“We’re even better under De Zerbi, more exciting, and scoring more goals”: Paddy Gladman on Brighton’s new manager
Brighton fan and trainee sports journalist Paddy Gladman was in high spirits when I caught up with him on Thursday morning, the morning after The Seagulls had beaten Arsenal in the EFL Cup third round to make it three wins in a row under their new manager, Roberto De Zerbi.
Graham Potter is still fresh in the mind of Brighton fan Paddy Gladman, but the trainee sports journalist is impressed with what he’s seen from new manager Roberto De Zerbi. “Everything was perfect under him really, obviously him leaving for Chelsea hurt us a lot, but we’ve moved on now with De Zerbi,” he tells me, recalling a rollercoaster of a start to the season.
The former Sassuolo and Shakhtar Donetsk manager continued The Seagulls impressive early form initially, starting with a 3-3 draw away to Liverpool, but a run of four without a win followed, before the shock 4-1 demolition of Potter’s Chelsea. It was in that game that Brighton found their shooting boots, scoring 10 in the past three games, compared to one in the four-game losing streak.
“One thing I would say is we were great to watch under Potter, but we’re even better under De Zerbi, we’re more exciting, and scoring more goals”
On social media recently Gladman has been quite vocal on the omission of Lewis Dunk from the England squad. We spoke a couple of hours before the 26-man squad for the World Cup was selected, before watching the announcement together with a group of other student journalists from the University of Gloucestershire. He was of course disappointed, but revealed that he was expecting it when I raised the topic earlier in the day, “I feel like we’re quite an underrated side when it comes to squad selections, Lewis Dunk is one of those who’s always brushed aside.”
Our chat came to a conclusion by the conversation topic shifting towards his club’s European ambitions. “I think it’s going to be difficult as form is temporary,” Gladman told me, “We went through a bit of a bad patch, falling to mid-table, but now we’re 6th and thinking about Europe again.”
“It’s between us and Newcastle really, obviously they’re 4th, but you expect the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea will catch up a bit, I don’t think finishing 7th or 8th is out of our reach at all.”
All in all, Gladman is a very proud Brighton fan at this moment in time, even after their loss to Aston Villa that followed our conversation. If The Seagulls can regain form after the World Cup break, they’ll be in with a shot of going on some meaningful trips to Europe next season.