Gotta say, as much as I wanted us to get Alonso, can't help but respect him more wanting to spend more time with Leverkusen rather than jump ship after one year. Class guy, and make me look forwards to the day he joins us even more.
not sure. they went hard twice for edwards so I think they know they are not competent to run a football club technically so have done what they have done to move forward. I really think they've appointed the people to hire the manager first.
Nope. Alonso clearly was the first choice. Reports from earlier this week had us and Bayern presenting offers to him and it looks like he's decided against both.
Thing about Brighton is, they finished 6th the season Potter led them (and when De Zerbi took over, he maintained their position but didn't improve them) - and this season they're in 8th. Now, I know that's not the whole story, Potter took a lot of staff with him, and Brighton got raided pretty heavily over the summer. But I do worry, how much of Brighton's success today harkens back to Potter's structuring of the club and tactics (I watch very little Brighton football, so I don't know how true that is or not). How much is Brighton's current success because of Potter? It's like, if someone takes over Liverpool this summer and builds on Klopp's success and the youth he has developed into stars... how much of that credit would really belong to Klopp? Is De Zerbi a great coach, or just a good caretaker? Regarding Amorim, he won his first year with Sporting, first title for Sporting in a long time- but he has since finished 2nd, 4th, (and currently 2nd). Sporting has finished 2nd most seasons over the last few decades... they're perennial bridesmaids. So is his one title really indicative of a great manager. I don't know. None of us really know I guess.
No chance. Edwards was never on cards to come back until recently, Hughes now brought in and they’ll want to say who to bring in to work alongside. If fsg (who there?) has found a new manager then gone and hired a sporting director and what ever edwards job title is after the fact then complete wrong way of doing it.
Think that’s harsh on de zerbi. 1, potter was only in charge for 6 games before he left for chelsea that season so not like he’s done 20 games and set a real bedrock for the season. De Zerbis style is massively different from Potter. There was a period of about 5/6 games I think that de zerbi took over and couldn’t get a win while they adapted but after that was a huge difference in style. Under Potter they really struggled to score goals constantly. It was slow possession based and they’d create a few chances but couldn’t take them. De Zerbi has for Brighton not only doninating possession but having the one of the most shots across top 5 leagues in Europe and scoring bucket loads. Obviously defensively been an issue this season though. No doubting potter did great job and set the foundations but de zerbi definitely took them up another level in terms of style and attacking play.
I was convinced that was the case until we re-appointed Edwards; doubt he'd have re-joined if this decision had already been made and I think the club spent the entire time (since Klopp told them) trying to convince Edwards to return
Probably is harsh... I just remembered they were already doing great (better maybe) just before him. I didn't remember it was only six games with Potter. Seemed longer. I wasn't really offering it as a bash at De Zerbi, just trying to provide balance and play devil's advocate because he's always hyped. I honesty don't have a strong opinion about him.
Alonso was a shoe in. Any other candidate will have a steeper learning curve imo. Hold on to your hats; the end of the season is going to be mental
Auntie Beeb asked people for their preferred managerial choice now that Xabi's kicked us into touch. These are some of the answers: Blimey.
