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ArseWeb presents: Arsenal vs Lens
The matches in the Champions League 1998-99 were the first
between Arsenal and RC Lens.
Total record
Champions League P W D L F A
Home 1 0 0 1 0 1
Away 1 0 1 0 1 1
Total P W D L F A
2 0 1 1 1 2
Recent record
(all links are to ArseWeb reports)
16/09/1998 away D 1 - 1 (Champions League)
25/11/1998 home L 0 - 1 (Champions League)
06/04/00 home (UEFA Cup semi-final 1st leg)
20/04/00 away (UEFA Cup semi-final 2nd leg)
Lens Info
Much thanks to Jean Francois Deveze for this information, last
updated March 29th 2000, for the uefa cup semi-final.
Racing Club de Lens
- Founded 1906, turned professional 1934
- The club spirit at RC Lens is rather similar to Arsenal' s. They (
roughly translated ) use too the idiom " Once a Lensois, always a
Lensois " and players generally give 100% to their supporters.
- Colours: red and yellow, hence their nickname "Sang et Or" (Blood & Gold). Good news is that their new home shirt is red with thin yellow vertical stripes so I assume we' ll wear our usual away kit this year
- Stadium capacity at the Stade Felix Bollaert is 41,500 and the average attendance last season around the 36,000 mark. The stadium
was used in France98 (including England vs Colombia).
- Their
average crowd was 28,000 in the
championship season 1997-98
The population of Lens is only 35000! The
high turn-out relative to this is due to support from the surrounding
conurbation and region.
- The town: Lens is a battle scarred town which lost nearly half its
population in the two World Wars . Its strategic location at the centre of
the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region and its rich coal deposits have made it a
crown jewel in historical conflicts. The most famous battle in the
region came when the Canadian army, aided by the British, stormed
Vimy Ridge in 1917 and scored a major victory. Lens has celebrated
this achievement with a memorial centre which includes a walking
tour of the underground tunnels and landscape of the site.
- Honours:
Div. One champions : 1943 & 1944 (Northern Conference), 1998
Div. Two champions : 1937, 1949, 1973
Coupe de France runners-up : 1948, 1975, 1998
Coupe de la Ligue winners : 1999
Coupe Gambardella (FA Youth Cup equivalent) winners : 1957, 1958, 1992 ;
runners-up : 1979, 1983, 1993, 1995
- They finished 6th in the league last season and entered the UEFA Cup after they defeated Metz 1-0 in the League Cup final
- RC Lens in Europe :
Champions League : Pld6, W2, D2, L2
ECWC : Pld4, W1, D1, L2
UEFA Cup : Pld32, W14, D10, L8.
- This is the first time in their history they' ve reached this stage of the competition after knocking out
- Maccabi Tel-Aviv (A 2-2, H 2-1),
- Vitesse Arnhem (H 4-1, A 1-1),
- Kaiserslautern (H 1-2, A 4-1),
- Atletico Madrid (A 2-2, H 4-2) and
- Celta Vigo (A 0-0, H 2-1)
Topscorers : Nouma, 5 ; Job, 3
- Squad changes:
Since we met in the C.L. last year they have lost Vairelles to Lyon, Dalmat to Marseille, Déhu to Barcelona, Smicer to Liverpool, Debève to Le Havre (on loan), Foé to West Ham.
With nearly half first-team changed, they had a poor start in the league which saw Daniel Leclercq being sacked by the end of September before first assistant François Brisson was appointed RCL coach.
His first decision was to revert from the previous 4-3-3 to a 4-4-2 ("diamond" midfield) formation.
- RC Lens are currently 12th in the league (Pld29, W10, D7, L12, GF31, GA33), only 3 points above the relegation zone. They were eliminated in the two french cups by lower divisions clubs at early stages.
- League topscorers : Sakho, 6 ; Nouma, 5 ; Job, 4
- Their regular centrebacks Ismaël and Pierre-Fanfan will both miss the first leg due to suspension, they are unimpressive anyway. Warmuz, Sikora and Queudrue are one booking away from suspension. Lens central defence is rather slow and one interesting stat (*) shows they have conceded 50+% league goals within the final 15 minutes of each period. Although having gained European experience, they are lacking power upfront and a leader since Tony Vairelles left. Cohesion and concentration ,or the lack of them, were/are also a problem new coach Brisson faced. But they' ll enjoy a ten day break before the first leg at THOF : no Lens player has been given a call-up against Scotland and the League Cup Semi-Finals are scheduled next week-end.
- The squad (stats are [hopefully] correct up to Mar, 27)
Goalkeepers :
1 - Guillaume Warmuz, 29yr, 264 games played in Div. One. Most consistent player and an ever-present this season, he has succeeded Déhu at captaincy. Doesn' t seem to trust much his two regular centrebacks and mainly sends the ball to the full-backs
16 - Sébastien Chabbert, 21yr is a promising keeper signed from AS Cannes
30 - Cédric Berthelin, 23yr
Defenders :
2 - Eric Sikora, 32yr, 369/14 gls. A one club player who made his league debuts against Sochaux back in October 1985, the right-back is good at taking free-kicks and rarely gives the ball away. He referred once to the famous Arsenal back four when asked if he was not too old to play first-team footy.
25 - Valérien Ismaël, 24yr, 132/1. You might remember him from his short spell at Crystal Palace. The tall sweeper is good in the air but struggles for pace and his distribution is erratic.
24 - José-Karl Pierre-Fanfan, 24yr, 37/2, partnered Ismaël at the heart of defence during the absence of Coly (see below). Ditto Ismaël
3 - Yoann Lachor, 24yr, 69/2, was their regular LB until...
28 - ...Franck Queudrue, 19yr, 11/1, replaced him. Can also play as a left-midfielder. A revelation : good left foot and works his socks out
22 - Xavier Méride, 24yr, 26/0, deputized for the CB slot. He seems to be out of favour at the moment.
13 - Youl Mawéné, 20yr, ?, 0. Never heard of him. Made a few appearances as a CB
14 - Ferdinand Coly, 26yr, 24/0. Another CB who joined Lens from Chateauroux but sustained a long-term knee injury earlier this season. Now back in the team, he played out of position at RB against Vigo last week and did well against Revivo
23 - Adama Coulibaly, 19yr, 5/0, is a tall Int' l CB from Mali
19 - Patrick Barul, 22yr, 41/0 deputizes for the RB slot
Midfielders
4 - Olivier Dacourt, 25yr, 149/6, is their best player. A Paul Ince, Paulo Mariner (!) and English footy fan, he has constantly been linked with us even during his Everton days. Is often compared to our Paddy and his passing is better
5 - Jocelyn Blanchard, 28yr, 135/10, joined Lens from Juventus after one wasted season in Italy during which he only played 12 league games. He usually plays a central/right role and has a powerful long-range shot : you better mark him closely on corners
26 - Charles-Edouard Coridon, 27yr, 101/8 is a composed player, some great skill but not enough work
18 - Philippe Brunel, 166/11, holds the left-handside of the midfield in the "diamond" formation, otherwise an out-and-out left winger. Is quick, never gives up and knows about crossing the ball. He takes the corner-kicks and set up the winner against Celta Vigo from the left for Nouma. Watch out Lee/Oleg!
6 - Cyril Rool, 24yr, 139/0. My favorite. 11 red cards collected in 5 years spent at top level, he has been booked 9 times this season and sent-off thrice! All this before his season ended one month ago when he underwent an op.
8 - Stéphane Collet, 27yr, 151/6 was plagued by a knee injury throughout this season
9 - Alex Nyarko, 26yr, 43/4, is a solid defensive midfielder from Ghana who can also play CB
12 - Redouanne El Ouardi, 18yr, 0/0
Forwards
20 - Lamine Sakho, 22yr, 19/6. Joined Lens from Nimes and has been called-up (twice?) for France U21s
11 - Joseph-Désiré Job, 22yr, 62/15, held dual citizenship before he opted for Cameroon to play at international level. He is tall, quick and unpredictable (MotM against Kaiserslautern away). Reminds me of West Ham' s new recruit Kanouté : besides, both were formed at Lyon
7 - Bruno Rodriguez, 27yr, 147/48, joined the club last winter from Bradford City. Good in the air, good right foot, he plays on the left of the front line and is at his best when cutting inside. Reports are he already had words with coach Brisson
21 - Pascal Nouma, 28yr, 222/54. Poor distribution, always make wrong choices. A better player when he' s off the ball, his main asset is his heading
10 - Daniel Moreira, 22yr, 107/15, was a regular member of the France U21 squad and has a good vision of the game. The forward/attacking midfielder is a bit lightweight perhaps.
27 - Olivier Bogaczyk, 23yr, 10/1
29 - Ludovic Delporte, 20yr, 7/0
- Probable team : Warmuz - Sikora, Coly, Nyarko, Lachor - Blanchard, Coridon, Dacourt, Brunel - Nouma, Sakho/Job
- Everyone at the club, from the President down to the fans looked enthusiastic at meeting Arsenal again, if not over-confident over the issue. The few players of current squad who were present at Wembley insist it was the most enjoyable moment in their career, with their fans outsinging us. They plan on http://www.multimania.com/martelweb to prepare for the return leg a warm welcome to LD2 by displaying large banners, so it could be wiser to play Oleg instead.
- RC Lens on the internet (this is a non-exhaustive list, most of these sites are in french only)
(*) http://www.multimania.com/racingclublens/ .A real must
http://www.chez.com/everoli/
http://bloodandgold.free.fr/index.shtml .The RCL Mailing-List website
(Archives available at http://www.egroups.com/list/rcl)
http://rclens.citeweb.net/index.htm
http://perso.club-internet.fr/dubos/GELENS.htm
http://www.racingclubdelens.com/default2.htm (official RCL website under construction)
Details on the stadium are available at http://www.france98.com/english/venues/venues/lens.html
- Non-Internet ressources
Racing Club de Lens, avenue Alfred-Maès, BP 236, 62304 Lens Cedex
Phone : +(0) 3 21 69 28 99 / Fax : +(0) 3 21 69 28 84
Stade Félix-Bollaert, avenue Alfred-Maès, 62300 Lens
Phone : +(0) 3 21 69 28 85
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