Liverpool quite the welcome to England for new Brighton boss
Welcome to England, Mister De Zebri. Your first month here will involve the funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, a new Prime Minister tanking the economy within three weeks of taking office and a rail strike preventing Brighton fans catching the train to your debut in the dugout – which will be away at Liverpool. Gulp.
It would be nice to reassure our new manager that things are not always this chaotic in the United Kingdom. Easier said than done though when this winter will involve selling a kidney to afford heating the home followed by flogging at least two limbs to keep up with the mortgage when interest rates rise.
We could of course yet avoid self-amputation to pay the bills in the event that Vladimir Putin goes even more batshit crazy and starts a nuclear war, should his army keep suffering embarrassing defeats in Ukraine.
And so to this backdrop of uncertainty return Brighton & Hove Albion after a three week absence caused by no trains, the passing of The Queen and international football.
There cannot have been many times in the past when watching the Seagulls was considered a pastime which offered something more stable than normal life, but 2022 is hardly normal.
That Brighton are even considered stable and normal after the three weeks that have gone on at the Amex really is testament to Tony Bloom, Paul Barber and everyone else working behind the scenes.
Graham Potter walked out and took five of the coaching staff with him. At most other Premier League clubs, that would be the trigger for a full blown crisis. Not the Albion.
Bloom already had his famous list of Potter replacements drawn for such an eventuality. Roberto De Zerbi was one and just so happened to be out-of-work, having left his position at Shakhtar Donetsk because of Putin and his illegal war.
Within 10 days of Potter putting pen to paper on his £60 million contract at Chelsea, Brighton had one of the most highly rated young managers in Europe appointed in his place, with two weeks until the trip to Anfield to work with and get to know the players.
De Zerbi has already spoken about how he sees his role as continuing on the foundations laid by Potter. Things will however change, perhaps most notably going forward.
The new man is a much more attacking head coach than his predecessor, who encouraged his Sassoulo and Shakhtar sides to shoot at every opportunity. There will certainly be no complaints from De Zerbi if Albion supporters start shouting “SHOOT”.
How much of that we see from Brighton at Liverpool remains to be seen. With Spurs, Manchester City and Chelsea also to come in De Zerbi’s first month at the helm, it might well be that he reigns in his attacking instincts until after the winter break for the World Cup.
A mini pre-season of sorts whilst England fans attempt to avoid being locked up in Qatar for crimes like being gay will give De Zerbi a bonus month to work with his players not on international duty, better helping them understand his ideas and philosophies.
That might make it sound like we are writing Brighton off ahead of their trip to Liverpool. The bookies certainly have, with the Albion as big as 8/1 to come away from Anfield with victory to kick start the De Zerbi Era.
To focus only on the managerial change and what it might mean for the Seagulls is to do a grave disservice to the players.
Yes, Potter’s 3-3-3-1 formation which he had used since the 2-1 win at Arsenal on Grand National Day was a major reason why Brighton have lost only two Premier League games since.
But these players are good. They are very good. It is easily the best squad the Albion have ever had and you do not finish ninth in the toughest division in the world, nor sit fourth three months into the campaign based purely on a manager.
They have shown they can compete with Liverpool in the past too. In fact, the Albion have lost only one of their past four meetings with Jurgen Klopp’s Redmen.
Remember Klopp’s meltdown in November 2020, when Liverpool were held 1-1 at the Amex and that cringeworthy argument he launched with BT Sport interviewer Des Kelly?
Three months later and Steve Alzate scored the only goal at Anfield to secure a famous 1-0 win for Brighton. The Seagulls’ next visit to Merseyside saw them come from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 via stunning Enock Mwepu and Leandro Trossard goals.
What the past two years have shown us is that Liverpool have to be at their rampant best to beat Brighton. That was the case in March, when the title race was still on as the Redmen hunted down City.
Their 2-0 win at the Amex was their eighth victory in a row in all competitions. Liverpool were pretty much unbeatable at the time.
It also came when Brighton were in the middle of that dreadful run of six consecutive losses, when the idea of Potter becoming Chelsea boss and earning £1 million a month would have seemed farcical.
Brighton have hope heading to Liverpool because of Klopp’s men struggling so far this season. Liverpool have won just two of their six Premier League fixtures, failing to beat Fuham, Crystal Palace and Everton.
The transition from playing with Sadio Mane to new £85 million striker and one-time Albion target Darwin Nunez has been anything but smooth.
It is still ongoing, not helped by Nunez getting red carded less than an hour into his home debut when Palace left Anfield with a deserved 1-1 draw.
On paper, Liverpool should beat Brighton. They have the better players, the proven manager, home advantage – even if the famous Anfield atmosphere is the biggest myth since the Loch Ness Monster.
Football though is not played on paper. The Albion know that only too well. If it were, Brighton would not be occupying a Champions League spot right now, some four points ahead of Liverpool in the standings.
We go to Anfield with hope in our heart as they lyrics in a song our hosts are fond of singing say. A new era is here and it is bloody exciting, certainly compared to when Steve Coppell, Russell Slade or Gus Poyet He Who Must Not Be Named were taking over with the Albion staring relegation into the lower leagues in the face.
Imagine if it were to be launched with victory on Merseyside. Roberto De Zerbi is waiting, talking Italian…
