Speaking to Jim White and Simon Jordan’s talkSPORT morning show, Hürzeler went into depth on how the side planned and executed an instant classic at the Amex.
The Seagulls Head Coach spoke to talkSPORT on Tuesday morning about all things Brighton, the main attraction of course being the 3-0 battering of Premier League Champions Arsenal at the weekend. Speaking to Jim White and Simon Jordan’s morning show, Hürzeler went into depth on how the side planned and executed an instant classic at the Amex.
When asked how he prepared his side for the game, he explained how focussing on the small parts of a game can balloon into something greater;
“We wanted to win the small battles first, what I mean is you win the first header, tackle, throw-in, corner. [...] because when you win these small battles, then you grow into the game.”
And that was certainly apparent in the way we set out early on, where we hit the ground running and took full control. This was notably similar to that of the dominant high intensity start to the Coventry game the week before, which was a slight cause for caution, as eventually the Sky Blues did settle into proceedings, and while we did open the scoring late on in the first half in what proved to be pivotal in the eventual goalfest, it was certainly against the run of play.
But thankfully, these fears were quickly put to bed. The dominance never wavered, and we backed it up with three goals, a feat which hasn’t been achieved in the league since… Brighton and Hove Albion in 2023.
We’re definitely beginning to see a shift in Hürzeler’s tenure for the better, it’s clear to see an identity begin to form in regards to his style of play, something he was arguably lacking throughout his early Albion days, and it's no surprise we’re now seeing the best football of the Hürzeler era, with the Arsenal game being the cherry on top of a seven day period in which we won three games and scored eleven goals.
You’d probably expect him to be on top of the world, but he went on to make a rather intriguing claim.
“Was it a perfect game? I am a perfectionist. I wouldn't say it's a perfect game. There's still things to improve [...] Our challenge now is to make these kind of exceptional performances normal”
Consistency has always somewhat marred his time here, and it's encouraging to hear his acknowledgment of how important it is in order to reach our goals; that being, as he likes to say, “Challenging the establishment”.
It’ll certainly be a big challenge to maintain this momentum considering the unfortunately timed immediate jump to a three week international break, especially when you consider the impending Conference League group games, as well as his biggest foe: the month of December.
