A tale of two Racings. Strasbourg hover just above the relegation places in 15th, while Lens are pushing for European football. Strasbourg did win the previous match between the two sides at the Stade Bollaert, however it was played in a frankly ridiculous fog, making it difficult for spectators to see what was happening, let alone the players.
As several other sides have done, Strasbourg changed to a back three to face Lens. Thierry Laurey made just one change to the team that lost to Rennes, swapping out forward Habib Diallo for defender Lionel Carole in a 3-4-2-1 shape.
Franck Haise set up his side in a 3-5-1-1 formation, which was basically the same as the 3-5-2 used last time out against Metz, except one of the strikers was replaced by Gaël Kakuta, who would drop off between the lines rather than leading the line. He and Simon Banza replaced Florian Sotoca and Arnaud Kalimuendo.
Strasbourg equalised 15 minutes later from a free-kick. Jean-Louis Leca saved the initial shot but Jean-Ricner Bellegarde was there to follow up against his former club.
Lens had the better of the opening period though, with Jonathan Clauss consistently getting in behind Anthony Caci on the right.
They also found themselves able to pass straight from defence into the feet of the attackers due to Ibrahima Sissoko and Jean-Eudes Aholou splitting wide to pick up Seko Fofana and Yannick Cahuzac, leaving space for a pass in between them.
Strasbourg seemed to want to overload Lens in midfield, with four men against Lens’ three. Facundo Medina would step up into midfield to pick up Bellegarde though, matching up man for man. Strasbourg tried to take advantage of this by hitting passes in behind Medina, however Loïc Badé was on hand to cover. Playing a back three against just Ludovic Ajorque, Lens found it easy to cover different areas – Medina could step up and Badé could shift across, safe in the knowledge Jonathan Gradit had Ajorque handled.
Lens received the reward for their dominance just before half-time. Clauss again advanced down the right, although he passed inside to Fofana rather than advancing past Caci. Fofana took an excellent touch – heavy enough to go past Carole but accurate enough so the other defenders couldn’t cover – then finished past Eiji Kawashima at the near post.
Strasbourg pushed the attacking midfielders further forward in support of Ajorque in the second half, while their wing-backs got forward more, however the majority of their attacks were simply crosses that Lens dealt with easily, ensuring they were able to hold out for the three points.
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