De Zerbi deserves praise for his careful juggling of Brighton squad

The visit to St James’ Park to face Newcastle United last Thursday evening was the 11th game Brighton had played since the start of April.

This intense schedule will finish with 14 matches in eight weeks once the Albion have travelled to Aston Villa on the final weekend of the Premier League, after which they can have a well-earned rest.

Up to eight players have been on the injury list at any one time because of the number of games. Such a run would be tough for any team in the Premier League, let alone one with a modest budget like Brighton and lacking the squad depth which bigger clubs can afford to build.

Roberto De Zerbi has been made to carefully juggle his squad, targeting specific games over others to win points. With Brighton now qualified for Europe, we can say he has done so very successfully.

Losing at Nottingham Forest was followed by six points from games against Wolves and Manchester United. After the 5-1 defeat at the Amex to Everton came a 3-0 win at Arsenal.

Those dedicated fans who travelled the nearly 800 mile round trip to Newcastle were given a disappointing evening as De Zerbi rested players again.

All is well that ends well and the rotation meant the Albion were refreshed and ready to beat recently relegated Southampton and achieve a top six finish.

We all know as Brighton supporters that the Albion over the years never normally manage to achieve their targets the easy way.

Those setbacks against Forest, the Toffees and the Magpies were maybe to be expected, even without De Zerbi resting players and tiredness being such a factor.

I must admit that going to Newcastle, I felt the momentum from such a brilliant win at the Emirates Stadium would carry on and lead to Brighton coming out all guns blazing.

That was not to be and the Albion were definitely not at their best by a long chalk, especially in the first half. The four changes De Zerbi made took their toll.

But when you then see Alexis Mac Allister, Levi Colwill and Evan Ferguson playing so well against Southampon, you see De Zerbi has the bigger picture in mind. In RDZ we rightly trust.

The Albion came under tremendous pressure early on and Lewis Dunk had an amazing clearance off the line to keep the scoreline at 0-0. Dunk then had to step up to the plate again and make a great block from a Joelinton cross.

Giving away set pieces when playing Newcastle is always a risky game, as Brighton found out when falling 1-0 behind. The corner maestro Kieran Trippier whipped an in-swinger into the box which Deniz Undav headed backwards.

That is rarely a good thing to do and on this occasion, the ball ended up in the back of the Albion net. 22 minutes played and Newcastle led 1-0.

Plenty more action at the Albion defensive end of the pitch followed. The Magpies ended the game having taken 22 shots, nine of which were on target. Brighton in contrast managed just eight efforts all evening with only two on target.

Eddie Howe had clearly devised a game plan to take on Brighton which his players carried out very well. Newcastle were much more aggressive than they had been when I watched them draw 2-2 with Leeds, putting the Albion under a lot of pressure.

Dan Burn made it 2-0 to Newcastle right at the end of the first half. Undav gave away a foul, Trippier delivered another great set piece and Burn rose tallest to put a header beyond Jason Steele.

The second half did at least bring Brighton supporters some hope as a more positive display began to put the Magpies on the back foot.

First though, Jason Steele had to prevent Miguel Almiron scoring a third for Newcastle with an amazing save. Inspired by that, Billy Gilmour hit an exquisite pass through the middle for Undav. He took the ball sweetly and had no trouble putting it beyond Nick Pope to make it 2-1.

I am sure most of us thought at this point that the comeback was on. However, playing the sort of football Brighton do under De Zerbi always leaves things open for the opposition on the counter.

That is exactly what happened not once, but twice in the space of three minutes. Callum Wilson made it 3-1 and then Bruno Guimaraes 4-1 as the Albion suffered another heavy defeat.

You would have taken losing at Newcastle in exchange for three points from Southampton and guaranteed European football next season though, right?

Thanks to De Zerbi and his juggling, that is exactly what we have. History made. Up the Albion.

Tony Noble @Noble1844Tony