RC Lens is set to sack head coach Dino Toppmöller after only six matches in charge, according to reporting by the French newspaper L'Equipe. The German will not be on the bench on Friday when the Ligue 1 club travels to Monaco to open the fifth round of the season.
Toppmöller joined Lens this summer, taking over a squad that had just finished the previous campaign in the French top flight. His dismissal after such a short spell has caught many by surprise, given that his record so far was far from disastrous.
A promising start on paper
Under Toppmöller, Lens won the Trophée des Champions in August, beating Paris Saint-Germain. The Trophée des Champions is the French curtain-raiser played each season between the Ligue 1 champions and the winners of the Coupe de France.
The coach also guided Lens to a win over Slavia Prague on the opening matchday of the Champions League group phase, a result that showed the team had real resources going into the European campaign.
More recently, though, results in Ligue 1 have been harder to come by. Lens lost its last two league matches before drawing away at Le Mans at the weekend.
A relationship that never worked
According to L'Equipe, Lens's management decided to part ways with Toppmöller despite that overall record, suggesting the reasons lie less in results than in the coach's relationship with his squad and with the club's leadership.
The regional newspaper La Voix du Nord, which confirmed the report, wrote that the connection between Racing and the German never seemed to take hold.
Yannick Cahuzac to step in
Yannick Cahuzac, who returned to Lens this summer after three years on Olivier Pantaloni's coaching staff at Lorient, is set to take charge of the first team on an interim basis. According to the reports, that spell in charge could end up lasting longer than a typical caretaker stint.
Cahuzac, a former midfielder, has long been tipped by many around the club to eventually become a head coach in his own right. The moment may now have arrived for him to take that step.
RC Lens, based in the northern French town of Lens in the Pas-de-Calais region, plays its home matches at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis. The club returns to Ligue 1 action on Friday at Monaco before continuing its Champions League campaign in the weeks ahead.
