Roberto De Zerbi urges Brighton to ‘play brave football, as I want’

The demands Roberto De Zerbi makes of his new Brighton charges will boil down to a three-word edict: “fare la partita”. It means “make the game” in Italian and speaks succinctly of a career’s work built on displays of bravura. He has been given a unique opportunity, walking into the Premier League’s fourth-placed club while the garden is rosy, and is prepared to grasp it on his own terms.

De Zerbi struck a respectful balance at his unveiling on Tuesday, acknowledging the prodigious work of Graham Potter on numerous occasions while leaving no doubt he feels Brighton can evolve further. “At first sight, in my opinion, I like much more to control the game,” he said. “One of the things for this team can be to control the rhythm of the game much more.”

Given Potter’s team were hardly shrinking violets in seeking possession it is a bold intention. But De Zerbi’s intense focus on being on the front foot was one of the reasons Brighton quickly made him their top choice to take the reins and, as he explained the level of research he has conducted into a team he acknowledges play with “a very clear style”, it was clear he detected an appealing fit. “They have the right skills and characteristics to play brave football, as I want.”

Nothing of what Potter bequeathed upon departing for Chelsea was broken so, in the first instance, De Zerbi has little to fix. There were no bold proclamations about where their present league position might lead, the stated intention being to ensure they remain in the top 10, but he brings with him a tantalising sense of the unknown. At Sassuolo, whose rise through the divisions in Italy has at least some parallels with Brighton’s return from near oblivion, he squeezed every creative drop from his