Lens’ victory over champions Paris Saint-Germain at the start of the season was the first sign that it was going to be a good year for the Sang et Or – their first win of the season.
While Lens benefited from a weakened PSG in that match, Franck Haise had selection headaches of his own for the return. Issiaga Sylla was sent off against Nîmes while Loïc Badé and Massadio Haïdara were also suspended due to picking up yellow cards, meaning Steven Fortes, Facundo Medina and Clément Michelin all came into the defence. Jean-Louis Leca had to be taken off against Nîmes due to injury and failed to recover in time, meaning Wuilker Farinez took his place in goal, but Cheick Doucouré was fit enough to start in midfield. Both Gaël Kakuta and Florian Sotoca only made the bench as they recover fitness, so Arnaud Kalimuendo started up front against his parent club in a 3-5-2 formation rather than Lens’ usual 3-4-1-2.
Only Kylian Mbappé was unavailable for PSG due to a calf injury, however Mauricio Pochettino had to juggle competing on multiple fronts. They have the return leg of their Champions League semi-final against Manchester City in mid-week to worry about, especially having lost the first leg. Angel Di Maria, Marco Verratti, Leandro Paredes, Alessandro Florenzi and Mitchel Bakker were all rested, giving opportunities to Pablo Sarabia, Julian Draxler, Danilo Pereira, Colin Dagba, Abdou Diallo and Mauro Icardi in a 4-2-3-1 shape.
Coming up against a title challenger with a weakened team, Lens were unsurprisingly more passive than they usually are. Rather than pressing, they tended to sit back in a 5-3-2 shape, forcing PSG into breaking them down.
PSG struggled with this. Dagba would usually push forward high into attack down the right, while Sarabia would tuck inside between the lines with Neymar, whereas Diallo would more often stay back in line with the centre-backs to form a makeshift back three. Sometimes Diallo would push forward like Dagba, allowing Draxler to come inside, but either way it didn’t really work. Lens had the defensive width to ensure they weren’t stretched by PSG’s widemen, as well as the bodies in the centre to stop PSG working the ball through the centre, with Ignatius Ganago and Kalimuendo dropping back to block the passes into Idrissa Gueye and Pereira. PSG’s shape had five men along the attacking line to match Lens’ backline, but they were unable to effectively get the ball to them, with Lens crowding them out.
Lens’ attacking wasn’t very effective either though. They looked at their best when they could counter, with Kalimuendo and Ganago splitting wide either side of PSG’s defence and Seko Fofana making runs through the centre in support.
Their attacks were typically focussed on their wing-backs though – or at least on Jonathan Clauss, as while Michelin would get forward, he was of limited use as a naturally right-footed player on the left. They would get them high up into attack and Yannick Cahuzac and Fofana would often pull out wide to cover behind them, or push up into attack through the centre themselves. This meant Lens’ centre-backs had limited options for a short pass though, with most of their team pushed forward into attack and the only ones left being either the other centre-backs or Doucouré alone in midfield, leaving him with few passing options too. Lens could look good when they stretched PSG’s backline with a switch of play from one flank to the other, however a lot of the time they were just pumping direct balls forward that PSG could easily deal with.
This was made worse by the fact PSG were pressing well, pushing Icardi, Draxler and Sarabia forward to get close to and pressure Lens’ back three. Without a lot of passing options, Lens’ defenders gave the ball away several times and it was through this that PSG took the lead, with Draxler robbing Medina on the edge of the area to set up Neymar.
In the second half, Lens ditched a lot of the strategic changes they appeared to have made specifically for PSG and instead went back to their normal game. They started to pressure PSG high up the pitch, making it harder for them to play out. Fofana and Cahuzac also reverted to more central positions, making it easier to progress the ball. Cahuzac was the more conservative of the two, allowing Fofana the freedom to push forward, timing his runs well to drift off the back of PSG’s midfielders and pick up the ball between the lines.
PSG doubled their lead from a corner – Marquinhos leaping well clear of Medina, who is weak in the air – but Lens pulled one back straight from kick-off. Doucouré evaded the pressure of fresh substitute Verratti then spread the ball wide to Cahuzac, who advanced and played a pass for Clauss to run in behind Diallo and cross, with Kalimuendo’s attempt at an overhead kick falling to Ganago to finish.
PSG had changed to a 4-3-3 upon doubling their lead, with Verratti and Ander Herrera replacing Gueye and Sarabia. Draxler switched out to the right as Neymar moved left, leaving Pereira to cover behind the two new boys at the base of the midfield. Their new gameplan seemed to be trying to take the sting out of the game, slowing it down by keeping possession and forcing Lens to chase them, which partially worked, however Lens would break forward at speed whenever they did recover the ball.
In need of a goal, Haise made plenty of attacking changes. First a triple substitution, with Simon Banza, Kakuta and Sotoca replacing Kalimuendo, Ganago and Cahuzac – forward Sotoca unusually taking Cahuzac’s spot in midfield – then playmaker Tony Mauricio came on for Doucouré, and finally attacker Corentin Jean replaced Michelin.
Lens were unable to make a breakthrough, but they fought to the end – another impressive display of their strong mentality, even if it wasn’t their best performance.
If you enjoy these posts, please consider subscribing to our Patreon or making a one-off donation. For just $2.99, you can get access to premium videos and training sessions.
No responses yet