With Marseille hot on their heels after beating Reims on Friday, Lens were in need of a win against relegation-threatened Nîmes, especially as they still have to play title challengers Lille, Paris Saint-Germain and Monaco.
They weren’t exactly well-equipped to do so however. Steven Fortes and Simon Banza were both suspended after getting sent off against Brest, Gaël Kakuta and Cheick Traoré have tested positive for Covid-19, while Cheick Doucouré joins Florian Sotoca and Clément Michelin on the injury list. Franck Haise was able to call upon Jonathan Gradit, Seko Fofana and Ignatius Ganago again though, with Facundo Medina making the bench, while he also gave David Costa his first start in the league for Lens, having impressed off the bench against Lorient. This saw Lens switch to a 3-5-2 formation, away from their usual 3-4-1-2.
Pascal Plancque had less selection headaches, making one change to the side that drew with RC Strasbourg as he swapped out Yassine Benrahou for Sidy Sarr in midfield. Nîmes set up in a 4-5-1 shape.
Nîmes switched between pressing Lens in a 4-3-3 and sitting off in a 4-5-1, with neither really working. When pressing, the wingers would push forward alongside Moussa Koné to pressure Lens’ back three, however Lens’ centre-backs are good enough on the ball to easily evade this pressure, often switching the play out to the other flank.
Even when they sat back, Nîmes did little to stop Lens advancing. Despite having five men in midfield, they would often pack the centre, leaving an easy pass out to the Lens wing-backs. Nîmes’ full-backs would move out to close down Jonathan Clauss and Issiaga Sylla, leaving space behind them for Fofana and Costa to make diagonal runs into. It was a bizarre choice by Nîmes, asking the four men of the backline to cover a greater width than the five in midfield.
This was how Lens took the lead, with Massadio Haïdara switching play out to Clauss on the right flank, dragging Birger Meling out to meet him, and he flicked the ball on to Costa making a run in behind. Some quick feet won him the space to cross and Ganago finished.
Minutes later Sylla was sent off for a high foot, clumsily kicking Renaud Ripart in the face as they competed for a loose ball. Ripart was forced off, sporting some nasty battle scars, and replaced by Niclas Eliasson, while Ismaël Boura was brought on for Corentin Jean as Lens rearranged themselves in a 3-5-1.
In some ways, this was bad for Nîmes. They had shown how to exploit Lens’ pressing in the match at the Stade des Costières and were trying the same strategy again. They would play short initially, with Sofiane Alakouch and Meling staying deep at full-back and Sarr often dropping back into the backline to help facilitate this. This would draw Sylla and Clauss up the pitch, far from the backline, to press Alakouch and Meling, leaving Lens’ centre-backs with little cover as Nîmes hit a long ball forward.
Now a man down and a goal up, Lens were happy to sit back and protect their lead. This meant Boura and Clauss would generally stay back in defence rather than pushing forward to pressure Nîmes’ full-backs, so even though Lucas Déaux was pushing forward into attack next to Koné they were unable to overload Lens’ backline. Lens sitting back handed Nîmes control of the match, but it left them less space to actually make use of it.
This backfired just six minutes into the second half. They may have had extra cover, but Lens were allowing Nîmes to come forward into their half, where Nîmes could potentially create a chance with one little mistake by Lens. Nîmes won a corner and the first ball was cleared, however Kelyan Guessoum picked up the second ball and was clipped by Clauss in the box, winning a penalty to be converted by Zinedine Ferhat.
Haise swapped out Costa and Ganago for Tony Mauricio and Arnaud Kalimuendo, however there was no change to the actual structure of the team. This left Kalimuendo alone in attack, and so Lens weren’t well-placed to retake the lead.
They did however. Boura slid a ball down the line for Kalimuendo, who gave Guessoum the slip and got a shot away, winning a corner from very little. Haïdara then got to Mauricio’s cross first with an acrobatic scissor kick.
It was far from an amazing performance by Lens, but it was another example of their mental strength, continuing to fight even when the situation goes against them.
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