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

[Baldseagull]

When was that? Most I can see is 5 consecutive home games without scoring under Potter.

We did just go 3 games without scoring, preceding these last 3.

Fair bit of Ministry of Truth going on at present.

There were 10(ish) home games, where we did not score, but not for consecutive home games. We din't score at all in 9 home games total last season, scored 9 goals in the last 3 home games, 10 in the 16 other home games, and 4 of those were in the first 3 games.
The start was decent, the finish was great, the largest part in between was crap in terms of goals scored and games won. I couldn't make the boxing day game, so for me, I did not see a home win in 13 straight visits to the Amex.
Home and away we won 3 games (1 at home) out of 25 in between the opening 5 games of the season and the last 8, including a run of 6 straight defeats, one of which was a 3-0 defeat at home to second from bottom Burnley and came to an end when we drew at home to bottom of the table Norwich.

Performances were not the problem, creating chances was not the problem, but finishing was, and we can't really blame Potter totally for that, except that for the two seasons prior we also had the same issue of not getting the goals, kind of the managers job to fix problems like that. However, it seemed that after almost 3 seasons he had finally solved that problem, based on the end of last season and the start of this one, which is why him f***ing off when he did was so soul destroying. De Zerbi has restored the hope that the days of looking pretty but not getting results are to be replaced with looking pretty and being serious competitors for a top 6 finish.

 

[trueblue]

Was Mwepu’s goal at Arsenal not thrilling, or Caciedo’s home to ManUtd, or Mac A v Leicester?

Many of these comments to downgrade Potter, they’re actually downgrading what the players achieved, the performances they put in, the results and exciting football they gave us.

Suddenly anyone coming to these boards would think we weren’t performing before RDZ arrived - all because of the need to vilify the previous manager.

I got an idea - forget him. But don’t forget it was the players who got the results over the last few years and start of the season, it’s their legacy and their reputation, their performances.

I don’t care about Potter, he’s gone, but I do care how people are rewriting how good our team have been for sometime now just because they need to run the previous manager down.

Well, Caicedo's was a potshot and Mac's was a free-kick. Not a fast interchange of passes. But, yes, of course they were thrilling - who said they weren't? The point I was making is that there's a definite increase in intensity and intent in and around the box. Players pour forward and everything happens quicker. Players have clearly been encouraged to get shots away and look for first time touches. On the flip side, we're more open to counter attacks than we were under Potter, so it may not work out much different in the long run. I think fans are able to admire the small changes we're seeing from De Zerbi AND appreciate that the previous manager built the platform. But, hey, it's the world in 2022 - I suppose everything has to be divided into 2 camps for some people. .

 

[Eric the meek]

Where are we after 8 games and nearly two months of RDZ ?

Liverpool 3 Brighton 3.............RDZ's first game in charge. What a game. But what's happened to Trossard? A hatrick at Anfield? WTF?
Brighton 0 Spurs 1 .................Conte will have watched that 3-3 draw. Still early days for RDZ.
Brentford 2 Brighton 0 ........73% possession, 21 shots, no goals. The good old days.
Brighton 0 Forest 0 .........See Brentford game. The stats are almost identical. RDZ can see what needs fixing, so he begins to fix it.
Man City 3 Brighton 1 .........Expected result. Pep warns Chelsea about us.
Brighton 4 Chelsea 1 .........A milestone. A result needed by us all. Records broken. Closure for many.
Wolves 2 Brighton 3 ........Same stats as against Brentford and Forest, but this time, with goals and all 3 points. Wolves discover how to stop Mitoma - with a red card.
Arsenal 1 Brighton 3 .........Arsenal wave it away, saying it was their B team. But it was our B team as well. Lamptey goes to LB and scores.

The record (P 8 W 3 D 2 L 3) is mid-table stuff and nothing to shout about.

But, as you would expect, RDZ is learning with every game, and the recent direction of travel is north.

 

[Wozza]

We din't score at all in 9 home games total last season, scored 9 goals in the last 3 home games, 10 in the 16 other home games, and 4 of those were in the first 3 games. The start was decent, the finish was great, the largest part in between was crap in terms of goals scored and games won.

This.

Potter would still be with us if we hadn't beaten Man Utd and West Ham at the end of last season. It disguised the terrible home record, and moved us up several places.

 

[MJsGhost]

Where are we after 8 games and nearly two months of RDZ ?

Liverpool 3 Brighton 3.............RDZ's first game in charge. What a game. But what's happened to Trossard? A hatrick at Anfield? WTF?
Brighton 0 Spurs 1 .................Conte will have watched that 3-3 draw. Still early days for RDZ.
Brentford 2 Brighton 0 ........73% possession, 21 shots, no goals. The good old days.
Brighton 0 Forest 0 .........See Brentford game. The stats are almost identical. RDZ can see what needs fixing, so he begins to fix it.
Man City 3 Brighton 1 .........Expected result. Pep warns Chelsea about us.
Brighton 4 Chelsea 1 .........A milestone. A result needed by us all. Records broken. Closure for many.
Wolves 2 Brighton 3 ........Same stats as against Brentford and Forest, but this time, with goals and all 3 points. Wolves discover how to stop Mitoma - with a red card.
Arsenal 1 Brighton 3 .........Arsenal wave it away, saying it was their B team. But it was our B team as well. Lamptey goes to LB and scores.

The record (P 8 W 3 D 2 L 3) is mid-table stuff and nothing to shout about.

But, as you would expect, RDZ is learning with every game, and the recent direction of travel is north.

11 goals in the 4 games against Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal is as surprising as the 0 goals vs Brentford and Forest.

I will be forever grateful for what Potter helped the club achieve (and wish him well, even if it's with an inevitable touch of schadenfreude if he fails at Chelsea ), but I am really excited to see what De Zerbi is already doing and think he is capable of taking us to the next level. He has inherited a great platform, but is now supercharging it with faster, more exciting (exhilarating at times) football.

Tony Bloom, you've done it again you f***ing beauty!

EDIT: I wonder how long until Tony has seen enough and gives RdZ a SEVEN year contract?

 

[Oh_aye]

only saw the assist and the finish of mitoma's goal, but the full move here is a thing of beauty

It reminds me of the 3rd at Anfield. Moving players out of position before someone makes a decisive touch that sets everyone off. This time it was Sarmiento (I think) with the flicked pass and run. Albeit in a different part of the pitch it acted like the same trigger as Websters (I think) Dummy that triggered the attack against Liverpool.

Without wanting to get all hipster tactics wanker.

 

[dazzer6666]

It reminds me of the 3rd at Anfield. Moving players out of position before someone makes a decisive touch that sets everyone off. This time it was Sarmiento (I think) with the flicked pass and run. Albeit in a different part of the pitch it acted like the same trigger as Websters (I think) Dummy that triggered the attack against Liverpool.

Without wanting to get all hipster tactics wanker.

Yep….pass, pass, pass, pass…….wait for the oppo to over-commit then break at speed, and in numbers. Players need to be extremely confident (in the Liverpool example, if Webster had been robbed by Salah - who was left shaking his head, basically - we’d have probably conceded).

 

[Weststander]

There were 10(ish) home games, where we did not score, but not for consecutive home games. We din't score at all in 9 home games total last season, scored 9 goals in the last 3 home games, 10 in the 16 other home games, and 4 of those were in the first 3 games.
The start was decent, the finish was great, the largest part in between was crap in terms of goals scored and games won. I couldn't make the boxing day game, so for me, I did not see a home win in 13 straight visits to the Amex.
Home and away we won 3 games (1 at home) out of 25 in between the opening 5 games of the season and the last 8, including a run of 6 straight defeats, one of which was a 3-0 defeat at home to second from bottom Burnley and came to an end when we drew at home to bottom of the table Norwich.

Performances were not the problem, creating chances was not the problem, but finishing was, and we can't really blame Potter totally for that, except that for the two seasons prior we also had the same issue of not getting the goals, kind of the managers job to fix problems like that. However, it seemed that after almost 3 seasons he had finally solved that problem, based on the end of last season and the start of this one, which is why him f***ing off when he did was so soul destroying. De Zerbi has restored the hope that the days of looking pretty but not getting results are to be replaced with looking pretty and being serious competitors for a top 6 finish.

A similar story for me, I missed the Boxing Day win.

Meaning that I didn’t see an Albion home win after Leicester Sept 21, until May 22. Astonishing really.

 

[Motogull]

EDIT: I wonder how long until Tony has seen enough and gives RdZ a SEVEN year contract?

With an even bigger buy out amount clause.

 

[Change at Barnham]

After watching RDZ's press conference I'm now wanting to see the clip that he mentioned of a lady "about 68 or 65 years old celebrating after we scored at Arsenal".

It sounds like it gave Roberto a lot of joy seeing her so happy.

 

[Baldseagull]

With an even bigger buy out amount clause.

I wonder if there is a Shaktar clause in it, if the war ends and they want him back, I would be a bit disappointed if we wanted compensation.

 

[Silverhatch]

11 goals in the 4 games against Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal is as surprising as the 0 goals vs Brentford and Forest.

I will be forever grateful for what Potter helped the club achieve (and wish him well, even if it's with an inevitable touch of schadenfreude if he fails at Chelsea ), but I am really excited to see what De Zerbi is already doing and think he is capable of taking us to the next level. He has inherited a great platform, but is now supercharging it with faster, more exciting (exhilarating at times) football.

Tony Bloom, you've done it again you f***ing beauty!

EDIT: I wonder how long until Tony has seen enough and gives RdZ a SEVEN year contract?

I want Potter to get Chelsea in the top 4 but I want DeZerbi to finish above him

 

[Change at Barnham]

After watching RDZ's press conference I'm now wanting to see the clip that he mentioned of a lady "about 68 or 65 years old celebrating after we scored at Arsenal".

It sounds like it gave Roberto a lot of joy seeing her so happy.

I reckon RDZ might be talking about the lady in the cream coat who ends up under the bundle of celebrating players and fans following the Mitoma goal.

 

[dwayne]

I reckon RDZ might be talking about the lady in the cream coat who ends up under the bundle of celebrating players and fans following the Mitoma goal.

View attachment 153589

Wow

And that's what makes de zerbi a legend already. That attention to detail. I've seen that goal loads of times and never noticed that lady. Can you ever imagine potter saying something like that !?

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

This.

Potter would still be with us if we hadn't beaten Man Utd and West Ham at the end of last season. It disguised the terrible home record, and moved us up several places.

Agree.I would say the flexibility/rewriting of the facts are from those that think we were prolific at home under Potter.

However, surely no-one can deny that Potter changed our footballing mentality to a more attacking one. As good as he was tactically (and he is), I just never felt he was fully in sync with the fans.

RdZ on the other hand is way more ‘fan friendly’, and in footballing terms has continued Potters work.

I don’t begrudge Potter leaving, but I really do feel he is a shallow arse, who despite the degree doesn’t really understand the human psyche. I’m sure his dissertation was good though, and obviously got over 40%.

 

[Bodian]

It's not outside the bounds of possibility that RDZ had an impact on that 3-3 at Liverpool. He had, from memory, almost two weeks to prepare for the game. He was also a bit of an unknown quantity, so Klopp would probably not have been as prepared as he usually is.

Klopp basically said this himself

 

[Zeberdi]

I reckon RDZ might be talking about the lady in the cream coat who ends up under the bundle of celebrating players and fans following the Mitoma goal.

Agreed
‘The 43-year-old specifically remembers seeing a fan in the away end at Arsenal having a great time.
“There is a picture when Mitoma scored the second goal at the Emirates Stadium. The image I have in my head is of one woman in her 60s, 65 maybe? And the most beautiful part is the enjoyment”

BUT At that point in the video clip from the Albion TV highlights, she looks like she’s being crushed to me by celebrating fans and a policeman steps forward to help her - I imagine RDZ looked up after that video sequence and saw her celebrating - she is conspicuous though.

 

[B-right-on]

Just listened to the Villa presser.

Very impressed with RDZ's strategy vs Chelsea to play very intensely right from the off to get the fans up for it and become the 12th man behind the team. Worked a treat.

I like how he speaks about the players and how they 'get' his ideas right away. You can see he's excited to coach our team with the quality of players at his disposal who can play his brand of football.

And that he's a football geek, he's going to watch almost every game in the WC I thought was telling of his mindset.

Also his English is really coming along in leaps and bounds.

After half a dozen games under RDZ, I'm of the opinion that we've had an upgrade. Chris Hughton was exactly what we needed at the time after the Hyypia era. CH was an upgrade and we became a good Championship side.

Potter was exactly what we needed at the time to upgrade from CH and he transformed our playing style once again to be a decent EPL side.

Now under RDZ, even early doors, you can see us becoming a decent consistent top 10 side.

 

[dazzer6666]

If you can tolerate a bit of Mail writing….

'Crazy' De Zerbi opens up on football and escaping a Ukrainian bunker

INTERVIEW BY MATT BARLOW: De Zerbi's coaching breakthrough came in three years at Sassuolo, leading them to two eighth-place finishes in Serie A while playing attractive football.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

This.

Potter would still be with us if we hadn't beaten Man Utd and West Ham at the end of last season. It disguised the terrible home record, and moved us up several places.

I reckon he’d be a Villa now!