Both of these clubs were promoted last season from Ligue 2, but have endured very different seasons. Lorient finished as champions last year, yet find themselves hovering just above the relegation zone in the league above, whereas Lens finished below Lorient yet currently look set for European football next season.
A Covid-19 outbreak meant Lens were without Loïc Bade, Facundo Medina, Seko Fofana, Tony Mauricio and Ignatius Ganago, seeing Clément Michelin, Arnaud Kalimuendo and Corentin Jean all come into the side as Franck Haise switched back to their usual 3-4-1-2 formation.
Christophe Pélissier swapped out Armand Laurienté for Enzo Le Fée from the team that beat Brest, with Lorient setting up in a 3-5-2 shape.
The losses of Badé and Medina were significant for Lens. Usually they have no problem playing out from the back yet here they struggled. This was because Steven Fortes and Michelin, playing on the wrong side to push forward on his natural right foot, weren’t as comfortable on the ball as the first-teamers would be. Yoane Wissa and Terem Moffi would split wide to keep close to the outside centre-backs, leaving a gap between them. Fortes would use this space ahead of him to push forward a little and pick out passes, however he isn’t the man to stride forward as Badé would, carrying the ball into the attack and opening up space for his teammates by forcing players across to confront him.
Lens weren’t left unable to play out though, it was simply a bit more complicated than usual. Cheick Doucouré would remain in the centre, yet Yannick Cahuzac would pull out to the touchline on the right flank, allowing Jonathan Clauss to push forward high in attack. Lorient couldn’t leave Cahuzac open on the right without making it easy for Lens to play out so one of their midfielders would move out to mark him, yet this would leave space inside, where Jean was constantly dropping deep to pick up the ball.
This was how Lens got the opener. Cahuzac picked up the ball out wide and picked out a ball into Jean between the lines, who played a one-two with Clauss and was tripped by Julien Laporte in the box, giving Gaël Kakuta the opportunity to convert a penalty.
Their second was similar. Cahuzac strode forward and laid the ball off to Clauss, who cut inside, playing one-twos with Kakuta and Jean to get into a crossing position. Andrew Gavillon dealt with the ball to Kalimuendo, yet Jean was there for the follow-up, taking a touch to fool Laporte and finish on his right foot.
Lorient had build-up problems of their own. Fabien Lemoine would drop into the defensive line, allowing Trevoh Chalobah and Gravillon to spread out to the touchlines and Vincent Le Goff and Jérôme Hergault to push down the flanks into attack. This makeshift back four meant Lens’ front three were unable to cover the full width of the defence, yet Lorient rarely made use of this. They looked dangerous when Gravillon would push forward into Lens’ half and find Wissa dropping off between the lines – their goal coming from a corner that was won by such a situation – but this was rare. Most of the time, the defenders would stay deep, and with just Laurent Abergel in midfield, they had to go long to get the ball into attack. With five men pushed forward, this would sometimes work, but it wasn’t the most effective way of creating dangerous chances.
Lens added a third early in the second half from a corner and so, in need of a goal, Pélissier made an attacking triple substitution on 65 minutes. Off went Le Fée, Hergault and Gravillon, replaced by attackers Adrian Grbic and Laurienté and Jonathan Delaplace. This saw them change to a 4-2-4.
Haise made defensive changes to protect Lens’ lead though. David Costa replaced Jean, switching Lens to a 3-4-3, which spent more time in a 5-4-1 as Lens sat back. They sealed their win with a counter-attack – Costa dribbled past Abergel then played inside to substitute Simon Banza, whose ankle was clipped by Lemoine, setting himself up to score a penalty.
It was a routine win for Lens that keeps them on course for Europa League football next season.
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