Benvenuto Roberto, forza il Albion. A new man in the dugout - with his very own giant flag - and for many of us this weekend, a change to our usual matchday travel arrangements. Although, this could be viewed as an opportunity to mix things up a little.

Different pubs, in a different part of town. A chance to ride the rail-replacement football-special bus service. It’ll be a little like Reading away, but without the roundabouts and industrial parks.

From the Old Steine - the historical heart of the city - along and past The Level - where townsfolk gathered to celebrate and honour each other in years gone by - down the Lewes Road under shadows of a hulking student metropolis, and onwards until we reach the outer edges of the city and our place of worship.

‘By Falmer, city-overspill and edge-land roll up to meet one-another in the wild grass and hedges, crop fields and University buildings. On the asphalt is roadside litter (empty cans, faded plastics, crisp packets, drive-thru detritus). Match day specials, designated drivers, cycle-to-work scheme bikes, taxis, and pathways dump us all here from weather-beaten homes’ Between Downs and Sea we Flourish / Dogma Issue 7 / Lee Christien / @LeeChristien

And as a sign of our devotion we have been given a new flag to raise aloft. Designed, no less, by Dogma contributor Alfie Bacon, and instigated, I believe, by a member of the Fan Advisory Board (FAB) - something that has generated some consternation.

It seems fair - healthy even - to question the motives behind the FAB initiative. Not the motives of the FAB members, who I’m sure applied to join up in good faith, but the club’s.

But a massive Roberto De Zerbi themed flag to be unravelled and displayed across the North Stand seems like an uncomplicatedly positive thing, no? Sometimes, so people keep telling me, if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all.

Credit is due to the FAB for recognising that the occasion warrants more than just a polite round of applause and a pat on the back from Richie Reynolds, and then actually doing something about it. It’s a big moment, no question, benvenuto Roberto, forza il Albion.

Roberto De Zerbi has arrived with a stellar reputation, plus, seemingly, an entire digital ecosystem of evangelical fanboys, tactics geeks, soccer hipsters, and football modernists. Apostles, not of a club but of The Church of De Zerbismo.

Back in 2014, when Chris Hughton was announced as our new manager, the only non-Albion voices in the conversation were bitter Norwich City fans telling us that he was rubbish. I’m taking it as a sign of our progress that eight years on, those angry East Anglian voices have been replaced by people referencing Champions League matches and tactical masterclasses in Serie A.

‘De Zerbi’s football has arrived in the nick of time. Just as it seemed all was lost his style provokes us to consider the possibility of something different. It begs the questions, what do you think you know about football? On what basis are you making evaluations about a team’s performance? What authority deems one action too risky and another one safe? Jamie Hamilton / @stirling_j

Within that De Zerbi fanboy ecosystem and commentariat, or perhaps floating slightly above it, there was something that really jumped out. James Horncastle’s contribution to The Athletic Football Tactics Podcast. Roberto De Zerbi, he explained, is considered within Italy as a practitioner of Calcio Europeo, not Calcio Italiano. Modern European football, not traditional Italian.

For Calcio Europeo, I presume he was referring to the rise of the hipster manager. Coaches who like their teams to retain possession and attack in numbers, whilst feeling confident enough to swap the suit for a pair of expensive white-soled black trainers and a lux woollen sweater.

And for traditional Calcio Italiano - despite the excellence of Italy’s Euro Championships winning team (but this doesn’t fit the cliché so let’s ignore that for a second) - we’re talking catenaccio, defensive rigour, try and kill the game, some shithousing, a stodgy low block and just enough threat on the counter to keep things spicy.

James Horncastle’s remarks were intended to contextualise De Zerbi’s approach to life and the career decisions he has taken so far. Happy to stay with Sassuolo when larger clubs showed some interest (take note, Graham) so he could continue putting his ideas into practice in a less pressurised environment, and willing to make a countercultural move away from Serie A - at a relatively young age - to manage Shakhtar Donetsk, and now, in the Premier League.

But it’s also, inadvertently, a likely tactical backdrop to this weekend’s fixture. Roberto De Zerbi vs Antonio Conte, Calcio Europeo vs Calcio Italiano.

Under Graham Potter, we grew to learn how this type of fixture might play out. Some sort of XG nightmare - thirteen shots to three, and a 2 -1 home defeat - or, occasionally, an excellent home victory that was built around Graham’s version of heavy football.

Not the heavy metal football as played by Jurgen Klopp’s Dortmund or the various Central European Red Bull teams, but a sort of respectful post-rock version. Earnest and intellectual, subtle, less showy, but with the same tonal intensity.

Win the ball back, regain shape, move the ball, create spaces, hope a decent opportunity appears at some point for Neal to blaze over, rinse and repeat. It should grind the fuckers down eventually, and some weeks it did.

But from what we have seen so far, and what can be gleaned from Church of De Zerbismo members, Roberto will ask his Albion team to overwhelm the opposition. Go in large numbers and rout.

Attrition and patience is for dullards in M&S jackets struggling with imposter syndrome.

What this bold approach will demand of us, his new congregation, is unquestionable belief and commitment. For He will lead, and we must follow.

‘As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless. He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him’ Psalm 18.30

But what he may well hear from the gathered flock, when things inevitably go a little awry, is the dissenting voice of the heretic. Get rid, put it in the mixer, smash it into row zeta.

Of course theological divide - devout zealots Vs pragmatists and non-believers - is familiar territory for us. It defined the Potter era. Albeit the discourse focussed on the importance of performance versus the emotional impact of defeat.

With De Zerbi, you suspect, the opposing factions will be those who get upset watching us pass the ball straight to Harry Kane to roll into an empty net, versus those who savour dogmatic refusal to play the occasional long ball for Welbeck to chase (plus a third much smaller grouping: those of us who will find it so stressful that we’ll spend the entire match standing on the concourse feeling anxious).

The debate around Potter’s qualities and the value of his approach to football was settled, eventually, thanks to his 14 game hot streak (leaving behind nothing but his oily skid marks to clear up, the dirty fucker).

That Tony Bloom doubled down on his beliefs - in modern possession-based football, in Calcio Europeo - and hired not a continuity candidate but someone who promises to evolve and refresh, whilst massively upping the ante, is testament to his faith. In his project, his sacred metrics, and his dogma that this approach, with Him now in charge, gives us the best possible chance of success.

We have but one choice: go to our church, stand in line, take our bread and wine - our pints and our pies - and say our prayers.

A-fucking-men to that.

Photography: Andrew Forsyth / @AforsythTWP

Social media references and credits:

Alfie Bacon / @AlfieBacon_ // De Zerbian Church / @DeZerbianChurch // Lee Christien / @LeeChristien // Jamie Hamilton / @stirling_j