Looking to go into the winter break on a high note, Lens hosted Brest at the Stade Bollaert.
Franck Haise made several changes to the team that lost to Metz on Saturday. Leaving out Gaël Kakuta, Lens returned to the 3-4-3 used by Philippe Montanier last season, with Florian Sotoca and Arnaud Kalimuendo flanking target man Simon Banza. Steven Fortes, Ismaël Boura, and Clément Michelin replaced Massadio Haïdara, Issiaga Sylla and Jonathan Clauss in defence, while Seko Fofana took Cheick Doucouré’s spot in midfield.
Olivier Dall’Oglio made just two changes to the side that drew with Montpellier. Jean-Kévin Duverne returned to the club where he started his career, taking Brendan Chardonnet’s place in defence, while Romain Philippoteaux was swapped out for Franck Honorat on the wing.
Brest set up in a narrow 4-4-2 which played directly into Lens’ hands, as they prefer to attack down the flanks using their wing-backs. With their back three pulling wide, Lens found it easy to play around Brest’s front two, and they could then find Boura and Michelin in acres of space out wide – even more if they played down one side then switched play quickly to the other.
Lens would have their three attackers running through the middle and Fofana pushing forward to join them, so the wing-backs had plenty of players to aim at as they whipped their crosses in. With so many Lens attackers through the middle, Brest’s back four was left overrun: they couldn’t move out to close down Boura and Michelin without leaving someone free inside.
Lens took the lead through one of these crosses. Fofana spread the ball wide to Boura and, with Honorat tracking back into defence to help out, the ball deflected off the winger up into the air. Duverne was left competing in the air with both Sotoca and Banza, lost, and Kalimuendo was on hand to flick the resulting ball into the net.
Lens doubled their lead with a penalty. Banza won a simple long ball forward in the air against Christophe Hérelle, flicking the ball on for Kalimuendo running in behind. Duverne was pulling at him as he tried to recover, so when Kalimuendo fell to the ground, Sotoca was given the chance to convert from the spot.
Brest struggled to play out themselves. They would drop either Hiang’a Mbock or Haris Belkebla, mainly the latter, into the backline to form a makeshift back three, however Lens’ frontline matched them one-to-one. This would leave just one man – whichever of Mbock or Belkebla hadn’t dropped back – in midfield, who one of Lens’ midfielders would pick up, while Romain Perrault and Ronaël Pierre-Gabriel were positioned high enough so that Michelin and Boura could easily step out to meet them. As a result Brest struggled to find a free man as they tried to play around Lens’ frontline, with the rest of their team pushed up into attack.
When they did manage to squeeze a pass through that first line, Brest were able to find some joy though. Fortes looked awkward and the aggression of Jonathan Gradit can always be guaranteed upon to see him step out, so there was space behind both men to be exploited.
Brest didn’t make a great deal of changes to reverse their fortunes. Romain Faivre and Honorat switched flanks to little effect, while they pressed with greater intensity high up the pitch, enabling them to win back the ball or at least disrupt Lens’ build-up. The greater shift was simply Lens dropping off more and more as the second half drew on to protect their lead, eventually shifting to a 3-5-2 with the introduction of Kakuta.
The away side got a late consolation goal through a penalty – Michelin slipping as he was about to tackle, tripping Irvin Cardona – but they hadn’t really offered much to threaten Lens.
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