A derby victory over Lille in the Coupe de France kicked off 2022 in a positive way for Lens after finishing 2021 in terrible form, preparing them for the return match of their season opener.
Franck Haise made three changes to the team that beat Lille, with Jean-Louis Leca, Jonathan Gradit and Gaël Kakuta returning to the starting eleven in place of Wuilker Fariñez, Christopher Wooh and Florian Sotoca. This saw them move away from their usual 3-4-1-2 formation to the 3-4-3 they have adopted at times this season.
Rennes haven’t exactly been in top form themselves, getting knocked out of the Coupe de France by second division Nancy and their sole win in their last four league matches coming against bottom club Saint-Etienne. Bruno Génésio made three changes to the side that lost to Nancy, bringing in Martin Terrier, Warmed Omari and former Lens player Benjamin Bourigeaud for Flavien Tait, Jérémy Doku and Serhou Guirassy. Rennes set up in a 4-3-3 shape.
Rennes tried to overload Lens’ backline. Lovro Majer and Baptiste Santamaria would push forward to join the attack, while Adrien Truffert and Lorenz Assignon would also push forward. Terrier would typically tuck inside on the left, allowing Truffert to overlap, whereas Bourigeaud and Assignon would alternate on the right, with one tucking inside while the other maintained the width. Even Jonas Martin would sometimes push up into high positions, away from the marking of Lens’ forwards, potentially opening up space in midfield for his teammates if Seko Fofana or Cheick Doucouré were drawn towards him. This meant that Rennes would regularly attack with six or seven players, asking a lot of Lens’ defence.
Despite pushing the majority of their players into attack, Rennes didn’t have too many problems playing out. With so many players through the centre, David Costa and Kakuta would remain in quite central positions to block passes into midfield, meaning there was generally space out wide for Truffert and Assignon to receive the ball and work it into attack. Either the full-backs or Majer would drop back, while Martin could often get free by pushing far enough forward away from Arnaud Kalimuendo that the striker left him.
One issue with this approach from Rennes was that it forced Lens backwards into a defensive shell. By pushing so many players forward, they forced Lens into pulling men back to ensure the backline wasn’t heavily outnumbered, meaning Lens’ defensive area was flooded with players, making it harder for Rennes to find the space to create a goal. This approach meant Rennes had control of the game as Lens were unable to press effectively without leaving space in defence, but it didn’t necessarily help them find a goal.
Having so many players in attacking areas did help Rennes to counterpress when they gave the ball away in attacking areas, ensuring they weren’t caught short on the counter.
From an defensive standpoint, Rennes didn’t look great though. Lens played out in a slightly different shape to usual, pushing Jonathan Clauss far forward on the right while Gradit pulled out to the touchline behind him. On paper this should have made it easier for Rennes to press Lens, as the home side had fewer passing options back than usual, however their pressing system never quite worked. Terrier and Bourigeaud appeared to be trying to press the Lens centre-backs while blocking the passes wide, yet they rarely managed it, either giving the centre-backs too much space or failing to cut off the passing angle to the wide players, meaning Lens could easily play around them.
With the front three leaving either the centre-backs or the wing-backs free, the Rennes midfield were asked to cover. They would either be pulled forward to press the centre-backs or pulled wide to press the widemen – both requiring them to leave the midfield to do so. Santamaria or Martin would also often get pulled forward to pick up Doucouré, either because Gaëtan Laborde had left him to press a centre-back or because the Malian, comfortable in tight spaces, had simply escaped the striker.
With the midfielders pulled away from their nominal positions, there was space for Kakuta, Costa or Fofana to pick up the ball through the middle and attack Rennes’ exposed back four. Rennes’ pressing failures meant that despite them completely dominating possession, it was Lens who were having the better scoring opportunities the few times they actually had the ball.
About half-way through the first half, Rennes eased off on the pressing, pulling the wingers back into midfield to deal with the wing-backs. This stopped Lens from being able to cut through them, but it also made it easier for Lens to simply hold onto the ball and wrestle control away from Rennes.
Rennes’ changes tightened them up defensively but they also meant Lens were no longer on the defensive. With more time on the ball, Lens’ centre-backs were able to push forward on the ball into Rennes’ half and pick out passes into the attackers. It was in many ways a reversal of the opening stages of the game though: Lens were in control, but had forced Rennes back into a defensive approach that made it difficult to create goalscoring opportunities.
Seeing their new approach wasn’t working, they started trying to press again in the second half but the environment wasn’t the same. Lens had grown into the game and were more comfortable on the ball, whereas Rennes were fatiguing and lost their own early calm in possession, frequently giving it away cheaply.
There was to be a late breakthrough. Pressed near the half-way line, Medina squared the ball to Gradit in space, drawing Loum Tchaouna forward to close him down. Gradit simply slid the ball forward though, into the acres of space Clauss had out wide. The wing-back took a touch, got his head up and whipped in a cross to substitute Wesley Saïd nipping ahead of Loïc Badé at the near post to finish.
Lens were able to hold out the remaining five minutes, kicking off the second half of their league campaign with a win.
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