Robert De Zerbi and Thomas Frank’s first half scuffle shouldn’t have been a surprise from the passionate Brighton coach, but he’s ‘not your ordinary manager’.
The first half of the shoving competition between the Brentford and BrightonAs Dane and the Italian kept shouting at one another, coaches needed to bring in a large number of players to help calm them down.
When the ball went out of play on the touchline Frank and Brighton’s Joel Veltman tussled for it before Brighton’s new managerTo get involved, I flew in.
That shouldn’t be a surprise though, with Seagulls midfielder Leandro Trossard is already talking talkSPORT about his coach’s biggest trait.
Speaking ahead of the game, the Belgian said: “It has been a pleasure to work with him to be honest.
“Obviously he’s a bit different to the former coach but the way he’s passionate about football and he can really bring that over to our guys so it’s a nice way to work with him.”
Asked about comparisons with Graham Potter, Trossard continued: “Really I think personal, how they are as a person.
“Like I said De Zerbi is really passionate about football, you can always hear his presence, he’s always shouting but in a good way of course while Graham was probably a bit calmer and relaxed.
“I think that’s maybe the biggest difference between them. I think in a football way they’re quite similar because they both want to play, have possession, make chances, and score goals.”
However, there’s far more to De Zerbi than meets the eye, as talkSPORT commentator Clive Tyldseley explained.
“I don’t know him but let me tell you something about his last few years,” he began.
“His previous job was as the coach of Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine, a club who hasn’t played in its home city since 2014.
“De Zerbi moved to Kyiv in May last year but he was evacuated after the Russian invasion, spent three days in a hotel listening to missiles land all around him in the Ukrainian capital.
“He insisted on staying until all of his international players and their families were safely out of the country, he then walked to the railway station through war-torn Kyiv.
“He got on a train to the border which took nine hours, two more bus journeys to get him to Hungary and the flight to Italy.
“He says when his work is done in Brighton he wants to go back and finish off what he started at Shakhtar – now that is not your ordinary manager.”
