Metz lost their Ligue 1 status after finishing bottom of the pile in what was a quite wretched season for the Lorraine side.
Having seen several key players depart at the end of the previous campaign, most notably dangerous attacker Ismaila Sarr, they made moves to bolster their attacking line by attack Emmanuel Riviere, Matthieu Dossevi and Nolan Roux to their ranks. While Dossevi and Roux actually proved to be astute purchases, that did not stop the club suffering a woeful start to the season.
By the end of August, they were at the foot of the standings, having lost all of their opening four Ligue 1 matches, and by the time they lost 3-1 to Nice in early December, they had picked up a mere four points, having suffered 14 defeats in 16 games.
It was no surprise, then, that head coach Philippe Hinschberger had already been handed his exit notice by the club, whose decision to appoint Frederic Hantz to the top job in October already seemed a forlorn one.
Two months passed and while performances were improving, results were not getting any better. Yet in early December a 1-1 draw against Rennes sparked something of a revival for Metz, who picked up wins in four of seven games to suddenly suggest they might survive. A switch to a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Roux playing on the left was the secret.
However, an injury to Dossevi hampered their progress and the momentum was quickly lost as they went down 6-3 in an incredible game in Marseille.
Opportunities were missed to close the game to their rivals in subsequent weeks, with the club’s poor home form meaning that they moved to within sight of their rivals but were never quite able to catch them.
Indeed, their last home win came on January 27, when they beat Nice 2-1.
It was fitting the season ended with four successive losses, particularly as they went down 4-0 to Bordeaux on the final day; it summed up just how much they struggled.
