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Roberto De Zerbi *OFFICIAL*

What I find interesting is the respect that RDZ seems to have in the game from players and other coaches. On paper, he hasn't really had big jobs and won so much. However, he seems to have a "Pep" or "Klopp" type attraction to some players who have worked with him before. I'm not sure we've really had that player to manager chemistry at our club since Poch days. It surely has to be one of the key ingredients.
 
What I find interesting is the respect that RDZ seems to have in the game from players and other coaches. On paper, he hasn't really had big jobs and won so much. However, he seems to have a "Pep" or "Klopp" type attraction to some players who have worked with him before. I'm not sure we've really had that player to manager chemistry at our club since Poch days. It surely has to be one of the key ingredients.
Ange pretty clearly had it as well. Almost all his signings said they signed after talks with him (like we are hearing now with RDZ). There was obviously a closeness between Ange and his players here.
 
Ange pretty clearly had it as well. Almost all his signings said they signed after talks with him (like we are hearing now with RDZ). There was obviously a closeness between Ange and his players here.

Yeah, that's fair I guess. I remember Davies talking about Ange trying to get him to play with more freedom and go wherever he felt comfortable going. Ange definitely created a togetherness in the group. They definitely played for him. I'm less sure whether they would advocate for him as a pure "technical coach" in the way we saw with Poch though. When it comes to guys like Pep, you just know the players want to learn from him. That's the feeling I get with RDZ as well.
 
PS Here is another point of view on de Zerbi at Brighton, he wanted ready made players and not to bring on youngsters, so we might see more leaving.

:Owner Tony Bloom remained strictly committed to Brighton's data-led model: buying young, high-potential talent to develop and later sell for a profit. De Zerbi felt this lack of aggressive squad strengthening capped the club’s ambitions.

Well, Brighton have never matched that RDZ season, so he's been proven right?
 
Just listened to the latest Game is about Glory podcast and the discussion around how we have so many wingers coming back from injury made me think…is there a possibility we start the season playing three CBs in a 3-5-2 or 3-4-2-1?

I believe that while RDZ has his footballing philosophy, he is at heart a pragmatist and will set the team up to play to their individual strengths.

This would explain bringing in two CBS who are both comfortable stepping out of defense (plus a third if we keep Cuti) and less reliance on building down the wings, allowing us to possibly incorporate Maddison and Gallagher behind a CF (ahead of two pivots), or play two strikers ahead of a #10. We have good depth at both wing back positions too.

I can’t remember if he utilized three CBs at Brighton at all and never watched his Marseille team but we have so much positional fluidity I am really interested to see how an intelligent and flexible coach is going to set us up for the first part of the season till we know how Deki and Kudus in particular are going to be when they return.
 
Just listened to the latest Game is about Glory podcast and the discussion around how we have so many wingers coming back from injury made me think…is there a possibility we start the season playing three CBs in a 3-5-2 or 3-4-2-1?

I believe that while RDZ has his footballing philosophy, he is at heart a pragmatist and will set the team up to play to their individual strengths.

This would explain bringing in two CBS who are both comfortable stepping out of defense (plus a third if we keep Cuti) and less reliance on building down the wings, allowing us to possibly incorporate Maddison and Gallagher behind a CF (ahead of two pivots), or play two strikers ahead of a #10. We have good depth at both wing back positions too.

I can’t remember if he utilized three CBs at Brighton at all and never watched his Marseille team but we have so much positional fluidity I am really interested to see how an intelligent and flexible coach is going to set us up for the first part of the season till we know how Deki and Kudus in particular are going to be when they return.

My understanding is he has principles more than specific formations (even if default seems 4-2-3-1). Keys are, baiting the press, quick passing, sometimes short backward pass to get ball forward to a player facing right direction, aggressive press out of possession.

I don't think we will play 3 CBs with any regularity, the sale of Vuskovic and Dragusin, with Romero still being for sale confirms it for me, we will really just have 4 CB's in senior squad.

Our "wingers" are an interesting question since a lot of them -> Deki, Kudus, Tel can play a more inside role. The thought I had was more could you see

- Midfield of Fernandes, Tonali, Gallagher, push Maddison out left and Deki right, so no traditional winger but a core midfield that could run you to death and real threat from left and right.
 
My understanding is he has principles more than specific formations (even if default seems 4-2-3-1). Keys are, baiting the press, quick passing, sometimes short backward pass to get ball forward to a player facing right direction, aggressive press out of possession.

I don't think we will play 3 CBs with any regularity, the sale of Vuskovic and Dragusin, with Romero still being for sale confirms it for me, we will really just have 4 CB's in senior squad.

Our "wingers" are an interesting question since a lot of them -> Deki, Kudus, Tel can play a more inside role. The thought I had was more could you see

- Midfield of Fernandes, Tonali, Gallagher, push Maddison out left and Deki right, so no traditional winger but a core midfield that could run you to death and real threat from left and right.
Agree on a lot of this. We are strong in defense, especially with players who are comfortable playing in higher areas, and midfield now but less so up front so it just screams to me that we may utilize a more fluid system similar to Bayern under Kompany to hide our flaws.
 
Agree on a lot of this. We are strong in defense, especially with players who are comfortable playing in higher areas, and midfield now but less so up front so it just screams to me that we may utilize a more fluid system similar to Bayern under Kompany to hide our flaws.

Yep, I suspect (even if people don't like it), this is a two year plan

- We will get at least one winger (Savino or Leao) and one CF (looks like Kroupi)
- We play the season, RDZ learns a bit more, we find out re Maddison, Xavi, Odobert, Kudus, Deki, Udogie re their return and ability to stay fit.
- Qualify for Europe, then upgrade again (probably less positions, but more quality)
 
I'd seen some Brighton fan chatter over the weekend about their assistant coach leaving to join back up with De Zerbi.
Now just saw this.

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I'd seen some Brighton fan chatter over the weekend about their assistant coach leaving to join back up with De Zerbi.
Now just saw this.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.
Really enjoying this direct backing of the manager and he clearly knows what he wants and needs. Finally some direction at the club.
 

We can also confirm the appointments of Ali James (Head of Medical Services), Tom Tombleson (Head of Athletic Development) and Agostino Tibaudi (Strength and Conditioning Coach) to our Performance department.

A new Head of Medical services! GHod speed sir 🫡
 
Big thing from that interview is just de Zerbi confirming we aren't done in the market (and to be fair, I don't see how we could be).

At a minimum, even without bringing anyone in, we're sitting on effectively at least 100m in likely outgoings in Bergvall, Vicario and Romero. Probably more following them too - Sarr, for instance. Add that to the 100m already made from sales and there's money to blow on some top-tier players in positions of need.

Apart from that, also interesting is the rapidly expanding backroom staff. One thing I always found utterly baffling about Levy was that he restricted how many coaches managers could bring with them. I remember Nuno had to fight like hell just to get a few backroom staff to come with him, and the same was even said about AVB way back when.

Now de Zerbi has at least, what, 9/10 first-team coaches? The new guys, Crofts (assistant manager/coach), Tibaudi (strength coach), Saltor (assistant coach), Georgson (assistant coach/set piece guy), Marcattilii (first-team fitness coach), Quinto (senior professional development phase coach), Campbell (individual development coach), Otte (goalkeeping coach) and Brill (assistant goalkeeping coach).

I'm a big believer in the idea of having specialized coaches for specialized training areas - manager sets the general tone, coaches specialize in their fields. So it's good to see the club going on this direction. More expertise is always useful.
 
Big thing from that interview is just de Zerbi confirming we aren't done in the market (and to be fair, I don't see how we could be).

At a minimum, even without bringing anyone in, we're sitting on effectively at least 100m in likely outgoings in Bergvall, Vicario and Romero. Probably more following them too - Sarr, for instance. Add that to the 100m already made from sales and there's money to blow on some top-tier players in positions of need.

Apart from that, also interesting is the rapidly expanding backroom staff. One thing I always found utterly baffling about Levy was that he restricted how many coaches managers could bring with them. I remember Nuno had to fight like hell just to get a few backroom staff to come with him, and the same was even said about AVB way back when.

Now de Zerbi has at least, what, 9/10 first-team coaches? The new guys, Crofts (assistant manager/coach), Tibaudi (strength coach), Saltor (assistant coach), Georgson (assistant coach/set piece guy), Marcattilii (first-team fitness coach), Quinto (senior professional development phase coach), Campbell (individual development coach), Otte (goalkeeping coach) and Brill (assistant goalkeeping coach).

I'm a big believer in the idea of having specialized coaches for specialized training areas - manager sets the general tone, coaches specialize in their fields. So it's good to see the club going on this direction. More expertise is always useful.
He’s putting his tentacles in every sense into the club where he needs influence for matters on and off the pitch … this is one hell of a backing.
 
He’s putting his tentacles in every sense into the club where he needs influence for matters on and off the pitch … this is one hell of a backing.
Historically it is for us, but when you look at the other Top 6 clubs it has been their SOP for a long time.
 
Historically it is for us, but when you look at the other Top 6 clubs it has been their SOP for a long time.
This is not a slant on Levy but this would never happen under his tenure. Even if we had lots of money I think we would still struggle to allow the manager this level of autonomy excuse the pun
 
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