The Christmas holiday is a welcome pause in the season for Lens, who have gone winless since the last international break. A trip to Nice was the last job before a clash against rivals Lille in the Coupe de France in January.
Franck Haise made three changes to the side that lost late on to Nantes. Kevin Danso was injured and Facundo Medina suspended, so Christopher Wooh and Massadio Haïdara were given starts at centre-back with Przemyslaw Frankowski swapping back over to the left and Jonathan Clauss returning from suspension on the right. Florian Sotoca also gave way as Lens switched to a 3-5-1-1 formation, seeing Cheick Doucouré return in midfield.
Nice haven’t exactly set the world on fire since the international break either, losing to Metz and Strasbourg, however they won last time out against Rennes. Christophe Galtier made just one change from that side, swapping out Jordan Lotomba for Melvin Bard in Nice’s usual 4-4-2 shape.
Despite defending in a 4-4-2, Nice would form a back three in possession. Bard would remain back in line with the centre-backs, allowing Youcef Atal to push on down the flank as Hicham Boudaoui tucked inside. Lens’ decision to switch to a two man attack backfired here, as they were left unable to effectively press Nice’s backline, who could stretch out and play around them, with Jean-Clair Todibo and Bard having the space to step up into midfield, or pass between them, with Pablo Rosario maintaining his position deep in midfield.
As a result Seko Fofana and Yannick Cahuzac would be drawn forward to meet Todibo and Bard, leaving space behind them for Mario Lemina, Amine Gouiri or Boudaoui between the lines. In order to not leave these men in space, Jonathan Gradit and Haïdara would step out of the backline to mark them, but this created its own issues, as it left gaps in the backline for Nice to take advantage of.
Lens were struggling to get anything going themselves. Boudaoui would step up to join the forwards in pressuring the back three so Lens were unable to play around Nice’s forwards as easily as Nice could. With Nice keeping narrow, Lens looked to keep width in attack, overloading the last line by pushing Fofana and Cahuzac forward to occupy the defenders, but it rarely actually led to anything.
Nevertheless, it was Lens that took the lead. Nice managed to clear a corner, only to send the ball up in the air and Fofana headed it back the other way. The ball fell to Wooh, who dinked it in behind for Arnaud Kalimuendo to shoot. Walter Benitez had the angle covered but allowed the ball to go through his legs and trickle across the line.
Nice finally equalised 17 minutes into the second half though. Rosario span away from Doucouré’s tackle on the edge of the box, then Haïdara failed to get tight to Boudaoui, giving him the space to turn and cross inside the box. The ball deflected up into the air off Rosario and fell to Lemina to volley into the net, having escaped the grips of Cahuzac. Lens were in a good position to defend, yet conceded due to sloppiness.
Nice then took the lead a quarter of an hour later. With a counter-attack breaking down in their own half, Nice slowed the game down and played out towards the left. Cahuzac was filling in behind Clauss, but no one bothered to fill in the gap Cahuzac left in midfield, meaning Rosario was free to pick up the ball and stride forward. With Rosario advancing, Cahuzac was forced back inside to stop him, leaving Justin Kluivert free on the flank. The Dutchman simply cut inside, brushing past Cahuzac, before finishing past Jean-Louis Leca. Sloppy defending had once again undone Lens.
Haise made attacking changes, bringing on Ignatius Ganago and Corentin Jean for Cahuzac and Clauss, yet Lens were unable to fight back.
With the exception of the Paris Saint-Germain match, Lens have been dreadful since returning from the international break, dropping from second to ninth. They quite simply need to sharpen up, repeatedly throwing away leads with sloppy defending. Nice were the better side here, yet Lens had the gift of a lead against the run of play, only to give it away again and come away with nothing.
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