Series A

De Zerbi on Roma, Brighton and Serie A

Published

1 year ago

8:14 am

Brighton coach Roberto De Zerbi opened up concerning the Europa League knockout conflict with Roma, his happiness within the Premier League and what his Serie A return might appear to be.

The Seagulls have regarded constructive of their first ever European marketing campaign up to now, topping their Europa League group after wins over AEK Athens, Olympique Marseille and Ajax , comfortably taking them to the Spherical of 16.

Issues had been a bit of tougher for Roma, who ended up second of their group behind Slavia Prague, forcing them to beat Feyenoord in a two-legged knockout play-off to qualify for the Spherical of 16 of the Europa League, the place they drew Brighton.

Talking in a press convention through TMW, De Zerbi first mentioned the standard of Italian coaches and the strengths of Daniele De Rossi at Roma.

“I all the time spoke generally concerning the typical mentality of the Italian custom, then if we discuss concerning the final seasons, I feel the truth may be very completely different in comparison with 10-15 years in the past.

“Gasperini is forward on this, Italiano, Thiago Motta have taken Serie B groups, Vivarini’s Catanzaro has additionally taken a unique path.

“De Rossi was born to be a coach, two years in the past in the course of the World Cup break I feel he nonetheless wasn’t teaching SPAL however I don’t wish to be improper, I had highlighted him as one of many attainable nice coaches, he has all of the elements similar to persona, charisma with the gamers.

“I’m comfortable as a result of he’s altering a robust staff, after two finals, he has made an affect on the sport and is getting outcomes and it wasn’t a given, from my perspective he is a good coach. I don’t know if he’ll play a again 4 or three, I don’t even know the way I’ll play.”

He was requested if he felt like a genius, as urged by De Rossi, and the standard of his Brighton squad.

“I don’t really feel like a genius, or higher than others. Work actually doesn’t scare me and I don’t lack the braveness to do issues that others don’t, which can be proper or improper. I dwell for soccer, that is the distinction that provides me this profession.

“I don’t assume I used to be born smarter than others, I all the time say it however it’s clear that if I’ve to do one thing completely different that I imagine in, if I’ve to do one thing new as a result of I imagine in it, I do it with out excited about the implications or destructive points that might block that.

“I respect De Rossi as a result of he’s my good friend, we’re very related as individuals, a lot in order that our daughters have change into associates as a result of we’ve the identical values.

“I recognize what he stated, Roma are sturdy with Mourinho and De Rossi, we’ve no expertise however we got here right here to play for it, we all know what stadium we’ll play in however we all know what we’re price and what we’ve finished in a yr and a half and we’re proud.

“We’re not simply taking part in for the quarter-finals, we’re taking part in as a result of we’re writing historical past and we’re doing one thing unthinkable, for the whole lot Brighton is, it’s one thing we really feel very strongly about.”

De Zerbi commented on the environment on the Stadio Olimpico and the accidents in his squad.

“We’ll see tomorrow whether or not the stadium will intimidate us or not, we performed at Previous Trafford and we received, we drew 2-2 in Marseille, we performed at AEK Athens and we received. I do know the push of the Olimpico, let’s see tomorrow, it will likely be a check for us.

“I imagine that we must be given much more energy, I’ve been teaching for 10 years and I’ve modified 5 – 6 groups, I really feel that these Brighton gamers are temperamentally nearer to me when it comes to delight, starvation and dignity, motivation, values, in how they expertise soccer.

“The previous and the younger dwell soccer like me, I’m assured however the pitch will resolve. Relating to accidents, I’d say that it’s a subject to be taken in two methods, both we cry and say what number of essential gamers we’ve out, or we take it as a chance as a result of we goal to undergo and compete with all these injured gamers.

“No person offers us a assure that with Mitoma, Joao Pedro, March, Milner, or with Enciso in type we’ll get via, I don’t wish to hear about accidents, we’ve sufficient for tomorrow.”

De Zerbi mentioned the way it feels to return to Italy with Brighton and which staff his daughter might be supporting.

“My daughter doesn’t assist Roma, she is associates with Gaia, Daniele’s daughter, and my daughter retains her firm. My daughter helps me, that’s clear, then when we’ve associates from one other staff I cheered for Daniele in opposition to Feyenoord.

“As for my daughter, I’ve no doubts about who she is going to assist. It’s a delight to return to Italy particularly with this staff, I fall in love with groups I’ve coached like Foggia, Benevento, Sassuolo, Shakhtar Donetsk however this staff offers me delight.

“We will additionally lose 3-0 or lose total, however we have to perceive what sort of stage Brighton are earlier than saying this.

“After each heavy defeat, this staff have all the time risen once more and have all the time emerged from struggling by preventing with play and starvation. Returning to my nation with these gamers and with this membership is a supply of nice delight.”

He spoke about if the match in opposition to Roma might give Brighton their spark again.

“We’ve made the selection to honour all competitions to the fullest, the match in opposition to Roma isn’t any extra essential than Brighton-Nottingham on Sunday.

“It’s clear that we’re not used to taking part in three video games per week for such a very long time, a lot in order that we had 10 injured gamers on the identical time.

“We don’t have such a big squad and if you happen to assume that West Ham reached the ultimate of the Convention League and fought to not be relegated, Leicester made the Convention semi-final two years in the past after which had been relegated the next yr.

“Freiburg is tenth within the Bundesliga, Union Berlin made the Champions League for the primary time this yr and has suffered within the league, Sevilla and Villarreal are mid-table, Rennes are a robust staff, Toulouse has additionally suffered, Lens is recovering a bit however they’ve been eradicated from European competitions.

“It’s regular that not getting used to taking part in European competitions, you undoubtedly lose one thing since you’re not used to it. Earlier than the Europa League began, we received 4 video games and misplaced one, then it was troublesome to compete like final yr and as we had been used to.”

De Zerbi commented on the affect of taking part in a tie over two legs.

“For us it’s the primary time, however at Shakhtar Donetsk I received the Champions League preliminaries, eliminating Genk and Monaco.

“The match is 180 minutes and we must be good at not dropping our id, understanding nevertheless that the match is 180 minutes and rapidly discovering the steadiness between being ourselves and in addition pondering that tomorrow evening it received’t be over.

“There are one other 90 minutes and that is one thing new for Brighton.”

Lastly, De Zerbi was quizzed about his attainable Serie A return and if cash was an element.

“It’s not true to say that I don’t take into consideration Italy, it’s my nation, however I do what I like and what makes me comfortable, like staying at Brighton.

“I’m fortunate sufficient to have a staff that enables me to play these competitions, it offers me satisfaction however even once we lose I discover good issues from the gamers I coach. Later, I don’t know when, I’ll return to Italy however there isn’t a pre-established purpose.

“In fact, the selection I made three years in the past was to go to Shakhtar, I additionally needed to create a path for myself outdoors of Italy by selection and since, with out going into element, there have been some issues that I didn’t like and I needed one thing else.”