With talent spread so evenly among clubs, the tactical choices taken by managers become especially important By Adam White for Get French Football News Will Jorge Sampaoli win the tactical battle? Will Jorge Sampaoli win the tactical battle? Photograph: Giuseppe Maffia/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock Adam White Mon 7 Feb 2022 14.28 GMT 11 The search for identity has defined this Ligue 1 season. Eight of the top nine clubs in the league last season changed their managers in 2021, and every club that was in Ligue 1 at the point of the Covid shutdown in 2020 has subsequently changed their head coach. French football is in a state of flux. The new coaches have brought fresh ideas to the league. Previously, teams tended to lean into Ligue 1’s underlying physicality and often stoic mindset, especially in the bottom half of the table, but there has been a dramatic tactical revolution in the last two seasons. More robust teams have disappeared, replaced by fluid and versatile sides. The tactical battle will be crucial in the run-in. With just 10 points separating Marseille in second and Lens in ninth, Ligue 1 is in the midst of a tactical arms race – the clubs that make a success of their philosophies the soonest will be favourites for Champions League places. For now, however, no one is truly realising their ideas. Advertisement Marseille coach Jorge Sampaoli has one of the most outlandish styles on offer. Sampaoli’s reputation falls somewhere between Marcelo Bielsa-esque mad scientist and prowling matador. He started the season with a gung-ho approach, with forwards Cengiz Ünder and Konrad De La Fuente playing as nominal wings-back. However, his constant scheming produced the opposite result to what was expected. Their defence has been excellent – before this weekend they had the joint-best defensive record in the league – but they have struggled for goals. First-choice striker, Arkadiusz Milik, had scored just one league goal before this weekend and Marseille were the lowest scorers in the top nine. Sampaoli has shifted to a more orthodox back four in recent weeks and results have improved. They put on a dominant display in a 2-0 win over Lens last month, when Sampaoli’s aim to control the game came to fruition. It looked as if he was finally on track. This weekend, however, Sampaoli switched tack once more, playing two No 9s in a 4-1-3-2 system that had little width and left Boubacar Kamara in midfield on his own. Suddenly the Velodrome was transported back to the 2014 Bielsa-ball peak as Marseille beat Angers 5-2 and Milik quadrupled his goal tally for the season. If Sampaoli can balance a gung-ho approach with some defensive control, Marseille will be clear favourites for second. Nice, who have no European distractions and have enjoyed a recent uptick in form, are Marseille’s main competitors, but they have also struggled to realise their identity. They seemed secure in their philosophy before the season began. Christophe Galtier won the title with Lille last season and said he would deploy his 4-4-2 system again at Nice, bringing with it the prospect of a ruthless, clinical, perfectly in-sync team. Despite the obvious quality in the squad, Galtier has struggled to repeat what he achieved with Lille. Nice have lacked Lille’s cohesion and midfield verve, with balance proving elusive. An unexpected solution arrived when Galtier dropped striker Andy Delort, one of the club’s big summer signings. Without Delort – who racked up 40 goals and 22 assists in his 95 Ligue 1 games for previous club Montpellier – Nice won five league games in a row before knocking PSG out of the cup on penalties last week. With Amine Gouiri ordained as creator-in-chief, playing off Kasper Dolberg, Nice settled into a steady, ruthless rhythm. However, Delort returned for the absent Dolberg this weekend and Nice were beaten 1-0 at home by Clermont. Galtier still has some way to go. Sven Goran Eriksson as head coach of Lazio in 1998. Sven-Göran Eriksson on life in Serie A: ‘It was the best period of my career’ Read more Jocyeln Gourvennec replaced Galtier at Lille and his remit was clear: pick up where Galtier left off. The squad is similar and he uses the same 4-4-2 system, but the intensity and togetherness bred by Galtier’s charismatic leadership has been harder to replicate. Of all the teams in the top half of the table, Lille have the most ingrained and practised philosophy, but they are the furthest from executing it on a regular basis – as they showed in a clumsy 5-1 defeat to PSG on Sunday night. They have been more effective in the Champions League, where they have used Renato Sanches as an attacking midfielder instead of a second striker. Without Galtier, their identity – and magic – has evaporated. Lyon and Monaco have also enjoyed their best moments in Europe this season. Both won tricky Europa League groups by being simplified versions of themselves. Peter Bosz has been forced to curb his attacking Cruyffian outlook after some alarmingly porous defensive displays, as shrewd Ligue 1 coaches exposed space between defence and midfield. Monaco, meanwhile, sacked Niko Kovac in December – a decision that Prince Albert II of Monaco called “hasty” this week. Despite a promising 2-0 win over Lyon at the weekend, little has changed for Philippe Clement as yet. Unlike the clubs chasing them, PSG do not really have a clear style of play other than simply relying on individual brilliance. Kylian Mbappé, Neymar and Lionel Messi are yet to coalesce beyond 40-minute spells against Reims and Nantes, and one stoic defensive display against Manchester City. Mauricio Pochettino has struggled to break down the low block PSG face on a weekly basis and would be far more suited to organising a team that can counter swiftly and effectively – an ideology distinctly at odds with PSG’s reality. French football has often produced a broad group of clubs of similar size, with similar resources and similar appeal – this season is no different. With 15 games remaining, the coach who wins Ligue 1’s tactical arms race will likely be the one who takes his team into next season’s Champions League. Talking points Mauricio Pochettino is unlikely to be at PSG next season. Mauricio Pochettino is unlikely to be at PSG next season. Photograph: Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images Mauricio Pochettino looks unlikely to stay at PSG beyond the summer. The French press reported this week that he has told those around him he will leave Paris at the end of the season. The club held talks about replacing him last month, with Zinedine Zidane reportedly turning down the job as the current squad is not to his liking and because he was unimpressed with how the club operates. With Zidane supposedly keen to work with long-term PSG target Arsène Wenger, and sporting director Leonardo quickly losing support after a disappointing transfer window, a Wenger-Zidane ticket for next season seems increasingly likely. Arjan Wijngaard The football fan who has collected 3,000 shirts from around the world Read more Bordeaux’s 5-0 defeat to Reims on Sunday looks to have finally ended Vladimir Petkovic’s reign as coach, with reports in France saying he will be sacked soon. The club ended the transfer window in a positive mood after making a host of much-needed signings, including former France international midfielder Josuha Guilavogui from Wolfsburg, Lyon’s experienced centre-back Marcelo and promising young defender Anel Ahmedhodzic. Petkovic has not been able to fix their defence, which is the worst in the league, having conceded 58 goals – 14 more than anyone else. The new coach will have one job: keep Bordeaux up. This is an article from Get French Football News Follow Adam White and GFFN on Twitter