[Albion] Roberto De Zerbi - JOINS AS NEW HEAD COACH (4 year contract)

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

https://www.skysports.com/football/...zlEaUNDOFl4TUh4dnB4TXQ5UmJia3doRHRuQ2NIdE55aQ..

. "So what is De Zerbi's style and what will he offer Brighton? We explore the data from his final season in charge at Sassuolo and take a look under the hood..."

So he was in talks with Bournemouth in the summer. I wonder why that didn't progress?

Clearly a guy in demand (as he says in this interview) but very considered too. Exciting times.

 

[Bakero]

So he was in talks with Bournemouth in the summer. I wonder why that didn't progress?

Clearly a guy in demand (as he says in this interview) but very considered too. Exciting times.

I imagine Bournemouth's Russian connections made that an unviable move. I'm surprised he engaged in talks to be honest.

 

[Icy Gull]

I imagine Bournemouth's Russian connections made that an unviable move. I'm surprised he engaged in talks to be honest.

They are also a tinpot club

 

[Springal]

They are also a tinpot club

There’s bigger grounds in Serie C so not surprised he didn’t go to that village club

 

[elwheelio]

Scoring loads but also conceding loads scares me. If you're a team that concedes loads its very difficult to stop that, and the goals scored can quickly dry up if say young dont have a prolific stiker or Premier League defences figure out a way to nullify you. I hope its not like Leeds last season. If he's going to make things work in the Premier League it needs to be the neat quick passing going forward but always with a strong base, so we're not caught out with endless counter attacks.

Agree. Our defence is what's kept us in the Premier league so the idea of going a bit gung ho is exciting but also makes me nervous.

 

[Icy Gull]

Agree. Our defence is what's kept us in the Premier league so the idea of going a bit gung ho is exciting but also makes me nervous.

What makes you think we are going gung ho? Possession based football with intense closing down when we lose the ball. Full backs staying back and slow build up with quick interchange passing when in the last quarter.

Doesn’t sound vaguely gung ho to me. Not keeping the ball in our penalty area if the players aren’t good enough to pass between each other is more of a worry to me, but we already play like that. I’ll miss the occasional long ball though as it seems De Zerbi is not a fan of that. I am looking forward to seeing slick interchanges and attacking at pace in the final quarter though.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Stuck with Potter during the 14 game winless home run and 6 defeats on the bounce as we could see he was building towards something better so will show the same patience with De Zerbi.

It took Potter 2 seasons to refine that system and we looked well coached and incredibly strong in these past 6 months but expecting that to carry on with the run of fixtures and only weeks in the job is unfair on de Zerbi.

Seems a hungry manager who really wanted to come here and has some interesting ideas and systems which the players will have to adapt to as he adapts to the league

Really excited to see how things develop over the remainder of the season

There is a bit of a narrative emerging that we 'stuck' with Potter as if his job was ever on the line. The 14 game winless streak at home was largely irrelevant other than to home supporters because we had one of the strongest records away. His impact was also fairly immediate and I remember the absolute buzz of excitement after taking apart both Watford and Spurs at the start of his first season in charge. There was rarely a time you thought we'd been completely outplayed or didn't turn up, and largely it was down to real profligacy in front of goal - on the pitch you could see we were a very good side all through Potter's reign.

To my mind at least what has happened over the last 6 months isn't a refining of systems, the players just have a bit more belief and confidence in front of goal. RDZ takes over with the players hopefully still high on confidence and belief and really he just has to keep them going. Very few managers get to take over a side in this position so he can hopefully hit the ground running.

 

[oldboyroy]

Excited mixed with trepidation as we've come so far and it could all go pear shaped very quickly. Likewise, Roberto could be a step up and lead us to a trophy and/or Europe. If he fails its Potters fault for leaving if he succeeds it'll be Potter who?

 

[Swansman]

There is a bit of a narrative emerging that we 'stuck' with Potter as if his job was ever on the line. The 14 game winless streak at home was largely irrelevant other than to home supporters because we had one of the strongest records away. His impact was also fairly immediate and I remember the absolute buzz of excitement after taking apart both Watford and Spurs at the start of his first season in charge. There was rarely a time you thought we'd been completely outplayed or didn't turn up, and largely it was down to real profligacy in front of goal - on the pitch you could see we were a very good side all through Potter's reign.

To my mind at least what has happened over the last 6 months isn't a refining of systems, the players just have a bit more belief and confidence in front of goal. RDZ takes over with the players hopefully still high on confidence and belief and really he just has to keep them going. Very few managers get to take over a side in this position so he can hopefully hit the ground running.

IIRC at least 10 of those 14 were played in front of zero people, something the potterouters ignored as the away form kept messing with their narrative.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

What makes you think we are going gung ho? Possession based football with intense closing down when we lose the ball. Full backs staying back and slow build up with quick interchange passing when in the last quarter.

Doesn’t sound vaguely gung ho to me. Not keeping the ball in our penalty area if the players aren’t good enough to pass between each other is more of a worry to me, but we already play like that. I’ll miss the occasional long ball though as it seems De Zerbi is not a fan of that. I am looking forward to seeing slick interchanges and attacking at pace in the final quarter though.

In some of the clips his side's do play long balls but more in the Dunky style (changing direction of play and hit flat) rather than a punt upfield from the back.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

IIRC at least 10 of those 14 were played in front of zero people, something the potterouters ignored as the away form kept messing with their narrative.

If the fans had been in attendance the pressure would have been worse.

 

[Swansman]

If the fans had been in attendance the pressure would have been worse.

Well that depends on if the non-win streak had happened with fans around. Home support means something, it is no coincidence that the only season in PL history where away team had a better win rate than home teams happened in a season when there was no crowds.

 

[Bakero]

In some of the clips his side's do play long balls but more in the Dunky style (changing direction of play and hit flat) rather than a punt upfield from the back.

In comparison to De Zerbi's peak Sassuolo, it seems Brighton under Potter this season were a bunch of long-ball merchants.

 

[elwheelio]

What makes you think we are going gung ho? Possession based football with intense closing down when we lose the ball. Full backs staying back and slow build up with quick interchange passing when in the last quarter.

Doesn’t sound vaguely gung ho to me. Not keeping the ball in our penalty area if the players aren’t good enough to pass between each other is more of a worry to me, but we already play like that. I’ll miss the occasional long ball though as it seems De Zerbi is not a fan of that. I am looking forward to seeing slick interchanges and attacking at pace in the final quarter though.

Football weekly and totally football show both categorised him as tactically astute but pointed out that his teams scored lots of goals and let lots of goals in. One serie A expert on the sbow described his football as "crazy" but said how entertaining it would be. Another said his approach was quite extreme. Whatever it is, it won't be dull.

 

[Silverhatch]

De Zerbi knows what a fabulous squad of players he has. The extremely lazy narrative of the established domestic punditry circuit always states… ‘On paper x’s side is better than #TLBrighton’ is frankly bollocks. We have an exceptional starting 11 and great squad. I bet Potter, in his quiet moments at Cobham, probably muses on this very matter. If De Zerbi tweaks, enthuses and rallies this ‘Group’ then we’ll keep disrupting the top of the table. Forza Brighton!

 

[Icy Gull]

I have just listened to Souness rambling on about it being a gamble. No shit Sherlock, he's not the sharpest pencil in the box is he?

 

[Bold Seagull]

Football weekly and totally football show both categorised him as tactically astute but pointed out that his teams scored lots of goals and let lots of goals in. One serie A expert on the sbow described his football as "crazy" but said how entertaining it would be. Another said his approach was quite extreme. Whatever it is, it won't be dull.

2018/19 GD -7 11th
2019/20 GD +6 8th
2020/21 GD +8 8th

In the context of Serie A league tables, it doesn't look crazy. 20/21 Roma finished above them scoring 4 more, conceding 2 more, Lazio finished 6th conceding just 1 goal less. It's not like Sassuolo were an outlier. 10 other teams conceded the same or more goals than them that season, 7 teams conceded more the season before. That first season RDZ was in charge they only conceded 1 more goal than the previous season under Iachini.

The statistics and results don't seem to bare out the crazy or extreme labels. The Italians do love their defending though.

 

[Sarisbury Seagull]

De Zerbi knows what a fabulous squad of players he has. The extremely lazy narrative of the established domestic punditry circuit always states… ‘On paper x’s side is better than #TLBrighton’ is frankly bollocks. We have an exceptional starting 11 and great squad. I bet Potter, in his quiet moments at Cobham, probably muses on this very matter. If De Zerbi tweaks, enthuses and rallies this ‘Group’ then we’ll keep disrupting the top of the table. Forza Brighton!

You make a good point about our starting 11. In Potter's only Chelsea match so far, he put out a very Brighton like line up/formation and I compared that to the team we put out against Leicester and despite their billions spent, there really was very little in it IMO. They were slightly stronger in certain areas, we were in others though. Just got to try and keep them together as long as we can!

 

[Sarisbury Seagull]

Football weekly and totally football show both categorised him as tactically astute but pointed out that his teams scored lots of goals and let lots of goals in. One serie A expert on the sbow described his football as "crazy" but said how entertaining it would be. Another said his approach was quite extreme. Whatever it is, it won't be dull.

James Horncastle likes him doesn't he! As someone who has been a big fan of Serie A for many years, I would say it's natural for people immersed in that league to call his football crazy as it is so different to the norm over there. As has been said on here and elsewhere about De Zerbi, he is seen as a disruptor and the traditional Italian coaches/pundits don't like it.

The other thing I would say on that is he is still only 43 years old. He was 39 when he took over Sassuolo, so a young manager in the grand scheme of things. He's 6 years younger than Potter now. He obviously has his football principles that he will keep but I'm certain he's learnt a lot in that time and will continue to do so and will tweak elements of his tactics to improve the team overall with experience.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Telegraph article tonight.

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Jeez. Imagine the meltdowns on here in a few years when City come after Zerbz as Pep's replacement