Roberto De Zerbi is wrong: He is the top coach Brighton need to keep pushing on

Posted by Mittie Cheatwood on Monday, June 10, 2024

Vincent Kompany was in a cheery, talkative mood as he skipped out of the media room at the Amex. Roberto De Zerbi was not.

The Brighton & Hove Albion head coach batted away the first question of the press conference in three seconds, with seven words. The second, after an awkward, prolonged pause, was met with a straight “no”.

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But the third attempt to get through to the Italian — a question on the positives of their 1-1 draw with Burnley — provoked a winding, gloomy monologue that all felt a little overblown.

“I am sorry,” he sighed, “but I am really disappointed and frustrated.”

A top team wins today, wins against Sheffield United and wins against Fulham. Why didn’t we win?” he asked his bewildered audience.

“Maybe because we are not a top team yet, and maybe because the coach of Brighton is not yet a top coach.”

Results-based frustration aside, the self-critical tone of De Zerbi’s assessment felt at odds with what was a resourceful, inventive performance in testing circumstances.

Without seven first-team players, De Zerbi revealed Kaoru Mitoma, Billy Gilmour and Igor Julio were risks, while Facundo Buonanotte was unable to play 90 minutes. That forced six changes to the team that beat Brentford last weekend, to take their total number of line-up changes for the season to 67 — around 4.2 per game.

Maintaining rhythm, with European commitments adding to the pressure, is a problem.

Nonetheless, Brighton did more than enough to beat Kompany’s Burnley, only denied three points by the inspired James Trafford in goal.

The data suggests that the quality of Brighton’s on-target shots should have amounted to 4.0 goals. Trafford made a total of 10 saves, including last-minute heroics to deny Mitoma and Jack Hinshelwood, making his display the second-best shot-stopping performance of the Premier League season.

If that frustrated De Zerbi’s men in front of goal, at least the relentless variety in their build-up play was a positive.

The manager’s doubts about his performance felt harsh, particularly as his switches and substitutions dictated the game.

As always, De Zerbi’s side were dizzyingly fluid in possession, constantly shapeshifting with the ball at their feet to try to find a way through Burnley’s 4-4-2 mid-block.

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Build-up pattern No 1 became evident within the opening seconds, as Carlos Baleba immediately dropped between the two centre-backs from kick-off.

Full-backs James Milner and Pascal Gross would push forward, the latter picking up a more central position alongside Simon Adingra, while Mahmoud Dahoud would act as the sole receiver behind the two strikers.

It was a risky, experimental shape that did not quite pay off.

Almost a 3-1-5-1, Brighton overloaded Burnley’s midfield four and found spaces in front of the defence, as well as impose themselves physically in the middle of the pitch. But, as De Zerbi remarked after the game, “the speed of the ball was not right” throughout a stodgy opening half hour.

Idea No 2 was a minor switch, but one that injected some zip into Brighton’s first-half play.

Dahoud was struggling to receive from his centre-backs, and the distance between the ball-players and the midfield was too far to execute passes consistently. So, Adam Lallana dropped alongside Dahoud on numerous occasions, playing bounce passes with the German midfielder to help progress the play with shorter, punchier interchanges.

Opportunities for Milner, Jan Paul van Hecke and Dahoud followed, but the hosts went into half-time behind.

De Zerbi was proactive after the break, however, wasting no time in trying build-up shape No 3.

Off came Dahoud for the energetic Gilmour, while Lallana’s departure for Mitoma allowed Joao Pedro to float into a more central position.

Things started to feel more fluid, as the intelligence of Joao Pedro in tight spaces helped to knit together quick passing sequences behind the Burnley midfield.

Still not content, De Zerbi makes tweak No 4 after 59 minutes, arguably the most impactful of all.

To improve the service into dangerous dribbler Mitoma on the left flank, Baleba is sacrificed for the left-footed Igor, who takes up the left-sided centre-back role while Lewis Dunk shifts into the middle.

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Hinshelwood comes on for Milner on the opposite side, allowing the influential Gross to push further forward and dominate the left flank.

More specifically, the below sequence consistently carved opportunities for Brighton in the second half, with Burnley substitute Connor Roberts continually caught in two minds with Igor on the ball.

Notice how the No 14 looks over his shoulder to track Gross’ infield run in frame one and is caught flat-footed in frame two, before Igor finds Mitoma in space to attack his full-back.

The pressure continued to mount, and De Zerbi had one more attacking pattern to try, as Dunk was sacrificed for Buonanotte in the final stages.

All-out attack ensued as the young midfielder joined the final line, leaving Brighton with a two-man defensive pivot for their last roll of the dice.

Despite personnel and fitness issues, De Zerbi’s unfaltering commitment to finding a tactical solution is a joy to watch.

A slow start aside, his imagination from the sidelines saw his team gradually up the pressure as the game progressed, leaving them just a goalkeeper’s fingertip away from the perfectly executed game plan.

There is more context to his frustration.

Brighton are struggling to string results together, and this was an opportunity to win consecutive home games for the first time this season. They are conceding too regularly — this was their 20th consecutive Premier League game without a clean sheet.

At the same time, this team are one win from the top six, one win from knockout European football, and one goal from 100 scored in 2023.

De Zerbi’s post-match doom and gloom was excessive, but a reminder of the intense competitiveness that drives Brighton on.

(Photo: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

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