[Albion] Decent article on De Zerbi ball

[ConfusedGloryHunter]

I can't remember who said it but I heard:-

'this is exactly what the love of my life, Graham, was doing before he left, and had he stayed he would be the bestest with a bazillion points'.


As said I can't quite remember who said that, but I think it was here.

That was me. @GP - call me x

 

[Mo Gosfield]

True but, when it’s done well, it’s hard to deal with the RDZ approach. Teams that have stood off us to avoid the counter-attack have been taken apart - and teams that have pressed us have been taken apart. Seems like a clever bloke to me who will already have a plan for the tweaks needed in different scenarios.

RDZ is the real deal and will take us to a different level.

 

[Zeberdi]

Could it be a simple as we break much quicker much of the time now, so the opposition defence is not back in place by the time we come to shoot/head the ball, so less players in the way and they can choose where to place the ball rather than snap shots or shots from distance? The keeper is also more exposed as he doesn’t have as much defensive cover.

That would be my understanding of one of the main reasons for scoring more goals - but would also add that with Hughton, we were great in defence but would immediately retreat right back when faced with a press and get our shape back into a low block so not so vulnerable to a counter - and crucially we were making more longer passes from the back, often bypassing the MF, that gave away possession - most of the ball activity would be in the first and second thirds - less goals against but also less goals for us. With Potter, we still sat back too low for too long when facing a press, and it took a while for Webster, Sanchez, Dunky etc to start the attack from the back with shorter passes and keeping possession for a lot longer - but we were still too slow in passing imo and slow to break, giving the opposition time to reshape as pointed out above.

Under RDZ, we started with Potter’s foundation but now passing much quicker from the back, still patient in possession inviting the press, but with the FBs and WBs playing higher and using more pivots and width with shorter one-touch passes. We don‘t seem to retreat when the opposition get possession now in the final third but immediately press them even higher to re-gain quick possession - always focussed on immediately getting back possession where ever we loose it on the field - which often stops the counters before they’ve barely had a time to make a break with our own aggressive counter attacks - that was very obvious to me in the ’Boro game. Because we are now also pressing higher with much more intensity, on and crucially off the ball, we have more players involved in the final stage of the attacking pattern, making short fast one touch passes flummoxing the CBs while our wingbacks/wingers make runs behind the defence lines getting the into half spaces now to put the crosses in or score from a wide position.- I think we simply have more players that are getting into positions to assist and score goals, by the law of averages alone, that would improve our xG rating. Very enjoyable football to watch under Potter, even more enjoyable under RDZ.

 

[jackanada]

I'm pretty certain that the goals the article claims Groß scored while playing right back were actually scored after a substitution was made and Groß was no longer playing right back

 

[Hugo Rune]

True but, when it’s done well, it’s hard to deal with the RDZ approach. Teams that have stood off us to avoid the counter-attack have been taken apart - and teams that have pressed us have been taken apart. Seems like a clever bloke to me who will already have a plan for the tweaks needed in different scenarios.

I agree actually. There are managers like Biesla who stick to a tried and tested strategy that may very well work to begin with but when other teams work out effective strategies to combat them, they can’t change and end up failing miserably. Potter was always changing and tinkering here and there to keep ahead of the crowd.

But like you, I kind of think RDZ’s tactics (as long as he has brilliant players) are similar to those employed by Pep. The opposition will know what’s going to happen, stopping it is another thing altogether.

 

[The Fits]

What I love about this tactic is going to teams like mboro and Carrick clearly telling his players not to engage with colwill.... But .... The thick northern monkey crowd can't help themselves booing and cajoling the players to get stuck in, which the players fall for, hook line and sinker. They press , we break the lines , bang, GOL. See second goal on Saturday.

Maybe thats why we are so much better away.

Unquestionably I think. Right now It totally suits us playing away exactly because of this. Any home support is eventually going to get on your back if you let the CBs walk to the half way line with the ball repeatedly. Seems simplistic but football is a simple game really.

 

[B-right-on]

It’s interesting to watch. We actually start the build up very, very slowly (as the daft bint that sits behind us CONTINUALLY points out when Colwill is stood on the ball), waiting for the oppo to engage with our back line, ideally in numbers. We wait until the last possible second (higher risk), drawing them in as far as possible and then almost flick a switch and ping it several times between players ideally looking for runners that have broken the lines to exploit the half-space. The other big, big difference we have is Mitoma now starting regularly - he doesn’t even need a space because his dribbling is so hot.

This is where I'm at, what you and @Icy Gull said . The SPEED at which we go through the lines and into attack is what sets us apart from the Potter era.

I couldn't even begin to count the number of times I yelled out to get the ball forward or groan when we passed it sideways/ backwards to retain possession under GPott. Chelsea were the same yesterday at Citeh.

Look at how Solly is flourishing, epitomises it. It's like RDZ is the natural progression from Potterball as he was from Hughtonball (who was what we needed after Hyypiaballsup).

 

[AmexRuislip]

Goes into our tactics. Good summary imo.

De Zerbi's Brighton - Destined for Success?

An insight into the changes Roberto De Zerbi has made at Brighton and why he and his side seem destined for success.

www.vavel.com

Interesting article, cheers for posting.
I like the way it describes that RDZ took over the foundations left by GP.
They may have meant the foundations that were left, after GP had taken all but bricks and flooring.

 

[Justice]

RDZ has changed the whole expectation level, we are now playing with a big club mentality. He recently picked up on Sanchez’s rash challenge at Everton to give away a penalty saying it didn’t cost us today although it might later on. His Sassuolo side missed out on a champion league place on goal difference. The guys a winner he’s mad to win every game. Potter liked a good performance even if the result wasn’t there I don’t get that impression with RDZ.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

T

True but, when it’s done well, it’s hard to deal with the RDZ approach. Teams that have stood off us to avoid the counter-attack have been taken apart - and teams that have pressed us have been taken apart. Seems like a clever bloke to me who will already have a plan for the tweaks needed in different scenarios.

Just imagine what we'll be like after a couple of transfer windows to allow RDZ to improve his squad further, in areas that he deems to be weaker.

 

[Spiros]

IMHO RDZ has just moved us more quickly along the route Potter was already going along. Under Potter we always used possession across the back to try and draw teams out of position but were inconsistent with how we then attacked them, especially if they remained in position defensively. It only ever seemed to work if we did it more quickly. Think back to the 3-3 against Wolves a few years ago - first half the ponderous slow possession and they got the upper hand, second half the same players did the same stuff but may times quicker resulting in Wolves being the ones hanging on at the end. Back end of last season and the beginning of this - apart from a couple of exceptions - we were playing it around more quickly/less cautiously which is why we were doing better.

Fast forward to RDZ and he has just got the players attacking even faster. The lower end teams that would normally have blocked us - like Southampton and Everton - can't keep up with the pace of attack in a way they would have done against Potter's team. This same lack of caution also cost us a few goals against Arsenal though but I'd rather see a loss like that than a dull 0-0 draw.

Since RDZ came in things got very exciting

 

[LamieRobertson]

They're usually somewhat related...

Mind you, I agree that having the build up play slightly further down the pitch so you can play it down the wings to marauding wingers is a good and efficient way of creating goal scoring opportunities before they've gathered their defenders. Problem is that it is somewhat easily countered, as you could see against Arsenal.

Early in the game there was a situation where Ben White carried the ball forward and was high up the pitch and a few moments later, Dunk (?) won the ball and played it into the space White had left opened. For the rest of the half, Ben White didn't go anywhere - just kept his position - and ate Mitoma alive. Was a bit similar against Nottingham and Villa... if their full-backs aren't going anywhere, Brighton isn't going anywhere either.

Aye and Mitoma only came to life when White was substituted

 

[Barnet Seagull]

The key from my perspective is the defensive overload. RDZ likes a deep defensive 8. In effect all of the midfield are compressed meaning that if anyone presses us we have plenty of opportunity to play out. Most teams wont commit 8 to a press, so we always have an opportunity to play out provided we are technically competent.
In order to get some joy teams need to commit more players to the press which draws them out of their defensive shape. This creates the space in behind and if transitions are done with enough pace, attacking overloads. This is exploited via cross field switches or more importantly through speedy transitions using the double pivot (the two central midfielders)

If done right the opposition are not coming on to us in transition, they will be running back towards their own goal. This obviously also helps prevent their attacks and saps energy and motivation as they feel they are always defending.

It's great to see and should work particularly well against sides low on confidence or with weak worth ethic. It's also very difficult to stop without defensive risk unless teams are prepared to just sit and wait and never press - which fans do not like.

This is an incredible article btw. https://spielverlagerung.com/2021/1...bi-an-early-analysis-of-his-shakhtar-donetsk/

 

[Zeberdi]

IMHO RDZ has just moved us more quickly along the route Potter was already going along.

Have to agree with this - our managers need to been seen in the context of our progressive development in all aspects of the club.

I’m excited about Saturday’s match - I think we are playing Kloppity style football better than Klopp now!

 

[dazzer6666]

RDZ has changed the whole expectation level, we are now playing with a big club mentality. He recently picked up on Sanchez’s rash challenge at Everton to give away a penalty saying it didn’t cost us today although it might later on. His Sassuolo side missed out on a champion league place on goal difference. The guys a winner he’s mad to win every game. Potter liked a good performance even if the result wasn’t there I don’t get that impression with RDZ.

Agree with this. I have visions of us finishing top four in a couple of seasons, DeZ being interviewed on the pitch after we thrash someone to end the season and saying ’yeah but I’m still pissed off we lost to Charlton 2 seasons ago, we have to do better’.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

We certainly seemed to have a more solid defence under Potter. But I’m not sure about our attack having more freedom, we used to have tons of shots and possession under Potter. RDZ has somehow made the players finish the chances, I’m still not clear how he has done this?

A great comparison is the recent game at Everton where we scored 4 goals. We actually created better and more goal scoring chances under Potter at home to Sheff Utd where we ended up drawing but where the Potter Out Campaign really got going. Maybe it’s as simple as RDZ not having the likes of Maupay, Connolly and Jahanbakhsh to miss very easy chances but instead, having much better players finish properly?

I'd like to know what the % of backwards passes made under Potter was compared to RDZ now.

It always felt like we were passing backwards at a higher rate back then as compared to now.

We feel much more fluid going forward now rather than the stop start under GP.

 

[Tony Towner's Fridge]

Such a pity that Bruno never stayed.Under RdeZ's expert tutorage he would have become a great coach, wh maybe could have managed us in the future.
Such great times to be an Albion supporter.

TNBA

TTF

 

[Justice]

We certainly seemed to have a more solid defence under Potter. But I’m not sure about our attack having more freedom, we used to have tons of shots and possession under Potter. RDZ has somehow made the players finish the chances, I’m still not clear how he has done this?

A great comparison is the recent game at Everton where we scored 4 goals. We actually created better and more goal scoring chances under Potter at home to Sheff Utd where we ended up drawing but where the Potter Out Campaign really got going. Maybe it’s as simple as RDZ not having the likes of Maupay, Connolly and Jahanbakhsh to miss very easy chances but instead, having much better players finish properly?

Tons of shots in a crowded 18yrd box, open teams up and you don’t have that issue, much easier to score.

 

[Justice]

Such a pity that Bruno never stayed.Under RdeZ's expert tutorage he would have become a great coach, wh maybe could have managed us in the future.
Such great times to be an Albion supporter.

TNBA

TTF

Bruno went down the Oatway route good luck to him judging by his body language Sunday he may be regretting it. Once a Chelsea flop always a Chelsea flop.

 

[Wozza]

In-depth tactical analysis in this...