Lens urged to respond after Lille rout as Thomasson says team was unrecognisable | OneFootball

According to L'Équipe, Pierre Sage will use the LFP’s 13-day pause to try to revive senior players after Lens lost 0-3 at Lille on Saturday.

The slide began with a 1-2 defeat at Lorient on 14 March, then came their heaviest league loss of the season in Lille. Title hopes now look remote, attention turns to a reaction.

Adrien Thomasson said the squad would keep their heads down for a couple of days, urged against overthinking, and called it a non-match in which they were below par everywhere and barely recognised themselves.

He rejected fitness concerns, saying they are physically fine, but admitted explanations are elusive and that personality was missing.

Across the pitch Matthieu Udol, Malang Sarr, Thomasson and Florian Thauvin all struggled at once, despite being the four most used outfielders among 29 across 32 matches, with only Sarr under 30.

Depth remains an issue despite winter arrivals Arthur Masuaku, Amadou Haidara and Allan Saint-Maximin, especially centrally, with injuries to Jonathan Gradit, Kyllian Antonio and Samson Baidoo pushing 19-year-old Nidal Celik into the XI as a seventh-choice.

Ruben Aguilar’s injury has also kept Saud Abdulhamid from resting at right-back. Lens, along with Paris-SG, are still in two competitions, face Toulouse in the Coupe de France semi on 21 April, and their league meeting has been moved from 11 April to 13 May. If Sage can use the break to reset his leaders, they could yet steady themselves for the run-in.

Source: L'Équipe