BRIGHTON AND DE ZERBI IN THEIR STRIDE TO START THE YEAR, BEAT LIVERPOOL IN 3-0 WIN
Brighton have won all three of their games to start the year, and convincingly so, scoring 12 goals in the process and conceding just two. Their 3-0 win over struggling Liverpool at the Amex Stadium on Saturday was proof of how good this Albion side is, and what an acquisition the club made in new manager Roberto De Zerbi.
The East Sussex team currently sit seventh in the Premier League standings, just a point shy of Fulham who have played two games more. On the field, the team is having a stellar year, earning a total of 30 points across 18 games, 14 more points than at this stage last season.
Brighton players are also having career years, with Solly March showing improvement and coming into his own since De Zerbi came into the club. The 28-year-old winger scored twice against Liverpool and has now notched four Premier League goals this season, and dishing out four assists, his highest-ever return as a Premier League player.
“I love playing for Roberto De Zerbi,” said March after the game on Saturday. “He’s great. He puts his arm around you and tells you you’re a good player and maybe that’s what I needed.”
Brighton’s recent run in form could be massively credited to the Italian manager’s management and down-right no-nonsense style of coaching, but Roberto De Zerbi’s tactical way of playing the game deserves plenty of plaudits. The win on Saturday was Brighton’s third win against the ‘Big Six’ this season, after defeating Manchester United and Chelsea earlier in the season.
The 43-year-old’s style of play draws in the opponent and baits them to press, a bait that Liverpool took with Jürgen Klopp’s famous ‘geigen press’ set up of play. Brighton would in turn use one-touch passes in midfield to relieve pressure and quickly find players behind the defensive line.
A master-class tactician, De Zerbi likes to use combinations in the center of the field, speeding up plays with triangles, so that the ball can be quickly switched to wide areas. One fan said during the game this weekend, “It’s just exceptional football. Roberto De Zerbi is an absolute magician.”
“In moments, it looked too easy for Brighton,” Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp conceded after the game. “The organization was completely gone. It was too easy and you cannot get back in this game… It was horrible to watch. I don’t think anyone with a Liverpool heart enjoyed it for a second.”
De Zerbi said after the win on Saturday he wasn’t surprised that Brighton won the game. “No,” De Zerbi said. “But [I was] surprised by the different tactical disposition of Liverpool, because Liverpool, they were different, in different positions… They defended with only three defenders. But we had to find different solutions.
“I have very smart players and they understand immediately when there are different situations and they know now what they have to do on the pitch, depending on the different situations.”
The appointment of De Zerbi is proving to be an immediate success, at least in the short term. The move to employ the former Napoli midfielder is garnering recognition all across sports as more and more fans are beginning to pay attention to how Brighton and Hove Albion run their club. A club that until seven years ago, had endured a 34-year period without top-flight football.
The organization has made smart decisions and cashed in at the right time, sacking manager Chris Hughton in 2019 after the club barely survived relegation the previous season and making a timely appointment of then Swansea manager Graham Potter to start the 2019/20 campaign.
However, after three seasons of success, Chelsea came calling for Brighton’s marquee manager and the club didn’t shy away from what many other clubs would have considered a setback rather than an opportunity.
Brighton employed De Zerbi as Potter’s replacement only last September and has shown improvement and flexibility with the squad in his first four months in charge.
The team moved on from star left-back Marc Cucurella, who signed with Chelsea for £62 million in the summer and replaced him with former Villarreal defender Pervis Estupinan, sold Yves Bissouma to Tottenham for £30 million, and brought back on-loan midfielder Moisés Caicedo in his stead. Now it would appear as though they’re planning to let Leandro Trossard leave in the January transfer window after he fell out with the Italian manager. Trossard didn’t play during the team’s win on Saturday and his teenage replacement, Evan Ferguson, 18, an instinctive and purebred number 9, looks comfortable leading the line.
While there’s still plenty of season left and lots of football still to be played, Brighton look like they’ll be more than alright with De Zerbi in charge as owner/chairman Tony Bloom runs the day-to-day operations. The team is aiming for a Europa league finish this year, and could possibly sneak into the top four if they continue their recent run of form, especially with teams like Chelsea, Tottenham, and Liverpool struggling since the World Cup break.
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero
Photo: TVSEI. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.