Matchday: Lens-Auxerre (Stade Félix-Bollaert)

By: Xavier | August 14th, 2009

Lens faces Auxerre in this the second week of the 2009/2010 Ligue 1 campaign. Gametime is slated for Saturday, August 15 at 19:00 GMT. The match marks the return of Ligue 1 football to the Stade Felix Bollaert and the football crazy fans of Pas-de-Calais will be out in full force after suffering a long and dreadful season in the unfamiliar territory of Ligue 2.

Geoffrey Doumeng will once again be out injured while Aruna Dindane, Kanga Akale and Sidi Keita will once again languish in the reserve squad. The transfer of these players is now imminent but the impending deals have yet to materialize. A reality that has many Lens faithful worried and Coach Jean-Guy Wallemme frustrated.

The club needs the potential income from these three rated players in order to bring in a play-making midfielder and a central defender. But the question remains, if Lens has not gotten the deals that they have requested then why not play these quality starters in the meantime? There is no doubt that all three players provide an upgrade from much of what is featured today. I guess we will have to wait until the end of the month to find out what it all means.

In the meantime Auxerre is facing serious problems with their attack. Definitely out are rated forwards Ireneusz Jelen, Julien Quercia and Alexandre Licata. Coach Jean Fernandez will indeed be wondering where in the world the goals are going to come from. Auxerre looked pretty dreadful against Sochaux last week and there is not much to suggest they will fare better at the Stade Felix Bollaert.

Former Lens legend Adama Coulibaly will feature for the Auxerrois. He joined the club after Lens were relegated and were forced to unload many of their stars. Affectionately known as “popo” during his nine year stint with the sang et or, Coulibaly paired with Brazilian Vitorino Hilton to form one of the best defensive lines in Ligue 1. The official Lens website interviewed the Mali international and can be read in French here:

http://www.rclens.fr/infos_2009/08/14_itw_coulibaly/index.php#ancreContenu

Le Groupe Lensois: Atrous, Kasraoui, Runje; Chelle, El Adoua, Hermach, Laurenti, Ramos, Yahia; Demont, Jemaa, Kovacevic, Milovanovic, Sow; Boukari, Eduardo, Joseph-Monrose, Maoulida, Monnet-Paquet.

Le Groupe Auxerrois: Sorin, Riou; Hengbart, A. Coulibaly, Mignot, Grichting, Berthod; Pedretti, Ndinga, Narry, Dudka, Birsa, Chafni, Lejeune, A. Traoré; Oliech, Contout, Niculae

Viewing Options: No television in north America. Can be seen in Europe through a Canal Plus subscription or through Hot Bird 8 (free to air) outside of France. I will update if some streaming options become available.