It’s the oldest football club in France. It’s the club of Paul Pogba, Riyad Mahrez, Dimitri Payet and Steve Mandanda. But to say recent history has not been kind to Le Havre would be an understatement. The club that won France’s first national championship in 1899, and followed it with another title the following season, have spent the intervening 123 years searching for a third top-tier title. They have won six Ligue 2 titles but that shows how many seasons they have spent away from the top flight. Indeed, they were in the second tier for 15 years before they won promotion this year, securing the Ligue 2 title under Luka Elsner with a team largely consisting of veterans and untested youngsters. Their success was built on a defence that conceded just 19 goals over the season. Quentin Cornette and Nabil Alioui were their joint-top scorers with a paltry six goals. Having achieved promotion with such an extreme approach, Elsner’s task this season was made even more difficult when he lost two of his top three scorers in the summer, with Cornette signing for Greek club Volos and midfielder Victor Lekhal leaving for Qatar. Despite spending less than €3m in the summer Le Havre have made some canny free transfers. Daler Kuzyaev arrived from Zenit St Petersburg and has shown himself to be an ideal all-action midfielder, capable of both winning the ball and being a creative fulcrum. His partner in midfield, Abdoulaye Touré, is back in Ligue 1 after a spell in Italy with Genoa and the pair have formed a strong shield in front of a three-man backline, allowing the front five freedom to play on the counter. Yoann Salmier offers experience in defence, having been a regular for Troyes, and Mohamed Bayo, signed on loan from Lille, has also been a canny pickup. Still just 25, the Guinean international was hugely impressive for newly promoted Clermont in the 2021-22 season, scoring 14 goals before joining Lille the following summer. He quickly found himself in Paulo Fonseca’s doghouse, however, having been seen at a nightclub the night before Lille lost 7-1 to PSG. Bayo, who has been integrated into the squad slowly following his arrival on deadline day, scored both of Le Havre’s goals in their latest impressive result – a come-from-behind 2-1 win at Toulouse on Sunday that has taken them up to seventh in the table. Save a 3-0 defeat at Marseille, where midfielder Rassoul Ndiaye was sent off before half-time, Le Havre have been competitive in all of their matches so far this season. The resilience they showed to come back and beat Toulouse at the weekend has been on display for some time. The way they came from behind to secure a draw at Rennes in August was particularly impressive. They were trailing 2-1 when Samuel Grandsir was sent off on the hour mark and it looked as if their task was to avoid embarrassment. However, despite playing on the road against a side that regularly qualifies for Europe and had spent 20 times as much on transfers over the summer, Le Havre dug in and kept pushing, with Alioui scoring a second to make it 2-2. In the end, Rennes relied on Mandanda to preserve the point. The same spirit was on display at the Stade Municipal on Sunday. Le Havre dominated early on, only to be kept at bay by Guillaume Restes, the Toulouse goalkeeper. They conceded against the run of play but did not lose their cool. Bayo scored his first with a fine bit of control in the area, before adding a deserved winner in stoppage time, sending the visiting supporters into a frenzy and allowing Le Havre to rest easy before a daunting encounter with Monaco next weekend. The season is long but, given the struggles of Metz, Clermont and Lyon, it’s difficult to see Le Havre being reeled in on their current form. The club’s board deserve great credit for restructuring the team on a shoestring and so does Elsner. The 41-year-old started his coaching career a decade ago with Domzale in his native Slovenia. After a strong spell with Union Saint-Gilloise in Belgium, he moved to France – a country he knew well from his father Marko’s time playing for Nice in the late 1980s – to take over at Amiens following the departure of Christophe Pélissier. His open, attacking style of football marked a stark contrast to the conservative play of his predecessor but the club were summarily relegated. After two middling spells in Belgium, he took the reins at Le Havre at the start of last season, but he had moved on from the swashbuckling style that had defined his previous spell in France. Elsner’s shift in approach was incremental but it was also driven by necessity. Without the money to spend on attacking players – and in a league where goals are at a premium – he doubled down on organisation and defensive play. As he recently told the LFP, “During my first stint with Amiens, I learned to be really flexible regarding my style of play. I made mistakes at certain moments when we wanted to develop a beautiful style of football and the opposing team was prepared for that. Today, we absolutely do not want to be naive. It’s nice to look like a fun team to watch, but that could mean 2-0 or 3-0 for the opponent, so that’s what I want to avoid. At Le Havre, we have a culture of effort – we work on this every day.” Elsner is part of a trend towards more defensively sound football in France, with managers such as Francesco Farioli, Will Still and even the veteran Eric Roy also prioritising solidity. It’s important to distinguish this from being negative; Le Havre play with five attackers, with Touré and Kuzyayev also given licence to get forward. That said, pragmatism seems to be a real recipe for success in France this season. Talking points The title race remains a tight affair, with PSG, Monaco and Nice all securing relatively comfortable wins over the weekend. PSG won 3-0 at home to Montpellier thanks to goals from Lee Kang-in, Warren Zaire-Emery and Vitinha. There was a raft of offside decisions in Monaco’s 2-0 win against Brest – who have been difficult to beat this season – but the scoreline felt fair. Nice beat fellow European hopefuls Rennes 2-0, again relying on their strong defence. Francesco Farioli’s side has conceded just four goals in 11 matches, giving them the tightest defence in Europe’s top five leagues. Having already beaten PSG and derby rivals Monaco, they could be top of the table for some time. The Will Still revolution is continuing apace at Reims, who beat Nantes 1-0 at the weekend to solidify their grip of fourth place above Lille. After losing Folarin Balogun and Jens Cajuste during the summer, Reims have rebuilt well, adding Keita Nakamura and Mohamed Daramy in attack, while Teddy Teuma has impressed in Cajuste’s place in midfield. Still has also added a new tactical wrinkle, shifting to three at the back to include new signing Joseph Okumu alongside Yunis Abdelhamid and Emmanuel Agabdou. They are unbeaten in this new system. PSG’s visit next weekend will be a massive test, but don’t rule out the hosts redefining “Champagne football” against the holders. Finally, Lyon continue to flounder. They needed a late equaliser from Skelly Alvero to get a point at home to Metz. Fabio Grosso, who was without Corentin Tolisso, continues to chop and change his tactics and personnel. Things are unlikely to get easier for the Italian – Lyon’s next four opponents are Rennes, Lille, Lens and Marseille, with a trip to Monaco also looming before the winter break. Already seven points from safety and the only team in the division without a win, Lyon are in real danger of being cut adrift.