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

[Dibdab]

The thing I like most about De Zerbi is his psychology. He talks about us transitioning to a big club now. That we have more room to grow. How every player can do better. He’s reprogramming the way our players think and also helping fans shake the old small club mentality.

Under Potter it was alway we were lucky to get anything, the opposition are great, we’ll have to suffer, and history lessons about how we don’t deserve much better.

Now it might just be my interpretation,. but I think De Zerbi is the manager really demonstrating emotional intelligence.

 

[severnside gull]

Digs at Potter aside (and I’m firmly in the “you get what you deserve” camp with him) I do think we may have benefited from his departure.
He created a football style for the club which opened a door to our progressing beyond being perennial strugglers against relegation but we all have limitations and I think he was struggling to take the next creative step.
De Zerbi has come in with a great base in terms of players with real ability and seems to have been able to persuade them to believe in themselves to take risks based on their skill.
Potter probably couldn’t have done that but nor could De Zerbi without the platform Potter had created.
Lots of challenges to come in terms of losing players and key recruitment team being disrupted but we are playing football I never thought to see from an Albion side and I for one am having the time of my life.

 

[JBizzle]

Digs at Potter aside (and I’m firmly in the “you get what you deserve” camp with him) I do think we may have benefited from his departure.
He created a football style for the club which opened a door to our progressing beyond being perennial strugglers against relegation but we all have limitations and I think he was struggling to take the next creative step.
De Zerbi has come in with a great base in terms of players with real ability and seems to have been able to persuade them to believe in themselves to take risks based on their skill.
Potter probably couldn’t have done that but nor could De Zerbi without the platform Potter had created.
Lots of challenges to come in terms of losing players and key recruitment team being disrupted but we are playing football I never thought to see from an Albion side and I for one am having the time of my life.

This is 100% the camp I'm in. De Zerbi is fantastic, it's great to have a manager like him and he's got every tool at his disposal to be a real success including the fantastic legacy that Potter left. I don't think it's possible to overstate the challenge in turning a Hughton side into a Potter one.

Add to that, the fact that Potter improved so many of our players has gifted the new manager a team that now has a flying Mac Allister, Caicedo, Sanchez, Lamptey, and Sarmiento plus a much improved Dunk, Webster, Gross, Trossard and Welbeck to work with.

De Zerbi is building on that base, which is FAR stronger than Potter had coming in. For my money, you don't get last night without the last 3 years.

Moving off comparisons though, I already love De Zerbi. He has a feel of the first years of Poyet about him. Passionate about what he does, firm in his beliefs and "all about Brighton". Love it

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

RDZ's passion and sheer enthusiasm are clearly rubbing off on the players. Everybody wins!

 

[Muzzman]

... but I think De Zerbi is the manager really demonstrating emotional intelligence.

Do we know how Potter actually did on this degree course?

I mean if he achieved a 3rd then there really shouldn't be much credence given to his qualification... and perhaps De Zerbi is just naturally gifted with Emotional Intelligence that he doesn't feel the need to take a course on it like Swotty Potty.

 

[Terry Butcher Tribute Act]

RDZ has done a remarkable job in a short space of time, with limited English as well. Hands up, after the Spurs and Forest games I was concerned he wasn't on the ball tactically. I was wrong.

Was Potter underachieving this entire time? Was it the squad that was carrying Potter all along?

He has taken the good aspects of Potterball and injected some additional pace in the final third and a lot more directness to some of the approach play.

Remains to be seen how it will work against teams parking the bus, but it means we are pretty incredible to watch right now

 

[southstandandy]

Careful. Chelsea fans wanting Potter out are now saying they should be looking at DeZerbi.

 

[Zeberdi]

The more GP opens his mouth about Brighton, the more it annoys me. Apparently, if he stayed, it would have been ‘a nice easy life’ for him, ‘no pressure’ and ’wouldn’t have had too many questions about himself’ - doesn’t sound like he had either the passion for the team nor the commitment to improvement that RDZ has in buckets.

I know Potter did great stuff at Brighton but surely this attitude is a glass ceiling in itself ? - thank goodness we have a manager who believes Seagulls can fly to whatever height they put their minds to

Chelsea boss Graham Potter says he could have 'quite easily' stayed at Brighton

Graham Potter enjoyed a superb start to life at Stamford Bridge with Chelsea after leaving Brighton as the Blues went unbeaten in his first nine matches

www.sussexlive.co.uk

 

[Thunder Bolt]

This is 100% the camp I'm in. De Zerbi is fantastic, it's great to have a manager like him and he's got every tool at his disposal to be a real success including the fantastic legacy that Potter left. I don't think it's possible to overstate the challenge in turning a Hughton side into a Potter one.

Add to that, the fact that Potter improved so many of our players has gifted the new manager a team that now has a flying Mac Allister, Caicedo, Sanchez, Lamptey, and Sarmiento plus a much improved Dunk, Webster, Gross, Trossard and Welbeck to work with.

De Zerbi is building on that base, which is FAR stronger than Potter had coming in. For my money, you don't get last night without the last 3 years.

Moving off comparisons though, I already love De Zerbi. He has a feel of the first years of Poyet about him. Passionate about what he does, firm in his beliefs and "all about Brighton". Love it

Building blocks on good foundations.

Question, when did we last win three in a row? 16/17 season?

 

[Nobby]

This is 100% the camp I'm in. De Zerbi is fantastic, it's great to have a manager like him and he's got every tool at his disposal to be a real success including the fantastic legacy that Potter left. I don't think it's possible to overstate the challenge in turning a Hughton side into a Potter one.

Add to that, the fact that Potter improved so many of our players has gifted the new manager a team that now has a flying Mac Allister, Caicedo, Sanchez, Lamptey, and Sarmiento plus a much improved Dunk, Webster, Gross, Trossard and Welbeck to work with.

De Zerbi is building on that base, which is FAR stronger than Potter had coming in. For my money, you don't get last night without the last 3 years.

Moving off comparisons though, I already love De Zerbi. He has a feel of the first years of Poyet about him. Passionate about what he does, firm in his beliefs and "all about Brighton". Love it

Completely agree about the Poyet comparison - he gives off that buzz that as a supporter you can identify with. Potter just didn't have that.
Let's hope it doesn't end like Poyet though......

 

[Acker79]

Building blocks on good foundations.

Question, when did we last win three in a row? 16/17 season?

We won three in a row earlier this season - west ham, forest green, leeds. We won the first three games last season, lost v everton, then won the next three games. We lost the opening game (v Chelsea!) 20/21, then won the next three games. 18/19 we won three in a row through October.

Looking ahead to Villa, when did we last win 4 in a row? (Championship promotion year where we managed 6 in a row!)

 

[rogersix]

RDZ's passion and sheer enthusiasm are clearly rubbing off on the players. Everybody wins!

is his football philosophy more akin to yours tommy?

compared to the arctic benny, i mean?

 

[Thunder Bolt]

We won three in a row earlier this season - west ham, forest green, leeds. We won the first three games last season, lost v everton, then won the next three games. We lost the opening game (v Chelsea!) 20/21, then won the next three games. 18/19 we won three in a row through October.

Looking ahead to Villa, when did we last win 4 in a row? (Championship promotion year where we managed 6 in a row!)

Thank you.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Digs at Potter aside (and I’m firmly in the “you get what you deserve” camp with him) I do think we may have benefited from his departure.
He created a football style for the club which opened a door to our progressing beyond being perennial strugglers against relegation but we all have limitations and I think he was struggling to take the next creative step.
De Zerbi has come in with a great base in terms of players with real ability and seems to have been able to persuade them to believe in themselves to take risks based on their skill.
Potter probably couldn’t have done that but nor could De Zerbi without the platform Potter had created.
Lots of challenges to come in terms of losing players and key recruitment team being disrupted but we are playing football I never thought to see from an Albion side and I for one am having the time of my life.

I agree with a lot of what you say, but let's just remember that he left with Albion fourth in the table – albeit ridiculously early in the season to read too much into that – having just trounced Leicester 5-2.

We'll never know what might have happened if he'd not been approached by Chelsea, but you're probably right that we wouldn't be performing at the level we are now.

 

[hampshirebrightonboy]

Early days but it would be absolutely amazing if Potter leaving turns out to be a blessing in disguise. A step up with an extra £21m in the bank.

 

[Insel affe]

Early days but it would be absolutely amazing if Potter leaving turns out to be a blessing in disguise. A step up with an extra £21m in the bank.

Errrrrr

I think we can already say it has been a blessing, we all know Potter was tapped up during Cucurella transfer if you believe the rumours, with all the money we have taken off Chelsea and what we have in return, we right royally took them down a blind ally and emptied their pockets, and ran away laughing at the dumb rich cockney pricks.

 

[Javeaseagull]

I’m not going to start re-writing history about Potter. I thoroughly enjoyed the football under Potter and told all who would listen that it was the best football I had ever seen. It took a while to get there but it was worth the wait.

I always doubted that Chelsea fans would have the patience that we showed and so it seems.

The football now imo is again the best I’ve ever seen. Faster, more exciting and riskier. Great entertainment and lots of compliments from neutrals, I’m getting quite giddy! Team RDZ here.

 

[Baldseagull]

The more GP opens his mouth about Brighton, the more it annoys me. Apparently, if he stayed, it would have been ‘a nice easy life’ for him, ‘no pressure’ and ’wouldn’t have had too many questions about himself’ - doesn’t sound like he had either the passion for the team nor the commitment to improvement that RDZ has in buckets.

I know Potter did great stuff at Brighton but surely this attitude is a glass ceiling in itself ? - thank goodness we have a manager who believes Seagulls can fly to whatever height they put their minds to

Chelsea boss Graham Potter says he could have 'quite easily' stayed at Brighton

Graham Potter enjoyed a superb start to life at Stamford Bridge with Chelsea after leaving Brighton as the Blues went unbeaten in his first nine matches

www.sussexlive.co.uk

Yeah, that irked me a bit too, it's fair to say he had a lot of the hard work behind him at Brighton, had the squad understanding what he wanted, the youth squads being coached in the same way, got shot of the players he couldn't work with etc. But he made it sound like he was just coasting here, and if that is true I am even more grateful that he f***ed off, and allowed us to get someone in that wants to get the maximum out of the squad, not just revel in it being nicer to watch and scraping into a top half finish.
Potters confidence must be taking a bashing, he will see that there has been an improvement rather than a drop off in performances since he left here, which makes a lie of the story that he had the squad over performing.

 

[Acker79]

The more GP opens his mouth about Brighton, the more it annoys me. Apparently, if he stayed, it would have been ‘a nice easy life’ for him, ‘no pressure’ and ’wouldn’t have had too many questions about himself’ - doesn’t sound like he had either the passion for the team nor the commitment to improvement that RDZ has in buckets.

I know Potter did great stuff at Brighton but surely this attitude is a glass ceiling in itself ? - thank goodness we have a manager who believes Seagulls can fly to whatever height they put their minds to

Chelsea boss Graham Potter says he could have 'quite easily' stayed at Brighton

Graham Potter enjoyed a superb start to life at Stamford Bridge with Chelsea after leaving Brighton as the Blues went unbeaten in his first nine matches

www.sussexlive.co.uk

Alternatively, he went through 2020 with one home win. in 21/22 we had a 12 game winless run, shortly followed by a run of 1 win in 12 during which we lost 6 in a row. His position with us was never in doubt. Not just from Tony Bloom, but large swathes of the fan base were fervently behind him. On top of that, the football media just sees us as little ol' Brighton, lucky to be in the Premier league, destined to be relegated one day, punching above their weight with no real cause to complain about such runs. When you can post those sorts of figures without the owner, fans or press turning on you, it is an easy life, for a manager. It's not a reflection of his ambition, or the potential reach of the club, just an accurate reflection of the environment he was in.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

Yeah, that irked me a bit too, it's fair to say he had a lot of the hard work behind him at Brighton, had the squad understanding what he wanted, the youth squads being coached in the same way, got shot of the players he couldn't work with etc. But he made it sound like he was just coasting here, and if that is true I am even more grateful that he f***ed off, and allowed us to get someone in that wants to get the maximum out of the squad, not just revel in it being nicer to watch and scraping into a top half finish.
Potters confidence must be taking a bashing, he will see that there has been an improvement rather than a drop off in performances since he left here, which makes a lie of the story that he had the squad over performing.

Yep. That 'easy life' quote did sound like he was well within his comfort zone. He may not have meant that, but it made it sound very safe at the Albion. De Zerbi appears to be challenging everyone including himself to push to improve in everything that they do. Higher risk maybe, but no limitations on upside.