[Albion] De Zerbi: 'We deserved to lose...I understood the problem in January!"

[Rookie]

Strange thread.
I do genuinely wonder what some fans expectations were at the start of the season. We are playing our first season in Europe and topped the group, have had horrific injury luck, sold 2 superb centre midfielders and yet we are still top 10 (just). What more were people expecting from the season? I have no doubt that with a few less injuries we would be challenging the top 6 but it was not to be but this season has been far from poor.
For the first time since Hyypia we are potential going to finish in a lower position than the season before but it seems some can’t take that and feel every year should be better (which arguably it is given the European adventure). A lot of clubs would kill to be in our position.

 

[Flounce]

Where did he say it? In what context?

Argus, about the Roma game

“We are not big a club. Every day for us is a challenge if we are able to keep this level.

“But I am not (only) speaking about coaches or players.

“I am speaking about everybody who works for Brighton”




This also, he’s been talking to Gus hasn’t he?

“We have to watch everybody if we are able or we go back to playing one game a week and Wednesday off and we go and play golf.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

He deserved a stint with a proper big club, instead he got The Chavs.

He would have been wise to have won a trophy at Brighton first.

Same is true of RDZ.

If RDZ leaves for a 'bigger' club at the end of the season one may start to develop a hypothesis that Mr Bloom is not funding sufficiently for us to win a trophy.

My guess is that if RDZ does leave in the summer it will be for adventure rather than a better chance to win trophies. And my guess is that Potter left because the money was too massive to turn down. I could see him still being with us were it not for the massive tsunami of money that swept him away like leaf in the ocean.

 

[Justice]

I am getting seriously pissed off with RDZ saying “We are not a big club” at every f***ing opportunity. We DO NOT need to be told this every f***ing week, we know it and we knew it before he had ever heard of Brighton and Hove Albion. Just give it a rest

He’s gone and said it again today. At least he said “we”

Bordering on history lessons, oh how these coaches turn when results don’t go their way nothing is their fault.

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

He would have been wise to have won a trophy at Brighton first.

But there's not many trophies and there are quite a lot of bigger spending clubs competing to win them. He could have been waiting a long time. As we all have

 

[um bongo molongo]

The way I see it ….

RDZ ball, is the most thrilling way of playing football I’ve seen in my time here, but it leaves us very vulnerable to be countered on. The limit this risk we need players in key positions, mainly full back and centre mid with huge levels of energy and pace and the ability to cover the ground and tackle.

We need full backs like a match fit Lamptey at full back and a fit and firing Pervis. Instead, we’ve been muddling through with Van Hecke, Milner, Webster filling in. And every time this happens we get punished, they just don’t have the legs.

Caicedo as has been said 7 million times is a big loss. Gilmour and Gross are terrific on the ball, but just don’t cover the ground when we’re turned out of possession. I feel like we must go through to pain barrier and develop Baleba.

I also think this need for last ditch cover is the reason we are persisting with Steele. Just as much as his ability with his feet. He’s also decent flying out of his box and tends to make the right decision.

The question then is, given we don’t have the fit available players for RDZ ball, should we still be playing it or should we be diluting our style? Well, the answer to RDZ is clear. This is his religion. We’re playing it under all circumstances.

Exactly as I see it. De Zerbi said something about needing some pace/athleticism/muscle. Without caicedo (or Biss before him) we’ve really lost that. It’s why I agree with you about persisting with Baleba as he’s the only one in CM that fulfills that criteria. Igor apart we don’t really have it anywhere on the pitch (I’ve a feeling RDZ is still annoyed about missing out on Kudus as he’d have brought this too).

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

Exactly as I see it. De Zerbi said something about needing some pace/athleticism/muscle. Without caicedo (or Biss before him) we’ve really lost that. It’s why I agree with you about persisting with Baleba as he’s the only one in CM that fulfills that criteria. Igor apart we don’t really have it anywhere on the pitch (I’ve a feeling RDZ is still annoyed about missing out on Kudus as he’d have brought this too).

Yeh, we're getting outmuscled sometimes. It can happen when you're playing young players, with a few oldies and not loads in between.

 

[Justice]

Strange thread.
I do genuinely wonder what some fans expectations were at the start of the season. We are playing our first season in Europe and topped the group, have had horrific injury luck, sold 2 superb centre midfielders and yet we are still top 10 (just). What more were people expecting from the season? I have no doubt that with a few less injuries we would be challenging the top 6 but it was not to be but this season has been far from poor.
For the first time since Hyypia we are potential going to finish in a lower position than the season before but it seems some can’t take that and feel every year should be better (which arguably it is given the European adventure). A lot of clubs would kill to be in our position.

Yes we have injuries so do other clubs the drop off shouldn’t be this dramatic. Saturday there was a clear lack of desIre to win the game we were as soft as shit it was Fulham not Man City and we didn’t give them a game.
To see our CB’s get bullied like that was disgraceful.

 

[Originunknown]

Bordering on history lessons, oh how these coaches turn when results don’t go their way nothing is their fault.

I really hope he doesn't go the way of Poyet and Potter but it's starting to sound familiar.
We're still in a great position but HE needs to keep perspective and avoid airing his frustrations with transfers/club policy in public, it's not professional and it'll soon turn people off regardless of the great job he's done.

Bloom has backed him, and we've been incredibly unlucky with injuries.
Get on with it Roberto and get them prepared and fired up for Rome, onwards

 

[um bongo molongo]

I agree with you

And what I think many on here do and to a degree what the club have done, is to look at the raw numbers, which suggest we have enough, and count players who were can get 20 mins here and there out of.

We've counted, for example Lallana as a 1 full time equivalent, where we should have counted him as maybe a 0.15, to use the language of my HR team.

Again, no blame attached. But lessons I think need to be learned

You have a similar HR team to me. I reckon Lallana, Milner and Lamptey might just equal 1 FTE when put together

 

[Justice]

I really hope he doesn't go the way of Poyet and Potter but it's starting to sound familiar.
We're still in a great position but HE needs to keep perspective and avoid airing his frustrations with transfers/club policy in public, it's not professional and it'll soon turn people off regardless of the great job he's done.

Bloom has backed him, and we've been incredibly unlucky with injuries.
Get on with it Roberto and get them prepared and fired up for Rome, onwards

It’s when you don’t have the best players available is when you really have to earn your salary. Adjust things make us more difficult to beat maybe play on the break just do something instead of moaning. There are 20 PL managers jobs available it’s a prestigious position to be in I hate it when the whinging starts.

 

[Weststander]

He would have been wise to have won a trophy at Brighton first.

Same is true of RDZ.

If RDZ leaves for a 'bigger' club at the end of the season one may start to develop a hypothesis that Mr Bloom is not funding sufficiently for us to win a trophy.

My guess is that if RDZ does leave in the summer it will be for adventure rather than a better chance to win trophies. And my guess is that Potter left because the money was too massive to turn down. I could see him still being with us were it not for the massive tsunami of money that swept him away like leaf in the ocean.

I agree, August 22 Potter had no intention of leaving.

I picture Boehly asking Winstanley “Who is this gaud damn son of bitch Tony Bloom. Find out his price. Everyone has a price”.

 

[Balders]

Time to put in a bit of retrospective perspective!

In 3 of our last 9 games last season, we were done 3-1 at Forest, done 5-1 at home by Everton and 4-1 at Newcastle! I do believe RDZ was moaning about fatigue and fitness back then (different circumstances but still a run of games in not many days) but it all turned out alright back then ;-)

Interestingly Newcastle took us apart at their place while they were gunning for and achieved Champions League football. Although historically they have a better pedigree than ourselves, in the last 10yrs our progress has been broadly similar - been in the Championship, they also had issues languishing in the bottom third of the Premier League.

They now have infinitely more financial resources than we have (if FFP lets them spend it) but so far this season they, like us, have had to balance a European Campaign (effectively played the same number of fixtures as us) and although we've been ravaged by injuries, they've had it slightly worse than ourselves. They didn't spend a fortune in January - err a nominal fee for an 18yo!

Ironically they currently sit one point above us in the PL and aren't now in Europe. However their injury problems appear to be abating, yet ours continue.......

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

i dont know what the issues are but the team clearly doesnt click as well as it did before. blaming transfers cant be it when we still have 70-odd possession and cant score, with the same forwards and tactics. maybe that's the problem, too predictable and easy for the opposition to counter.

No Pedro

Every team can only name ?25 players in the squads plus youngsters, home grown etc…

We are all in the same position, our academy is getting stronger every year, it is the injuries that have crippled us (but no more so than Liverpool and Newcastle).

To me it is a level playing field, it’s how the manager uses his resources. Has it been necessary to make as many changes? I don’t know…., but is significantly more than many teams.

We can't compare ourselves with Liverpol and Newcastle are out of Europe.

I have no problem with rotation - apart from the goalkeeper I'm afraid.

 

[AZ Gull]

Difference being Klopp put his faith and belief in the youngsters, embraced the situation Liverpool found themselves in with the injuries and the young players seem to thrive on that.

De Zerbi would have just moaned, blamed the lack of depth / investment in the squad and that negativity would have had an impact in the dressing room IMO.

....

Whilst I'm sure there are many avenues available to someone who wishes to critcise RDZ, the idea that he doesn't trust the youngsters is, quite simply, ABSURD. I pointed out as much in this post the other day.

Albion (under RDZ) have played the youngsters FAR, FAR more often than Klopp has done.

 

[Jim in the West]

Interestingly Newcastle took us apart at their place while they were gunning for and achieved Champions League football. Although historically they have a better pedigree than ourselves, in the last 10yrs our progress has been broadly similar - been in the Championship, they also had issues languishing in the bottom third of the Premier League.

It is indeed fascinating how we've tracked Newcastle (or the other way around) for the past eight seasons....never being more than 5 places apart (our posn first, then the Saudi's):

2016/17: 2nd/1st
2017/18: 15th/10th
2018/19: 17th/13th
2019/20: 15th/13th
2020/21: 16th/12th
2021/22: 9th/11th
2022/23: 6th/4th
2023/24: 9th/8th

PS: I've been meaning to look up those stats for ages!

 

[Milano]

Argus, about the Roma game

“We are not big a club. Every day for us is a challenge if we are able to keep this level.

“But I am not (only) speaking about coaches or players.

“I am speaking about everybody who works for Brighton”




This also, he’s been talking to Gus hasn’t he?

“We have to watch everybody if we are able or we go back to playing one game a week and Wednesday off and we go and play golf.

This is meaningless without context - what was the question he was answering? I'll guess it was yet another boring question along the lines of "how will you cope with the injuries?" or "are you going to be here next season". If I was RDZ I'd 100% hide behind the language barrier right now. There are certain reporters who are apparently BHA fans who need to start acting like it......

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

Whilst I'm sure there are many avenues available to someone who wishes to critcise RDZ, the idea that he doesn't trust the youngsters is, quite simply, ABSURD. I pointed out as much in this post the other day.

Albion (under RDZ) have played the youngsters FAR, FAR more often than Klopp has done.

And the idea that Klopp doesn’t moan and make excuses is completely insane. As is this forum in the week we play Roma. Have Brighton fans become the most entitled in world football or is it just the users of this forum ? I’m going for the latter.

 

[Munchkin]

Whilst I'm sure there are many avenues available to someone who wishes to critcise RDZ, the idea that he doesn't trust the youngsters is, quite simply, ABSURD. I pointed out as much in this post the other day.

Albion (under RDZ) have played the youngsters FAR, FAR more often than Klopp has done.

Think you’ve missed my point. Not once have I said he ‘doesn’t trust the youngsters’

My point being the negativity around WHY we are in a situation where we are having to put our trust in them.

Klopps very much used it as a positive and supported them 100%, RDZ has used every opportunity to use it as an excuse to criticise the clubs recruitment policy in January.

 

[AZ Gull]

Think you’ve missed my point. Not once have I said he ‘doesn’t trust the youngsters’

......

Errrr...that is EXACTLY what you said:-

Difference being Klopp put his faith and belief in the youngsters, .

....