A clash between the two miners’ clubs. With Lens the capital of Pas-de-Calais’ mining basin and Saint-Etienne Loire’s, the supporters find they generally have more in common than not, although this year’s friendly atmosphere is diminished by coronavirus restrictions.
Franck Haise made one change to the side that drew with Nîmes, Massadio Haïdara making his first start of the season after first missing out through injury then suspension due to a red card with the reserves. Haise stuck with Lens’ usual 3-4-1-2 formation.
Claude Puel made three changes to the side that lost 3-0 to league leaders Rennes and swapped their 4-4-2 for a 4-5-1 shape.
Saint-Etienne’s attacking strategy appeared to be based around exploiting the aggression of Jonathan Gradit. Wanting to nip in ahead of his opponent to intercept the ball, Gradit will step up leaving a gap behind him in the defence. Saint-Etienne would position a player between the lines to draw Gradit forward then play the ball into the space he left.
They also had some joy defensively early on by pushing Maxence Rivera and Arnaud Nordin up alongside Denis Bouanga to press Lens’ back three, forcing the home side into going long.
Things quickly fell apart for Saint-Etienne though, when Timothée Kolodziejczak gave away a penalty and was sent off for a clumsy tackle that injured Ignatius Ganago. Gaël Kakuta tucking the penalty away left Saint-Etienne needing to chase the game but having to do so outnumbered.
Lens’ attacking gameplan, as it has been in most games this season, was based around getting the ball to the wing-backs high and wide to cross into the box.
They could do this simply by knocking the ball wide to Haïdara and Jonathan Clauss but it was more effective when they worked the ball through the middle – finding the attackers coming short with balls into feet to then knock it out to the wing-backs with one touch – as it allowed the wing-backs more space.
While the 4-5-1 gave Saint-Etienne the defensive width to limit space out wide, losing a man saw them drop into a 4-4-1. The pressing was now lost, allowing Lens’ centre-backs time to push forward and pick out a pass or even force a Saint-Etienne player into stepping out to meet them, opening up a gap in the midfield. If Saint-Etienne narrowed, Lens could simply pass wide; if Saint-Etienne spread out, Lens could play through the gaps in the midfield.
Lens also showed a greater depth to their attacking though. Too often they have simply got high and wide and flooded the box with players, only for poor crosses to hamper their attacks. This blunt numbers game was also shown here, with the three attackers plus two wing-backs outnumbering Saint-Etienne’s backline five-to-four, but Lens showed a greater willingness to work the ball into the box rather than just wasting their positional advantage with a mis-hit cross.
Spreading the ball wide would force the full-back into coming out to meet the wing-back, but they could drag a centre-back wide too by having an attacker make a run into the gap behind the full-back, forcing the centre-back into covering. This would leave just two defenders against three attackers in the middle, making it easier for Lens to pick out a free man at the far post.
It was this that won Lens their all-important penalty and sending off. Following a corner, the ball was played out to Clauss, drawing Yvann Maçon wide. Clauss touched it behind the left-back to Ganago and as the Cameroonian got to the touchline, ready to pull the ball back to Facundo Medina, Florian Sotoca or Kakuta, he was felled by Kolodziejczak.
Lens simply flooding the box with attackers for crosses meant they might win the numbers game on paper, but it was rarely resulting in good chances as they were just hitting it into busy areas full of defenders. With the crosses not being particularly accurate either, their opponents could too often get something on a cross and get the ball away. Against Saint-Etienne, they were making more space in the box for themselves by drawing their opponents wide, preparing a better situation for making that numbers game pay.
It’s true that a match against ten men – and it would soon become nine when substitute Wahbi Khazri was sent off mid-way through the second half – wasn’t the greatest test and it wasn’t even a particularly sparkling performance by Lens, but there were signs that Lens are making practical changes to improve their attack.
Circumstances dictated that Saint-Etienne would leave dominated but a late Sotoca header from a corner ensured there would be no risk of a freak accident for the Verts come away with a point, pushing Lens up to second place.
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