his run perfectly to beat Nantes’ defensive line, before rounding Alban Lafont to finish.
At 2-0, the two sides switched formations. Lens made a slight adjustment, changing to a 3-4-3 formation, with Costa moving left and Sotoca right. They would often take up these positions anyway but this just gave the midfield greater defensive width to protect their lead.
Nantes brought Blas inside to make a 3-4-1-2. He would tuck inside into this position when Nantes had the ball anyway, so the only practical difference was that it meant Blas was closer to his defensive position when Nantes lost the ball, simplifying his transition so he no longer had to run out to the right when possession was given away.
Needing to get back into the game, Nantes pressed higher up the pitch. The front three pushed up high onto the Lens back three, while a midfielder would move up behind them in support to deal with the deepest Lens midfielder, and the centre-backs would step up into midfield if necessary to cover. It was risky, but Nantes needed to take risks if they were going to get anything from the game. With this pressure, they were often able to force Lens into kicking long.
Early in the second half, Nantes pulled a goal back. Lens sat deep and allowed Nantes to have the ball in front of them, but it backfired, with Chirivella having the time on the ball to pick out a pass into the forwards, who played one touch passes to get into a shooting position. Blas shot, but the ball deflected off of Randal Kolo Muani, sending the ball into the opposite direction to where substitute goalkeeper Wuilker Fariñez was diving. Lens were somewhat unfortunate with the deflection, but they were poor in giving Blas space to shoot, with the midfielders slow to react once Chivivella had broken though their line with his pass.
Nantes then equalised on the counter. Lafont hit a long pass towards Quentin Merlin on the left, who played into Blas in attack. With Nantes having three attackers against Lens’ back three, Blas was able to take a backwards touch and turn to play a pass in behind, as Danso was reluctant to stick with him due to Geubbels making a run in behind Jonathan Gradit. Geubbels was able to beat Lens’ offside trap, running in behind and squaring the ball to Kolo Muani at the back post, who raced into the box ahead of Medina and Haïdara.
Nantes continued to press high but Lens became more comfortable playing out under pressure, passing around Nantes’ press and making them expend energy chasing them down.
Nantes on the other hand mainly attacked on the counter. Keeping three men forward against Lens’ back three, they would look to hit the ball forward quickly and catch Lens out before they got men back.
Nantes got their winner when Lens had men back though. Substitute Simon had threatened with his dribbling since coming on for Geubbels and he picked up the ball on the left here. Cutting inside onto his right foot, Cahuzac allowed Simon to easily drift past him, while Frankowski lost his balance as he backed up. Gradit tried to cover but was tricked into going to the ground in an attempt to block a dummied shot, opening up space for Simon to fire a real shot into the net.
Lens had the game won inside a quarter of an hour yet wasted the opportunity with lacklustre, sloppy defending, meaning they are now winless in five games.
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