It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FC Metz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at FC Metz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Habib Diallo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Timothy Witsel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Grant Horton is living that version at FC Metz, and it tends to show in the first month.
Paris FC will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Jean has pre-agreed a move to FC Metz, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
19 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
A brace, and Habib Diallo takes the afternoon — 8.80
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Habib Diallo provided it, and the 8.80 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The deal that would have taken Cristian Devenish to Bourg-Peronnas has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to FC Metz with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FC Metz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between FC Metz and FC Nantes, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at FC Metz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Habib Diallo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
17 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at FC Metz, and it is not being withdrawn.
Timothy Witsel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
8 goals in one match, Timothy Witsel on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of FC Metz and Olympique de Marseille.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Habib Diallo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 3 saves does not settle it either way.