Express yourself. Hurzeler's message helps Gomez score from the halfway line

The head coach says long-distance goals are a part of the midfielder's development - but insists he doesn't train his players to score from 50 metres!

2026-10-20T07:00+01:00

Diego Gomez enjoys the moment with his teammates after his stunning goal against Crystal Palace.

Diego Gomez is benefitting from an environment where players can ‘express themselves’ according to Fabian Hurzeler.

The midfielder might have already won the Premier League’s goal of the season with his outrageous effort from the halfway line in Sunday’s win over Crystal Palace.

The head coach smiled at suggestions that Albion practice long-distance shooting after Lewis Dunk found the top corner from 35 yards in another 5-0 win against Coventry City last month.

But both goals epitomise Hurzeler’s belief that developing a player’s personality helps them produce their best on the pitch.

“Diego is a hard worker and he always puts the team first. He is always 'we' then 'me',” said Hurzeler.

“I know how desperate he wants to get involved in scoring, into having an assist. I’m really happy that he got this reward for all the effort he's putting into the club, into his own development and into the team.

“They can only step up if they get the opportunity to do that. And of course there will be moments where they might suffer, where they might have little waves in their development, but we try to give them the environment where they can express themselves, where they can be themselves and where they can develop. And part of this is developing your own personality, and that's what we try to do with the players.”

Only seven Premier League goals have ever been struck from further out than Gomez’s 51.3-metre effort on Sunday.

“I think that's just quality,” said Hurzeler. “I'm not training with Diego on shooting from 50 metres in training!

“But we do try to create a hunger in the player, the desire to score. And when you have this desire to score when you win the ball you have the perception of, okay, there's the goal, the goalkeeper's far out of the goal and then comes a good first touch, and with the second touch this goal.

“It's just making the players quick in their mind to immediately have a good perception of the situation and then get immediately into [the] action.”

"It was a beautiful goal..."

Gomez had tried something similar in the previous Premier League game against Sunderland but it didn't come off.

“I looked and saw the goalkeeper a little bit advanced," he said. "I hadn’t looked beforehand but, when the ball got to me, it was a good pass and I think I controlled it well. When it went in I didn’t know where to celebrate but I was really happy for the win and to score a beautiful goal.

“When I was a kid I’m sure I must have scored like this, but never in professional football. I think this will give me more confidence, to have more chances and to take more of the chances I get.”

Pascal Gross: Practice makes perfect

Pascal Gross told Diego Gomez on Saturday that he hoped his hard work would result in a goal - but he didn’t expect it to be the ‘unbelievable’ strike that helped floor Crystal Palace the following day.

Gross said: “I said to him that I'm hoping he scores soon because he works so hard for the team. He's pushing every game. Maybe he thought 'I need to score.' I said to him, 'You just keep playing like you play. It will come.'

“But I didn't think he would score a goal like that, to be fair, but I was so pleased for him."

"The way he hit it was unbelievable. It's not a floaty one. He drills it in. I'm not even sure if the keeper was that far out, but it was a joy to watch.”