[Football] De Zerbi offers to resign as Marseilles coach

[Simster]

Roberto De Zerbi did not bring ambition to the club. Tony Bloom did.

Indeed. Which made Potter's shit about a "history lesson" all the more galling. If us fans can all see that Bloom was the one bringing ambition to the club, then why the f*ck was Potter justifying grumbles at his 2 wins in a calendar year (FFS!) by talking about our historical underperformance? It was an irrelevant, tedious excuse.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Roberto De Zerbi did not bring ambition to the club. Tony Bloom did.

Yup, I remember that as well, the constant moaning from you when our quite poor, young and developing team didn't get the top placements you personally felt entitled to. I also remember huge parts of that young team floundering in around 15th or so later on (as part of the long term plan) were key members in the team that reached 6th place.

Obviously, idiots will think that Roberto De Zerbi rather than Tony Bloom led Brighton to Europe. These people will be proven (not that they'll accept it) wrong as Brighton & Hove Albion continues the journey upwards that began long before anyone had ever heard of Roberto.

Certainly when he first joined RDZ pushed TB's ambition and he's on record as saying so:

Tony Bloom: Brighton owner excited about Europe and shocked by Roberto de Zerbi's impact

Brighton owner Tony Bloom gives his thoughts on preparing to compete in Europe, the impact of manager Roberto de Zerbi and the loan signing of Barcelona's Ansu Fati.

www.bbc.co.uk

"He pushes everyone to go as far as they can. We are very fortunate to have him at the club. We love having him here. Long may that continue."

I'm aware that probably wasn't what he was thinking at the end mind you and that's understandable given February - May of his last season.

He also mentions RDZ being influential, the exact words used about him by both a World Cup winning player and a German international.

 

[jackalbion]

Spot on. So many people on here act like they have to choose between one or the other. The simple fact is that Potter had finally got it right when he left. The previous half-season and then first 6 games before he left, we were absolutely world class. RDZ continued that and saw us into Europe.

They both did a good job in different ways, but both had their blind spots. With Potter, we spent years being patient with his frustrating, boring crab-ball and his passive aggressive drivel when he was pulled up for it. With RDZ, he acted like a toddler demanding the club change the way it run because he was the messiah and I mu suspicion is that he was shocked that supporters backed Bloom over him. Anyway, he was initially well backed (unfortunately) and paid the club back by throwing a 4 month wobbly.

So sadly, both left us with a bitter taste in the mouth.

I wasn't really left with a bitter taste tbh with RDZ, he left at the right time before he had a mega flounce, and I think it was the sensible adult decision all round.

 

[Han Solo]

I was generally behind Graham Potter most of the time, but for me his complete detachment at leaving was made me genuinely dislike him. Much like some sort of marketing Jake Humphries hybrid, he sucked us all in that he bought into the project, and he dropped us as soon as he could, and expected everyone to just be fine with it, the bitterness in his post match after the 4-1 was quite pathetic really. The history lesson comment was weird, but also Graham Potter was like plain donner meat, fine good, enjoyable, RDZ was the added chilli sauce, that while fantastic and exciting came out in a wet sloppy shitty mess the following morning, by my god was it good fun.

Indeed.
Hence my comment on Potter being the main reason for the love of De Zerbi. The hurtful breakup meant that the replacement manager could say things like "Mac Allister and Caicedo deserves to play in bigger clubs" without getting the reaction every other manager would have got if they said the same thing.

I don't doubt for a minute that it was fun adventure even if I didn't feel that way while watching the torture that was spring 23/24.

 

[jcdenton08]

torture. “Torture” for me was paying to watch 2 wins in a calendar year, only to be told I needed a history lesson by an upstart coach after another dour performance.

 

[Sarisbury Seagull]

You’ll regret this latest rant when you sober up. I can feel it.

De Zerbi?!

 

[Simster]

I wasn't really left with a bitter taste tbh with RDZ, he left at the right time before he had a mega flounce, and I think it was the sensible adult decision all round.

Debateable. They just chose to go their separate ways before it became toxic, but I look back at his final season and see nothing but a missed opportunity as he really couldn't be arsed to do his job because he was throwing a wobbly. If he hadn't left us in such a great place the season beforehand and the beginning of that season, we might have been in trouble.

 

[jackalbion]

Indeed.
Hence my comment on Potter being the main reason for the love of De Zerbi. The hurtful breakup meant that the replacement manager could say things like "Mac Allister and Caicedo deserves to play in bigger clubs" without getting the reaction every other manager would have got if they said the same thing.

I don't doubt for a minute that it was fun adventure even if I didn't feel that way while watching the torture that was spring 23/24.

I had a pretty good time in that 'torture' period watching my team away with my mates in the best league in the world, seeing out a season, where realistically we weren't going to get Europe and we had no chance of us going down. Watching us lose 7-1 to Huddersfield now that's torture.

 

[jackalbion]

Debateable. They just chose to go their separate ways before it became toxic, but I look back at his final season and see nothing but a missed opportunity as he really couldn't be arsed to do his job because he was throwing a wobbly. If he hadn't left us in such a great place the season beforehand and the beginning of that season, we might have been in trouble.

We suffered burnout that was always going to happen had RDZ been here or not, for a club of our size to achieve Europe two years in a row or win the Europa League in our debut season would have been nothing short of remarkable.

 

[Simster]

We suffered burnout that was always going to happen had RDZ been here or not, for a club of our size to achieve Europe two years in a row or win the Europa League in our debut season would have been nothing short of remarkable.

You say that but there was no sign of that burnout in the first half of his only full season when we beat Marseille at home, thus topping the group. But we fell away very quickly and quite alarmingly after that match in that season.

 

[Han Solo]

Indeed. Which made Potter's shit about a "history lesson" all the more galling. If us fans can all see that Bloom was the one bringing ambition to the club, then why the f*ck was Potter justifying grumbles at his 2 wins in a calendar year (FFS!) by talking about our historical underperformance? It was an irrelevant, tedious excuse.

Yes, he was annoyed and used some not perfectly measured words two minutes after a frustrating 0-0 game and five years later this is constantly brought up as the worst thing that has ever happened to mankind. Some would however say that these words were said in affect and that the real irrelevant, tedious excuse is the one where Graham Potter is a bad manager/person because he made a post-game comment five years ago.

Naturally, if Roberto De Zerbi had said the same thing, the reaction would have been completely different as proven by the endless shite he spouted without getting anything but agreement.

In Brighton its ok for the manager to belittle the players, the owner and the club. It'll be appreciated by the fans, because the fans are affluent and used to winning more in life than Brighton does on the pitch. But if a manager suggests that these life-winners who can't handle a 0-0 draw could damage the team through booing it rather than supporting it, hell breaks lose. They've been winning all their lives and Brighton have always been losing, so there's no chance anyone in the stands could do anything better at any time.

 

[Guinness Boy]

You say that but there was no sign of that burnout in the first half of his only full season when we beat Marseille at home, thus topping the group. But we fell away very quickly and quite alarmingly after that match in that season.

I'm not going to argue for a moment that RDZ was properly engaged after Christmas, especially when the transfer window closed, but in the 2024 part of that season we beat Palace 4-0, Villa 1-0 at home, Roma 1-0 at home, drew away to a very good Newcastle and stuck ten goals past a very poor Sheffield United in two games.

A lot of the rest was dross, especially the low lights of Luton and Rome and I'm not making a case for those games being anything other than dross. But there were some fun games for sure.

 

[jcdenton08]

 

[jackalbion]

You say that but there was no sign of that burnout in the first half of his only full season when we beat Marseille at home, thus topping the group. But we fell away very quickly and quite alarmingly after that match in that season.

Hence we burnt out at the end of the season, most teams that play high intensity football have about an 18 month time span before they burn out, see Bielsa at Leeds.

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

Indeed.
Hence my comment on Potter being the main reason for the love of De Zerbi. The hurtful breakup meant that the replacement manager could say things like "Mac Allister and Caicedo deserves to play in bigger clubs" without getting the reaction every other manager would have got if they said the same thing.

I don't doubt for a minute that it was fun adventure even if I didn't feel that way while watching the torture that was spring 23/24.

The main reason for the love of RDZ was the fantastic football and absolute burning passion he has for the game.

Brighton have always been a nicey nicey club. The sidelines reflected the boardroom. Well run, calm, measured, clever. RDZ booting the door down talking about Champions League and doing knee slides whilst blowing teams away made many of us forget Graham Potter even existed. We could have had any coach in any scenario before and I would still have felt the same about him.

 

[Mellotron]

Hence we burnt out at the end of the season, most teams that play high intensity football have about an 18 month time span before they burn out, see Bielsa at Leeds.

Lines up almost exactly with how long De Zerbi lasts at each club.

 

[BBassic]

Save me some

 

[Mellotron]

Agreed with @Simster - it silly and reductive this idea that people feel they have to be #teampotter or #teamdezerbi

Both were excellent at times, both had clear flaws. It’s been a fun ride overall IMO.

 

[Simster]

Yes, he was annoyed and used some not perfectly measured words two minutes after a frustrating 0-0 game and five years later this is constantly brought up as the worst thing that has ever happened to mankind. Some would however say that these words were said in affect and that the real irrelevant, tedious excuse is the one where Graham Potter is a bad manager/person because he made a post-game comment five years ago.

Naturally, if Roberto De Zerbi had said the same thing, the reaction would have been completely different as proven by the endless shite he spouted without getting anything but agreement.

In Brighton its ok for the manager to belittle the players, the owner and the club. It'll be appreciated by the fans, because the fans are affluent and used to winning more in life than Brighton does on the pitch. But if a manager suggests that these life-winners who can't handle a 0-0 draw could damage the team through booing it rather than supporting it, hell breaks lose. They've been winning all their lives and Brighton have always been losing, so there's no chance anyone in the stands could do anything better at any time.

This really is embarrassing drivel. Is he your dad? You've never been to a game and probably couldn't point out the city on a map until this decade, so who are you to talk about our fans and club like you're the one who knows it best? What a complete tool you are at times.

To recap, we had watched his teams fail to win for all but 2 games in an entire calendar year, and his response to being called out for it was to talk about history lessons. I don't recall David Moyes having a strop at West Ham fans in his many low patches - he just got on with it and ended up winning them a trophy. I bet Potter doesn't, by the way.

I'm not going to argue for a moment that RDZ was properly engaged after Christmas, especially when the transfer window closed, but in the 2024 part of that season we beat Palace 4-0, Villa 1-0 at home, Roma 1-0 at home, drew away to a very good Newcastle and stuck ten goals past a very poor Sheffield United in two games.

A lot of the rest was dross, especially the low lights of Luton and Rome and I'm not making a case for those games being anything other than dross. But there were some fun games for sure.

You've literally picked just about the only 3 good results after Marseille at home (and even got one of the scores wrong). If you want me to say that the season completely fell apart after Marseille except those results, fair enough. But sorry, it was nearly all utter dogshit after Marseille at home under RDZ.

 

[Guinness Boy]

This really is embarrassing drivel. Is he your dad? You've never been to a game and probably couldn't point out the city on a map until this decade, so who are you to talk about our fans and club like you're the one who knows it best? What a complete tool you are at times.

To recap, we had watched his teams fail to win for all but 2 games in an entire calendar year, and his response to being called out for it was to talk about history lessons. I don't recall David Moyes having a strop at West Ham fans in his many low patches - he just got on with it and ended up winning them a trophy. I bet Potter doesn't, by the way.



You've literally picked just about the only 3 good results after Marseille at home (and even got one of the scores wrong). If you want me to say that the season completely fell apart after Marseille except those results, fair enough. But sorry, it was nearly all utter dogshit after Marseille at home under RDZ.

I've picked three at home (Palace, Villa and Roma) and three away (Sheffield United x2 and Newcastle). That's SIX. P6 W5 D1 F22 A4).

Yep, I'd forgotten the clowns got a consolation goal, still had tears of laughter in my eyes at the time.

And, yep, the rest was dogshit.