Team Focus: Lille Still Not Pretty, but Hard to Budge

It was, as L’Equipe later wrote with some understatement, “a strange day” at the Stade Louis II. With Monaco’s late withdrawal of Radamel Falcao from their squad – and his subsequent presence next to agent Jorge Mendes and Monaco vice-president Vadim Vasilyev in the directors’ box, and the Colombian frequently checking his mobile ‘phone – few eyes were on the football in the Principality on late Saturday afternoon. Critics of visitors Lille, and of their coach René Girard, would probably say that would be no great loss.

That would be hard on them and especially Girard, who has done a phenomenal job since arriving at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy just over a year ago, despite initial misgivings among the club’s supporters. Their current face is as much a result of nature as it is of nurture. The expansive football practiced for the majority of the Rudi Garcia era is no more, but one has to look at the players that the now-Roma boss had at his disposal. Eden Hazard, Adil Rami and Yohan Cabaye – all part of the double-winning side of 2011 – are just the tip of the iceberg. Girard has never enjoyed the same resources, as Lille absorb the financial implications of maintaining their impressive new stadium. 

That drop-off in quality was acutely evident in Tuesday’s Champions League play-off elimination by Porto. Girard’s men played bravely and at full tilt, actually having more shots at goal than their hosts (10 to 8) as they necessarily threw caution to the wind to a degree in their 4-3-3. Yet Julen Lopetegui’s team controlled the tie, mastering 57% of possession (in what was a fairly circumspect interpretation of the same 4-3-3 by their standards) and, crucially, got half of their 8 efforts at goal on target. Lille managed just one.

With goals desperately needed in northern Portugal, it might have been unusual for some to see last season’s top scorer Salomon Kalou in the stands, but a departure has been on the cards for a while. He was absent again at Monaco, with official confirmation of his transfer to Hertha Berlin coming through on Sunday morning. Supporters unhappy with Kalou’s product given his big wages will not be sorry to see him go, but whatever one’s opinion of the value-for-money or otherwise he offered Girard’s team, it is clear that the player who registered 16 Ligue 1 goals and 5 assists last season (directly implicating him in 46% of Lille’s 46 goals) will need replacing. Spartak Moscow’s Majeed Waris, the scorer of 8 goals (plus 3 assists) in 14 games on loan at Valenciennes, had been tracked as a replacement, though Girard and his board look to have their work cut out to get a deal sealed before the transfer deadline passes.

If either Kalou or Waris had been leading the line at the Louis II, they would probably have struggled to make an impact. This was Les Dogues at their most obstinate and gritty, partly in reaction to their Champions League elimination but also a manifestation of their reversion to type; keeping a good shape, doing the basics well and being hard to break down. Their combativeness was epitomised by Girard’s son, fitness coach Nicolas, being sent off after referee Saïd Ennjimi failed to caution Dimitar Berbatov for a high boot on captain Rio Mavuba. Naturally, Girard senior contested Nicolas’ dismissal and was given his marching orders by Ennjimi too.

On the pitch, however, things went fairly much to plan. Reconvened in in a 4-3-1-2 to accommodate young playmaker Rony Lopes from the start, Lille were their economical selves, having just 4 efforts on goal while taking just 43% of possession. Yet having said Kalou or Waris might have been quiet in this context, we could say the same about Falcao himself. Lille restricted the home side to getting just 2 efforts on target. Leonardo Jardim, a coach rarely keen to let things drift, replaced Valère Germain with the more direct Anthony Martial at half-time. The teenager did manage one of Monaco’s on-target attempts, but contributed little else, matching Germain’s modest 22 touches in 45 minutes.

Credit for this must go to Girard and his players, with regulars Simon Kjaer and Pape Souaré taking the initiative in the absence of captain Marko Basa. Kjaer and Souaré made 11 and 12 clearances respectively, while Sébastien Corchia – returned to right-back after being used in an advanced role in both legs of the Porto tie – contributed 4 tackles. 

In front of the defence, the three of Jonathan Delaplace (preferred to the experienced Florent Balmont), Rio Mavuba and Idrissa Gueye made things tough for Geoffrey Kondogbia, Jérémy Toulalan and the struggling João Moutinho. They made 7 tackles and 5 interceptions between them and – crucially for limiting Monaco – restricted the most creative of the three, Moutinho, to successfully landing just 68% of his passes.

Lopes, as previously discussed in this column, will continue to grow and it is easy to see why Girard might like to use him behind a front two of Ryan Mendes and Nolan Roux, as was the case in Monaco. The front pair combined for Lille’s first-half goal, with Mendes’ pace taking him wide to lay on a tap-in for the former Brest striker. The pair’s foraging and movement makes them able to make up for an apparent lack of width in the side, with Lopes providing a central threat at the same time. 

The goal also underlined Girard’s enduring tactical nous. None other than Monaco goalkeeper Danijel Subasic had underlined his team’s vulnerability to counter-attacks earlier this week, with Jardim requiring his side to press high. Mendes and Roux had the pace to exploit this, and did so perfectly to give their side the lead.

In the end, a point was decent reward for Lille after a tough week – and a warning to opponents Everton, Wolfsburg and Krasnodar in a tough-looking Europa League group that their hunger is still there. It left Girard and company sitting pretty in second place on Saturday night. 

It hasn’t felt like Lille have started the season explosively, but that is their way under Girard. They will continue to get under their rivals’ skin.

How do you see Lille faring this season? Let us know in the comments below