Player Analysis: Lens defenders Facundo Medina & Loic Bade
Over the last few years, Ligue 1 has almost been synonymous with defenders that either go on to achieve big things or at least go on to play for huge clubs. This tradition has carried on and it continues to exist in Ligue 1 even today. Many times, these defensive talents emerge from the lesser known French clubs before moving away for a cheap fee. Lens defenders Loic Bade and Facundo Medina could well be the next two centre-backs to do just that in the near future.
The interest in both the players seems to be rising already, especially when it comes to Bade’s case. Medina has been linked with a move to Manchester United, but Bade has drawn links with clubs like Milan, Liverpool and Leeds United already. With French football going through a financial scantiness, it wouldn’t be a surprise if these two talents get plucked by foreign clubs for a cheap price sooner or later.
While playing in Franck Haise’s predominant 3–4–1–2 shape, Medina and Bade have often featured in the same team. Medina has usually been the left sided centre-back, rotating with Massimo Haidara but Bade has been at the centre of the back three on a regular basis. The much more experienced Steven Fortes has been Lens’ regular right sided central defender. Medina had suffered from minor knee issues in recent weeks and because of that, Haidara had played more often on the left side.
This happens to be Medina’s first season in France, as he arrived at Sang et Or from Argentine club Talleres in the summer of 2020. A product of the River Plate youth academy, the defender had arrived at Talleres in January 2018 in search of more first-team football. He could never make a first-team appearance for River and the start at Talleres was slow too, as he could play just once in all competitions in the 2017–18 season. It was in the 2018–19 Superliga season that he really established himself as a regular, playing at left-back and later playing as a left sided centre-back in the second half of the campaign. He gained international call-ups at this point and he transitioned into a regular centre-back in the 2019/20 campaign, when he played 17 league games.
He made such a mark that Lens spent €3.5 million in the summer of 2020 to rope him in. Around the same time, Bade also joined on a free transfer from Le Havre, who have quite a reputation of producing talents in France. The Sevres-born Bade was a regular at Le Havre in the 2019/20 season, as he played seven games in a COVID-impacted Ligue 2 campaign. Even while playing first-team football for a limited time at Le Havre, Bade had shown glimpses of being a complete centre-back who had a wide range of abilities.
With both of them playing at the back, Lens have conceded a non-penalty xG of only 19.3 so far in the campaign. That, at the time of writing, is the fourth-best tally in the division. In per 90 minutes terms, Lens concede only 0.92 xG and that’s only behind Monaco, Lyon and Lille. Perhaps, that is a rough representation of how Bade and Medina have helped the team improve defensively as they only earned promotion back in Ligue 1 last season.
This analysis will look at their playing style through some raw data and the eye-test. It would provide a look at what they are good at and their strengths.
Loic Bade playing style
Under Haise, Lens usually try to keep a high backline and they press the central channels from the front, forcing the opposition wide. In the central zones, they rely on aggressive man-to-man pressing to deny the opposition from playing through. In possession, they prefer to build from the back but the build-up is much more direct than complicated. Starting from goal-kicks, they prefer their goalkeeper to keep the passing short and Paul Nardi plays the ball to the left side, where Medina or Bade are usually positioned. Their preference is to play the ball wide and circulate it quickly.
To keep this system ticking, the demand on the central defenders is to be aggressive in tracking runners, tracking back, making tackles and in stepping into the midfield when an attacker is rushing at them. It demands them to be good technically and reliable physically as well.
Bade’s playing style is a very good representation of what Lens demand in their current system. Blessed with a technical pair of feet, he sets the tone for how they build from the back and it is tough to go past him. His reading of the game shines through and he never hesitates to step into midfield to track a man. It helps Lens maintain their backline and doesn’t allow the opposition to play through their back three.
Since Bade is positioned in the centre of the back three, he often carries it forward into deeper midfield, when the Lens pivot is pushed forward. It helps him showcase his ability on the ball and technical ability as well.
His action map is very central and shows how much of his actions almost come from a deeper midfield area. Quite a lot of them are longer passes to the wide areas where he plays the wing-back in. Often, his ball-playing ability helps him to play the ball into the channels for the front two/front three and Lens’ system demands him to be direct with his passing anyway.
A lot of his passing isn’t exactly progressive as it is sideways, more often than not. He plays 2.72 progressive passes per 90 minutes, which isn’t a great number but in Lens’ system, that job belongs to the wider central defenders. In an indirect sense, Bade does help the play move forward quickly.
For defenders who have played over 1000 minutes in Ligue 1, Bade is at the top for the most distance of ball carries per 90 minutes with a distance of 351 yards. He is also only behind teammate Jonathan Gradit, when it comes to progressive distance of ball carries. In a way, he doesn’t carry the ball sideways or over shorter distances, he carries it forward with purpose, adding midfield penetration. His action map shows that too, as a lot of his long passes come from deeper midfield. That is also the case because Lens like to keep possession of the ball.
A prime example of his ball carrying into the defensive midfield space came in their game against Lorient. With Medina beside him, Bade looks up to see open space in front of him and he comfortably moves it forward with purpose.
He almost steps into a defensive midfield position with this ball-carry and positions himself beside defensive midfielder Yannick Cahuzac, with second defensive midfielder Cheick Doucoure positioned in an advanced midfield role temporarily. Bade sees a run from Gael Kakuta, who positions himself between defenders and tries to zoom through as Bade plays a long-ball in-behind. Bade’s pass doesn’t find Kakuta but it shows a prime ability of the defender.
This is a very good reflection of Bade’s ability to not just carry the ball into midfield but his ability to read the spaces around him. Because while he does run into the yards in front of him in this case, he is very free to adapt when there’s not much space in front of him. When there’s no space in front of him to carry the ball, he prefers a longer pass wide or he plays through the opposition block/line when the need arises.
Two examples of this came in the same game against Lorient, who soon realised that they can’t give the youngster too much open space to run into. They pushed their block slightly higher to disallow Lens from stepping out and playing through them.
In an instance, Bade finds himself in the centre of the defence with the Lens backline near the halfway line. This time around, he doesn’t find too much space infront of him and takes another route to create an opening.
After a little carry forward, he does find a small space through the lines to play a forward player in. And Bade succeeds in picking it out and that nearly leads to a chance for Lens.
These instances above showcase the fact that Bade isn’t just very good at carrying the ball forward in a progressive or non-progressive way, he also knows how to pick the right progressive pass when the need arises. This aspect of his play is useful and vital for a team that uses a high backline and likes to keep possession of the ball.
He has played 2.72 progressive passes per 90 minutes in the current season and while that isn’t high, the grabs above show that he can do that job when the need arises. He prefers to carry it and play it wide, but he can progress the ball through a pass as well.
While these examples show that Bade can step forward, it is often the case that he is tasked with staying deeper with the right sided central defender when Medina aggresses forward.
In this instance against St. Etienne, Medina had pushed forward to win a header in midfield and he recycled possession back to Bade, who has retained Lens’ high backline in a back four this time around. Bade ends up playing the ball forward with considerable ease. That might be a sign of the fact that while Bade does play in a back three at his current club, he might be comfortable in playing in a back four in his next club.
Another example of his spatial awareness comes against St. Etienne too. Early on in the game, the Frenchman has the ball played back to him when there is no real opportunity to break the opposition line. Even though Medina is a free option on the left side, Bade decides to be ambitious and play a longer through pass forward to Haidara.
The longer through pass to Haidara, who trying to run in-behind nearly reaches the marker and ends up helping Lens win a corner. It is another indicator at the fact that he has an eye for a pass and as the action map suggests, he never backs away from going long when he is pushed forward.
While all of this suggests how good and reliable Bade is on the ball, he constantly shows that he is a very good aerial defender too. Statistically, Lens are the second best team aerially as they have the second best aerial duel winning percentage. Bade is key to that, as he wins 71.4 percent of his aerial duels and it isn’t as if he has that success rate with a lesser sample size. He has also won 4.72 aerial duels per 90 minutes, which is the top five in Ligue 1.
In a set-piece situation against Dijon earlier in the season, Bade is positioned centrally and the delivery is just behind him. But the Frenchman does very well to recover and get a header away in time. If not for that, the man behind him would’ve had a free header on goal.
Senou Coulibaly is just behind him and nearly has a chance of a free header, but Bade uses a very good leap off the ground to clear the ball away and behind for a corner.
It’s a case of him putting his head on the line to get the ball away for a corner, even when his initial positioning wasn’t exceptional by any means. Even from the resulting corner, it is Bade himself who heads the ball away. This time around, it gets cleared very well out of danger.
The situation is slightly different, with the crowd of players behind him but Bade stays close to his marker and never loses position to clear it away.
Bade’s prominent build is a strength of his and the first instance also shows an instance of him being quick to read the game when the ball is being played towards him or near him. This is constantly seen in his approach to the game that he has a nose for sniffing out danger when the opposition comes at Lens.
In another instance against Dijon, he pushes slightly into the midfield to track a runner when the opposition goalkeeper has taken a longer goal kick. He does find himself at a disadvantage because the forward is positioned in front of him, but he uses his body very well to win the aerial duel perfectly.
And this ability of his and Medina’s comes in very handy when Lens play a higher backline or when one of them pushes forward and the other covers up for him in a rather aggressive manner.
Against Dijon themselves, the opposition is running straight at the Lens defence and there is a space between Bade and Medina. At one point, it seems as though Dijon could well play through them after having played through their midfield.
Like they usually prefer to do, one of the back three pushes forward to close out the space for an on-rushing attacker. In this case, Medina pushes forward leaving a runner behind him and space for Bade to cover up. While Bade is quite far away from the runner who’s running in-behind, he recovers very well indeed.
Despite the distance that was initially present between him and the forward, Bade manages to cut the space out and he managed to block the shot and get the ball away flawlessly. That’s down to his reading of the game and another example of his awareness on the pitch.
This game against Dijon had multiple examples of the 20-year-old dominating the pitch using all sorts of ways — be it aerially, using his quickness across the turf and in reading of the game before anyone else. The above examples and instances constantly show that while Lens are a back three on paper, they like to press with an extra man when the opposition win the ball, leading to a transition to a back four which is very cohesive.
That leads us seamlessly to what Medina does, as the first instance looks at how he can often cover up for Bade, when the Frenchman pushes into midfield.
Facundo Medina playing style
Even though Bade’s analysis would’ve told many about Medina, but a brief look at his action map will show what he usually likes to do on that side of the defence.
His action map also shows how Lens like to play with a higher backline in possession and he often picks up the same positions as a left-back because of how he could also push into the left side of the midfield. There are more hues of a shorter pass, as compared to Bade. But that perhaps comes with the fact that he’s closer to the wide position and he is regularly playing the left wing-back in.
Smarterscout’s brilliant tools also allow a peek into Medina’s ability on the ball and while defending. He isn’t great at holding possession and that could well be down to Lens’ demands of playing it wide as quickly as possible. An attacking output of 53 is good too and that too perhaps, is borne out of demand of the system.
As per Understat, Medina’s xG Build Up per 90 minutes stands at a decent 0.26. His xG Chain per 90 minutes is at 0.29, which is again a very decent figure for a defender. In simpler terms, xG Chains measures how much players are involved in the eventual shot. xG Buildup measures how much they are involved in a play that doesn’t create a shot.
That is a reflection of the fact that the Argentine is important for his team, when it comes to building from the back effectively and it shows that he takes part in attacks that can constantly lead to attempts on goal.
In the Lens side, Medina is the second best short passer with an accuracy of 92.7 percent. He is also second-best, when it comes to medium range passes with an accuracy of 94.4 percent. The volume of passes is also in the top three in the team and that shows how reliant Lens are for Medina’s ability to help them build from the back. That could be one reason why his xG build up is high and so is his xG chains metric.
A prime example of how his passing can be decisive in picking gaps came against St. Etienne. While building from the back three, Medina finds himself in the left sided centre-back role and he finds Cheick Doucoure spare between the lines. He spots the gap and plays the mdifielder in.
This pass into midfield proves to be very decisive as it creates an opening and this passage of play leads to a chance for Lens, even though they didn’t find the back of the net with that.
His action map does show that a lot of times, Medina is positioned as a traditional left-back when Lens have a higher line and have pinned the opposition back into their shell. This helps Medina create and open up passing angles which perhaps no other player in their side can.
The Athletic published an excellent article about the value of left footed centre halves and those values are very much applicable for Medina, when it comes to opening up fresh passing angles for the Lens side. Because he is left-footed anyway, he can pick these passes quicker and they take a split second less to go through.
Another example of this came in Lens’ crazy 4–4 draw against Reims (when Medina did score an own goal late on). Medina found himself in a left-back role since Lens had pinned Reims back and the 21-year-old was slowly advancing to pick the locks in midfield.
Like the previous instance, even this passage of play leads to a chance for Lens. While they do fail to score again, it does show Medina’s importance to play the balls into the middle or just sparking the attacks from deep.
Much like Bade, Medina has a variety of passes in his skillset. The passing numbers above might reflect that but when a shorter or medium pass isn’t on, the Argentine can also switch the play quickly. The weight of the pass in his long balls is extremely reliable too. The xG buildup and xG chains show that he’s an effective passer, more than anything else.
Going back to the part about counter-pressing the opposition in a back four, Medina can often be the defender to step up when the opposition wins the ball back. At other times, Bade pushes into midfield and Medina has to cover up for the space that he leaves behind him.
In their game against Paris Saint-Germain, Medina showed that he can do that job — just like Bade can to cover up for him
This also is an indication of how adaptive and cohesive the Lens backline is. They cover up for each other and make up for it when the pressures don’t exactly yield the right result.
When it comes to pushing into midfield and holding the opposition away from attacking the central areas, Lens are good at it. While Bade is at the top of the pile for successful pressure rate with a tally of 42.4 percent, Medina’s tally is at 33.3 percent, which isn’t bad at all and is very much in the top 50 of the league. This strength of theirs really complements the Lens system as they can hold the opponent up while pushing into midfield. There is a reliability factor involved here.
In an instance from the Reims game, Lens pushed their line very high up the pitch to disallow the opposition from breaking through when they got the ball. They squeezed them and Medina stepped up too and as soon as he realised that Reims were about to play through them, he made a professional foul and stopped play.
From the instances involving Bade and Medina, it is constantly clear that they are very good at holding their line. They are cunning, clever, smart and often physically strong. They have been coached well, in terms of when to squeeze the opposition attack, when to get an extra man in midfield from the back and when to cover up for each other. Their flexibility in shape is very important for potential suitors.
While Bade is very good aerially, Medina’s accuracy is lesser than him and the volume of headers he competes in is considerably less too. Since Bade is positioned more centrally, he is more likely to get involved in aerial battles anyway.
The Argentine though, can be very strong and aggressive while tackling or intercepting. An instance can be seen above when he covers up for his teammate, but in a passage of play against Reims, Medina diffuses the danger twice in the same sequence.
He does poke it away in this case, but the clearance doesn’t go according to plan but when it comes back to him, he plays it away much more comfortably after recovering and turning quickly from a position where he was facing the goal.
That aggression to get quickly to the ball is proved by the number of ball recoveries Medina makes per 90 minutes — 11.6. Bade is top six in the league in this regard, which shows his aggressive approach to defending, but Medina isn’t bad at all in this metric either.
He is quick to loose balls and that is also one of the demands of the Lens system with the highline. Be quicker to pounce on these balls than the opposition and supply it to the midfielders.
Conclusion
Both the players play different roles on the pitch and they are very good at what they do. Their tactical flexibility is such a vital aspect of their arsenal, considering how reliable they are when switching formations in different phases of the game. A lot of it could be down to how they are coached well to play this style but they have shown, at least in the short term, that they are very reliable defenders on and off the ball.
Medina offers the rare trait of being a ball-playing left sided centre-back who can play left-back and can be a real asset for teams that build from the back. Bade, on the other hand, is already attracting a fair amount of attention himself and offers so many things to the team. While the 1v1 ability of both the defenders can be called into question sometimes but it is easy to forget how young they are and play can get stretched too many times when their team plays with such a high backline anyway.
Both of them cover up for each other and they can do the same for another player too. As things stand, they can be trusted to be played in a higher backline — something that multiple big clubs can demand in the modern-era. It would be important to see how they keep performing in the current season as the sample size of their good showings at the top level (especially for Medina) is still quite low. Having said that, there is no question why bigger clubs are already looking at these two players.
