Sunday’s early kick-off in Ligue 1 was a clash between two evenly-matched sides, as Rennes finished just one point ahead of Lens last season.
Bruno Génésio replaced Julian Stéphan as Rennes’ coach, setting up his new team in a 4-3-3 formation. Loïc Badé was handed his debut having moved in the summer from Lens, as were Kamaldeen Sulemana and Birger Meling, while local lad Lesley Ugochukwu was promoted from the reserves to start in midfield.
Franck Haise continued with the 3-4-1-2 formation used last season, however it was all change in defence: with Badé transferred to Rennes and Jonathan Gradit and Facundo Medina suspended, the back three was made up of Steven Fortes, new boy Christopher Wooh and usual wing-back Ismaël Boura, while Deiver Machado was given his debut at left wing-back, meaning only Jonathan Clauss remained of their usual backline from last season.
Rennes pressed Lens high up the pitch from the start. The front three lined up against Lens’ back three, Flavien Tait and Eduardo Camavinga pushed forward to pick up Cheick Doucouré and Seko Fofana and the full-backs would step out of the backline to meet the wing-backs. Lining up against them man-for-man, Rennes gave Lens’s backline little respite, making it very difficult for them to play out, either winning the ball back or forcing Lens long.
Unsurprisingly for a teenager, Wooh in particular struggled with the step up to a higher level. Rather than panicking, he was perhaps a little too calm under pressure, giving the ball away several times.
Rennes also caused problems for Lens’ backline in possession, using a similar strategy to Nîmes’ from last season. With either the full-backs staying back or Tait and Camavinga pulling wide, Rennes would play out to a player deep in the wide areas, drawing out Machado and Clauss to press. This was enabled by Ugochukwu dropping in between the centre-backs, allowing them to spread out and occupy Lens’ front three. With Lens’ wing-backs drawn up the pitch, the Rennes wingers would then look to pull apart the Lens back three, either pulling wide or dropping deep to drag Fortes and Boura away from Wooh, then attacking these gaps that opened up between them.
The home side soon took the lead, although it was on the counter rather than through one of these manipulations of Lens’ backline. Tait played a ball in behind for Sulemana to chase, the Ghanaian beating Fortes to it in a foot race. The Cape Verdean caught up with him quickly, however Sulemana cut inside and got a shot away before Fortes could turn. Taking only a tiny touch out of his feet so there was little obvious indication he would shoot so early, there was no way Jean-Louis Leca could get anywhere near the finish, deflecting in off the far post.
Sulemana was a consistent nuisance before being replaced by Jérémy Doku an hour in. He drew Fortes to him before testing his pace with a run in behind, and his quick feet proved difficult for Lens’ defenders, enabling the Ghanaian to cross. It was the perfect way to introduce himself to his new club.
Lens pulled one back minutes later though. Playing out from a goal kick, Nayef Aguerd dallied on the ball and took several poor touches, allowing Simon Banza to rob him of the ball in the box and square to Fofana to finish.
Against the run of play, this goal was absolutely key. Afterwards the speed of Rennes’ play slowed to a crawl and their pressing dropped, allowing Lens to get back into the match after being completely dominated in the opening stages.
Under less pressure, Lens’ backline were now able to play out from the back to feed the midfield and attack.
Rennes’ back four was forced to narrow to ensure they didn’t leave any gaps for Lens’ attacking trio to take advantage of, meaning there was plenty of space for Machado and Clauss out wide, but their crossing was poor.
Instead, the majority of Lens’ creativity came from Gaël Kakuta, as usual. Starved of the ball in the opening stages, he was now able to receive it and create chances, either combining with Fofana in the centre or drifting into space out wide.
Only pressing early on made sense considering how early it is in the season, with teams still getting match fit, however Rennes’ passing becoming so slow after losing their lead made it easy for Lens to frustrate them. Rennes went from looking really dangerous, pulling apart Lens’ backline, to offering nothing but slow passes in their own half as Lens sat comfortably in their shape.
Little changed. With the introduction of Serhou Guirassy for Camavinga, Génésio switched to the 4-4-2 that had been largely unsuccessful through preseason, while Haise solidified his midfield by switching to a 3-5-2, replacing Kakuta with Yannick Cahuzac.
A draw was a fair result that both sides looked happy with. Rennes had an excellent first 15 minutes but were poor after that, with Lens going from being completely dominated to probably the better side, having a late goal disallowed for offside.
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