Could Pierre Sage create a new Elliot Anderson?

Ligue 1 Manager of the Year enters Premier League stage

🌟 Can you already feel the excitement? Xabi Alonso, Enzo Maresca, Andoni Iraola, Marco Rose, and Roberto De Zerbi (you can still count him in) – all of them will have plenty to prove in the upcoming campaign at their new clubs. Rumours also suggest Oliver Glasner is joining Nottingham Forest. Let’s kick off this pre-season series with Pierre Sage, Crystal Palace’s new manager – I’m a sucker for a good story, and this is it.

What you’ll learn in this article:

• How strong a rival was Lens to PSG?

• Why the story reads like Moneyball mixed with Band of Brothers

• What is Sage’s attacking philosophy, and how do his teams create shots?

• Whether there’s a chance he will create a new standout DEFCON midfielder (spoiler alert: he might)

• Whether Palace defenders will keep getting DEFCONs

• And much more!

There are no official moves yet for Crystal Palace in the summer transfer market, but we don’t mind at all. As planned, Oliver Glasner left the team at the end of last season, and Pierre Sage was appointed to fill the role that had been briefly vacant.

The former Lens manager led the French team for the entire 25/26 season, finished second, just 6 points behind Paris Saint-Germain, and won the Coupe de France for the first time in the club's history. This earned him the title of last season’s Ligue 1 Manager of the Year.

Was this just luck, or was it backed by good performances?

The short answer is good performances.

Very good performances.

They gave PSG a real run for their money

Let me begin the long answer with a brief look at some basic data, so you can see why the club chose the 47-year-old Frenchman.

Then we move on to juicier, mostly FPL, stuff.

The expected points table, which accounts for both the quality of created and conceded chances, is a good first indicator of whether the team ran hot during the season or performed above expectations. ❗

Neither happened to Lens. 

They finished 2nd in the non-penalty xPoints table, with a 5-point gap on PSG, which is quite remarkable given that their rivals won the Champions League for the second time in a row…

They also have the second-best xG difference, and those numbers show an obvious qualitative gap between them, PSG, and the rest of the league. It looks like a much more exciting move than Liam Rosenior coming to Chelsea last season.

Perhaps the most exciting stat is the total xG created – Lens created 65+ expected goals, while PSG ended up on 62.

That metric isn’t perfect, and you usually need to put those numbers in proper context, such as PSG having a team full of world-class players who can finish mathematically worse chances at a higher rate. 

Remember Ousmane Dembelé’s hat trick against Norway last week? Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about. 

But it doesn’t matter, because the key point is this – Lens were a team that regularly created a huge volume of dangerous chances close to goal, and rank among the very best attacks in Ligue 1, scoring 61 actual non-penalty goals (PSG were on 68).

💡 Defensively, they ranked 3rd behind PSG and Lille in xG conceded, 3rd in xG per shot conceded, 4th in shots allowed, and 7th in passes allowed within a 20-metre radius of the opponent’s goal line, excluding crosses.

So, fine numbers, but not elite.

I’ll discuss defence in the DEFCON section later in the article.

He must have worked with a pretty good squad to be able to chase PSG, you’re probably thinking?

To compete for Champions League spots in a team that plays in one of the top 5 leagues, you obviously need to be a great player. You are among roughly 0.001% of registered footballers who ever achieve that. And some of the Lens players had fantastic seasons.

Mamadou Sangaré (24) is a hot property now. Rumour has it that Manchester United and Brighton are very interested, and some say he could even reunite with Sage in the coming weeks. 

Rayan Fofana (20) is a dribbly striker who can run and is sometimes impossible to stop without a foul. Plus, he does all the other things you’d expect of a centre-forward and is reportedly being monitored by Arsenal.

Source: Scout Lab

But looking at the Lens squad, it’s not a star-studded roster full of sought-after players.

Odsonne Edouard and Malang Sarr struggled for several seasons.

One of their standout players, 29-year-old Matthieu Udol, isn’t a name you’d list among the best fullbacks in the top 5 leagues in recent times – he even spent two of the last five campaigns in Ligue 2, playing for Metz.

Adrien Thomasson, Florian Thauvin, Wesley Saïd, and Ruben Aguilar, who also played major roles in their successful campaign, have an average age of 32 but had fantastic seasons across the number 8, 10, and fb positions.

You know I like pop-culture references.

And this sounds a bit like a blend of Band of Brothers and Moneyball.

Anyway, the interesting thing about Sage is that he seems able to work with almost anyone, regardless of their status. He’s not afraid of big stars.

The story goes that when he arrived in Lyon’s dressing room a few seasons before taking over at Lens – meeting a squad of star players reportedly difficult to manage – he said:

Guys, whatever game plan I give you, you have to execute it.

That sounds like a line Billy Beane would deliver.

Whether he gave a similar speech after arriving at Lens remains unclear, but it’s safe to say it worked.

Source: Sony Pictures

Why Pierre Sage must stay brave

Lens created a lot from slow attacks and sustained threat in the final third against deep blocks, again, not far from the threat PSG produced.

But the even better news is that they were quite varied in how they created:

• they scored the most goals from counters (and created the most xG from counters)

• they scored the most goals when re-pressing (and had the most xG from it)

• … and scored the most goals from set pieces (well, you can guess now)

Sage can adapt multiple plans in the final third of the pitch.

Data clearly show this. His attacking philosophy can be summed up in three words: fluid, versatile, and creative.