Brighton's De Zerbi on clash with rivals Crystal Palace
Brighton and Hove Albion boss Roberto de Zerbi on their clash with rivals Crystal Palace in the Premier League
Transcript
00:00 Afternoon Roberto, your 50th Premier League game is already here, lots has happened, has it flown by for you?
00:11 Yes, and tomorrow is the right, is the best game for us to celebrate, I hope, to celebrate this target. I'm really proud and I've been lucky to stay here.
00:36 Have you looked at the season as a whole so far, this season, more games in the Europa League, the injuries, the players that you lost in the summer, only one point worse off than at this stage last season. Does that make you quite happy with where you're at then?
00:53 Yes, but it depends. You can see, you can analyse the situation. I'm sorry because we could have some points more on the table, around six I think.
01:14 For it, I'm disappointed for the last result, especially at home. For it, we need to win two, three games in a row to recover what we lost.
01:31 I know you'd rather talk about opportunities rather than injuries, but how is Joao Veltman after Sunday?
01:39 Joao has an injury not so big, but I think for a couple of months we lost him.
01:55 The positive being Danny Welbeck coming back, is he close to being able to start?
02:01 No, not yet, but it's important for us if Danny is available to play a part of the game. He changed the game Sunday, but we know the importance of Danny inside of the team.
02:25 You know by now the rivalry with Crystal Palace. Do you embrace that as a head coach? Is it something you enjoy being a part of?
02:40 Yes, I know everything. We have a big motivation to win the game for the table, but especially for our fans, for ourselves because we know the importance of the game and we know the level of difficulty of the game.
03:02 The atmosphere will be heated. You have a lot of experienced players, but a lot of young players as well. How do you make sure that the atmosphere doesn't get to the younger players?
03:16 I think in general the players to play this type of game, it's an honour and it should be an honour to play in this atmosphere. For us it's a motivation.
03:32 The dream to win away, especially in a derby game, is a big motivation to not sleep tonight.
03:45 And just finally from me, it's a big game for Jack Hinshaward if he plays because his family has ties with Brighton and with Crystal Palace.
03:56 How important is it to have players who are so attached to this rivalry to make the other players understand people like Jack and Lewis?
04:16 Yes, it's different for them playing these games, but Jack is already an important player. He's one of the players in First Eleven in the last couple of weeks.
04:40 He's deserving to play. He's important. He's playing with experience, with confidence, with personality. Great.
04:51 Hi Roberto. Last time Brighton and Crystal Palace met, Brighton won and the following day they dismissed their manager. This season, what do you make of the job that Roy Hodgson is doing at Crystal Palace?
05:06 I think he's doing a great job in results, but in performances. They lost against Liverpool but they played very well.
05:19 They made a point at Etihad Stadium and we know the level of difficulty of the game. I think they are playing very well and he's doing a very good job.
05:37 At the Etihad Stadium they came back 2-2 from 2-0 down. How important would that be for their confidence?
05:46 It's important, but I think we reached this game after a defeat. A very tough defeat and we're looking forward to playing tomorrow.
06:01 I know you're more familiar with the Brescia-Atalanta derby, but these games that are derby matches in England, what do they mean to you?
06:12 It's a different game. The responsibilities are different, but anyway we have to be focused on the pitch and playing our style. Keep our eyes on the ball and to be focused on what we have to do on the pitch.
06:41 Following the Arsenal defeat, you said they made you suffer in a way you weren't used to. In training this week, how have you been able to deal with what they made you go through in that game?
06:59 We suffered a lot against Arsenal because they are a big, big team. At Brighton we are not a big team yet, first of all.
07:13 Then there are many, many reasons that explain why we played not so well. We played on the first day, we had a lot of injuries.
07:29 They didn't play in the Champions League because in the first eleven of Arsenal only two players played in the Champions League on Tuesday.
07:43 But anyway, we can lose against Arsenal and we can lose in that way. We would like to play better every game. We would like to compete against the big team in the Premier League, but sometimes it can happen. You can't compete how you would like.
08:10 If he's involved tomorrow evening, it will be Karim Atoma's 50th appearance in the Premier League. How can you get him performing like that?
08:17 50? Like me?
08:19 Yep, big day.
08:21 Together. He started to play when I came.
08:27 If the result goes your way tomorrow evening, have a nice celebration together. But how can you get him performing like he was last season with the goals and the assists?
08:39 How can you get him performing like he was last season with the goals and the assists?
08:41 We are speaking with him, but he's playing very well. We would like he can score more goals.
08:52 At Ingra as well, I think João Pedro is becoming a top, top player. Complete in mentality, in behaviour, in attitude, in personality. But Mithoma is already a top player.
09:11 We have to accept this moment for him in terms of score, but he's still a great player for us.
09:22 Tomorrow will be Brighton's final game before Christmas. How much will the result impact how you celebrate your Christmas?
09:31 It's not in my head Christmas. In my head there is Crystal Palace and Tottenham and West Ham.
09:45 Roberto, I know it's a blow to have Joel Veltman out. You've got Pascal Gros, James Milner, Jack Inshewood. Does that start to change your thinking about the full-back area for January in terms of players coming in potentially at full-back defensively in the transfer window?
10:04 About the transfer market, I explained what we need. Not only full-back. We need I think three, four positions.
10:23 But at the end, it's the owner, the club, to decide to bring anyone or not. I can say my opinion. I can say my idea.
10:45 I can explain what we need if we want to compete in this way. Otherwise, we have to accept the different opinion.
11:00 Is there any news on Tarek Lamptey? He's been named in the initial squad for Ghana for the Africa Cup of Nations. Is he likely to be involved in January either for Brighton or for his country?
11:12 Maybe the coach of Ghana doesn't watch the Premier League because I don't know how much time we are playing without Tarek Lamptey.
11:33 If he wants to play with Lamptey, I'm happy for Tarek. But I don't know because he's not available to play with Brighton. How can he play with Ghana?
11:55 In terms of other players, it's been an incredible 2023 for Evan Ferguson. 11 goals this calendar year. What would you like to see from him going forward in the next 12 months in terms of development?
12:10 For the young young players, you can expect different type of performances. There is a time when they play very well, they score for example, Julion Chiso or Evan Ferguson.
12:39 In different moments, they maybe can suffer the level of competition. I think in the last two months, Evan suffered from injury and other things. I don't know.
12:59 But he can play better. The level of Evan is higher than he's playing at the moment. But we have to help him. He has to help himself first of all to understand better the play.
13:19 But he's very young, he's like my son. If I can, I'll try everything to help him because he's become a great player for sure.
13:34 In terms of the game, everyone talks about the atmosphere. Your team has proven in Europe that they can handle atmospheres. How much confidence does that give you that your team can perform under those circumstances tomorrow?
13:54 Yes, but we would like to play every game with a very hot atmosphere because we are lucky to play at this level. We are lucky to compete in this game.
14:16 I've always spoken about the emotion. Football can give big emotions and tomorrow will be another big day in terms of emotion.
14:34 We have to enjoy, we have to play seriously, we have to play for our fans, we have to play for the table because we have to be disappointed to watch this table because we deserve a different position on the table.
14:55 I don't want to see my players suffer the atmosphere, otherwise they have to change work and job.
15:05 (gulping)