It is unusual for a goalkeeper to lose his place after successive 4-1 wins.
That is what has happened to Jason Steele at Brighton & Hove Albion. It is not a reflection of Steele’s performances in the victories at home to Luton Town and away to Wolverhampton Wanderers, which have launched the Premier League season in style for Roberto De Zerbi’s side.
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It is all down to the approach taken by the head coach following the £16.3million ($20.5m) summer signing of Netherlands Under-21 international Bart Verbruggen from Anderlecht.
As far as De Zerbi is concerned, he has two No 1s. This is not the way it works at most clubs, including until now at Brighton.
Maty Ryan dominated in the first three seasons in the Premier League under Chris Hughton (2017-19) and Graham Potter (2019-20).
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The Australian had the gloves for 110 out of a possible 114 games. The other goalkeepers across that period — Tim Krul, Niki Maenpaa, David Button and Steele (after he signed from Sunderland in June 2018) made occasional appearances in the FA Cup, Carabao Cup or, in Steele’s case, as an over-age player for the under-21s in the Football League Trophy.
The pattern of a clear No 1 continued once Potter fast-tracked Robert Sanchez at Ryan’s expense in December 2020. From that point, Sanchez held sway for 85 of the next 86 league matches. The last 22 of those appearances were under De Zerbi last season, until the Italian promoted Steele in March.
From that moment, Steele was in charge. He played in 15 of the 16 remaining league games. So, what has changed?
Well, first, the decision to splash out on Verbruggen. Sanchez did not take kindly to being demoted, refusing to sit on the bench as cover for Steele towards the end of last season.
De Zerbi was thrilled with Steele’s impact (Robin Jones via Getty Images)That made a parting of the ways inevitable, the Spaniard moving to Chelsea at the beginning of August for £25million to be reunited with Brighton’s former goalkeeper coach Ben Roberts — a month after Verbruggen’s arrival.
One of the reasons for buying Verbruggen was his ability with the ball at his feet, an essential ingredient in De Zerbi’s method of the goalkeeper acting as the trigger to the Italian’s precise way of playing out from the back.
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Steele’s superior understanding and execution of what De Zerbi wanted was a big reason for the 33-year-old’s elevation over Sanchez.
Verbruggen, 21, has demonstrated similar comfort when the ball is on the floor and tactical appreciation of the passing options, short and long, in consecutive appearances at the Amex Stadium in the 3-1 defeat by West Ham United and Saturday’s 3-1 win against Newcastle.
After such emphatic results in the first two games, De Zerbi’s decision to hand Verbruggen his debut against West Ham raised eyebrows.
A first loss exacerbated the surprise, but Verbruggen did nothing wrong. It was reminiscent of a freakish blip with Steele in goal, arising from individual mistakes and the team as a whole being stretched when chasing the game, when relegation-threatened Everton won 5-1 at the Amex in May.
When asked about the selection process between Verbruggen and Steele before Newcastle’s visit, De Zerbi said: “Depending on the game, but both are great keepers.
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“You don’t think that because we lost to West Ham with Bart, we would have won if we had Jason? It’s not Bart’s responsibility, we could have lost with Jason, too. I want to manage both this way because Bart is another good player, it’s important for the club and he’s reliable like Jason. Both deserve to play.”
That reliability is not limited to the feet. Steele has been consistently accomplished in all aspects under De Zerbi, including making important saves at crucial times in matches.
The same was true of Verbruggen against Newcastle. The visitors began the game on the front foot before Evan Ferguson’s hat-trick took it away from them. In the 16th minute, with the score 0-0, Verbruggen adjusted quickly at his near post to keep out a cross from Miguel Almiron, which turned into a shot when it took a deflection off Lewis Dunk.
This was a BIG early save from Bart! ⛔️🧤 pic.twitter.com/RNbzPIHgmT
— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) September 4, 2023
If De Zerbi’s team had fallen behind again, the shape of the game could have changed.
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The extra element De Zerbi is taking into consideration this season is the Europa League and a minimum of an extra six matches. It could become a lot more than that if Brighton progress from a tricky group containing Ajax, Marseille and AEK Athens.
“I didn’t want to decide one (goalkeeper) in the Premier League and one in the Europa League because Jason has worked in his career to play in Europe,” said De Zerbi. “It wouldn’t be fair to only play Jason in the Premier League and the same for Bart. He decided to come to Brighton to play in Europe.”
Is it a sustainable situation? De Zerbi has good reason to believe it will be. Steele is not wired to throw his toys out of the pram. He was never anything other than professional and supportive as the No 3/No 2 goalkeeper for nearly four years and after an impressive start, Verbruggen is said to be the same. More than ever for Brighton, it is a squad game across four competitions.
Only five of the eight summer signings were available for the opening four matches (Ansu Fati and Carlos Baleba came in too late to feature against Newcastle, and 17-year-old Adrian Mazilu is back in Romania with Faru Constanta until January).
Of those, Verbruggen has featured more than German midfielder Mahmoud Dahoud, who has made one start, with two late cameos off the bench, and Brazilian central defender Igor Julio, who is yet to make his debut.
It made no difference that record-signing Joao Pedro was on the scoresheet with a penalty on his debut against Luton. The Brazilian forward was omitted from the starting line-up against Wolves and West Ham before returning against Newcastle.
Other factors, such as an injury or loss of form, could end up determining greater clarity in the goalkeeper situation, but De Zerbi’s different way of doing things — whether that is the style of play or selection — continues to pay off in performances and results.
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(Top photos: Getty Images)
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