Lorient started the season as one of the big favourites to win promotion from Ligue 2 but fell significantly short of that goal, failing to even reach the playoffs and flirting with a mid-table position.
Rookie head coach Mickael Landreau had an inauspicious start to his career in the dugout and it remains to be seen if he will be maintained in the role for next season.
Consistency was one of Lorient’s big problems, with a fearsome attacking line not exploited to its maximum. Issues rose early in the season when Majeed Waris, potentially their best player, went on strike, while Sylvain Marveaux had a rather stop-start season due to injury problems. Indeed, their top scorer ended up being local lad Pierre-Yves Hamel, upon whom few hopes were rested at the start of the campaign.
Things started well enough for the Bretons after they got over an initial hiccup of two draws in their opening matches. Indeed, when they moved top in mid-September by beating Ajaccio, it seemed they might stay there all season.
But a four-game winless streak followed, in which Lorient were shut out three times, and it is that kind of form that has typified their campaign.
They continued to be bitty into 2018 and, when it seemed they had finally got themselves together with a four-game winning run in the early part of spring, they lost away to bottom side Tours.
Even going into the final weekend of the season, their promotion prospects were still alive, yet they were thumped 3-0 by relegated Quevilly to ensure another campaign in the second flight.
Lorient are a club that has come to expect better and, with a panel of players that was above the norm for Ligue 2, more should have been achieved. No area of their team looked consistently strong and if there is not a dramatic improvement next term, stern questions will need to be answered.
