Lorient were promoted to Ligue 1 for the 2020/21 campaign as the 2019/20 Ligue 2 champions and life hasn’t entirely been comfortable for Les Merlus in the top-flight this term. They managed to secure just three wins and three draws in their first 19 games of the season, leaving them with just 12 points by the middle of the campaign, sitting in 19th place and looking on course for a drop straight back to Ligue 2.
However, the second half of the season has seen Lorient enjoy an upturn in form, with Christophe Pélissier guiding his side to five wins and five draws in their last 12 games. They’re now sitting in 17th place, with 32 points and just seven games remaining in the Ligue 1 season.
So, how have Pélissier and his players pulled off this turnaround? In this tactical analysis, in the form of a scout report, we’ll provide analysis of how Lorient have put themselves in a much more comfortable position heading into the final stretch of the season. We’ll analyse some changes that the 55-year-old coach has made to his tactics during the second half of the campaign so far and explain how those changes have helped relegation-battling Lorient to become one of France’s in-form sides.
Change in shape and statistical analysis
The catalyst of Lorient’s change in form has been a change in the shape with which they play. During the first half of the season, Les Merlus primarily used either a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1 formation, however, they’ve mainly played with a 5-4-1 over the last 12 games and they’ve also used a 5-3-2 in that time.
Lorient only played with a four-at-the-back formation in three of their last 12 games, with the Brittany-based club suffering their only two losses during this positive period in two of those three games.
So, Lorient’s results have clearly taken a turn for the better following their change in shape but what do the stats say about how their performance has differed over the last 12 games compared to the rest of the season?
Plenty of key stats would seemingly back up the claim that Pélissier’s decision to switch from playing primarily with two centre-backs to playing primarily with three centre-backs, starting with their 3-2 win over title challengers Paris Saint-Germain 11 games ago, was an inspired one in terms of boosting his team’s overall performance levels.
Firstly, Lorient have faced an average of 9.38 shots per 90 over the last 11 Ligue 1 fixtures from that PSG game onwards. This number is down from the average of 11.01 shots per 90 that they’ve faced thus far over the entirety of the 2020/21 league campaign.
Secondly, Lorient have engaged in an average of 75 defensive duels per 90 over the last 11 games, which is essentially equal to the 75.03 defensive duels per 90 they’ve engaged in, on average, for the 2020/21 season, however, their defensive duel success rate has improved during this successful period, as they’ve won 61.22% of their defensive duels during the last 11 games, compared to 58.8% for the whole league season so far.
As well as that, Les Merlus have managed to make an average of 44.64 interceptions per 90 over the last 11 games, which is an improvement on the average of 42.23 interceptions per 90 that they’ve made thus far in Ligue 1 this term.
It’s not just defensively that this switch to playing with three centre-backs more often than not has boosted Lorient’s stats, however. They’ve also seen an improvement in some key areas offensively. For example, Les Merlus have taken an average of 11 shots per 90 over the last 11 games, which is an increase on the average of 10.46 shots per 90 that they’ve taken overall this season.
Furthermore, it’s worth noting that Lorient are a heavily counterattack-focused side. One consequence that has come largely as a result of this is that they have kept the third-lowest average percentage of possession (44.8%) of any side in France’s top-flight this season.
This style of attack has helped Lorient to score more goals (37) than as many as seven other teams in their first season back in the top-flight. In contrast, they’ve conceded the joint-second-most goals (54) of any Ligue 1 team this season, so it’s clear that their defence has performed far worse than their attack during the 2020/21 campaign, in general.
Lorient have made an average of 3.48 counterattacks per 90 this season in Ligue 1, however, they’ve had four or more counterattacks a higher number than average in seven of their 11 games since switching to playing primarily with three centre-backs versus PSG on 31st January.
So, it’s clear that Pélissier’s tactical alterations have led to some statistical improvements in several key areas for Lorient of late. Offensively, they’re enjoying more counterattacks one of their main routes to goal this season and taking more shots than they had been in the first half of the season, while they’re generally now limiting their opponents to fewer shots at goal while winning more defensive duels and making more interceptions.
Lorient defending against counterattacks
While Lorient have effectively used counterattacks to their advantage to score goals in Ligue 1 this season, they’ve also been quite susceptible to conceding goals from opposition counterattacks during the 2020/21 campaign.
They’ve conceded a lot of goals on the counter primarily for two reasons. Many of the chances and goals that they’ve conceded from opposition counterattacks have come after they’ve lost possession in the middle third of the pitch while building an attack of their own, while they also tend to place at least one full-back/wing-back far up the pitch during the build-up, if not both, which has led to their backline getting overloaded fairly easily on the counter.
Figure 1 shows a typical example of Lorient building into the middle third of the pitch from their centre-backs while playing with four-at-the-back. In this particular case, they’re utilising a 4-3-3. This image is from an away clash with Nice back in December.
At this moment, Les Merlus’ right-back is positioned centrally, alongside the central midfielders, while the left-back is positioned high on the left-wing. Meanwhile, three Nice players are sitting in between these centre-backs and Lorient’s next line, so it’s clear how the centre-backs could easily get outnumbered in the case of a turnover occurring and the ball being played quickly up to the other end of the pitch.
