Having to catch up with their matches that were postponed due to a Covid-19 outbreak, Lens played in mid-week, where they drew against Nantes.
Franck Haise made five changes to that starting eleven, swapping out Issiaga Sylla, Clément Michelin, Yannick Cahuzac, Simon Banza and Ignatius Ganago for Facundo Medina, Jonathan Clauss, Seko Fofana, Florian Sotoca and Arnaud Kalimuendo in their usual 3-4-1-2 formation.
Angers had a full week to prepare for this match, so Stéphane Moulin made only one change to the side that lost to Lyon: Jimmy Cabot replacing the injured Sada Thioub on the right flank of their 4-2-3-1.
Lens had the early control of the match. Angers would typically drop off into a narrow 4-4-2, allowing Lens to keep possession, and when they did try to press, they were outnumbered and easily passed around by Lens’ backline.
Angers’ narrow shape gifted space out wide to Lens’ wing-backs but Lens’ frontline also helped to maintain that space. Sotoca and Kalimuendo would split wide, taking up positions that occupied Angers’ full-backs. This stopped Vincent Manceau and Souleyman Doumbia from being able to move out to close down Massadio Haïdara and Clauss without leaving space behind them for Sotoca and Kalimuendo to exploit. With Manceau and Doumbia reluctant to close them down, Haïdara and Clauss had more time to pick out meaningful crosses into the middle.
Still, Lens often appeared wasteful as they got into the final third. Either taking too long on the ball, misplacing a pass or starved of space through the centre by Angers’ narrow shape.
Angers’ attacking was much quicker. They would draw a Lens wing-back forward to press a full-back, then play into the forwards who would be left one-versus-one against the rest of the backline. Angelo Fulgini would frequently come short towards the ball, looking to receive it, quickly spin away from anyone that followed him and play forward into his teammates.
Angers would also counter-attack at speed, taking advantage of any slip-ups in Lens’ possession.
Angers took the lead out of nothing though. They won the ball back inside Lens’ half as Fofana took a heavy touch, then Mathias Pereira Lage controlled the bouncing ball and looped it over Jean-Louis Leca from the edge of the area.
Lens equalised not long after when Gaël Kakuta dropped deep and slipped a pass straight through Angers’ defence for Kalimuendo to finish. Kakuta was always dropping deep to help Lens work the ball forward, allowing Cheick Doucouré and Fofana to push forward into attack. His assist really does highlight one of the contradictions of Lens’ play: he’s clearly their best player, yet all their play is geared towards attacking down the flanks, away from him in the centre, leaving him to work his magic in bits and pieces on the fringes of a game rather than as the main creative hub of the side.
Haise immediately swapped out Medina for Sylla, moving Haïdara back to centre-back, and soon made more substitutions. Haïdara was removed for forward Corentin Jean while a like-for-like change saw Kalimuendo replaced by Ganago. Lens switched to a kind of 4-2-4: Loïc Badé and Jonathan Gradit stayed back, Sylla and Clauss pushed down the wings, Doucouré and Fofana held the midfield, with the latter often pushing forward to combine in attack, and Ganago was the most easily-defined striker while the others floated around him to work the ball into attack.
This set-up only became more attacking as Lens grew more desperate for a goal, with Haise swapping Fofana for little playmaker Tony Mauricio in midfield, and Kakuta replaced by striker Banza.
Nevertheless, Angers frustrated Lens. They remained compact in defence, repelling all attacks that came their way, and they managed to keep hold of the ball well when they got it, forcing Lens into chasing them, opening up opportunities to counter.
It was an excellent Angers performance – tight in defence and quick in transition. Lens may have been sloppy but it was Angers who baited them and punished them so severely.
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