With only one point taken in the last three gamesand after a rather promising start to the championship (ten points taken over the first 6 days), FC Metz is currently displaying a relegation rate, far from its ambitions to rise in Ligue 1. Worse still, the poorly ranked Ligue 2 are not very far in the standings.
After his defeat at Bastia last Saturday, the Grenats, 10th in the standings, are only three points ahead of Nîmes, 17thand four more units on the last three teams in the championship: Saint-Etienne, Quevilly-Rouen and Niort.
Well settled in the soft underbelly of the championship, FC Metz now has eight points behind the Sochaux leaderand seven points behind Le Havre, second in the L2.
Behind on its roadmap
After its two defeats in September (Guingamp and Bastia) and this small draw against Annecy, FC Metz has also fallen behind on its roadmap. To make sure of finishing first or second, the staff took out their calculator before the start of the season and estimated that the Garnets must take an average of two points per game. With an average of 1.22 points taken by meeting, we are very far from the mark!
Another worrying observation: Toulouse and Ajaccio, respectively first and second in L2 last season, only totaled five and seven defeats. However, FC Metz already totals four.
An irregular attack, an uncertain defense and an undisciplined team
During these last three games of September, the Messina attack, which some Ligue 2 observers describe as talented and high-level, also remained silent twice, in Bastia and against FC Annecy. Sparkling last August, with three goals and two assists, Georges Mikautadze is now much more watched by the opposing defenses and he has not been able to be decisive. His last double dates back to August 30, during a trip to Rodez.
Defensively, FC Metz still does not reassure : too many faults, too many cards, and far too many suspended, even if the referee Pierre Gaillouste, too picky against Guingamp, did not help the Moselle club. The FC Metz coach also sometimes criticizes his rear guard, his softness and his lack of gnac.
Like last season in Ligue 1, the summer transfer window which ended on the first of September last, left traces. After his missed transfer to Nantes, Fabien Centonze sulked in his corner. The Messin right side missed the matches against Annecy and Guingamp. For his return to the 11 garnet in Bastia, the former Lensois, who lost a lot of balls, was hardly convincing! His coach admitted “he was not mentally ready”.
The Garnet Staff now has two short weeks to try to rectify the situation. Facing Pau, he will record the returns of Alex Oukidja and Kévin N’Doram, who served their suspension match in Bastia. But Laslo Boloni will have to wait a few weeks before being able to recover Danley Jean-Jacques, Kiki Kouyaté and Ibrahima Niane.