Roberto De Zerbi on football's evolution & friendship with Guardiola

0:00This is the Football Daily Podcast on BBC Sounds. Hello, you are listening to a special edition of Football Daily. I'm joined by former Brighton and current Marseille head coach Roberto Dezevi in his office. The first thing to say about your office is that you actually, this is at the top of a hill in the training ground. So you go through a lot of cars, a lot of people, and then right at the end, right at the end of the building, we get to you. do you ever think coming to here thinking oh my god I better win because there is so many people that depend on me I always have the feeling to have a bigger responsibilities because the coach is a boss of a lot of people but at the end I think I give for everyone respect but anyway we have a different position different position in terms of responsibilities, in terms of power inside of the club.

1:06But I believe one is one and everyone has to receive respect. We are the same. As it pictures of the stadium, pictures of Marseille. The fans. The fans, which are of course always important, but shall we say even more important in Marseille than usual. Yes, but in my opinion, in my head, the fans are more important than the owner. Have you told the owner that? No, no, the owner in general, I'm speaking in general, I have a big relationship with my owner and I had a great relationship with Tony Bloom and with the family of the Squincy. but I started to speak football, to feel football, to live football as a fan.

2:02A lot of time in the meeting with the players I speak about the fans, what they have as an expectation from us and we have respect every training, every game. Football is not a joke, a simple joke. You never forget it's a game, but there are all these things that depend on you, including the happiness of the fans as well. The happiness is an important thing, because if you win, the fans can live better one week. They can feel to be more important as well. I think it's just in football you can find this thing. But it's interesting that lately fans feel mostly, fans of most of the teams are very unhappy because they want more, they demand more, there is expectations, they want new players, they want new wins.

2:59Why? Because the social destroys everything. At the beginning when I was a kid in Italy, I don't know, in England, in Spain or in French, the people went to the bar, the pub. And inside of the pub, you could say everything without problem. Now the bar became the social, Instagram, Twitter. You can say everything without limits, without respect, without nothing. I remember talking to two or three Premier League managers about you going to Marseille. and they all said the same thing. The bellodrome. And the Zerbis together. Explosive. Wow. Obviously, that's something that attracted you, the ability.

3:55I love Marcel. It's very difficult for me to explain what is for me Marcel. But Marcel in football is like Roberto in football. There is not so big a balance because if you win you are top and if you lose you are stupid. But anyway, the way Marseille feels football, lives football is the same Roberto lives football and feels football. This is, I don't know if this story is true, you must tell me, but a way to represent that is what you did. was it on the first talk with the players about tearing up the Manchester United contract? I'm here because of the passion, I'm here, not because of the money.

4:47Is that a true story? I have chosen to come in Marseille. It's not right to speak too much for other clubs. It's not respect. but I can say in the warm-up in the game Marseille-Brighton in Europe League in warm-up inside of Velodrome I said I spoke with my assistant and I said this is my stadium I want to come to work in Marseille I want to to be a Marseille coach and for that I think I I'm lucky to to work here and I want to keep my position until, I don't know, but for me it's a proud, no? When you came here, another conversation that took place amongst your colleagues was that you could have gone to a bigger club in the Premier League or you could have developed your football better in a more stable environment, other things, that's why they want to stay there because they feel there's more money, there's a lot of things.

5:55Do you feel that by jumping from England to France, you are able to still develop football in the way that you want it? You still can create something that you wanted to do years back? Premier League is still the best league in the world. It's like NBA in basketball. And then changing country, changing league, changing style of play in different leagues, I can improve. Because I think I'm better now than when I came. Different football culture, different coaches, different players, different football style. The most important, I think, is not to finish the mentality to improve. I always watch the game, Premier League, Serie A, Bundesliga, to complete my technologies, to improve, to be better and better.

7:07And you constantly message Pep Guardiola as well. Pep says that you have long conversations. Yes, Pep is special, he's a special coach and a special friend because he helped me a lot at the beginning in my experience in Brighton and I can't forget. He has a say for those that come close to him and want to learn from him, but he gets something back as well. So it's mutual. He says, this guy touches the ball very well. So apparently in the first meeting that you had, you went away for a moment and he told his friend Manel Estiarte, who works with him, Aquet la toca. This one touches the ball very well, which means that you can stay for as long as you want talking to him.

7:59And normally that's what you do and everybody goes away and you two keep talking. Those conversations, our football, our style, what else are they? No, of course, when we speak together, I give my opinion about football, but I can't keep the most important things. He's Pep Guardiola, the best coach in the world, and I am Roberto, and Roberto, when he gave me the possibility to stay with him, Roberto was nothing in football. and I can't forget for that my respect for him not just freehand but as a coach will be always the same and nothing can change for myself and when we played Brighton Man City was a different feeling because I can't compete against him because anyway he's a freehand I wanted to win the game but different than other coaches, other games.

9:10That means that at the end, if you lost, you still talk to him instead of just going home upset. Always I want to win and always I want to compete against everyone. But the competition is different with Pep because I can't forget when he spoke with my former player in Brighton and he said to follow me because they could reach a higher level and I can't forget when the day before to arrive in Brighton he called me to say if you need something you can call me when you want if you need from my video analyst I give you what you need and for that I can't forget. The people who forget these things, I think they can't be people of honour, no?

10:10He started in 2007. You started in 2013, your first job, 2013. So he already had made an influence in football. That Dezerbi of 2013 must have been influenced by what he was seeing with that Barcelona image of Pep Guardiola. At the beginning, yes. And how would you describe your own evolution up till now, but also the evolution of football? The evolution, exactly. The evolution of the coaches follow and depend on the evolution of the football. In the last years, especially in Premier League or in Ligue 1, the defensive phases of the team are completely changing. a lot of teams defending man-to-man and the football is more vertical, more physical and you have to adapt your idea, your plan, your strategy.

11:08So do you think that that evolution that is very visible, it has happened in the last five, six months where everybody is going man-to-man and set pieces and transitions, is a consequence of the success of the positional football? only last year five out of eight quarter-finalists played in different versions of Pep Guardiola's position of football. So are we seeing a response to that now? An evolution, really? Pep was one of the most important coaches. They changed the style of defensive space of the opponent. but Gasperini also changed a lot of the football the last 10 years in football the defensive phase of Arteta, Arteta for example I think is one of the best in defensive phase in the pressure, in the high pressure on the medium block Emire the same top, top coach the rules of the football can change season by season and you have to be ready to change to try the new, not the new style because I think you can't change your style but make different solutions.

12:28This is the Football Daily Podcast from Five Life Sports. From a small village on the banks of the River Nile Everybody call me Mohamed Bhatti in a short name or nickname they call me Mo. to the biggest stages of world football. Goes for the corner! Mo Salah! Salah is more than just a player. He's an icon, a symbol, a king. It's 6-0! And Salah rips off his shirt! Mohamed Salah represents a dream for Egyptians, for Muslims, for Africans. More than just a football player, he gave us hope. I'm Kelly Cates. This is Sporting Giant's Mo Salah. Listen on BBC Sounds. This is the Football Daily Podcast from Five Life Sports.

13:16Unai Emery, you had been at Brighton for four months and he was astuting you because of the way you were putting your squares in squares throughout the pitch. I cannot explain it technically. He told me the whole detail, but he thinks, look at what Roberto Serb is doing and I'm going to do it myself. So that's what you're talking about, being able to identify where evolution is and then adapt to it and put it into your football. That is perhaps a side of football that fans don't see, that you take from here, you're still from here, you're still from there. This is the school of the coaches are what you said.

14:02It's like this. Watching the game, for example, I prepared the game against Liverpool watching other other games of Liverpool maybe trying the coach who is closer with my idea but to bring something from Emery to bring something and to create your idea to create your idea is is crucial and I want to explain why because when you go to the meeting room with your players you have to be clear your idea. Otherwise, if they ask you a difficult question, you have to be ready to answer and you have to know in a clear way what you want to do. Because if you want to teach something on your player, you have to have clear what you want, what you need and why you are doing like this.

15:03It's not enough to say the plan, the clear plan. No, no. You have to say why. You have to give them advantage and disadvantage. Because in everything you can do something to win, but there is something to lose in a different style. I love the personality of the player. I love the top player. I have worked with a lot of big players in terms of personality. Sandro, the former player of Tottenham in Benevento, Bakary Sagnat in Benevento, Prince Boateng in Sassuolo, David Neres, Stepanenko or Pyatov in Shakhtar Donetsk, Dennis Welbeck, Pascal Gross, Adam Lallana, McAllister, Pierre Oiberg in Marseille.

15:59and I love when my players go over their position but they have not to forget respect. They have not to forget the coach before the player in terms of responsibilities, in terms of their position. But a lot of time I improve from my players. My players told me why we can't do these things in this way and I follow my players. I'm not considering myself less if one player gives me one different solution. We can speak, but anyway, you have to follow me with respect. We are the same coach and players. just we have two different jobs, two different positions. I just wonder, you have had now English players, those that people say the quality ones, and those that are like, you know, shoulders, like the Lallanas of this world kind of thing.

17:08Is it harder for an English player to enter his mind, his way of thinking into... I think no. No? Same as any? I think no. If you have passion, no. If you love football, no. If you play football or if you think football is a normal job, yes. Maybe yes. Because I think I'm not a better coach than other coaches. When I come inside of my players, I come inside not because I have different knowledges or I am a genius. No, no, no, no. I'm a normal coach. And I think I believe in what I'm telling you. But I was able to reach the head of my player because they understood my passion. They understood it wasn't just football.

18:04It was like one part of my character, one part of my life. and my style of football reflects one part of my life, one part of my character and for that I was able to arrive to my players. It's a fascinating contrast between your passion, which is obvious to see for your job and for your players and for Masei, but you're also very cerebral. You also think a lot about the game and people that have studied the positional game of Pep Guardiola and the evolution of football have told me that there is only two or three managers that understand what that means and that can take football to the next thing, whatever that is.

18:54And you're always in that equation. Your name comes up. I'm not that intelligent, so what do they mean? What is it that you're going to do that is new, that is different? Why do they think that you are taking or could take football to a new dimension? I have to repeat, I'm lucky because I've been a fan, I've been a player, I'm a coach now, and my idea on football has not been just enjoy, no, it's something more. And then I was a player as a number 10, so I love the ball, I love to keep the ball. I want to try to be the protagonist on the pitch, on the game, and try to win the game against. Also, if the opponent is better and better, I dream with football.

19:52My work is to transfer the football idea, the style of play, but also maybe more the emotion. I want to give my player what the football gave to me. and the football gave everything. So if you have all these ideas, you have your players that you're moulding, you have a club with a lot of passion, what else do you have to do to get closer to PSG? The money in transfer market are important, but it's not enough. You have to improve, you have to believe in what you are doing, you have to dream to win a competition against them, a final against them. you have to keep the confidence if you want to compete face to face and maybe can be not enough and you have to accept because you have to accept you can lose but you have to know if you work in a right way if you give your best if you want to improve day by day if you have behind you an important club, you can compete.

21:32Power and skill collide. And the Eagles have beaten the Chiefs convincingly in Super Bowl 59. Five lives for the NFL. Listen on BBC Sounds.