One look at the Ligue 1 table would suggest Lille are having a dreadful season. The current French Champions are predicted, together with Sporting Lisbon, to be one the teams-with-no-hope in the Champions League last 16, as France’s eleventh placed side face European champions Chelsea in Europe’s premiere competition.
Click Here:
A drop off was expected. If it wasn’t for the heroics of Burak Yilmaz, Lille probably would have squandered the title during the run-in last season. However, Chelsea supporters shouldn’t allow themselves to become overly confident. LOSC’s eight losses across Ligue 1 and the Champions League doesn’t sound too impressive but the context of those defeats is important. Lille have only lost twice in 18 games across all competitions, a run that stretches back to November and they’re still only six points off fourth-placed Strasbourg.
Overall, Lille don’t play too different to how they set up last season. When former Guingamp coach Jocelyn Gourvennec replaced Christophe Galtier in the Summer, it may have been tempting for Gourvennec to take the team in a different direction. Changing up their tactics, or at least their 4-4-2 formation which was used on 32 occasions last season, could have injected an adrenaline boost to stop play becoming stale at the Stade Pierre Mauroy. Instead, Gourvennec has stuck with his predecessor’s blueprint while adding his own tweaks.
Watch Lille in 2021/22 and you will still be able to spot the clear 4-4-2 deep-block out of possession. Benjamin André continues to anchor a double pivot in midfield, protecting 38-year-old Jose Fonte and 22-year-old Sven Botman in the heart of defence. The forward emphasis continues to be on pouncing quickly with lethal counter attacks. Still, they have the quality in players like, wide-man Jonathan Bamba, to unlock a deep sitting defence.
Adjustments under Gourvennec have largely been instigated by changes in personnel. Despite their vulnerable financial state, Lille were not picked apart as viciously as many expected but they’ve still lost key components of their 21/22 title side over the past nine months. Boubakary Soumaré completed a move to Leicester City last Summer while Mike Maignan was smartly snapped up by AC Milan after keeping the most league clean sheets in Europe’s top five leagues last season. In the winter transfer window, Reinildo Mandava was the third starter to leave, the left-back signing for Atlético Madrid. In their places, central midfielder Amadou Onana, Ivo Grbić in goal and Gabriel Gudmundsson at full-back have arrived.
Onana has clearly switched up the dynamics in midfield, as there are few like him in all of France, let alone at Lille. At 6’4, it’s tempting to think of the 20-year-old Belgian as a clunky, defensive midfielder. He has made up for the defensive output lost in Soumaré’s departure, averaging the fifth most tackles and interceptions per-90 minutes in Lille’s squad (FBRef). Yet, Onana also has an elegance with the ball at his feet. While Soumaré liked to progress the ball up the pitch through line-breaking passing, Onana prefers to carry the ball forward. This has made Lille more direct, speeding up the tempo of their moves.
Meanwhile, although youngster Leo Jardim is favourite to start in goal against Chelsea after Ivo Grbić’s recent poor form, the Atlético Madrid loanee goalkeeper has changed the way Lille play due to his more negative influence. He’s had strong games, but the 26-year-old Croatian is a clear step down from Maignan – as most goalkeepers would be. Maignan was saving Lille 0.13 goals per-90 according to FBRef’s post-shot-xG figures, which measuring the accuracy of shots faced, while Grbić is saving just 0.01 goals per-90.
He’s recently had some high profile errors too. The 1-5 drubbing by PSG will be one the Hadjuk Split academy product will never want to look back on. The squad clearly lack confidence in him compared to Maignan, which has led to Lille sitting deeper. They can’t rely on Maignan to bail them out anymore. Lille now average 49.8% possession, compared to 53.9% last season, showing how they’ve dropped back to better protect their own goal.
Although he isn’t a new signing, those tweaks in style have successfully maximised the ability of the Canadian striker Jonathan David. With 12 goals, the second highest in France – 38% of Lille’s league output, David’s form has often been galvanising this season. His acclimatization to French Football took long enough but the 22-year-old represents everything great about Ligue 1. He’s quick in both his speed and his decision making, consistently making the right pass in the midst of a counter attack and is able to finish with both feet. It’s vital Chelsea pay close attention and don’t give him a chance to get into the game. He’s scored against Sevilla, Salzburg, Wolfsburg, PSG, Monaco and Marseille this season and, despite a relative drought of one goal in his last eight games, he knows how to rise to the occasion.
Lille will go into the Champions League tie as under Dogues, something they’re more than used too. It’s the first time they have ventured outside the group stages since a controversial defat to Manchester United in 2006/07 and although, on a bad day, they can be swept aside (see OGC Nice 4-0 Lille), the danger they can cause shouldn’t be underestimated. Their form in the UCL has proved that this Lille team is suited to sitting back and catching the opposition off guard. Chelsea could end up taking part in the shock-loss of the round of 16 if they’re not careful.
Alex Barker