[Albion] De Zerbi Thoughts?

[beorhthelm]

maybe it was getting too good to be true, a "false" position. or everything was just clicking into place? i like to think the latter. last season this is exactly the sort of frustrating couple of results we'd get, then win against a top third team. unless we get that sneaky win in the next two games p) we're going backwards.

 

[gripper stebson]

It's very easy to misremember the past. I think we are guilty of looking back at every Potter game as an enormous success - they weren't. Aside from the last 8 games where we did really well it was largely patchy.

The bigger issue, as mentioned by others, is the quality of the next batch of loanees/youngsters coming through that will need to replace Tross, Caicedo and maybe Sanchez. It's a bit thin.

 

[oldboyroy]

Is it worrying that Leicester side beat Forest 3-0

Yes, it was 4 nil and could of been double that!

 

[Justice]

It's very easy to misremember the past. I think we are guilty of looking back at every Potter game as an enormous success - they weren't. Aside from the last 8 games where we did really well it was largely patchy.

The bigger issue, as mentioned by others, is the quality of the next batch of loanees/youngsters coming through that will need to replace Tross, Caicedo and maybe Sanchez. It's a bit thin.

We had some luck with youngsters although that will never last forever, clubs use the market to generally strengthen add some quality to the first team. We have concentrated on the next wonder kid and yes it’s looking a bit thin if Caceido, Mac and Trossard move on.

 

[dwayne]

It's very easy to misremember the past. I think we are guilty of looking back at every Potter game as an enormous success - they weren't. Aside from the last 8 games where we did really well it was largely patchy.

The bigger issue, as mentioned by others, is the quality of the next batch of loanees/youngsters coming through that will need to replace Tross, Caicedo and maybe Sanchez. It's a bit thin.

Bizarrely at the end of last season and the beginning of this season teams didn't put 11 back ... We got lucky it was our old favourite teams to play against. West ham x 2 , man u X2 (ok maybe not but they do t sit back) , Leeds x 2 , arsenal who dont sit back , wolves etc

Now that teams have remembered all they have to do is defend and hit us on the break to beat us nearly every time we are back to that pattern

Manager probably wouldn't make a difference

On the other point impossible to know about youngsters yet as they're not playing. Let's remember we had no clue caciedo was any good until he played

 

[Acker79]

Is there a chance we were we just in a completely false position a month ago? That Leicester game felt so good, but now it turns out Leicester are absolutely shit, maybe it wasn’t such an amazing performance against a top side after all. And the Man Utd and Liverpool results were actually against teams lower in the table than us. Not trying to rewrite history but maybe we weren’t quite as good as we thought, and would be in a similar position now if Potter was still in charge? Nobody knows, but it's not beyond the realms of possibility. We blew hot and cold a lot under Potter, let's not forget that. RDZ needs time, we were always going to take a dip to begin with under him.

I don't think this is rewriting history. There were so many people making the same points at the time - someone even started a thread sarcastically predicting the reason other teams lose to us because people were saying it at the time. But when things are going well, people are resistant to opinions that might temper the joy. I suppose the opposite is true - during bad runs people are resistant to opinions that might be positive/hopeful.

 

[Justice]

Is there a chance we were we just in a completely false position a month ago? That Leicester game felt so good, but now it turns out Leicester are absolutely shit, maybe it wasn’t such an amazing performance against a top side after all. And the Man Utd and Liverpool results were actually against teams lower in the table than us. Not trying to rewrite history but maybe we weren’t quite as good as we thought, and would be in a similar position now if Potter was still in charge? Nobody knows, but it's not beyond the realms of possibility. We blew hot and cold a lot under Potter, let's not forget that. RDZ needs time, we were always going to take a dip to begin with under him.

No we had carried on form from the end of the previous season.

 

[Dibdab]

It's very easy to misremember the past. I think we are guilty of looking back at every Potter game as an enormous success - they weren't. Aside from the last 8 games where we did really well it was largely patchy.

The bigger issue, as mentioned by others, is the quality of the next batch of loanees/youngsters coming through that will need to replace Tross, Caicedo and maybe Sanchez. It's a bit thin.

Is it? I thought Carl Rushworth was looking like the next English GK wonderkid, Sarmiento and Adringa look like huge prospects to come into attacking midfield, and Caceido going to be hard obviously but we have Kacper Kozlowski learning his trade, Billy Gilmour, and Moder to come back into the middle.

 

[pure_white]

A win against Chelsea would do wonders in so many ways!

 

[Dibdab]

IMO we look exactly as we did under Potter for the most part. Loads of possession and unable to break poorer teams down. Burnley at home last season was a horror show. Potter would always find a few good runs that secured us the points and horror runs where we couldn't buy goals, even last season. This suggests that we still dont have exactly the right personnel to complete the vision. Mwepu is actually a huge loss as he would drive us faster much quicker.

The one thing that I would like to see De Zerbi change is more use of subs earlier in the game, and also an adaption so that we aren't so predictable playing out the back. It has been obvious on our last two games that the team on the pitch wouldnt have scored for hours and we've seen no real changes given enough time to change a game. Especially frustrating when our subs made such a difference when they cam on against Liverpool.

 

[Mellotron]

My main thought is we're 3 games in, so a slightly ludicrous thread.

We look like Season 2 Potter - absolutely dominating poor sides but too slow in final third and massively missing a Glenn Murray type who can offer an aerial threat, occupy 2 defenders, win the ball/win fouls high up the pitch etc.

Ask me in a years' time.

 

[Northstander]

Da Zerbee is still learning about the team whilst trying to get the Double Espresso Ball going - too early for this thread - any points over next two games will be amazing!

We need to let him settle!

 

[Bold Seagull]

My main thought is we're 3 games in, so a slightly ludicrous thread.

We look like Season 2 Potter - absolutely dominating poor sides but too slow in final third and massively missing a Glenn Murray type who can offer an aerial threat, occupy 2 defenders, win the ball/win fouls high up the pitch etc.

Ask me in a years' time.

April 9th to Sept 4th 2022. P14 W9 D3 L2 pts 30.

26 Dec 2021 to April 2nd 2022. P14 W3 D5 L6 pts 14.

If the purple patch is the new normal, it is based on just 14 games. The preceding 106 league games under Potter yielded 1.09 points per game.

In the last 2 seasons we have lost:
Manager and entire coaching staff
Cucurella, Bissouma, White + others.

Somehow the expectation appears to be a new man takes over and continues at 2 points per game, rather than closer to 1.1 points per game. The context for expectation appears to have warped to the extent that 15 points from 10 games and 7th in the table is disappointing. Despite the huge changes we've just faced.

 

[Pavilionaire]

1. It took Potter 2 1/2 years to get this group of players consistently playing like a top half side.
2. Since taking that point at Anfield the xG stats from RDZ's last 3 matches have us ahead in all of them. Indeed, the bare minimum points for those 3 games we should have had is 5, not 1.
3. RDZ's biggest problem is chronically under-performing attacking players. Welbeck was a Potter favourite - his xG is 3.51. Solly March has an xG of 2.67, Dennis Undav 0.52. That's 0 goals scored, a combined xG of 6.7. So that's 7 goals left out there by those 3 attacking players this season.

 

[Mellotron]

April 9th to Sept 4th 2022. P14 W9 D3 L2 pts 30.

26 Dec 2021 to April 2nd 2022. P14 W3 D5 L6 pts 14.

If the purple patch is the new normal, it is based on just 14 games. The preceding 106 league games under Potter yielded 1.09 points per game.

In the last 2 seasons we have lost:
Manager and entire coaching staff
Cucurella, Bissouma, White + others.

Somehow the expectation appears to be a new man takes over and continues at 2 points per game, rather than closer to 1.1 points per game. The context for expectation appears to have warped to the extent that 15 points from 10 games and 7th in the table is disappointing. Despite the huge changes we've just faced.

Hard to argue. I have accepted we will probably have to go backwards to go forwards.

I expect us to finish around 12th-14th this season, but higher next season as De Zerbi beds in his methods and gets some of his players in.

No big drama in my eyes.

 

[amexer]

Very early days but have felt all season any points gained were towards safety rather than climbing table to new heights. Not much a manager can do with so much possession and not taking chances although agree would help if we moved ball quicker from back.
What I dont understand is subs. Pervis after a couple of ordinary games was outstanding going forward against Spurs. and took him off. Defending was never going to be a priority against Forest and should have played to give us a threat wide left.
As for Udav He was top scorer in Belgium which is not a bad league. For some reason people on here say he is not good enough but last 3 games should have been on for at least 30mins if not more. After more game time will be time to judge. From what I saw of him with Union his strength is taking chances and boy dont we need that.
What has to be remembered is there were many dire games at home under Potter when we often never looked like scoring

 

[Seagull58]

 

[brighton_tom]

We've not played badly in any of his 4 games. As has been said a million times its just the final bit of quality in the box. If we'd scored just 1 of our chances against Forest to take the points, then almost everyone would be looking at these 4 games and thinking its a perfectly okay start for RDZ given the opposition. So im not worried at the moment, the goals will come. Its not like we've been outplayed and hammered by any of these 4 teams.

The perfect solution is that we find the elusive striker in the next transfer window and the goals start flooding in. But until then we work with what we've got. Increase the intensity or our forward play, get the ball forward quicker, and the goals will come. I'd also like to see Undav brought on earlier or maybe have Trossard playing more centrally along with Welbeck. With just DW up top maybe its too easy for team to crowd him out, and stifle chances. Having the pair of them in and around the box would obviously give defenders more to think about, and Undav on for the final 5-10 minutes of a game just isnt long enough.

 

[Silverhatch]

1. It took Potter 2 1/2 years to get this group of players consistently playing like a top half side.
2. Since taking that point at Anfield the xG stats from RDZ's last 3 matches have us ahead in all of them. Indeed, the bare minimum points for those 3 games we should have had is 5, not 1.
3. RDZ's biggest problem is chronically under-performing attacking players. Welbeck was a Potter favourite - his xG is 3.51. Solly March has an xG of 2.67, Dennis Undav 0.52. That's 0 goals scored, a combined xG of 6.7. So that's 7 goals left out there by those 3 attacking players this season.

Good points but no.1 is slightly off-kilter because Potter did go more direct once Welbeck’s hamstrings were fixed - and that happened in the last 10 or 20% of his tenure - with a corresponding uplift in results/confidence. Potter going is a HUGE jolt to the club’s psyche. De Zerbi was bought in to build on Potter’s work over his tenure but has in fact missed out that Potter was implementing a different style over his last 15 games. Weir needs to point this out to the coaching staff.

 

[GT49er]

maybe it was getting too good to be true, a "false" position. or everything was just clicking into place? i like to think the latter. last season this is exactly the sort of frustrating couple of results we'd get, then win against a top third team. unless we get that sneaky win in the next two games p) we're going backwards.

It was clearly the latter, IMHO. It had taken Potter two and a half seasons to recognise the point where playing out from the back (good) became fannying around at the back (bad) if carried on to long and without variation. This epiphany coincided with Welbeck returning to full fitness and a fantastic run of form which was carried over to this season, despite the loss of Bissouma (expected and planned) and Cucurella (unexpected and unplanned).

Worried that RdZ is going to focus too exclusively on playing out/fannying around from/at the back. Also concerned about his substitutions so far - twenty minutes to go against a woeful but determinedly defending Forest side, the game was calling out for a change - and some speed. Why no Sarmiento? Surely it would have been worth a shot giving the likes of Enciso and Gilmour a chance. Just the one substitution doesn't look like the bravery we were promsed!

Here's hoping he comes good. I'm just a bit wary at the moment.