The legendary "devil's schedule" refers to a team that encounters strong opponents in a row over a period of time, or a team that plays continuously in a very short period of time. Anyway, it's not a hard-fought race, or a wheel battle that is enough to drag down your physical strength.

Every league, every team has their devil's schedule. In England, the general around Christmas is considered a devil's schedule, a lot of strong conversations are arranged at that time, and the games are also very intensive, two games a week, or even three games a week.

Ligue 1 also has it, and Metz has it too.

From the Lorraine derby with Nancy on September 17 to October 22, in a period of more than a month, the Metz team played six tough games: on September 17, the away challenge to Nancy, although the opponent was not strong, but it was a very important and hot Lorraine derby, this game Metz team has won 3:1. Then on September 21, Metz faced Auxerre at home, losing 1-2.

On the evening of September 24, in the ninth round of the league, Metz challenged Marseille away. There is only a two-day gap between their home game against AJ Auxerre. The team travelled early in the morning from almost northernmost Metz to Marseille in the south on the second day of their home game against Auxerre.

October 1, the tenth round of the league. Metz returns to their home stadium to face Bordeaux. Bordeaux didn't do very well last season, but so far this season have been a decent performer, finishing sixth.

On October 15, in the eleventh round, away, Messi's opponent was Monaco.

On October 22, in the twelfth round of the league, Metz welcomed the current leader of Ligue 1 Lyon at home.

If Metz were the same team that was relegated last season, then none of the points for the next few games were in their plans. The relegation teams just need to make sure they get the points they deserve. For example, against weak teams and direct competitors of relegation, you must have that point, preferably three points. In a game against such a strong team, you have to be thankful to be able to get a point, generally speaking, it is normal to lose a game and not get a point.

But the new season of Metz has ambitions. In keeping Frank. Ribery, Chu Zhongtian, in the case of buying Menez, if they still don't even have the strength to fight back in the face of a strong team, then it is better not to spend money to keep these players.

Let. Fernandes will be hoping to test their team's ability in this devilish fixture to see if they have what it takes to challenge stronger opponents and pursue more ambitious goals.

On the night of 24 September, when he played away to Marseille, Menez started the game alongside Reynold, but he was more flexible and not limited to the striker position. Let. Bruno Fernandes has allowed him to change his position as he sees fit, sometimes as a left wing-back, sometimes as a cameo, sometimes as a centre-forward, and sometimes as a shadow striker.

In this game, Chu Zhongtian met an "old friend" - Rorick. Cana.

After falling out with manager Fournier in Paris, Cana switched to Marseille, PSG's rivals in the national derby. With his outstanding looting ability and unflinching momentum, he became an absolute workhorse as soon as he arrived in Marseille.

This game was the third duel between him and Chu Zhongtian, and the two sides naturally had a collision like Mars hitting the earth in the midfield. It's still no one to let anyone, and they play desperately with each other.

The narrator said it was a showdown between the "Marseille Killing Machine" and the "Lions of Metz".

The match between Marseille and Metz is also related to Fernandez, who almost went to Marseille this summer, and if he were to go to Marseille, Ribery would certainly not stay in Metz and would choose to follow his mentor to Marseille.

That hasn't happened now, with neither Fernandes nor Franck Ribery going to Marseille to challenge their southern rivals as part of Metz's team.

It was a very intense game, perhaps because both sides had a hot midfield in midfield. Kanna was bent on dealing with Chu Zhongtian, and Fernandez asked Menez to play more in the front to help Chu Zhongtian share the pressure. It's a pity that Menez and his teammates don't work well together – not because they don't cooperate, but because they don't. Later, Chu Zhongtian had to take over the task of organizing the attack again.

In order to make Chu Zhongtian exhausted. Marseille manager Albert A. Eamon (albert_emon) stepped up the attack with Nasri in the second half.

Chu Zhongtian received a yellow card on him in order to defend Nasri. However, Kana also received a yellow card for defending Chu Zhongtian.

Menez eventually returned to the shadow striker position, and as a striker, he didn't have enough tacit understanding with the whole team to be of little use.

The match was tied 0:0. No one scored.

To be able to take a point from the Stadio Verrodham (stade_vélodrome) is already good for Metz, who is still grinding in the team, so in the post-match press conference, Jean. Fernandes was pleased with the team's performance. A reporter asked why Menez, who had been sent to the reserve team by him before, actually started in this game and played the whole game.

Fernandes replied: "First of all I didn't let him go, I just felt he needed to gain some experience in the reserve squad now. Secondly, Menez is a very important member of the team and it is normal to play the whole game. ”

His words set the tone for Menez's affairs.

Metz's players understood that whether they wanted it or not, Menez was back in the team. And just as he doted on Ribery in the first place, he doted on this somewhat rebellious young player, who would give up the inconsequential ordinary players for the sake of Menez, but would never give up Menez for the sake of the ordinary players.

After the draw with Marseille, Metz returned to their home stadium, the Stade de la Fortion at the Holy Mountain. There they waited for their opponent in the tenth round of the league, Bordeaux, who were third in the league.

Menez still started this game, and because of his bad movements, he was suspended for one game with a red card, and Promans, who was suspended for another game, also returned to the team, which strengthened Metz's defense in the midfield, and Chu Zhongtian could finally organize the midfield unrestrained.

Chu Zhongtian did not encounter much resistance in midfield in this game, but he met a long-established star - Denilson. The Brazilian dribbling maestro who set the record for the highest transfer fee in world football has just joined Bordeaux on a free transfer this season, but looking at his performance in the game, Chu Zhongtian knows that it makes sense that he was abandoned by Betis.

He still brags off his useless tricks in the game, which are rarely fooled now. The defenders know that as long as they don't move their center of gravity rashly, they won't be overrun by Denelson.

Chu Zhongtian also used a very vicious tackle to shovel the football from Denilson's feet in the game, and the referee did not blow him for a foul. Denilson, who was brought to the ground by Chu Zhongtian, waved his arms very angrily and lay on the ground unwilling to get up.

He must be complaining that the rules don't protect a master like him who creates the beauty of art...... Chu Zhongtian glanced back at him, and felt a little pity for this person.

His former dribbling once brought many fond memories to his childhood self, but now he is just a coward lying on the ground and unwilling to get up to face the fight.

Menez was active in the shadow striker position and also set up a goal for Reynolds, the only goal of the game.

And before he assisted Reynold, Metz made four consecutive one-kick passes, Chu Zhongtian - Ribery - Chu Zhongtian - Promans. In the end, Proment handed it to Chu Zhongtian, who did not rush to touch the ball this time, but suddenly paused, disrupting the defensive rhythm of Bordeaux, and then passed the ball to Menez, who ran to the position, and finally Menez completed the assist.

After winning the match against Bordeaux, Metz have 14 points from 10 league games. Two-thirds of the way through the Devils' schedule, Metz has played well with two wins, one draw and one loss in four games.

This performance also gave the Metz players a lot of self-confidence, and in the next game, Metz and Monaco played a fierce battle, with a total of six goals scored in 90 minutes of play, and the final score was 3:3. In the words of the media after the game, it was "the brave Metz who drew away from home against the equally brave Monaco".

Chu Zhongtian assisted a ball, instigated a ball, and participated in two of the three goals. Menez scored his first goal since joining Metz against the team that had the best impression of him this summer, a beautiful solo breakthrough, which was also the goal that Chu Zhongtian did not participate in.

After the goal, Menez took off his shirt and ran desperately, for which he received a yellow card. But all the doubts about him were shattered by this beautiful goal. The goal also seemed to shatter an invisible wall in front of him.

Ribery also scored a goal in the game, and it was he who received a wonderful pass from Chu Zhongtian. After opening up space with a horizontal dribble, he suddenly took a long-range shot and the ball flew into the Monaco goal. His sharp breakthrough made McConn a little unable to find the north.

Bam Adebayor also scored a goal in the game, but instead of refusing to celebrate after the goal, he cheered as he scored the equaliser for Monaco. The score was 1:2 before he scored, and the home team was temporarily behind.

The Stade Louis II, Monaco's home stadium, scored three goals and kept Monaco at 3-3 until the final four minutes, and although they did not win the game, Metz won unanimous praise for their performance.

However, Guidolin (francesco_guidolin) was scolded by the Monaco media after the game, saying that if it were not for the mistakes of the Metz defenders in the last moments, Guidolin would have suffered a humiliating defeat at home. In fact, there is no shame in the process, it is shameful that they lost to a weak opponent like Mace.

Despite the retention of Franck Franck Ribery and the addition of the high-profile talent of the French national youth team, Metz has not changed their image as a "weak team" in the eyes of others.

※※※ The last game of the Devils schedule is at home against Lyon.

The last time the two sides met, Chu Zhongtian flew to the top at the last moment of the home stadium and pulled the score to 2:2, which proved to be a very crucial point in the later relegation battle.

But this time Lyon came prepared and didn't call on Metz to pull off another late-minute equaliser.

Although Lyon sold their midfielder Essien to Chelsea for a record €38 million transfer fee this summer, the Lyon side is still strong for Metz.

They left Mahamadhoo behind. Diarra, who kept Juninho, bought Fred and promoted Ben. Alfa and Karim Benzema joined the first team, also got Thiago from Chelsea and bought Norwegian striker Kalou (john_carew) from Turkish side Besiktas. The strength of the team has not been affected in any way, and it can even be said that it has risen instead of falling.

Facing Lyon, who had a strong main force, Mace looked very embarrassed. This game even if it's at home, let. Fernandes' demands for the team were all to keep the draw and win.

As a result, Kalou, Juninho, Wiltord (Wiltord) and Malouda scored one goal each, while Metz only scored one goal from Ribery to save some face for the team.

In the end, Metz lost 1:4 at home to Ligue 1 hegemon Lyon. It was arguably their heaviest defeat in the Devils' schedule.

Considering the difference in quality between the two teams, this difference is normal.

The whole devil's schedule is over, let's settle the score. Winning two of the six games, drawing two and losing two, a very average of eight points, a result that was a surprise for Metz fans who had been pessimistic about the three points they had in the game against Nancy.

After 12 league games, they have 15 points and are 14th in the league. It's not a high ranking or a high number of points, but when you think about how hard they've been through the most difficult stretch of the race, you know how high the fifteen points are. Messi's next opponents are Rennes, Ajaccio, Lens, Troyes, Toulouse and other teams in the middle and lower reaches, and Metz, who dares to attack Monaco at the Stade Louis II, is not afraid of these opponents.

After the Devil's schedule, the cup is coming.

On 26 October, Metz travelled to face Sedan, the French League Cup quarter-final opponent.

This game lets. Fernandes doesn't take it seriously, he intends to use it to rest and adjust the condition of the players, and does not force the result.

It allows the main players to relax after a series of high-intensity and high-level league games, while giving those substitutes and reserves more opportunities to play.

So in the game with Sedang, except for Chu Zhongtian, Menez and goalkeeper Wenbi who started the game, Mays's starting lineup almost changed. Goalkeeper Wemby wore the captain's armband in this game, and Menez started for the same reason as Chu Zhongtian last season - it will take more games to adjust his form and fitness. Chu Zhongtian started because he didn't need to rest, his physical fitness was fine, and he was also eager to participate in the competition.

Metz, who had only three main players in the game, lost 1-0 away to Sedan away.

Chu Zhongtian hopes that the team can go further in the cup competition, so that he can play more games. It's a pity that he and Menez have cooperated many times and have not been able to break through the gate of Sedang. On the contrary, Sedang retreated across the board and hit Mace's defensive counterattack. In the 60th minute, a chance was seized by Algeria international Nadir . Belhadge (nadir_belhadj) scored the only goal of the game to knock out Metz.

For this game, Chu Zhongtian and Menez, who participated, couldn't let go, and in the thirteenth round of the league on October 29, Metz challenged Rennes away.

Chu Zhongtian and Menez played well, and Chu Zhongtian assisted Menez to score the opening goal. finally got out of the bad breath of being eliminated from the League Cup.

Franck Ribery then set up Ahn Jung-hwan for the team's second goal. It is worth mentioning that this was the second goal of the season for the South Korean striker. When he joined Metz at the beginning of the season, he was touted by the Korean media as "the ultimate solution to Mace's poor offense", but he didn't expect that after three months of playing in the new season, he only scored two goals in ten games...... Despite this, the second goal still made the South Korean media cheer, believing that Ahn Jung-hwan's era was finally coming...... Yes, they have shouted several times, and each time it is "this time must come".

The South Koreans are still cheering that their national hero has finally broken a three-month goal drought. Metz has extended his lead again.

This time it was Chu captain Bobiconi who scored the goal, taking advantage of a corner kick opportunity to score from the top of the ball.

Prior to this game, Rennes had been ranked above Metz - 14th with 15 points and 10th with 17. But no one expected Metz to take the lead so easily, they led by three goals in the first half, and Rennes was beaten to the point where they were completely unable to fight back.

Rennes didn't pull a goal back until the last minute of the game, the 90th minute, but it was no longer enough.

Metz won 3-1 at home to Rennes to move up to 18 points and jump to 10th with eight other league games to go, squeezing out Rennes by one point.

Fast into November, Metz won 2-0 at home to Ajaccio in the league on the fifth day. Playing the second-to-last team, Metz didn't put much effort into it.

But for Chu Zhongtian and Fernandez, this game was another bad news - Chu Zhongtian received a red card in the game and was directly sent off.

Chu Zhongtian had a tactical foul in the game, pulling down the opposing striker from behind, and although he prevented an almost inevitable goal, he was shown a red card by the referee. He will then miss the team's next league game, the 15th round away to Lens.

Lens are a mid-table team, and with Metz's current form, it is difficult to say whether this game will be won or lost, and it will take a lot of hard work to win.

"Alright, Chu. Take this opportunity to take a break. ”

"I don't need a break, sir."

"Of course I know that your body doesn't need to rest, and I mean let your mind rest and rest. There's still a long season ahead......"

(To be continued)