De Zerbi: There's no need for big changes

Roberto De Zerbi acknowledges that there are similarities between him and the man he replaced as Albion’s head coach.

But the Italian insists he is very much his own man and is looking forward to putting his own stamp on the team.

De Zerbi was unveiled on Tuesday, 12 days after Graham Potter left the club to take up a new role at Chelsea. And he recognises the excellent job his predecessor did in helping Albion finish a club record ninth in May and climb to fourth this season.

“He [Potter] did a great job. Everyone knows what made Potter successful here but I’m not Potter,” said De Zerbi.

“I think we have a lot of things in common and I’m not talking about the way of playing I’m talking about the principles and the mentality of football.

“If we can keep this mentality and those principles I will also try to bring my ideas clearly without making any big changes.”

So what is the most important thing De Zerbi will stress to his new players in a match situation?

“Don’t throw away the ball is very important, something very clear. To attack, to make the game or, as we say in Italian, ‘fara de partita,’ he added.

“We have a lot of players with quality, we want to try to put them in the best conditions in terms of to make the performance right. For example to play in one-v-one or to play, to attack in the right way so to put every single player in the right conditions to play his best. And when we don’t have the ball to take it [back] as fast as we can.”