Brighton & Hove Albion manager Roberto De Zerbi has hailed Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp and Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola for making small tactical tweaks that ruined his own plans.
The Brighton boss has been speaking to Brescia Oggi, relayed by Sport Italia, regarding tactics and the differences between life in Italy and England.
He can speak as something of an authority on both after managing in Serie A with Sassuolo and now with Brighton in the Premier League.
The two leagues are seen as vastly different, with the Premier League widely regarded as the best in the world for its high energy, endurance football compared to say Italy, which is known to be more tactical and slower than some other leagues in Europe.
That’s due to a style which De Zerbi is constantly tweaking and changing between games, something he admits doesn’t always work, as was the case with Liverpool and Manchester City.
Brighton drew 2-2 with Liverpool back at the beginning of October and were beaten 2-1 by Manchester City later that month, and De Zerbi admits that may have been down to his rival managers getting the better of him.
“Taking care of your physical condition is fundamental and essential,” he said.
“As well as the evolution of the role of the goalkeeper: today he is becoming an additional player on the pitch at the time of construction.
“I give you the example of two matches played this year by my Brighton, against Liverpool and Manchester City: I had prepared the defensive phase, in both cases, going man for man.
“However, Klopp and Guardiola raised the goalkeeper a lot in relation to the penalty area, transforming him into an outfield player and definitely putting me in difficulty.”
