FC Metz. Time to take stock: on target for the climb

Finally some game

The Metz supporters must have rubbed their necks for good. During two seasons, marked by a rise in Ligue 1 and a descent in Ligue 2, Laszlo Bölöni’s FC Metz, hyper dependent on the repeated exploits of King Georges Mikautadze, did not often bring the crowds to their feet with football of a other weather, very cold. Since last summer, the proposed show has had nothing to do with it. The Garnets have understood that the best defense is attack, like to have the ball, build their actions and dominate their opponents with a polished game, but sometimes too stereotypical. The high point was the clean and flawless victory against Martigues (6-0), the bottom of Ligue 2, on September 24 at Saint-Symphorien.

Stéphane Le Mignan keeps his bet

He was obviously expected around the corner. Accustomed to taking second-hand cars (Vannes, Créteil or Concarneau), Stéphane Le Mignan was, finally at 50, at the head of a car which monopolized the first places on the Ligue 2 circuit. The Breton imposed his style in the game and his personality, simple, caring, but demanding. The football offered by FC Metz is ultimately in its image. The results were rather good with a fourth place and qualification for the 32nd finals of the Coupe de France. But it is at the end of the ball that the musicians are paid and the Moselle choir is expected on the Ligue 1 stage next May.

Cheick Sabaly, the good idea

Faced with Simon Elisor’s injury during the off-season, Stéphane Le Mignan had to rack his brains and pull out the few hairs remaining on his head to find a solution in attack. Ibou Sané being still a little too soft, the Metz coach did not hesitate to place Cheick Sabaly up front. The Senegalese wisp was the hit of the summer and a little more with eight goals during this first part of the season. His speed and speed have undermined many defenses, but he has been silent since October 5 against Amiens (3-2).

Matthew Udol, exemplary captain

He wanted to leave FC Metz last summer and stay in Ligue 1 to continue playing at the highest level. His club did not want to let him go and in any case did not receive the offer which cannot be refused. Matthieu Udol could have sulked in his corner, like so many footballers who think they are starlets that they are not. But the captain does not hold grudges and, above all, does not have a short memory. He knows what he owes to his training club, which has always supported him in difficult times, particularly during his numerous knee operations due to cruciate ligaments. With his head full, the left-back returned to the fight in Ligue 2 with his usual determination and comes out of a first part of a full season during which he was exemplary from start to finish.

Gauthier Hein, the conductor

His return home was the surprise of the summer chef. Since then, Gauthier Hein has acted as a leader, as a true custodian of the Metz game. First aligned with recovery, next to Jessy Deminguet, the Thionvillois took on another dimension by going up a notch and with the emergence also of Benjamin Stambouli behind him. Intelligent and clear-sighted in the game, he showed off his left paw and his quality on set pieces. He has the qualities to be even more decisive and raise his FC Metz very high.

The Deminguet-Stambouli pair, a safe bet

With them, FC Metz can go to war. Jessy Deminguet, on loan with an option to buy in the event of a move up by Strasbourg, and Benjamin Stambouli, recruited as a joker after the end of the summer transfer window, have found each other well and form a pair of catchers who rake up countless numbers of balls in each match. Thanks to their experience and their vision, the Grenats won numerous tactical battles, notably against Dunkirk (2-0), on December 9.

The disappointments

Points stupidly lost along the way

FC Metz is only two points behind Paris FC, second and therefore holder of the last seat for direct promotion to Ligue 1. It is the hunter rather than the hunted and that is not so bad at this stage of the season, but Bernard Serin’s club clearly lost points along the way. In his lair of Saint-Symphorien to begin with, against Bastia (1-1) and Laval (1-1), then, above all, during his three defeats in a row away from home where he shot himself in the foot, against Troyes (2-1), Grenoble (2-0) and Red Star (1-0).

Simon Elisor and a lack of efficiency

Victim of a major ankle sprain contracted in a friendly match against Torino, Simon Elisor was never really in the right tempo in this first part of the season. However, he had to take on the goal-scoring role left vacant by Georges Mikautadze. He has not scored a single goal in nine Ligue 2 matches and has not really been to his advantage in the game. Not selected during the last trip to Annecy (0-0), does his future pass? again by the Moselle, he who is used to migrating to other lands to look for playing time when it doesn’t go as he would like?

After the blunders, Alexandre Oukidja takes up the gloves

Alexandre Oukidja did “Oukidja” during this first half of the season. At fault and guilty of big mistakes during the defeats at Grenoble and Red Star, the Algerian international goalkeeper even sat on the bench for a few minutes during a trip to AC Ajaccio (0-1) before regaining his starting place and his best level thereafter. FC Metz will really need its guardian angel in 2025 if it hopes to return to Ligue 1.

Ablie Jallow, the intermittent

He has crazy talent, but he rarely shows it. The architect of the return to Ligue 1 in 2023, Ablie Jallow was expected to play a similar role this season. But the Gambian is only a shadow of himself. Handicapped by injuries, he also faces serious competition with Morgan Bokele, Pape Amadou Diallo and the returning Joël Asoro. He owes his club and its supporters a revenge in 2025.

Kévin van der Kerkhof and Fali Candé on the start

They were unbreakable executives under Laszlo Bölöni. They are only second choices in the mind of Stéphane Le Mignan. Fali Candé hardly played during this first part of the season, including during the Coupe de France matches. Kévin van den Kerkhof was invited to the start last summer, but contacts with the Racing Club de Lens were unsuccessful. Coming out of the loft, he appeared a few times, without disrupting the hierarchy at the right-back position, Koffi Kouao and Maxime Colin being much more professional than him. The two men should leave Moselle during this winter.