An up and down week for Lens

By: Jay | September 30th, 2007

When it rains it pours as the often heard expression goes. For Lens a spate of injuries as well as managerial and front office miscues continue to plague the northern club. This week served as a perfect example. First, the news that Kader Mangane would miss three games due to suspension and a myriad of complicated regulatory trappings which will prevent the prized signing from playing for three straight matches.

Then there is Vitorino Hilton, venerable team skipper and one of the best defenders to ever don a Lens jersey goes down for most of the year. Needless to say, Hilton was the heart of the squad after the departure of Seydou Keita and there is no way the sang et or will be the same without him.

A slight hint of hope emerged during the week with a Coupe de La Ligue victory in a northern derby matchup against rivals Lille provided a ray of hope. Luigi Pieroni’s early goal assured Lens’ passage through the first round. The defense was solid throughout and the hard fought victory seemed to be a good preparation for the clash with Lyon.

The Lyon Debachle

The events leading up to wednesday’s Ligue 1 matchup at the Stade de Gerland could not fortell the devastating consequences the men in the blood and gold would face. Actually, they weren’t even in the blood and gold, creamsicle orange and white was the soup du jour.

At the risk of sounding like a whining sore loser, the officials at Lyon were quite simply horrific. In fact, coach Jean-Pierre Papin after the game remarked, “it was the officials who made the difference.” From Toulalan’s hand ball to questionable penalties on Jonathan Lacourt and Adama Coulibaly being in Lyon the referees seemed to be contemplating what sumptuous meal to indulge in after the match in France’s gastronomic capital instead of the contest at hand.

Lens 4-4-2 formation seemed to work well early with some spectacular interplay between Razak Boukari and Aruna Dindane. It seems everytime they actually let Boukari play he makes things happen. Lens needs to find a way to consistently pair up Dindane, Boukari and Akale with Seid Khiter also getting in the mix. But I suspect Papin will continue to rely on mediocre or washed up players like Pieroni, Lacourt and Monterrubio. I also suspect this will effectively aid in keeping Lens firmly planted at the bottom of the league table as well as a curt au revoir from UEFA.

As for Lyon, well they played like Lyon which means they made Lens pay for stupidity and capitalized on the officials’ incompetence. After all, this is what good teams do. I would like to hear Inara’s take on a few things like, what exactly is Lyon planning to do with Nadir Belhadj? Granted, Fabio Grosso had one of his better games against Lens but I see Belhadj as an up and coming star. Furthermore, what are the plans for Johan Hartock? Are they planning on playing him? How about sending him to Lens? We need all the help we can get. Besides, I know Bernard Lama thinks the world of Hartock and whenever the great Lama speaks, I listen.

So then, another odd week for our beloved northern giants, despite some positives the overall outlook remains grim. No matter how bad the officials were at Lyon we did NOT deserve to win and this team deserves to be where they are in the league table. President Gervais Martel has made several questionable moves since last years’ dumping of Jussie and Olivier Thomert, the nonsensical loan of Issam Jemma and the poor treatment of Itandje as well as the Guy Roux debachle which also led to the departure of Bonaventure Kalou to the Emirates. It seems we are in for a wild ride this season. Let’s just hope it ends here in Ligue 1.