WOULD ROBERTO DE ZERBI thrive at a big club? Or does the lack of respect afforded to Brighton by opponents play right into his hands?
That was one of the questions discussed on today’s Football Family, the podcast for subscribers to The 42.
Shane Keegan, Cobh Ramblers manager, said Brighton’s second against Manchester United last weekend was “near enough the best team goal I’ve ever seen. It was absolutely ridiculous.”
Sensational football under any circumstances.
— Shane Keegan (@ShaneKeegan81) September 17, 2023
But when u factor in that the 11 players on the field cost the club a total of €18m….. 🤯 🤯 🤯pic.twitter.com/gcXFh7L6o8
The 42’s David Sneyd cautioned against such hyperbole, saying such a suggestion would relegate a lot of incredible goals scored by, for example, Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona side.
“But hold on, go through the personnel, so they should have been,” said Keegan. “Go through the personnel here. €18.2 the starting XI cost. The three goals, the star goal obviously was the second one, 29 passes for the second goal, 21 passes for the third goal, 18 passes for the first goal. Absolutely unbelievable what he’s doing there.”
Keegan added: “Half of me would love to see De Zerbi stay at Brighton for the next few years to see how far he can take this. And then half of me would love to see him take over at one of the super teams and see can he do that at a whole new level or would he fail to implement his methods with players with bigger egos.
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“Here’s the other thing, and we did touch on it last week, if he goes to a big club now all of a sudden you’re not playing against Brighton anymore. Do they just sit on the edge of their own 18-yard box and … now does his game plan start to come unstuck?
“When Leicester won the league, every other team in my opinion knew how to beat Leicester but they thought they would besmirch themselves to play against them in a manner where you’re treating them with that much respect.
“Top eight teams . . . they won’t do it. They won’t park the bus. They’ll all still go toe to toe with Brighton, which will have de Zerbi smiling ear to ear.
Also on today’s pod, the lads discuss the FAI Cup semi-final draw and the case of Diane Caldwell, who became the latest to find out that while sections of the public dislike media-trained players who say nothing – they really hate it when somebody is honest. Was the Ireland veteran too harsh in her judgement of Vera Pauw’s reign, or was she right to speak her truth?
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