🚨🎙️ Ian Wright on what Fabian Hürzeler is doing with Brighton:
🗣️"Look, man, everybody wants to sit here and dissect what went wrong with the teams that lost. Everyone is talking about Manchester United, talking about Arsenal, asking where they dropped points or what they should have done. But nah, let’s completely shift the focus right now and actually look at what this man is doing with Brighton!
To go to Old Trafford on Wednesday night, beat Manchester United 3–2 to knock them out of the cup, and then come right back home today and smash Arsenal 3–0 in the Premier League? In the space of three days? Come on! That is not luck—that is elite tactical preparation, discipline, and absolute belief. You have to step back and deeply appreciate what he is building with this team. The structure, the bravery on the ball, the ruthlessness—he’s got them executing at a top level against the biggest clubs in the country. Forget the noise around the opposition; start putting some real respect on Fabian Hürzeler’s name!"
🚨 Mikel Arteta on Brighton after their 3-0 win over Arsenal:
“I think first I have to apologise to Manchester United.
When Brighton beat them 3-2 at Old Trafford, everybody laughed. People were asking how United could concede three goals to Brighton.
Then you play them yourself.
We had conceded one Premier League goal all season before today. Brighton scored three against us.
So maybe Manchester United were trying to warn everybody and none of us listened.
Sometimes you have to experience something yourself before you understand what somebody else went through.
On behalf of everyone who laughed at United that day, I apologise. Brighton are a serious football team.”
Amidst all the excitement, I don’t necessarily think Fabian Hürzeler is ready to manage at a club with title-winning aspirations and/or big media pressure.
He has some pretty clear gaps in how he sets up his team, and a lot of what he says (and does) sometimes sounds ideological. The latter is quite relevant here, so let’s focus on that for a bit, as, though the tactical stuff is largely good (especially across tempos), it means nothing without implementation.
While it’s hard to say from the outside in, I think Hürzeler has ways to go in terms of establishing himself as a dominant figure in the dressing room (and being less of a yes man, per his media work). As he climbs up the footballing ladder, the figures around him will only increase in stature, and it does seem like he’d struggle to stop a massive dressing room from imploding.
He seemingly handled being forced to manage Brighton’s bomb squad quite well though, so props for that.
Hürzeler’s complete reversion into a shell he had created for himself, following Brighton’s drop in form last season also shows how he’s relatively untested in pressured/uncomfortable situations. Not every club in the world would’ve given him the time Brighton did to just play the old guard and let them figure things out on the pitch (in the process shunting the youngsters away, even at the cost of Brighton’s philosophy) while Hürzeler did his thinking away from it.
Of course, this coexists with his willingness to experiment and learn, much like Mikel Arteta, from different sports, coaches and backgrounds, which will take him far. But learning is a lifelong process, and one that outlives the time he’ll get to implement it.
What I will say, though, is that Hürzeler’s profiling of players has been great, and he’ll be one of the best in the world in this regard. He’s done very well to take some questionable purchases on Brighton’s end and mask their weaknesses such that they can become regulars at Premier League level, and that should scale *extremely* well.
It’s also worth saying that, in his two years at Brighton, he’s effectively done enough to secure European qualification in both, if not for Palace winning the FA Cup and taking that out of his hands (he also won the 2. Bundesliga with St. Pauli, so he clearly does alright in the league).
Beyond all the additives, his basic philosophical understanding of football — i.e., prioritising physicality and aerial ability, running hard and pressing hard — is great, and IF he’s able to always keep hold of these as priorities ahead of the nuanced stuff, he’ll always have a high floor as a manager.
It’s obviously quite watered down to say that he’s young, so he won’t succeed as a manager, because that’s just untrue given he IS succeeding. But there’s no need for Hürzeler to rush to the top of the footballing ladder just yet.
A few years at Brighton (though I won’t be too surprised to see it be just one), before going back to Germany and a side like Dortmund, who are stuck in a phase of nothingness, would be great. He’d get to build himself up at a relatively high-pressure side that isn’t what it once was, whilst still being given leeway to take risks, which is something he needs.
🔵⚪ Fabian Hürzeler’s Brighton & Hove Albion are playing some of the best football in Europe right now.
▪️ Scored 4 vs. Aston Villa ⚽⚽⚽⚽
▪️ Scored 4 vs. Tromsø ⚽⚽⚽⚽
▪️ Scored 3 vs. Chelsea ⚽⚽⚽
▪️ Scored 5 vs. Coventry ⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽
▪️ Scored 3 vs. Man Utd ⚽⚽⚽
▪️ Scored 3 vs. Arsenal ⚽⚽⚽
🚨 Thierry Henry on Fabian Hurzeler’s Brighton:
“You look at Brighton’s team sheet and, with respect, you’re not immediately thinking, ‘How are we going to survive against these players?’
Then the game starts and you understand.
Everybody runs. Everybody presses. Everybody wants the ball. You press one player and somebody else appears in the space. After 20 minutes, players you weren’t worried about before kick off suddenly look like they have another level.
I watched them beat Coventry 5-0. Then they went to Old Trafford, went 2-0 down and came back to win. Now they’re doing this against Arsenal.
And this is where I have to give Hurzeler enormous credit. Arsenal’s defence is not a defence you normally play around for fun. They had conceded once in the Premier League all season before today. Once.
Brighton looked at that and apparently nobody told them they were supposed to be impressed.
They keep coming. They keep running. They keep playing. There’s no fear in them.
That’s coaching.
Hurzeler hasn’t collected eleven superstars. He’s created a team where you look at the names before kick off and think you should be fine, then 45 minutes later you’re wondering where he found all these players.
That’s what I love about them. Brighton don’t need you to fear their team sheet. They make you fear them once the football starts.”
Read this beautiful story about Kaoru Mitoma’s incredible journey to the Premier League, truly inspirational! 🇯🇵💙🤍
The boy who passed the grueling entry test.
But what awaited him was
the harsh reality of an
overwhelming "physical disparity."
The moment he got the ball, it was taken away.
Days filled with shouts from his teammates.
Overcome with frustration, he broke down in tears.
Yet he never ran away.
"If my body's small, I'll just have to use my head."
He learned to read how the opponent's weight shifted,
honing the skill of disrupting their timing.
By high school graduation, an offer for pro promotion arrived—
a golden ticket everyone envied.
"I don't have the confidence to make it as a pro right now."
A decision so calm it bordered on cold.
He chose to go to university.
His four years there were days of relentless, almost mad effort.
Every free moment between classes went to strength training.
After practice, he'd keep at "one-on-one" drills until the coach yelled at him.
And then, he started to "scientify" his own dribbling.
Strapping sensors to his head,
he researched "Where do the best dribblers look?"
"Not at the ball—they're watching the opponent's knees or hip alignment."
He proved his instincts with data,
sharpening his weapons without cease.
His skill was such that, as a mere college player, he could score on pros.
And so, fully prepared, he stepped into the pro world.
His rookie year:
A record-breaking 13 goals and 12 assists for a newcomer. He stunned all of Japan.
Even after moving abroad, adversity followed.
In a foreign land where the language barrier left him isolated and alone.
Down 0-2 in a hopeless match.
Subbed in for the second half, he clawed back three goals single-handedly for the comeback.
From that day, Europe began to remember his name.
His momentum didn't slow even after crossing to the world's pinnacle, the Premier League.
Battling chronic back pain,
he quietly piled up the unglamorous training, day after day.
At the World Cup, that "one millimeter" against Spain shook the world.
Yet still, he isn't satisfied.
"I want to perform like the heart of the team."
That man's name is Kaoru Mitoma.
The boy who once cried has become the one who slices through the world, built on those steady, unwavering steps.
(Source - ✍🏻 @coach_katayama)
#BHAFC #Japan #三笘薫