The Expert: Lille’s rebuild already underway as takeover awaits

How great is a great escape if it’s already been done relatively recently? In the words of Sunday’s edition of L’Equipe, “only two weeks have gone by and we’re already asking ourselves if Lille are still concerned with the battle to stay up.” If the briefest of glances at the Ligue 1 table tells us that the Nord-Pas-de-Calais club are still only three points clear of third-bottom Bastia - who occupy the play-off spot - precedent suggests that they will not hang about to look over their shoulders after Saturday’s fine win at Bordeaux.

Having been stuck in 18th position at exactly the same point - after 16 matches - last season, Lille showed exactly what sort of acceleration they are capable of, even flirting with the possibility of a Champions League spot before eventually finishing 5th. The mastermind of that run, coach Frédéric Antonetti, is no longer there after a tough start to this campaign, but another comeback from another brush with danger is already underway.

Since Antonetti left on November 22nd, nobly waiving his right to compensation, despite a contract signed only in September that ran until 2020, his erstwhile assistant Patrick Collot has been at the helm and, remarkably, has quickly begun to steady the ship. Two successive wins in the space of five days have moved the 2011 champions up from second-bottom to 14th.   

Collot, perhaps out of respect to his former boss, said after the Bordeaux victory that “the credit has to go to the players,” and pointed out the return to fitness of the likes of Rony Lopes and Naim Sliti. His tactical adjustments have clearly helped, though, as Lille have abandoned their previous 4-3-3 - which nicely suited their previous star turn Sofiane Boufal - for a 4-2-3-1. The measured words of experienced defender Renato Civelli, who said that the players had “perhaps been liberated a bit” by Antonetti’s exit, ring true.

If Collot’s opening match in charge - a goalless draw at Nantes that was even worse than it sounds, between two sides with very little confidence - didn’t bode well, the two games since have been Lille’s best in a while. With Ibrahim Amadou and another returnee, Claudio Ranieri favourite Mounir Obbadi, in place to protect the defence, the quartet in front of Éder, Sliti, Lopes and the previously exiled Yassine Benzia have been given licence to create. The effect on Benzia in particular has been clear. A highly-rated young talent from Lyon’s academy who has struggled to impose himself in the top flight since, he rated 7.92 and 7.35 respectively in this week’s wins against Caen and Bordeaux, having failed to attain a rating above seven in his previous six Ligue 1 games this season, flourishing in a number 10 role that not many would have envisaged him being given.   

Lopes has perhaps been the standout of the Collot regime to date, though, having played every minute since he has been in charge. The on-loan Monaco man was the difference in that attacking performance against Caen - scoring, taking five efforts at goal overall, supplying two key passes and rating of 10 for the match, just ahead of Sliti (9.41).   

Arguably Lopes had already set the recovery in motion in his comeback cameo in Antonetti’s last match in charge, the home defeat to Lyon. The 20-year-old energised the team during his 23 minutes on the pitch, even though they were a goal and a man down, and forced his compatriot Anthony Lopes into an excellent save from a long-range free-kick, one of two efforts at goal in that time.   

There’s no doubt, however, that there’s been a considerable move forward under Collot. That Sliti and another summer signing, Nicolas de Preville, a goalscoring substitute against Caen and then a starter at Bordeaux instead of the injured Éder, have both got their first Ligue 1 goals for the club under the new regime is notable.    

It was de Preville who netted the winner at Bordeaux and given his superior pace and mobility, one might have understood his inclusion in the XI even if Portugal’s Euro 2016 goal hero had been available. Yet there was never any suggestion of Lille being reactive in what looked like a tough task before kick-off. Pressing high with that enterprising front four, Bordeaux were overrun in the first half. Lille got seven efforts on target in the opening 45 minutes, with Bordeaux not managing a single one of their own. That Jérôme Prior, Girondins’ goalkeeper, was the star man (8.07) tells you everything you need to know about the direction of traffic. Had de Preville not given the visitors the lead just ahead of the interval, it would have been an injustice.

De Preville has been symptomatic of Lille’s problems, signed by Oostende in August and immediately loaned to the club - they share directorship with the Belgians - to circumvent a league ban on them spending. With Gérard Lopez, the Luxembourg-based businessman who was within a hair’s breadth of taking the reins at Marseille, poised to complete his purchase of Lille, that should be a thing of the past. There is a sense of anticipation at a club that has struggled with the financial scale involved with a far larger stadium.   

Whether the current custodian will get a chance from the new ownership is debatable, with Marcelo Bielsa and Laurent Blanc among the high-spec figures linked with the vacant coach’s role. What is certain is that players like Lopes have every bit of the flair to be a part of that exciting new future, which, under Collot, looks like it has already started.