Brighton and Hove Albion manager Roberto de Zerbi has been handed an early ‘advantage’ by predecessor Graham Potter, whose style has made it easier for the Italian to integrate at his new club.
That’s according to Gianluca di Marzio, who covers the manager’s first few weeks with the Seagulls following his arrival earlier this month.
The Italian coach was hired as Potter’s replacement a week ago after the Englishman’s move to Chelsea to replace Thomas Tuchel.
He arrives with a growing reputation from Italy, where he had Sassuolo into an exciting attacking team playing an attractive brand of football during a three-year spell.
He’s since been working with the Brighton squad to adapt them to his style, with videos recently published by the club showing him hard at work.
Di Marzio provides background to them today, stating that the watchword at the club is currently ‘integrate’ but it is based on a core of ‘three ingredients’: tactics, technique and fun.
De Zerbi knows that it is key to get these ideas across quickly but has been handed an ‘advantage’ by Potter because of the clear identity he already had in place.
Thus, the Italian coach has found an environment ‘very much to his liking’ and in which he will be able to develop his playing ideas.
He’s now working to plan for their upcoming games, with a clash against Liverpool and then Tottenham after that.
Unlike some managers, though, he is ‘taking the team and doing it himself’ but always with a calm style giving directions, the key to which are ‘one touch, not two’.
One phrase that has become quickly associated with him is ‘I want to hear the music of the ball’, something we’re sure the more creative Brighton players are delighted to hear.
Whether it works out on the pitch remains to be seen, of course, but the early signs are positive, thanks to a helping hand from the structure Potter put in place.
