Racing Club Lens vs FC Nantes Atlantique
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Today’s free tip is in the Ligue 1 encounter between Racing Club Lens and FC Nantes Atlantique.
Under ordinary circumstances, this would be a fascinating game of football. I suppose it could still be, really – there’s certainly nothing to suggest that it definitely won’t be. However, with the complaints of the Les Canaris fans beginning to get louder and louder, the team is under more pressure to perform, which makes me doubt the visitors because they’ve not reacted well to it this season. By contrast, Racing Club Lens have got a lot of their injured players back so they’re mostly at full-strength with only Haidara and Traore out.
Personally, I like the FC Nantes Atlantique project, but recently their fans have complained about being bored to tears at watching the team go from side to side without penetrating. A good possession team like them only does that when lacking in confidence and/or the necessary personnel, and they do look short of confidence to me. The only real area they’re struggling for personnel in is their attack, where they’re still yet to acquire a consistently good finisher. Coulibaly ticks every other box – but not that one. It’s a shame because they’d be lethal with the right front man in that formation but without one, they can get a bit ‘samey’, especially if players like Moses Simon are on the sidelines, which he is at the moment.
Augustin has been brought in to play the striker role, and I won’t deny that he has the potential, but he’s been a peripheral player elsewhere for so long now that it’s hard to know what he’s got to offer right now. Instead, they’ve opted to play big Muani instead, a young lad from their academy, and it’s not really worked very well. They don’t have any issue with playing out wide, FC Nantes Atlantique, but I would not say that they play a conventional wide game, per se. They’re more inclined to play inside forwards, focusing on intricate passing or one-twos to create space rather than floating crosses. They do have very adventurous full-backs, which helps, but it’s still not the kind of team I expect to deliver particularly good crosses.
Subsequently, they’re struggling, FC Nantes Atlantique. They pass the ball wonderfully at times, but penetration is not something they’re particularly good at. Furthermore, their defence has suffered because teams have learned about their lack of penetration, and simply sat back against them, waiting for them to force more men forward, thus making them more susceptible to counterattacks. That’s even more apparent now that Pallois is out, who is their defensive leader, and is surprisingly mobile for his age too. Without him, their entire defensive setup falls to pieces, and boss Gourcuff said he’s not going to be fit until weekend at the earliest. The above is the foundation for opposing FC Nantes Atlantique right now, really – poor defence, lack of effective attacking, pressurised players.
I’d like to think Racing Club Lens can take advantage of that here. It’s obviously important that every team has its best players available for each game, but it’s even truer for the likes of Racing Club Lens because they’ve only just returned to Ligue 1 after a long time away. Subsequently, a lot of their squad are lower league players. Now, they did make tremendous pre-season signings, hence their incredibly impressive early season form, but they’ve needed their newbies to shine for that to happen – and they have. Over the past month or so though, they’ve had a lot of players out, and it’s shown in their results.
Cameroonian poacher Ganago made a brief cameo in their recent win, so he should be able to start now. Fofana’s lengthy (and numerous) injuries appear to now be behind him, given that he’s begun starting matches. Playmaker Kakuta looks as brilliant as ever, of course, and Medina has settled in really well in their defence. Their intimidating attackers always look better when Ganago is playing too. Take Jean, for example. He’s a very tricky customer, but there doesn’t tend to be an end product with him unless he’s playing alongside a proper striker. It all glues together well at Racing Club Lens, but the stipulation is that all of their best players are on the park at the same time, which they should be tonight.
Racing Club Lens have played some really good football this season. They’ve struck a really good balance between clever players and physical threats, as well as achieving a harmonious dressing room atmosphere (hard to believe with Ganago and Kakuta in it!). Everything feels very healthy at the club, if that makes sense. I’ve really liked what I’ve seen from them, I really liked their preparation for the campaign ahead, and I expect them to have a good campaign in which they comfortably preserve their Ligue 1 status because of it. I think this is an opportune time to face FC Nantes Atlantique, and assuming they take their chances, they should prove why.
At 9/10, I’m all over the home win in eastern France tonight.
Verdict: Racing Club Lens to win at 9/10.
Wednesday’s Thoughts
As ever, if there are any explanations required then please feel free to post a comment! For the remainder of my thoughts on today’s games, see below, although I feel compelled to write that the below are not necessarily my tips but merely my thoughts. For confidence ratings, you’ll need to go to the members section here.
UEFA Champions League:
Borussia Moenchengladbach vs Shakhtar Donetsk
Olympiakos Piraeus vs Manchester City
Bayern Munich vs Salzburg
Atletico Madrid vs Lokomotiv Moscow
Internazionale vs Real Madrid
Olympique de Marseille vs FC Porto
Liverpool vs Atalanta Bergamo
AFC Ajax Amsterdam vs FC Midtjylland
Copa Libertadores:
Independiente del Valle vs Club Nacional de Montevideo
Delfin vs Palmeiras
Internacional vs Boca Juniors
Libertad Asuncion vs Jorge Wilstermann
Copa Sudamericana:
Bolivar La Paz vs Atletico Lanus
Coquimbo Unido vs Sport Huancayo
Fenix vs Independiente
Belgian Eerste Klasse:
Cercle Brugge vs Royal Excel Mouscron
Brazilian Serie A:
Ceara vs Sao Paulo
Atletico Mineiro vs Botafogo
Coritiba vs Corinthians
Croatian Prva Liga:
Istra 1961 vs NK Osijek
Czech Republic Liga 1:
Ceske Budejovice vs Bohemians 1905
Faroese Logmanssteypid:
Vikingur Gota vs TB
07 Vestur Sorvagur vs HB Torshavn
NSI Runavik vs Skala
B36 Torshavn vs AB
French Ligue 1:
Racing Club Lens vs FC Nantes Atlantique
Israeli Ligat Ha’al:
Hapoel Hadera vs Bnei Sakhnin
MS Ashdod vs Maccabi Netanya
Beitar Jerusalem vs Maccabi Petah Tikva
Portuguese Liga 2:
Cova de Piedade vs SL Benfica II
Swiss Super League:
FC Sion vs Servette
FC Basel vs Lausanne Sport
Enjoy your free betting tips!