Lens disgraced in Paris….3-0. Sad day for French football.

By: Jay | January 14th, 2008

A sad day for French football indeed as one of its historic clubs takes another precarious step towards relegation. Sunday’s match in Paris exposed the Lens management for the blunders it has commited with last season’s dubious swaps and the ultimate destruction of the club’s nucleus during the disasterous summer transfer period.

On to the action……..

It took until the 37th minute for the first real chance of the match. Peguy Luyindula thought he had given PSG the lead as his low shot beat Lens hapless Croation keeper Vedran Runje, but the equally ineffective Milan Bisevac raced back to clear and prolong the inevitable.

Seconds later Lens should have gone in front as Razak Boukari making a rare start, raced down the left wing before firing a 30-yard screamer towards goal which PSG and France keeper Mickael Landreau somehow managed to parry. The move to spring for an opening and the subsequent shot demonstrated the young Boukari’s ample abilities.

PSG coach Paul Le Guen brought Amara Diane on in the 42nd minute and the talented Ivory Coast striker almost made an instant impact as his six-yard header crashed off the crossbar leaving a rattled Runje dreading what was to come.

PSG legend Pedro Pauleta, the record goalscorer for Portugal, came off the bench in the 54th minute and immediately changed the course of the match.

Diane dribbled past Lens defender Lucien Aubey before crossing the ball in for the striker to volley home. The Parisian crowd was instantly whipped into a frenzy and one had the feeling it was all over for the stunned Lensois of Jean-Pierre Papin.

However, Lens came close to equalising seconds after the restart but Landreau kept his concentration well to deflect away debutant Nadir Belhadj’s fierce drive from the edge of the penalty area. It would have been a beautiful start to the talented Algerian’s fledgling career at Lens but a fine save from Landreau prevented glory.

Seven minutes later the result was put beyond doubt after two stunning Diane goals. The crowd at the Parc de Princes had not witnessed such joy all season long and it took a dilapidated Lens side to provide the fodder for the late night celebrations seen throughout Paris on this Sunday night.

The Ivorian streaked into the penalty box to volley Jerome Rothen’s cross into the top corner in the 65th minute.

And just two minutes later headed in at the near post to finish off a great move started by man-of-the-match Rothen.

And so it goes…..

In an effort to remain positive as coach Papin stated in the post game press conference “we need to keep our heads up,” I will mention certain things that were so obviously nauseating as to merit comment.

Nenad Kovacevic our overrated Serbian defensive midfielder was absolutey offensive in the worst sense of the term.

Countless times he gave the ball away or seemed to disrupt an already inept attack with his stilting midfield mishaps.

Julien Sable does not even deserve to be playing at Ligue 1 in my most humble opinion and perhaps starting him over Kader Mangane is another reason Papin finds himself firmly in the relegation zone and facing impending sacking.

Milan Bisevac also turned in another one of his signature pathetic performances. Honestly, I don’t know what Lens president Gervais Martel sees in his newfound eastern European recruiting tours. Maybe he is using football as excuse to enjoy from the vast quantities of eastern European models there are to be found throughout the region.

And so it goes Lensois, and so it goes…….