Hello and welcome to the TIFO football podcast. I'm Joe Devine and today I'm delighted to stare right into the eyes of John McKenzie.

Hello Joe.

I'm saying, do you like it when I say my own name when I'm looking at you? You looked away.

We're in a very small space right now.

It's confined in here. I'm Joe Devine. Oh, you've looked away again. What are we doing today, John?

We are talking about Roberto Deserbie, Joe. That's right, John. We're doing ring for analysis today.

And you're absolutely right. It's all about Roberto DeZerbe. We're reading a piece that was written by Tom Burroughs, published on the, originally on the 14th of...

Very clear about the publication time of this.

Well, I want it to be known that originally it was published on Valentine's Day, but it was updated because there's an editor's note because of very exciting.

There wasn't an editor's note last week. There is one coming this week. So that's very exciting. Here's what we're

going to talk about today. Deserby, of course, was where he no longer is the manager of Marseille.

He was let go, or the announcement was made at 2.35am. Very exciting. I like the sound of that.

And we're going to dive all the way into that and learn a little bit more about the character of this guy who was sort of famously known as being very combustible, very passionate John, isn't he? He's also very important. Yeah, really important, coach. He jumps around some sort of lower level Italian clubs before making it, particularly at Sasuolo. He becomes big at Susuolo. And that leads him to moving to Shaktadernetsk and eventually to Brighton and Hov Albin, which is where most people will have heard of him from. But I think the most interesting thing about him is he's actually quite an innovative coach from a tactical point of view. In many respects, inverts a lot of the ideas that Guadiola had made almost mainstream at that point in

time. And in many respects, you can argue that the modern tactical landscape is shaped by him

in terms of the strategic way that teams are trying to generate ball progression now.

Yeah. Fascinating that he did that without really being at a big club.

Yeah, exactly. And it's very fascinating that that really took off, I think, after he left Brighton.

We talk about Deserbie as being quite a tragic figure almost in this piece.

And you get that sense, I think, with tragic figures of just being time being a little bit out of joint.

I think is that a line from Hamlet?

I think it might be.

You get the same thing with Deserbie where he comes into the Premier League, has this impact. Guardiola is praising him as one of the most exciting managers in the world, takes a lot of his ideas and principles and starts implementing them. And then Deserby leaves the Premier League, almost just before everyone is starting to do the things that he's doing well. So there's almost like a tragic element to his career in that way as well. Well, here's how today's episode at works for first time listeners. This piece was published by Tom Burroughs. Again, it was on the 14th of February. It's very important, John, the 14th of February. Which is Valentine's Day, yeah. I'm simply going to read the piece, and John is going to ring a little digital bell. It sounds like this when he wants to do some analysis. I'll stop. We'll chat about it for a little bit, and then I'll carry on reading. Apart from the context about who does there be is, but John just gave you, you don't need to know anything else to enjoy listening to this episode. Well, to enjoy, maybe. You don't need to know anything else to enjoy listening to this episode. Well, to enjoy,

...