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

A1X said:

FWIW, and I stress I didn’t follow the game in detail as was out and only really saw the updates on Twitter, I think the biggest issue is Evan’s loss of form. We have no JP, Welbz needs careful game management so Ferguson’s barren run couldn’t be happening at a worse time. He seemed to have at least two very presentable chances yesterday and missed both, a confident Evan from the last month of last season and we could be looking at a different outcome.

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Billy the Fish said:

This is the biggest point for me.

I said it on one of the pre-season threads and got told off for being negative.

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Weststander said:

Not just you, many here last July/August said DM was a big priority, far too soon for Baleba alone to the sole solution.

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KZNSeagull said:

This is the interview I have watched several times and I really don't see an awful lot wrong with it


In which interview did RDZ mention identifying the problem in January?

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Springal said:

I wouldn’t say he’s astute. He has a very specific way of playing that works a lot of the time with the right personnel. But I'm not sure you’d describe him as ‘astute’

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Justice said:

I can see RDZ’s gripe, if it wasn’t for his coaching ability we aren’t in the top six and selling a certain midfielder for £115m.
With Mac that’s a £165m return for the midfield Crown Jewels.
In an ideal world 70-80m goes back into squad strengthening those two positions and not promoting last seasons third choice to 1st choice.

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PILTDOWN MAN said:

Loss of form is one thing, loss of movement, effort and putting yourself out there is another. Last year he would chase lost causes and in doing so often benefited. He just doesn't appear interested. One example yesterday he had the ball midway in their half, passed it out wide then barely ambled towards the area, last year he would have darted to and fro moving the defenders about to create space. He's doing nothing currently to create that space.

If we can see it from the stands surely the coaches can?

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dwayne said:

RDZ is not a whiner .... What are you smoking ?

And

Lopez: 'De Zerbi similar to Bielsa' - Football Italia

Sassuolo midfielder Maxime Lopez said coach Roberto De Zerbi ‘gave me my confidence back’ and compared him to Leeds tactician Marcelo Bielsa. The

football-italia.net

(This is from a player who has played for both!)

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Littlemo said:

Dahoud was meant to be wasn’t he. He came in as an experienced player because even though he’s not played in the PL, the Bundesliga is a decent standard and Dortmund at the top end of it.

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Paris said:

Hope Ferguson doesn't end up going down a similar path to his fellow countryman Aaron Connolly.

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A1X said:

The problem is RdZ has a terrible eye for transfers. Both Dahoud and Fati have flopped badly, and they were his signings.

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Paris said:

Hope Ferguson doesn't end up going down a similar path to his fellow countryman Aaron Connolly.

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Originunknown said:

Haven't read most of this as I'm sure there were some emotional alcohol feelings last night but I'll admit Roberto is starting to annoy me in interviews.

He hasn't signed a new contract, he hasn't given us that commitment so why should he expect the world from us in January when there is little value to be had and we've already spunked 3 players worth of wages on Ansu Fati.

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Zeberdi said:

I don’t understand why people keep blaming RDZ for Fati tbh. He didn’t pluck an unknown out of thin air and talk the Club into taking him on a £8 million loan. It’s like some things just keep getting repeated on NSC until people think it’s true.

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Neville's Breakfast said:

We wouldn’t have sold Caicedo for £115m without our model of promoting him when he was unknown to replace (in his case) Bissouma. Likewise all the other sales. If you had your way Caicedo and the other youngsters would never have been in the team in the first place.

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Zeberdi said:

I don’t understand why people keep blaming RDZ for Fati tbh. He didn’t pluck an unknown out of thin air and talk the Club into taking him on a £8 million loan. It’s like some things just keep getting repeated on NSC until people think it’s true.

Our technical director and scouting team were already very aware of him as was every other team in Europe and he was made aware of us by his coaches. As David Weir said at the time “We are delighted to bring Ansu to the club. He is one of the most highly-rated young players in the world and arrives with an impressive amount of experience both domestically and in European competition, despite his age,"

Everyone on NSC was absolutely thrilled too (as was the MSM) - heralding it as a fantastic coup for the Club (although many of us warned at the time amidst all the excitement on here that he was well under his pre-injury November 2021 level so not to expect the prodigious performances he was putting in before his career changing unjury). Chelsea, Seville and Spurs were also reportedly interested but RDZ‘s late stage telephone call motivated him to chose Brighton - it was RDZ’s reputation in Europe that interested Barca in sending Fati to us in the first place but the Club was already apparently very much involved in talks by the time RDZ phoned him.

After bedding in to RDZ’s system (which is complicated to convey even to an English speaking player), Fati started scoring goals - however 3 months off for yet another injury while still rehabbing for his previous injury, set him back again. He is now obviously struggling to regain even the earlier form he was beginning to show earlier in the season and will likely either need another loan period or will be sold this summer for a fraction of what he used to be worth. It is actually quite a sad career progression for the lad.

It’s a bit disingenuous IMO to blame all of that on RDZ and make him solely responsible either for us wanting Fati in the first place or Fati’s lack of form now as he continues his rehab.

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