Lens – MHSC: With Will, Lens has changed Still as coach

Will Still et ses deux frères sur le banc amènent leur touche. MAXPPP – COURBE

Le nouvel coach lensois amène sa patte petit à petit et les résultats commencent à s’améliorer.

He waited thirteen days. Will Still, the new Lens coach, dared to change tactics, after twelve days playing in a system that was broadly identical to his embarrassing predecessor, Franck Haise.
Gone is the 3-4-3 that had made Lens successful, taking them to the Champions League two years ago and even to the preliminary round of the Europa Conference League this season.

The former Reims coach, who had somewhat stepped into his predecessor's shoes, simply changing the animation of his attack with a ten behind two attackers instead of two attacking midfielders supporting a striker, has switched to a 4-2-3-1 system. With success and a convincing victory in Reims (0-2) against his former team as a symbol.

Sotoca and Gradit downgraded

“There were definitely things to change. There were choices to make. We made them in all honesty, in all transparency with everyone. There are still things to respect. That's what we're going to continue to do”, declared the Lens coach after the match.

Among these decisions, besides the system, were those to exclude from the starting eleven two historic players, since they have been at Lens since Ligue 2, Florian Sotoca and Jonathan Gradit, even though the striker came into play. The defender is a victim of the move to four but also of the competition with the young Abdukodir Khusanov, of the non-departure in the transfer window of the solid Kevin Danso, the Argentinian Facundo Medina shifting to the left side.

The freshness of youth

A reorganization that benefited the youngsters Remy Labeau-Lascary, Andy Diouf, Neil El Ayanoui, M’Bala Nzola and Anass Zaroury. They brought a certain freshness to a squad that needed renewal. While this amalgamation took hold and the Will Still method took hold, the results were bumpy since the start of the season, like the five consecutive draws between September and October.

While Lens lost to the big names in the championship (Lille, PSG and Marseille), it won against the weakest (Saint-Etienne, Nantes) and plans to continue against Montpellier. Especially since it is a special match since Sainte-Barbe, the saint of the miners, will be celebrated with a special jersey. “We feel the excitement around this party and it perfectly reflects the identity and values ​​of the club”, Will Still stressed, in a press conference.

Who is wary of Montpellier, however. “It's a team with good individualities and excellent offensive qualities. They've taken half of their points in the last three days against big L1 teams.” MHSC will be taken seriously.

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