The Lens striker, Florian Sotoca, was completely motionless as he looked into the middle space from the bench. The game, finely poised at 2-1 with a few minutes remaining, was not beyond his side, but that is not the story his troubled face told.

Marseille had just restored their lead thanks to a goal from substitute Keyliane Abdallah. Bruno Génésio’s men would go on to take all three points and continue their unlikely charge up the table, but the atmosphere at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis was morose before Marseille had even stepped on the pitch. The match did little to lift the mood at the end of a week in which Lens made unwanted history.

A pre-match banner unfurled by Lens fans that called the players a “disgrace” had not even been put away when a miscommunication between Jonathan Gradit and Samson Baidoo gifted Marseille the lead after 82 seconds. The former’s pass dribbled towards the goalline and was tapped in by Amine Gouiri from just a yard out.

It was a disastrous start for Lens, who recorded the joint-heaviest defeat in Champions League history last week. The 9-1 thrashing by Como was also the heaviest home loss in the competition’s history. Yannick Cahuzac, the Lens manager, called it a “humiliation”. The club’s president, Joseph Oughourlian, scrawled the words: “never again” inside the dressing room. Losing to Marseille on Sunday was not as chastening but the defeat posed more questions about the club’s recent decisions.

When Cahuzac, a friend of sporting director Jean-Louis Leca, stepped up from his assistant role in September to replace Dino Toppmöller, who lasted just six games, there were accusations of cronyism. Cahuzac’s stint so far has been a poor advert for the practice.

After three defeats in the league, winless in the Champions League, a derby defeat to Lille, a record-breaking loss to Como, and the wheels have well and truly come off at Lens; the jury is out on whether Cahuzac can set them back in motion. It was one of his former teammates, Florian Thauvin, who equalised for Lens against Marseille – his former club – with a close-range header. The playmaker, a harsh omission from Zinedine Zidane’s latest France squad, has been a rare bright spot in an increasingly gloomy situation.

Génésio said earlier in the season that these were the kinds of games Marseille could compete in but not win. But, as the French maxim goes, “le foot va vite” (football moves quickly). The tide has turned in Marseille; five league wins in a row have taken Marseille from the relegation zone to the Champions League places.

Génésio says his team’s fragile revival exists on “a knife’s edge”, however recent results – including a win at Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League last week – have fed into growing optimism that his limited squad (both in quality and quantity) might avoid the abject season that fans had assumed was inevitable. The achievement belongs to Génésio, as does this win, secured by substitute Abdallah.

The academy product was banished to the reserves after his performance against Le Havre last month. Génésio criticised “a kind of lobbying around the young players” (from whom he did not specify) and held firm on his stance. He got the desired response. Re-integrated, Abdallah popped up at the back post to give Marseille a win that has taken them up to fourth in the table. They were second from bottom before the last international break.

Lens have replaced Marseille as France’s crisis club. After the match the home players did a tour of the pitch, applauding the fans for their support. In response, the fans unfurled a banner that read: “Shame on you.” Le foot va vite. Just six months ago fans packed into the Bollaert in the wee hours of the morning to welcome home their heroes after they had won the Coupe de France final. That feels like a lifetime ago for the players, fans and Pierre Sage, the manager who delivered that trophy.

“We are sick,” admitted Cahuzac after the match. There has been soul-searching but also plenty of finger pointing. Cahuzac says he “isn’t worried” about his job. Despite the growing pressure, he certainly has reasons to feel reassured but his friend, Léca, is also under a bit of fire after a second summer transfer window considerably less successful than his first. Jean-Clair Todibo, Thorgan Hazard and Franjo Ivanovic all arrived with high expectations but have fallen way short of them.

The fans had a banner for Léca, too, calling out his “shit interview” after the defeat to Como. They wanted an “apology”. They did not get one but it is certainly a sorry state of affairs at Lens.

Talking points

Monaco won their third game in a row in the Conference League last week, but their 1-1 draw at Le Mans was their fifth straight game without a win in Ligue 1. Filipe Luís says they need to “cleanse the minds” over the international break. When Monaco last won in Ligue 1 – against Lens in September – they were top of the table. They now sit seventh. The goals have dried up for Paris Brunner, Folarin Balogun – returning from injury – has yet to replicate the form that attracted Premier League interest and Matthis Abline put in an anonymous display against Le Mans. Monaco were reliant on a defensive blunder to open the scoring through Mamadou Coulibaly, who could be in trouble for a throat-slit celebration. Brunner was punished for a similar celebration earlier this season, although on that occasion it was directed towards the opposition fans. Le Mans, who equalised in the 90th minute through Erwan Colas, are also without a league win since September, but there was a strong show of support for manager Patrick Videira from the home fans, who also took a dig at the club’s unpopular football adviser Bruno Cheyrou. He evidently would not have popular support if he were to instigate a managerial change.

From cleansing minds at Monaco to exorcising demons at Nice. The club endured a shocking 2025-26 campaign, during which the relationship between fans, the players, and the club reached breaking point. It ended with Nice narrowly avoiding relegation to Ligue 2, thanks to a playoff win over Saint-Étienne. A new manager, Olivier Pantaloni, and a new sporting director, Roger Ricort, came in over the summer, but the players and Pantaloni continued to speak of the scars of the previous campaign. They showed in the opening four games, none of which Le Gym managed to win. Since then, however, only PSG have taken more points. Nice’s 2-0 win at Angers means they have picked up 15 points from their last possible 18. The club are now in European contention. Pantaloni is once again working his magic, just as he did at Lorient last season.