Roberto De Zerbi
The head coach’s predecessor at Albion was sacked on Sunday following seven wins from 22 Premier League games. His dismissal came hours after Brendan Rodgers left Leicester and has been celebrated by many Albion fans unhappy woth aspects of his departure from their club. But De Zerbi was less happy to see the news.
Roberto De Zerbi said: “I’m really sorry. It’s bad news for the coaches because I think you give too much importance to the coaches because the players are always most important. I don’t like when the coaches are sacked because the responsibility is not only of the coaches – (it is also) the players, the club. In Italy we are used to changing a lot of coaches every season. In the Premier League it’s different but I think it’s changing also in the Premier League. I think the coaches are not so important like the people think – when you win and when you lose. The coaches can give the players mentality, ideas, a style of play, but if you speak about results you can achieve the results with the quality of the players and not only the quality of the coaches.”
Under Potter, Albion finished ninth in the Premier League on the 19th biggest budget.
De Zerbi did not want to comment specifically on events at Chelsea but he said: “I think I am lucky to have these players and I have to say thanks to Graham Potter because I found a team with a very good mentality, very good attitude.”
