[Albion] Roberto De Zerbi: "Now we don't have high motivation"

[Perfidious Albion]

O k , I admit we have a problem… I can take being turned over by Man C , but Bournemouth?
Far be it from me to know where the answer lies , no more than any of us on the sidelines. We have to wait and trust in the collective minds of Bloom, Barber and de Zerbi to sort it out . I am sure they will.

 

[Acker79]

Jeff Stelling this morning suggesting that with his team selection yesterday was poor with more experience on the bench. "If I was Tony Bloom watching he'll be thinking what are you playing at Roberto, you're costing me money with premier league places up for grabs" were Jeff's words.

I would imagine De Zerbi's response to that would be 'you've made it clear your process is buying young inexperienced players and developing them and selling them to buy more inexperienced players to develop and sell. I'm just following your philosophy'.

 

[Silverhatch]

O k , I admit we have a problem… I can take being turned over by Man C , but Bournemouth?
Far be it from me to know where the answer lies , no more than any of us on the sidelines. We have to wait and trust in the collective minds of Bloom, Barber and de Zerbi to sort it out . I am sure they will.

I can take being turned over by City, but Brighton…

So said every f***ing entitled opposition fan last season.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

Yep.

Also, however, giving two players a start debut with Veltman, Enciso, Baleba and Welbs on the bench in a winnable game struck me as a little queer today.

Anyway, at least we didn't have a Salad-style hissy fit from a benched player, like a certain team this weekend....

Is Enciso fully fit? Welbeck finds a Thursday - Sun probably tough too. Would Veltman have made any difference? Similar result and we’d perhaps be asking why he doesn’t play some of the youngsters?

Baleba’s omission surprised me though out of all of those.

Made me laugh, Baleba has been linked to United, City and Liverpool according to “caught offside” via the BBC gossip column

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

It must be. And the bit where he head-buts Andy Steggles and then tries to mount Kelly Cates.

I’d climb over Steggers for Kelly to be fair

 

[nwgull]

Jeff Stelling this morning suggesting that with his team selection yesterday was poor with more experience on the bench. "If I was Tony Bloom watching he'll be thinking what are you playing at Roberto, you're costing me money with premier league places up for grabs" were Jeff's words.

He must be really pissed off. Right now, we're headed for 14th position, whereas we could/should have been looking to finish about 8th. It may not mean much for us as fans, but that's 20m in prize money that might have covered the wages of 7-8 first team players for a season.

 

[Springal]

I would imagine De Zerbi's response to that would be 'you've made it clear your process is buying young inexperienced players and developing them and selling them to buy more inexperienced players to develop and sell. I'm just following your philosophy'.

Roberto knew what he signed up to…..

 

[Coldwaltham Seagull]

The over-reaction and bedwetting in response to this interview is quite funny really. There's nothing surprising about an injury decimated and deflated squad going on a poor run of form- RDZ is simply being honest about the fact the season has fizzled out and there isn't much to play for.

We're safe from danger, but with nothing more to play for. Absolutely the right time to blood some youngsters, rest those that may have been carrying/recovering from injuries and begin resetting ahead of next season. The results are disappointing, but the over-reaction is laughable

 

[Withdean11]

Jeff Stelling this morning suggesting that with his team selection yesterday was poor with more experience on the bench. "If I was Tony Bloom watching he'll be thinking what are you playing at Roberto, you're costing me money with premier league places up for grabs" were Jeff's words.

I did wonder if this was RDZ's way of making a point to Bloom.

 

[Psychobilly freakout]

The over-reaction and bedwetting in response to this interview is quite funny really. There's nothing surprising about an injury decimated and deflated squad going on a poor run of form- RDZ is simply being honest about the fact the season has fizzled out and there isn't much to play for.

We're safe from danger, but with nothing more to play for. Absolutely the right time to blood some youngsters, rest those that may have been carrying/recovering from injuries and begin resetting ahead of next season. The results are disappointing, but the over-reaction is laughable

Yes, but our form is L,D,L,D,L,L that is relegation form, admittedly we maybe safe and heads have dropped, what I am concerned about is, we carry this negativity into the start of next season, who is to say injuries persist etc, etc, it maybe alarmist, but a distinct possibility.

 

[One Love]

The lack of motivation has been there for some time now.

We showed very little in the FA Cup last 16 game at Wolves even when we knew we had Coventry in the quarters to make another Wembley semi.

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

Yes, but our form is L,D,L,D,L,L that is relegation form, admittedly we maybe safe and heads have dropped, what I am concerned about is, we carry this negativity into the start of next season, who is to say injuries persist etc, etc, it maybe alarmist, but a distinct possibility.

The motivation thing feels more like a symptom than a cause, given that the reason we've nothing to play for is that we've not been getting results for months.

 

[rippleman]

The lack of motivation has been there for some time now.

We showed very little in the FA Cup last 16 game at Wolves even when we knew we had Coventry in the quarters to make another Wembley semi.

Playing sport for a living at the very highest level, and being paid many tens of thousands of pounds a week in wages should be all the motivation the players need. If it isn't enough for some players maybe they need to think about a career change?

 

[pb21]

TBH, I haven't heard the interview, but could he have meant morale rather than motivation?

 

[BLOCK F]

They would probably all sit down at the restaurant and pass the menu around for two hours and then go home without ordering anything.

Brilliant!

 

[Coldwaltham Seagull]

Yes, but our form is L,D,L,D,L,L that is relegation form, admittedly we maybe safe and heads have dropped, what I am concerned about is, we carry this negativity into the start of next season, who is to say injuries persist etc, etc, it maybe alarmist, but a distinct possibility.

Its a fair point, our form is very poor and like most people I'm disappointed and deflated. However I have faith that this wont carry into next season and whilst all your points are possible, its equally possible that we start the new season afresh, with a (close to) fully fit/strengthened squad and renewed ambition for the season ahead

 

[BLOCK F]

Regardless of what de Zerbi did or didn’t mean to say and how TB and PB see it, I really do a wonder what the bizarre Lallana interview was really all about. Was that following a blow up behind the scenes between manager and players and things have been festering ever since?

 

[Zeberdi]

TBH, I haven't heard the interview, but could he have meant morale rather than motivation?

I think he means what he says - the motivation is low because the incentives that were there are the beginning of the season, ie do well in Europe, getting to a semi-final cup tie, make a top 6/7 finish and qualify for Europe again have evaporated. That’s a big frickin anticlimax from the beginning of the season for everyone at the Club as well as fans.

Poor results after months of ongoing injuries with key players unavailable for months on end, not improving the squad in January to help with the immediate problems, and summer signings taking too long to bed in or not working out at all), Ferguson having a dry spell, Mitoma and March out, our MF the shadow of its former glory, has all severely impacted on performance. Fatigue and disappointment has caught up with everyone.

It is not enough imo to say top flight footballers get paid enough not to need other incentives - it’s a competitive sport, of course they need season targets and personal targets - being paid many of thousands pounds a week is actually dependent on achieving some of those targets for some of them which they can’t do sitting on a physio’s bench.

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

I think he means what he says - the motivation is low because the incentives that were there are the beginning of the season, ie do well in Europe, getting to a semi-final cup tie, make a top 6/7 finish and qualify for Europe again have evaporated. That’s a big frickin anticlimax from the beginning of the season for everyone at the Club as well as fans.

Poor results after months of ongoing injuries with key players unavailable for months on end, failure to improve the squad in January and summer signings taking too long to bed in or not work out at all), Ferguson having a dry spell, Mitoma and March out, our MF the shadow of its former glory, has all severely impacted on performance. Fatigue and disappointment has caught up with everyone.

It is not enough imo to say top flight footballers get paid enough not to need other incentives - it’s a competitive sport, of course they need season targets and personal targets - being paid many of thousands pounds a week is actually dependent on achieving some of those targets for some of them which they can’t do sitting on a physio’s bench.

Or perhaps he means the players listening to him bang on each week about everything apart from his inflexibility to change the tactics to accommodate the players he has at his disposal. That inflexibility is smashing the form out of our good experienced players let alone the youngsters.

We have been sussed out by most teams and it's easy to stop us playing.

 

[Baldrick]

Aren't bonuses for all players and staff linked to a top 10 finish? My understanding from listening to a podcast some time ago is no-one gets a bonus unless we finish in the top 10.