Without many players (El Aynaoui, Aguilar, Labeau-Lascary, Satriano and Saïd injured, Khusanov suspended, Samba awaiting departure or Medina remaining in Argentina this week for personal reasons), RC Lens will try to get off to a good start the year 2025. The arrival of Toulouse this Sunday appears to be one of these opportunities not to be missed to establish a lasting position in the fight for Europe and alleviate the related concerns in the winter transfer window.
The somewhat turbulent news of the winter transfer window tends to make us forget it, but the most important event of the week for RC Lens will take place from 3 p.m. this Sunday in Bollaert: the Sang et Or will host Toulouse , with the objective of winning against a mid-table team to enter the Top 6 of the championship.
The Artesians, who are presented to us as calm in the face of the uncertainties of the winter transfer window but who will have to demonstrate it on the field, have left us with an interesting end to 2024 and Angelo Fulgini hopes to see the team continue its momentum : “ We were well on our way to the end of the year. The Paris match in the Coupe de France was also good despite the elimination on penalties so I think we need to continue this momentum, winning this weekend against Toulouse. Afterwards, the objective will be to continue against Le Havre the following week. We have to continue what we have done well in the last few weeks before this break. I don’t think we will be disrupted (editor’s note: by the transfer window). We’re big boys with a lot of experience, so we’ll just get the job done. »
Racing will host a team from Toulouse which got a taste of Europe last season thanks to its victory in the Coupe de France in 2023 and which aspires to find it again too. TFC is 9th with 21 points, 3 lengths behind Racing which therefore has the opportunity to open a gap with another candidate for Europe. “ Toulouse is very interesting. It’s a good team which is in good form, which closed last year well (5 wins and 2 defeats in the last 7 matches of 2024, as well as qualification for the Coupe de France), note Will Still. They have a very pronounced, very direct style of play, with a lot of verticality in what they do. They are very reactive to counter-pressing, they manage to put a lot of teams in difficulty with the depth they have and the profile of players in their team. There will be a lot of intensity in the match, a lot of racing. And it’s up to us to be good, to use the ball wisely. They’re not necessarily a team that keeps the ball for a long stretch, but when they have it, they’re very effective with it. We took the time to prepare things well. We will try to put in place a system or an animation to put them in difficulty. And try to take three points to start the year well at home. »
« We made a lot of videosconfirms Angelo Fulgini. It’s a team that plays a rather direct game with attackers who are fast and powerful. So it’s up to us to be careful on long balls. They will try to play deep behind our defense. I think we have to put our game in place, we don’t let them play and we have to use a lot of intensity to put them in difficulty. » RC Lens will also have to seize this opportunity to improve their record at home, not really up to par with Bollaert with 11 points taken in 7 days (12th in the home rankings). Above all, a victory would allow us to approach 2025 calmly despite the turpitudes of the transfer window.
Christophe Schaad, with Eloise De Mester
