Surprised by Metz at home on Saturday, the Lensois have four defeats after five days of Ligue 1, as many as in the whole of last season.
A Lorraine-style robbery. On its Bollaert lawn, RC Lens experienced an incredible evening, Saturday September 16, during the 5th day of Ligue 1. Ultra-dominant in all areas of the game, notably with 31 shots against only 2 for Messins, Sang & Or lost 1-0, conceding their fourth defeat of the season. After five days of the championship, RC Lens already has as many setbacks as during the previous year.
Worse: with a small point on the clock, the RCL made the worst start in its history in Ligue 1 after five matches. Which does not bode well for the Artésiens, who begin their Champions League campaign on Wednesday in Seville. Even if the promises displayed in the game against Metz may augur a sunnier future, at the moment, the French vice-champions are unrecognizable.
The baraka flees
In the mining town, everything is a matter of point of view at the start of the season. The question is whether the glass is half empty or full. The optimists will remember the new intensity of the Lens game against Metz, and will note that among the three other defeats conceded, there was one in Paris, and another in Monaco, lawns which will undoubtedly see other big names bite dust in the coming months.
The pessimists will highlight the chronic lack of efficiency of the Lensois, who lost their trigger Loïs Openda this summer, replaced by Elye Wahi, who has not yet found his feet. But also the lack of character of a team orphaned by its captain, Seko Fofana, who gave in to the Saudi sirens during the summer, and of whom no one has the aura at the moment in the Artesian squad.
The groggy face displayed by Franck Haise after the meeting, completely stunned at the microphone of Canal+has also betrayed the concern which has spread to Lens in recent weeks. “I am more than disappointed with our start to the season.”conceded the Artesian coach, on the ropes, but trying to remain positive: “I have no concerns about the quality of my group, of my players. CIt’s cruel, that’s for sure, but we have to keep fighting, keep our heads straight, move forward. […] It’s a difficult time, it’s also part of the life of a group, of a club.”
A few minutes earlier, Florian Sotoca had had just as much difficulty verbalizing the Lensois ills, still on the microphone of Canal+ : “It’s quite inexplicable… […] It was an evening where nothing went our way, that’s part of football. Last year everything brought us together, this year it’s more difficult. We must not hit each other.”
Work as a refuge
The coach and his attacker then displayed the same leitmotif: it is thanks to work that the wheel will eventually turn. A speech also given by the goalkeeper of the French team, and Lensois captain, Brice Samba: “We’re going through a big zone of turbulence. We spoke to each other in the locker room, it’s this group that will come out of this. We have to show character and get back up.”
At the bottom of the hole, and perhaps bottom of Ligue 1 at the end of this 5th day in the event of Lyon’s success on Sunday, Lens did not expect this start to the season. Part of the Sang & Or public, renowned for its unwavering support, even whistled after this defeat against Metz, even if Franck Haise prefers not to dwell on it: “The whistles, the applause, that’s not my driving force”. His group will have to quickly put their heads back together.
On Wednesday, Lens begins its first Champions League campaign in 20 years, the third in its history. The Lensois will therefore meet on the lawn of the experienced Spanish club Sevilla FC, winner of the last Europa League. To forget a failed start to the championship and finally launch your season, there’s nothing like a European feat.