Ligue 1 side Lille are Brentford’s final opponents of pre-season, with the French side heading to west London on Saturday.
We caught up with L’Equipe journalist Romain Lafont to reflect on what’s happened at Les Rogues since their title win 2021.
Lille finished fifth in Ligue 1 in Paulo Fonseca’s first season in charge of Les Dogues, which represented a great improvement on 2021/22, when they finished 10th just one season after winning the league. How would you summarise last season?
Last season was a season of reconstruction for Lille because the core of the team that helped the team to the Ligue 1 title in 2020/2021 left Stade Pierre-Mauroy.
In Paulo Fonseca, they had a new coach with a totally different philosophy and five or six new starters in the team.
The performances were great, on the whole, but the results were a bit disappointing because they dropped many points in games they were dominating.
In the end, this was not too much of a problem because they managed to earn a European spot for next season.
Last season was the first time Lille had not played in any European competition since 2018/19. They will take part in the Europa Conference League play-off round this season, but do you think getting back into the Champions League will be one of their aims in 2023/24?
The fact there will be four French spots in the Champions League from the 2024/25 season does increase Lille’s chances of returning to the competition.
However, we cannot forget the fact that Lille has the seventh or eighth-highest budget in Ligue 1 currently, so qualifying for the Champions League this season will be a very difficult task.
What have you made of the club’s summer business so far? Do you expect them to bring more players in and, if so, in which areas of the pitch?
Lille have signed three players so far: Tiago Santos – a 21-year-old Portuguese right-back – Hakon Arnar Haraldsson – a 20-year-old Icelandic midfielder – and former World Cup winner Samuel Umtiti, after he left Barcelona.
Fonseca said a couple of weeks ago that he expected four more players to sign before the start of the season, too: a striker, a winger, a midfielder and a second goalkeeper.
Jonathan David could leave the club this summer, so there could yet be more changes in the attacking department, too.
What should Brentford expect from Lille’s style of play under Fonseca?
Brentford should expect a team that want to seize control of the ball at every moment of a game.
Fonseca wants to produce a beautiful game and he always takes a lot of risks to ensure that. It is really pleasant to watch, but it means that the team is often vulnerable as a result.
Lille scored their first goal of the season after just 36 seconds 🤯
Benjamin Andre drives home from outside the box without Auxerre even touching the ball…
Talk about a dream start! pic.twitter.com/vwoEJmVA0X
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) August 7, 2022
Which player should Brentford fans be keeping a close eye on in west London?
I would say Hakon Arnar Haraldsson. He scored five goals in the two friendly games he played within the first 10 days of arriving at the club and he is certain to be a threat.
In addition, young box-to-box midfielder Carlos Baleba has a profile that would be a great fit for the Premier League and he has a lot of potential for the future.
What’s your score prediction for the final friendly of pre-season?
I have to admit that I am bad at predictions, but I hope the teams are going to put on a show in the final pre-season friendly of the summer.
I think we could see something like a 2-2 draw.
https://www.brentfordfc.com/en/news/article/interviews-brentford-v-lille-pre-season-friendly-lequipe-romain-lafont
