In their first game of 2023, RC Lens hosted Paris Saint-Germain at the Stade Bollaert.
For his 100th match in charge of Lens, Franck Haise made three changes to the side that drew with Nice three days prior, as Massadio Haïdara, Alexis Claude-Maurice and Lois Openda replaced Deiver Machado, Jean Onana and Wesley Saïd. Lens set up in a 3-4-3 formation.
Christophe Galtier made three changes to the team that beat Strasbourg, once again rescued by the referee, who gifted them a penalty deep into injury time. El Chadaille Bitshiabu, Vitinha and Neymar made way for Achraf Hakimi, Danilo Pereira and Carlos Soler. PSG lined up in a 4-3-1-2 shape.
Lens would take the lead just minutes into the match. PSG would have their forwards split wide and Soler push up between them to press Lens’ back three man-for-man, however Kevin Danso simply passed into Seko Fofana free at the bas of the Lens midfield. Marco Verratti stepped up to pressure him, but this left Florian Sotoca free, so Fofana simply knocked the ball to him and he pushed forward on the ball into attack. With the wing-backs both joining the attack, Lens had four men up against PSG’s back four and with Openda threatening to make a run in behind Marquinhos, the Brazilian couldn’t step up to confront Sotoca, giving his teammate the time on the ball to pick out a pass to Haïdara in space out on the left. The Malian looped a high first-time cross into the box that Gianluigi Donnarumma palmed away, but it fell to Sotoca to volley home with the goalkeeper left stranded on the floor.
Having taken the lead, Lens allowed themselves to drop off immediately though, and PSG equalised just minutes later. Both Lens’ defensive and midfield lines were stood on the edge of their box, giving Soler the space to pick out a pass to Nordi Mukiele making a run at the back post. Brice Samba got both hands on the ball only for Hugo Ekitiké to kick it out of them and finish.
Nevertheless the momentum swung back in Lens’ direction. Just as they did last season, PSG had trouble as they were playing so narrowly, making it easy for Lens to congest the middle. They set up with a diamond midfield, but Lens had Claude-Maurice and Sotoca tuck inside into the centre, ensuring they had four men in the centre against PSG’s four midfielders, plus with a back three they had a spare man at the back against PSG’s front two. PSG’s narrow set-up meant Przemyslaw Frankowski and Haïdara generally didn’t have to worry about getting doubled up on out wide, able to play one-on-one against Hakimi, who was playing on his wrong side and as a result kept coming inside rather than stretching play, and Mukiele, who is a capable attacker as PSG’s equaliser showed but really more of a defensive full-back or centre-back.
As a result PSG were left frustrated and their main way of attacking was simply hitting the ball long for Kylian Mbappé to run in behind, using his pace, however it was easy for Lens’ backline to drop off and maintain cover.
Lens on the other hand found themselves able to play through the midfield. As shown in the opening goal, Soler would push forward to join the strikers in pressing Lens’ back three, however this would leave PSG understaffed in midfield, with three men left against four Lens midfielders. Lens would typically have two men drop back in front of the defence, making it easy for the centre-backs to find a passing angle into the middle, or they could simply knock it wide to the wing-backs to bounce back inside. If a PSG midfielder stepped up to stop one of the deeper Lens midfielders, then this left space elsewhere for a different Lens midfielder to make use of. This meant Lens were able to pass around PSG easily, moving the ball forward or switching out to the other flank.
With PSG’s attackers not particularly defensively aware either, failing to track runs, Lens were repeatedly able to progress the ball with simple one-twos.
Out on the flanks, Hakimi and Mukiele were forced into coming far out of the backline to stop the Lens wing-backs, leaving space for Openda to run in behind them.
Lens retook the lead with a simple counter. Another long ball to Mbappé saw PSG attack, but Lens managed to get the ball away to Fofana, who turned away from Soler, avoided Verratti’s tackle and slid a pass in behind for Openda to run onto. Sergio Ramos attempted to cut out the pass, but completely missed it, forcing Marquinhos into scrambling across to stop Openda. The Belgian chopped the ball back onto his right foot as Marquinhos went to ground though, leaving him alone to slot the ball underneath Donnarumma.
Lens went straight back to defending deep in a 5-4-1 again, but managed to avoid conceding this time. They handed PSG control, allowing them to come forward, but they denied them any space in the final third. With such a congested centre, Lens were often able to surround PSG players to win back the ball or simply get a foot on the ball to cut short a PSG attack.
If PSG went wide, then Sotoca and Claude-Maurice would move wide to help out the wing-backs, ensuring they didn’t get dragged out of the defensive line.
Shortly into the second half, Lens added to their lead. Losing the ball at an attacking throw-in deep in PSG’s half, Lens counterpressed, with Haïdara robbing Fabian Ruiz of the ball on the edge of the box, and Openda backheeling the loose ball to Claude-Maurice to finish.
Lens continued to defend and PSG continued to struggle breaking them down, with Lens looking the likelier to add another as they broke forward on the counter.
Lens handed PSG their first defeat of the season, moving within four points of the league leaders.
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