The final whistle blows at the City Ground and Roberto De Zerbi is off like a racehorse released from the gate.
If he had not come from the away dugout it would be easy to mistake him for a pitch invader in his all-black clothing and standard-issue manager’s trainers. Hardly practical footwear for the occasion, not that he will care.
His Brighton side had pulled off an impressive, against-all-odds 3-2 win away to Nottingham Forest and so, given the context, we can forgive him for charging off at speed.
WE’VE GOT SUPER ROB DE ZERBI! 🎶 pic.twitter.com/nmuTnE6YLL
— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) November 25, 2023
Home fans were noticeably perplexed by the scale of the celebrations while Forest manager Steve Cooper played down the situation in his post-match comments, which saw De Zerbi shoot off before the customary handshake between coaches. Few among the travelling support will mind that slip in sportsmanship given his passion after a six-game winless streak since Brighton last picked up a Premier League victory in September against Bournemouth.
Should we dwell on the fact that there is a millisecond just as he enters the final third and throws a celebratory punch where he nearly stacks it? Perhaps, given how well the Italian styled it out and managed to retain grip on the slippy turf.
It makes the celebration more embarrassing and entertaining, depending on which side your allegiances lie but, either way, it was a good deal of fun.
Not that Morgan Gibbs-White appeared to see the funny side, as shown below.
Fun is not the word for Brighton’s experience this season given the number of injuries they have, with Julio Enciso, Pervis Estupinan, Solly March, Kaoru Mitoma, James Milner and Danny Welbeck among those sidelined heading into the first round of matches since the international break.
Things only got worse when Ansu Fati and Tariq Lamptey were forced off with injury in the first half, pending further assessment of their severity by Brighton. Captain Lewis Dunk’s sending off for dissent in the second half will compound their selection woes as he will be hit with a two-match suspension, having only returned to the lineup for the game against Forest.
It seems harsh to deny De Zerbi or his players — who all joined him to celebrate in front of the away end — the chance to get a bit carried away. Let’s not pretend that they are the only club guilty of celebrating an important win like they have won (delete as applicable depending on how miserable you are) the Premier League/World Cup/Champions League.
Need we hark back to Jose Mourinho’s various touchline sprints, Jurgen Klopp’s broken glasses in 2016 or David Pleat’s full-time jig while managing Luton in 1983?
Enjoy the David Pleat jig of joy :man_dancing: #COYH pic.twitter.com/ZoiGgidJUH
— Luton Town FC (@LutonTown) April 7, 2020
Each of those celebrations comes with its own context and the story of the past few months for Brighton goes some way to explaining theirs.
The game itself was hardly a cakewalk, either. Forest started brightly after going ahead through an Anthony Elanga header on three minutes before Evan Ferguson scored his 11th Premier League goal of 2023 to match Wayne Rooney’s 2005 tally of 11 goals as a teenager. Only Michael Owen (with 25 in 1998), Robbie Fowler (22 in 1994), Nicolas Anelka (12 in 1998) and Francis Jeffers (12 in 1999) have scored more Premier League goals in a single calendar year as a teenager than Ferguson, who is 20 in October 2024.
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Barcelona loanee Fati, who was one of the bright sparks until his injury, was replaced by Joao Pedro, who scored a header to give Brighton the lead as Lamptey also made way through injury.
Pedro added another from the penalty spot in the second half after referee Anthony Taylor judged he was pulled back in the box by Chris Wood before Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White scored a penalty after a VAR review for a foul on Callum Hudson-Odoi. Dunk’s sending-off was a moment of madness as he picked up a yellow and then a straight red card within seconds for dissent — first as he protested against the penalty and then for his reaction to the yellow card.
Being reduced to 10 men made the challenge of holding on to their lead even harder after various positional adjustments to see out the game, but after both scoring and conceding in 17 consecutive Premier League games, the longest run in the league’s history, Brighton have form for entertaining under De Zerbi. His clarification that his celebration “was not disrespect for the opponent” but rather born of “one of the toughest moments of my career” goes some way to explaining the nature of the full-time celebrations.
“It was a big emotion,” De Zerbi said. “We are suffering too much, we are losing too many players. We suffered a red card with Dunk, we lost four points against Sheffield (United) and Fulham. To win the game was difficult for us because we are playing many games in a row and my celebration, our celebration, is because we are suffering. We wanted to celebrate with our fans.
“It’s difficult to explain what happened with the injuries. We are not used to playing so many games. We have 10 players, we finished the game with one player born in 2005, one 2004. The last game for (Jakub) Moder was two years ago, we finished with him at left-back and Pascal Gross right-back, (Joel) Veltman at centre-back.
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“My work is to understand and analyse the players I can use and their tactical disposition. We never change our DNA, our ideas and principles but the tactical disposition is part of my work. We played a great game today and until the red card for Lewis Dunk it was one of the best games this season. For sure he made a mistake in that situation, I don’t know what he said but maybe he’s like his gaffer in terms of emotion. I can’t say anything because I’m the first when the passion is too high.”
The Athletic assumes everyone at Brighton had a good sleep on the way home…
(Photo: Eddie Keogh/Getty Images)