[Albion] De Zerbi Thoughts?

[One Teddy Maybank]

No different to Potter so far.

Not sure if I’m being whooshed , but it feels like the players are on a fine if they play it long too early, Caciedo and MacAllister certainly come deeper to receive…..

Bit riskier, but hopefully will reap rewards. I like RdZ‘s passion. I don’t like losing and am in the ‘don’t care how we win’ brigade, and feel t will come good.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Not sure if I’m being whooshed , but it feels like the players are on a fine if they play it long too early, Caciedo and MacAllister certainly come deeper to receive…..

Bit riskier, but hopefully will reap rewards. I like RdZ‘s passion. I don’t like losing and am in the ‘don’t care how we win’ brigade, and feel t will come good.

3 results so far have been very much us haven’t they. Some details here and there but the performances / outcomes very much in keeping with the previous regime. Looking forward to Tuesday as will be good to see how we approach that.

 

[BNthree]

To my uninformed eye it seems the last 2 matches we’ve played the same players and used the same tactics. One thing Potter never was was predictable. Hopefully RdZ is going to mix it up a bit so the opposition can’t just assume we’ll try to draw them out and then play through the middle.

 

[Solid at the back]

I'm concerned that he's nowhere near as tactically aware as GP. If something wasn't working under GP, he'd change the shape, pretty quickly.

Not looking forward to the Forest game. A few weeks ago we'd have put 4 or 5 past them, I think that could be the other way round now. That was a really disappointing result last night.

 

[DJ NOBO]

Some foreign managers take to the prem from the off.
But the signs are RDZ is a long learning curve type.
And it appears he favours similar tactics to Potter when he first arrived.
We have seen they don’t work.
Expect to read some frustrated posts on NSC in the coming weeks.

 

[Seasider78]

I think if we all stop deluding ourselves that if Potter had stayed we would be heading for the champions league rather than acknowledging that we could just have easily gone on a run of results like we have just seen then we will a bit more relaxed towards the new manager

 

[Sarisbury Seagull]

I think if we all stop deluding ourselves that if Potter had stayed we would be heading for the champions league rather than acknowledging that we could just have easily gone on a run of results like we have just seen then we will a bit more relaxed towards the new manager

I agree with your sentiment but it’s hardly been a bad run of results anyway! Drew away to Liverpool and then lost to Spurs and away to Brentford which is a really tricky game as United found out a few weeks ago.

Massive and embarassing over reaction from quite a few on here.

 

[Seasider78]

I agree with your sentiment but it’s hardly been a bad run of results anyway! Drew away to Liverpool and then lost to Spurs and away to Brentford which is a really tricky game as United found out a few weeks ago.

Massive and embarassing over reaction from quite a few on here.

Exactly we drew with a terrible Norwich side last October under Potter after a similar start to the season and last night was like a replay of Fulham this season. There is nothing to suggest Potter could have got this team to break down the spurs defensive Bus or stop a bang in form Toney. It’s amazing how entitled some of our fans have become we have no right to be smashing spurs or Brentford two really good sides in this division.

 

[DJ NOBO]

I think if we all stop deluding ourselves that if Potter had stayed we would be heading for the champions league rather than acknowledging that we could just have easily gone on a run of results like we have just seen then we will a bit more relaxed towards the new manager

It was concerning we had no answer to Brentford’s pretty basic tactics.
We kept trying the same thing. Potter would have changed things around.
It’s also concerning that the defence looks vulnerable now. Its reliability was the bedrock to Potter’s success.
Fair comment that we are never getting top four or probably even top 10 though, whoever is in charge.

 

[Bold Seagull]

It was concerning we had no answer to Brentford’s pretty basic tactics.
We kept trying the same thing. Potter would have changed things around.
It’s also concerning that the defence looks vulnerable now. Its reliability was the bedrock to Potter’s success.
Fair comment that we are never getting top four or probably even top 10 though, whoever is in charge.

It’s only 6 weeks ago we did pretty much the same thing at Fulham. Yep, tactical change around mid-game, yep still conceded 2 goals despite all the possession and chances, but both outcomes very similar.

Fact is many have got carried away with April to October form and got used to that as the new normal. Now games v the likes of Spurs are expected wins, we should be winning away to teams like Brentford…

Of course no, we’re still ‘us’, playing well but goals seemingly elusive again after a free scoring period, and conceding what look like defendable positions.

 

[Swansman]

Five games or so left until the World Cup, getting a win before that would be huge to improve the belief in his ideas which would help that mini-preseason. Hopefully already against Nottingham or there could be some tummy aches in a few players.
I think the football so far has been ok, bit unlucky not to get anything from the Spurs game and also yesterday I think the teams were quite evenly matched.

Hard to say much from it though - there's a mixture of Potterball and Zerbiball right now and not until the latter has been around for a bit longer will we know where we're heading and whether this will work out or not.

 

[Seasider78]

It was concerning we had no answer to Brentford’s pretty basic tactics.
We kept trying the same thing. Potter would have changed things around.
It’s also concerning that the defence looks vulnerable now. Its reliability was the bedrock to Potter’s success.
Fair comment that we are never getting top four or probably even top 10 though, whoever is in charge.

Like at Fulham when Potter put Undav on for Caicedo, Mitoma for Pervis and Mwepu which many were questioning on here. I seem to remember another in form top striker having no problems against our defence that night as well.

RDZ no longer has Mwepu as an option from the bench either. We have conceded a pretty random goal from England top striker and two from one who is probably on the plane to the World Cup. It’s hardly a disaster is it??

 

[DJ NOBO]

Like at Fulham when Potter put Undav on for Caicedo, Mitoma for Pervis and Mwepu which many were questioning on here. I seem to remember another in form top striker having no problems against our defence that night as well.

RDZ no longer has Mwepu as an option from the bench either. We have conceded a pretty random goal from England top striker and two from one who is probably on the plane to the World Cup. It’s hardly a disaster is it??

I don’t think anyone sane is saying the last three games have been a disaster.
Just some worrying signs that we are heading backwards for the time being.
Dicking around with it in defence, being predictable and attacking too slowly, won’t cut it.

 

[Originunknown]

Raya was the difference last night with a few exceptional saves.

Their first goal was against the run of play and poor from us defensively to let them in behind.

Joel should have known better for the penalty, Toney was always going to go down like a sack of shit.

There was very little in the game all told and we were very close to getting a foothold back. We didn't have much luck last night, not sure how much can be levelled at De Zerbi as we created good chances.

 

[tigertim68]

If we don’t beat Forest , with City and Chelsea coming up things could get really interesting on this board

 

[Mustafa II]

We need to get behind the new manager at all costs. We will need to be very patient.

We need to expect some poor results. He hasn't even begun to apply his ideas to this team and it will take the season before we start to really see it.

I know what our fans are like. What they were like with Potter when things weren't going our way. And what worries me is that the fans will expect immediate results, which frankly, we're not going to get, and create a rotten atmosphere and further contribute to the poor form which we will inevitably experience.

De Zerbi has a good record. He's the right man for the job. But it'll take time. Maybe even seasons. The patience of the fans will be absolutely crucial to his success and our form, this season and next.

 

[Bodian]

We need to get behind the new manager at all costs. We will need to be very patient.

We need to expect some poor results. He hasn't even begun to apply his ideas to this team and it will take the season before we start to really see it.

I know what our fans are like. What they were like with Potter when things weren't going our way. And what worries me is that the fans will expect immediate results, which frankly, we're not going to get, and create a rotten atmosphere and further contribute to the poor form which we will inevitably experience.

De Zerbi has a good record. He's the right man for the job. But it'll take time. Maybe even seasons. The patience of the fans will be absolutely crucial to his success and our form, this season and next.

I think it's partly the frustrations of probably having to wait for it to work out again, just when we had seemingly reached that point under Potter.

 

[Steve in Japan]

As somebody pointed out last night, new coaches are normally appointed because the guy before wasn't working out. Following a strong Potter (end of last season, start of this) was always going to be a tall order. Patience will be needed. I am as bad as most at wanting jam today, though!

 

[LamieRobertson]

I'm concerned that he's nowhere near as tactically aware as GP. If something wasn't working under GP, he'd change the shape, pretty quickly.

Not looking forward to the Forest game. A few weeks ago we'd have put 4 or 5 past them, I think that could be the other way round now. That was a really disappointing result last night.

Blimey that’s quite a turnaround if you think we could lose by four or five goals next Tuesday

 

[Kosh]

It’s going to be a very tough few months, tough by PL standards anyway... I think we’re all guilty of hyper analysing Roberto’s style vs our perception of GP and his tactical preferences... ultimately we’re hugely in transition and it’s showing.

We’ve lost a huge player in Biss and game changer in Mwepu a PL goal scorer in Maupay and a brilliant wide player in Cucu and we’ve lost the coach (or coaches) who made our remaining best players tick...

Expecting 8th, 7th or 6th... was, even under GP a fantasy... it might have happened I guess, but now we’re dealing with reality. If we steer clear of a relegation battle we will have over achieved... given our losses in terms of players and coaching stability etc.

Lack of investment, expecting players with one decent season in Belgium to slot in and kick on for relative peanuts simply isn’t realistic. As for expecting a coach with an up and down track record, zero experience of English football not to mention English as a second language to maintain 4th-6th in this division (again) is Roy of the Rovers levels of fictional wishful thinking.

I like Roberto, he’s full of passion and clearly has a very strong work ethic... but the club need to be prepared to change/upgrade the squad to match his philosophy, rather than expecting him to be Graham and work with the squad as if he’d built it himself... are we prepared to do that? I have serious doubts tbh, and that might undermine Roberto and make his time a massive anti-climax.

If the players are starting to ‘miss’ or ‘pine’ for GP then we have a problem as they need to move on, we all do... it’s hard, as clearly GP is a truly brilliant coach and therein lies the rub... you can’t simply replace that, just ask those poor souls at Old Trafford ... (slight joke) BUT I suspect we’re going to have to deal with the down on the upside ... expecting to beat Forest is dangerous, we have no right to beat anyone... obviously I hope we do, but for me it’s about 38-40 points and that’s it.

I’m also hoping we (finally) bring in a striker to support Welbz as Undav is not really up to this level ... he’s too slow, makes Hemed look like a 20 goal a season player... Ferguson is raw, but talented but by God we need our Toney or someone who we think (he’s going to score, not miss) and fast.

Fingers crossed we stabilise the ship and get at least a point on Tuesday

Albion