Destruction derby no surprise for De Zerbi
Boss called for reaction after heavy Luton loss
BRIGHTON were thumped 4-0 by Luton on Tuesday night and some had quietly began to wonder whether Roberto De Zerbi’s magic was starting to wane a little.
After a run of just three wins in 16 games, had the Italian taken his eye off the ball following reports he was in the running to replace Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool? Take this resounding result over Brighton’s arch-rivals as proof those claims could not be any more absurd.
De Zerbi’s men found themselves 2-0 down inside three minutes on that chastening night at Kenilworth Road. Fast forward to yesterday and, perhaps still bruised from that experience, they were ahead just as quickly against Crystal Palace through captain Lewis Dunk. It got worse from there for the visitors.
‘We’re very happy because (it’s) a derby and we made our fans happy,’ said De Zerbi. ‘But I’m not surprised for the reaction we showed. Our win started on Tuesday after the Luton game. ‘I spoke two times with the players and told them to show a reaction and pride. Everyone knows Brighton play good football but it’s not enough without value.’ His side played like a team who understood the magnitude of a fixture laced with bitterness. They hassled and harried their opponents from the first minute and were rewarded with the biggest margin of victory in this fixture since 1956. Palace, by comparison, were tepid and went down without so much as even a whimper.
The last Palace boss to suffer defeat at Brighton, Patrick Vieira, lost his job two days later. This thumping and form of four wins in 17 games is unlikely to have done the prospects of Roy Hodgson any good. At full-time, defender Joachim Andersen had to be pulled away from visiting fans who voiced their anger against the Palace hierarchy throughout the game.
‘I think (co-owner) Steve Parish has done a fantastic job for the club,’ said Hodgson. ‘People’s memories should be jogged. The club was in an awful state before he came. They turned them around and got us into the Premier League. I think it is very harsh that people are putting banners in that way and trying to blame him for the fact we lost to Brighton.’
As the inquest began from a Palace perspective, Brighton fans were left lapping up every second of a famous derby victory.
Dunk set the tone after heading home from Pascal Gross’s corner. From there, it was one-way traffic. The hosts doubled their advantage when Tariq Lamptey’s cross towards the back post found Jack Hinshelwood who headed home.
Only 83 seconds later, it got even better as Gross set up Facundo Buonanotte, who curled into the far corner. Some in the away end had seen enough and headed for an early exit. The stony expression on Hodgson’s face — red with rage — suggested he could not blame them.
In the second half there were ironic chants of ‘Roy Hodgson, we want you to stay’ from home fans.
‘Wonderful, wasn’t it?’ quipped Hodgson sarcastically. ‘My years of management have given me the resilience to cope with that and taunts from opposition fans is part and parcel of our lives. At the moment our own fans aren’t very happy with things. I have got the strength and resilience [to continue]. I’m certainly not going to be cowed by that sort of thing.’
There was a brief moment of respite for Palace when JeanPhilippe Mateta headed in Andersen’s cross. But that was merely a blip for Brighton as Joao Pedro played a neat one-two with Danny Welbeck and fired home.