FC Metz captain Gauthier Hein says the club’s recent resurgence was triggered not by tactical upheaval, but by a collective psychological reset after a disastrous start to the season.

Metz, hammered 6–1 by Lille and winless with just two points, have since beaten Lens, Nantes and Nice in quick succession. For Hein, the turning point came in the build-up to the Lens victory. “We were at the bottom of the hole… we told ourselves it couldn’t get worse,” he told RMC Sport. “That match gave us confidence again.”

Hein insists that coach Stéphane Le Mignan stayed true to his ideas, but the squad simplified their approach and tightened their structure. “When there’s no confidence, you go back to certain fundamentals. We became more compact and more consistent in difficult moments.”

The Metz academy product also dismissed claims that the captaincy weighed on him during the club’s slump. “The armband didn’t weigh me down. That’s just talk.”