Brighton manager reveals which two Chelsea players were targeted by his team

Chelsea were totally outclassed by Brighton yesterday, both individually and tactically.

After the game, Seagulls manager Roberto De Zerbi complimented his group and explained how they had managed to cause such disarray in Chelsea’s back line.

According to him, it was all down to their pre-match preparation, as they targeted two of Graham Potter’s starting back 3.

“We prepared the game one-to-one with Mitoma with Chalobah and one-to-one Solly March against Cucurella. But Trossard was fantastic, Adam Lallana the same. All the players were fantastic,” the Italian said in quotes picked up by the Daily Mirror.

It’s rare to hear a manager speak openly about his tactical moves, and you simply wouldn’t hear the very reserved Graham Potter say anything similar.

It was a move that really worked – both Cucurella and Chalobah looked spooked from very early on, and between them even Thiago Silva looked rattled by the pressure coming from the home team.

We very much doubt we will see Potter use that same 3 again, now that teams know how to attack it. He will know it was a mistake on his part, and we imagine there will be a lot of work on the training pitch this week.

Chelsea News