Every word from Fabian Hurzeler's pre-West Ham press conference

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2025-12-29T13:00+00:00

Fabian Hurzeler expects another tough game against West Ham on Tuesday. 📷Paul Hazlewood.

Can we just start with some team news?

Kaoru Mitoma will be back.

Danny Welbeck managed 15 minutes off the bench. How about him? Will he be ready to play more or even start the game?

We hope so. We have to see today (Monday), but I think he will be an option to start.

Solly March is predicted to maybe come back around the start of January. How's he getting on?

Good. He's doing some training sessions with our U21s to get used to the intensity and then step by step he should be reintegrated into our team.

Anybody else pick up any injuries from the Arsenal game?

No, so we are doing quite well. Of course we have some modifications during this busy period, like I just mentioned with Danny; Kaoru had a small issue, and James Milner couldn't play for 90 minutes, so we had modify some players, but overall it seems to be getting better.

No wins in five. I know you mentioned the lack of courage after the Arsenal game from the team but what is the biggest issue in this run of form that you've been on?

I think the consistency like first half, second half, then the lack in some moments of paying attention to doing the small margins. It’s all about the small detail. It's about how you defend when you lose a ball. It's about how you defend the set pieces. It started with the Aston Villa game, the small margins. And now it's an ongoing thing, but we have to find solutions and then we will get out of this space.

Is the team lacking confidence at the moment?

Of course it is not a great run, so no one is full of confidence if you don't win for five games. But that's something we have faced already several times, and now it's about sticking together, finding solutions together and taking responsibility.

You mentioned the Arsenal game. How, as a coach, do you address that?

To stay positive, to stay solution orientated. It’s not about blaming one player or saying that one person is responsible for that. It's about doing things together. That's what's the club stands for and we will try to keep pushing.

Danny Welbeck in action against Aston Villa earlier this month.

We're getting closer into January. I know you've talked about transfers, but Danny Welbeck is such an important player for you and his contract ends at the end of the season. Is he someone the club wants to retain?

We never speak about any personal situation of a player in public. We do it internally and we all know how important Danny is and the club knows it. So let's see what happens.

West Ham on paper seems like quite a good game in terms of turning the form around, but what sort of threat do you see from them? And do you see it as a harder game because they are in such a desperate situation at the moment?

We felt it in the last game against them how difficult it is to beat them. They have quality and they're very good in transition. They're good in set pieces. They still know how to win Premier League games, although they're not in a great situation. They proved it against Fulham on Saturday. I think they deserved to win this game and therefore we know that they will be a really tough opponent.

The league is so tight at the moment in that middle section, even though you haven't won in five you're only five points off Chelsea. So is it important to emphasise that you've got a really good opportunity here to really get back up the league, especially in these next couple of games that you have?

Yes, and this was a topic we spoke about. We are five points from fifth, so there’s no reason to be negative. There’s no reason to have a bad mood. There's no reason to have any doubts. There's no reason to have a little bit of a lack of confidence because the Premier League is so equal at the moment, and therefore I always mention that who finds first the consistency can go on a run. This team can be very successful this season by sticking together. There's no place for negativity or doubts or anything like this. We look forward, we stick to our principles, we stick to the things we know always solve the big challenges and then we see what happens.

How much of your preparation for this game was done at the start of the month because you've played West Ham so recently?

I think it's always difficult to understand which formation they play. So in the first game they played a back five, before they played several times with a back four. In the last games they played in a back four but it might be that they come in with a back five so we have to prepare for both. But in the end it's about us - our intensity, the energy we bring on the pitch. How consistent can we be in our action from the first second until the last second?

You said you felt a lack of energy and intensity against Arsenal. How frustrating are those things, because they're out of your control aren't they?

Yes but it's my responsibility, so I will never give away the responsibility I have. I'm always the guy that represents the team. If we have a lack of confidence, a lack of energy, lack of intensity, then I did something wrong in the approach. So therefore, I always start with myself. I always reflect on my preparation, reflect my messages to the team.

And then it's about finding solutions. The thing is, when I talk about lack of courage, lack of energy, most of the times it's a short period of the game where the opponent might punish us. Therefore we have to make sure if we have these kinds of periods then we stick together and we keep the clean sheet. We have had good phases in every game, no matter who it’s been against, this season. We always proved that we can hurt teams no matter who we are playing.

Is that something you are urging? Leaders on the pitch to recognise those moments and to grab everyone and say ‘right, we’re in a sticky spot here. Let's get together.’

So we all know that we have very young players on the pitch but that shouldn't be an excuse. And definitely we always try to have enough leaders on the pitch. Sometimes this is not possible because we don't have the players fit and you can have a lack of experience. But we are not complaining about that. We don't try to use this as an excuse. We try to help the young players to grow. We try to help the team to find solutions. But I think that it will be an excuse to say we don't have enough leaders on the pitch.

You started the game against Forest like a train and then you scored early against Villa. But since then, you seem to be starting slowly. Is that something out of your control? Presumably, every coach wants their team to start every game lightning fast.

We always want to get into our rhythm quickly, but sometimes there's also a good opponent. We have played Villa and then Liverpool and Arsenal away so we also should get an understanding of which teams we are playing. We have to go into these games and everything has to be on the highest level for 90 minutes, the individual performances and the team unit, and we weren't able to do this. We know we can do it for phases of the game but we have to make sure we can do it for 90 minutes and that, in the end, is my responsibility.

Diego Gomez makes it 2-1 at the Emirates on Saturday, his eighth goal of the season.

It's pretty much a year since Diego Gomez arrived. How do you think he has developed?

Great. We are very happy that he's here. I think he adapted so quickly in terms of the physicality of the Premier League. He’s also a good goalscorer, an incredible finisher. I think he can use that more effectively by gaining a greater understanding that he has to be more present in the opponent's box to get more chances. For example, he scored the goal against Arsenal because he was there. There are still things he can improve, but he's adapting, he's integrating and he's learning English quite fast which we are very happy to see.

When he arrived, he was talked about as a No6 or No8. Do you see his future being a bit further up with his goal scoring?

I think when you ask him he will answer that he can play every position, but not goalkeeper! That shows his flexibility. He is a team player and therefore we can use him in several positions.

How important is it to that spine of the team with Bart, JP van Hecke and Lewis Dunk through the middle when you're going through a period like this?

Bart had a great development so far. I think our goalkeeper coach and Jason Steele helped him a lot with his development. The question you asked about the spine is so important, but we should never forget how young, even the likes of Brajan Gruda or even JP, are. We demand a lot from them so we have to understand that they're not machines.

How did you think the back three worked against Arsenal with Diego Coppola coming in and is it something you would consider doing again?

I think it worked quite well. When we analysed the game from a tactical point of view we did a lot of good things against Arsenal. Diego is always there and he always tries to help the team. He never puts himself first. If it's a long-term solution, we will see. Will we play with a back five tomorrow? We always have to understand also the opponent and what we need against the opponent. So it's several reasons why we choose the back five.

Did you feel Yankuba looked a little bit re-energised when you threw him on at half time because perhaps it's been a bit difficult for him being the only winger in the side.

Yes, he definitely had an impact on the game. I think he still can do better, not only offensively, but especially defensively. He needs to get a better understanding what it means to help the team. I always try to give an understanding for the people outside. They always see the player Yankuba but there's a person with private issues, who maybe goes through a difficult period. So of course they always want the players to perform at the highest level, but in the end there's the person behind them. We have to take care of this person as well.

I think when a player doesn't perform on their highest level, you need to get an understanding why it is like this. It's the same with Carlos Baleba and therefore we always have to support the player. We have to find a way to get to get him back to his highest level and we are in exchanges with him. We have a very trustful relationship with him, and now it's about us and about him getting back to his very best level.

Yankuba Minteh made a big impression off the bench against Arsenal.

You’ve got a decent tally of 26 goals this season but there's two common themes: you've been behind early in a lot of games, especially away from home irrespective of whether it’s top or bottom sides, and a very large percentage of your goals have come late in games which suggest you're doing something right with substitutions. Can you put your finger on why those two things are happening?

If I immediately had the answer then I'd give it to you because then I would already have changed it. We always want to start the game strong and finish the game strong. We want to play with a consistency. Don't concede the goal early in the game because then you always have to change the result although we always have to believe we have the quality to come back in games, so that is the positive.

It's a little bit of feeling, playing with courage, then we have the feeling of nothing to lose. So I think we have to start the game with the feeling of ‘alright guys, we go into the game, we enjoy it. We have nothing to lose. We try to put everything on the pitch and then we see what happens.’