Brighton’s meteoric rise has hit a series of speed bumps recently, with Roberto De Zerbi facing the same problems Jurgen Klopp has faced at Liverpool over the years. Brighton went ahead again this weekend, beating Nottingham Forest 3-2.
However, it ended a busy spell in the Premier League that went slightly unnoticed.Roberto De Zerbi has received high praise for his work since taking over from Graham Potter.
He is mainly seen as Pep Guardiola’s successor at Manchester City, but Liverpool will no doubt be on the list to sign him from Jurgen Klopp at some point.
Brighton had drawn their last six Premier League games before the win at the weekend. They recorded three consecutive 1-1 draws against Sheffield United, Everton and Fulham, lost 2-1 to Manchester City, then drew with Liverpool and lost 6-1 to Aston Villa.
What happened to De Zerbi? Being eighth in the table and eight points off the leaders is not catastrophic, but something has taken the wind out of Brighton’s sails.
One theory is that the Italian is dealing with a problem that Klopp knows all too well at Liverpool. With each new victory, Brighton’s reputation grew and as a result opponents took to the game differently, leaving an important weapon in the manager’s arsenal.
Much of the praise for De Zerbi centers around his “pressure trap”. It involves clever little sequences that challenge Brighton’s opponents, eluding them and opening up space to attack.
A surefire way to counter this is to simply not push. This is doubly disappointing for a manager like Klopp or De Zerbi. The way he looks at the game is amazing, but it’s also annoyingly effective.
This is evident in Brighton’s performance. As Hamza Halike-Lunat points out in X, under De Zerbi his win percentage is now inversely proportional to his ownership stake.The solution is simple in theory, but difficult in practice.
Teams facing this problem must find a more controlled and methodical way to win, without relying on pressure from their opponents and without losing the strong consistency that made them so good in the first place.
Klopp has struggled with many decisions over the years. Thiago should have made an important decision, but his injury record prevented him from doing so.So the summer rebuild was a big opportunity.
Liverpool have brought in established reporters, but all are far more technical than their predecessors. Players like Dominic Szoboslai, Alexis McAllister and Ryan Gravenburch can break down stubborn defenses much better than their functional predecessors.
