Tri Motrat Epizodi i 49 |Pamje|
Brighton started the season brilliantly with a 2-1 win away to Manchester United.After six matches, they were fourth in the table but then lost manager Graham Potter to Chelsea, who paid in excess of £21m to secure his services, as well as his assistant
Billy Reid and several other key members of the coaching staff.Yet rather than this being a setback for the club, it proved to be a catalyst. In came ex-Shakhtar Donetsk boss Roberto de Zerbi and the club have not looked back since.
It has been difficult, we’ve had a transition with a new manager coming in and everyone has responded in a brilliant way,” striker Danny Welbeck told Sky Sports.To get Europa League football is amazing. From top to bottom the club is outstanding.This club is on a rise and we can’t wait for the Europa League next season.”
The Seagulls will be the first English side since Hull City in 2014 to make their debut in the Europa League after recording their highest top-flight finish and surpassing their previous best of ninth last season.
Albion have also broken the club’s top-flight record for most wins in a season.I didn’t think about targets [when I first came here],” De Zerbi told Sky Sports. “I wanted to work and to analyse the team and the players, to understand the new country and the new league.
In February I started to think about the table, the final result and the goal. I am lucky because I found a group of players who are fantastic. I am normal, a good coach.”De Zerbi was the only candidate Brighton spoke to after Potter departed.
He had led Serie A side Sassuolo to successive eighth-placed finishes before lifting the Ukrainian Super Cup after joining Shakhtar Donetsk.You never know in the early part of the season what may happen when you hire a new coach,” Brighton chairman Tony Bloom told Sky Sports.
Fortunately we hired the perfect man, the players have taken to him so magnificently. His motivational skills, tactical skills and getting the best out of our players has been absolutely superb.”
We have to bring in more big players’Brighton recorded 20 shots on Wednesday, the most City have faced in the league this season, and scored a brilliant equaliser through Julio Enciso’s first-half strike.
Enciso, 19, is the latest Brighton star to attract interest from the Premier League traditional elite. Indeed Brighton have scored two more goals from teenagers this season than the rest of the league combined.
World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister is also much coveted by rival teams, as are the likes of Moises Caicedo and Kaoru Mitoma.I don’t know the future, I don’t know the policy of these players,” De Zerbi told BBC Match of the Day when asked about this summer’s transfer window.
I think they deserve to play in another level. But we have to be ready to bring in more big players because we will play four competitions.Chelsea’s struggles should serve as a warning for Manchester United before their takeover, says boss Erik ten Hag.
Chelsea were taken over by Todd Boehly last summer and have spent more than £600m in two transfer windows.
However, the 12th-placed Blues have endured a torrid season and are guaranteed to record their lowest points total in the Premier League era.You have to do the right things,” said Ten Hag, whose United side face Chelsea on Thursday at Old Trafford.
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The Glazer family announced in November they were considering selling United as they “explore strategic alternatives”.Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani and Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos Group are the two main parties looking to buy the Old Trafford club.
Dutchman Ten Hag added: “You can have money but you have to do it and spend it in a smart way and you need to have a strategy behind it – otherwise the money doesn’t work.In this moment a centralisation of good players, of the best managers, also the money, is all here in the UK. That makes a great competition but also a tough and a hard competition.
I think there are many more teams in the Premier League who are really strong.”Figures in March showed United owed £969.6m through a combination of gross debt, bank borrowings and outstanding transfer fees with associated payments.
What is going on with the Man Utd sale?Listen to ‘How To Buy A Football Club’ on BBC SoundsFigures by Transfermarkt show United have a net spend of 405m euros (£352.24m) in the last three seasons.It included purchases such as midfielder Donny van de Beek and forward Jadon Sancho, who have struggled since their moves from Ajax and Borussia Dortmund.
I think we are in a good direction but also we can also learn from this season,” added Ten Hag, whose side need one point from their remaining two games to clinch a Champions League place for next season.We have to evaluate that after the season, make the right conclusions for the future and that is what we will definitely do that after the season.
