De Zerbi knee slide v Arsenal voted Brighton Flair Moment 2022-23

Given he was involved in three of the nominations for Flair Moment 2022-23, the chances were high that Roberto De Zerbi would end up the winner. And so it has proven, with the knee slide celebration away at Arsenal meaning De Zerbi becomes the first ever Brighton head coach to take home the award.

Until now, Flair Moment has been a category dominated by players (and the Albion blowing the Championship title in the final three games of the 2016-17 season). Not even Gus Poyet managed to win Flair Moment in four seasons of trying.

De Zerbi though is not only a genius in the dugout but also a maverick on the touchline. He celebrated the third and final Brighton goal in their 3-0 win at Arsenal by sprinting onto the pitch and doing a full on knee slide, ala Jose Mourinho.

Victory at the Emirates Stadium rounded off a quite strange 11 days for the Albion. Having beaten Manchester United 1-0 at the Amex, Brighton then went and lost 5-1 at home to 19th placed Everton, who had scored just 16 times in the previous five months.

De Zerbi said after the Albion found the Toffees a little too sticky: “I spoke with the players as I do after every game. I think on Sunday we will show our quality, we will get back to our style and you will see the true Brighton.”

And the true Brighton Arsenal did see. The Gunners knew they had to win if they wanted to hang onto the coattails of Manchester City in the title race, but they ended up blown away by Brighton.

Second half goals from Julio Enciso, Deniz Undav and Pervis Estupinan secured a famous win for the Seagulls, who moved a step closer to European qualification with a famous three points.

Albion fans and the wider footballing world were delighted with De Zerbi busting out the knee slide in response to Estupinan scoring.

Sadly, it did not achieve maximum impact as the Emirates had long since emptied of home fans embarrassed by their side’s defeat.

Not everyone was impressed by De Zerbi’s antics, however. Former Brighton defender Martin Keown admonished De Zerbi on talkSPORT the following day, saying: “I honestly feel that if Arteta did a knee slide down the side of the pitch, we’d never hear the end of it.”

“But for some reason it’s okay for De Zerbi to do it? I like the emotion on show, but I think because it’s Brighton who are inoffensive and they’re everyone’s second favourite team, we turn a blind eye to it.”

“As a goalscorer, you take your shirt off and get a yellow card. Do you not think that if the manager comes racing onto the pitch like De Zerbi did with his celebration, is that not an automatic yellow card?”

No, Martin, we don’t. The fact De Zebri managed to wind up a legendary Arsenal player and those Gunners supporters who had remained inside the stadium to witness Estupinan add the third and the subsequent knee slide makes it a worthy winner of Flair Moment of the Season.

Not far behind in the vote was Jan Paul van Hecke and that first half moment in the 1-1 draw with Manchester City at the Amex which went viral.

It takes a lot of confidence as a centre back to pull off a Cruyff Turn under pressure in your own box at the best of times.

Let alone when you have hardly played in the Premier League in the current season, on the rare occasions you have made it onto the pitch yo have struggled, and now you are facing the champions with Erling Haaland breathing down your neck.

Van Hecke though was calmness personified, twisting his way from a utterly confused Haaland to set Brighton into another counter attack.

If Van Hecke does go onto enjoy a distinguished career at Brighton rather than moving elsewhere for greater first team opportunities, that Cruyff Turn is a moment that will be seen as a turning point in his time at the Amex.

For any Albion player reading this and wondering how they might succeed in this category at the 2023-24 WAB Awards, then goal celebrations in front of the family stand at Selhurst Park tend to fare well.

In Flair Moment of the Season 2021-22, Neal Maupay was voted into second spot for running around like a complete lunatic, cupping his ears to kids and those in the disabled section after his last minute equaliser against Crystal Palace.

This time around, Solly March takes third for his antics in another 1-1 draw with the Eagles. Maupay losing his mind and attempting to wind up Palace fans was very much in keeping with his character; for March to do likewise, very much out of character.

March is meant to be the nice, quiet, polite lad from Hailsham who just happens to be good at football. He is no shithouse, like Maupay.

And yet here March was, channelling his inner Neal by putting his fingers to his lips celebrating his goal away at Palace in front of the same families and those in the disabled area. Glorious.

WeAreBrighton.com Flair Moment of the Season 2022-23 – The Results

• Roberto De Zerbi knee slide v Arsenal (A) – 37.51%
• Jan Paul van Hecke Cruyff Turns away from Erling Haaland – 33.71%
• Solly March celebrates in front of Palace family stand – 16.33%
• Brighton bench fights Spurs bench – 8.85%
• Roberto De Zerbi fights Thomas Frank – 2.10%
• Undav own goal, goal, opposition assist, yellow card v Newcastle (A) – 1.47%

Previous Winners: Pascal Gross (2022) Lewis Dunk (2021), Dan Burn (2020), Glenn Murray (2019), Anthony Knockaert (2018), Blowing the title (2017), Colin Calderwood (2016), Chris O’Grady (2015), Andrea Orlandi (2014), Liam Bridcutt (2013), Vicente (2012), Cristian Baz (2011), Inigo Calderon (2010).