Hurzeler: I was going to take Welbeck off

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Head coach was going to make a change then striker scored his second goal to clinch victory over Newcastle.

Bruce Talbot

2025-10-18T18:10+01:00

Fabian Hurzeler greets opposite number Eddie Howe before kick-off.

Fabian Hurzeler admitted he was going to bring Danny Welbeck off moments before his second goal of the game sealed a 2-1 win over Newcastle at the Amex.

Welbeck had put Albion head four minutes before the break and although Nick Waltemade equalised with 13 minutes left the striker scored with six minutes to go to lift Albion up to ninth in the table.

Asked about his decision to bring Welbeck off, the head coach said: “I think it's important to be honest so yes, that was the case - I was thinking of taking him off and then he surprised me, not for the first time. So, credit to Danny because sometimes about timing in life and that was good timing.”

Hurzeler felt that apart from a 15-minute spell in the second half when Newcastle equalised that Albion had been the better team and deserved to win.

And he was full of praise for two-goal Welbeck, who is playing some of the best football of his Albion career at the moment with four goals in his last three matches.

Delight for Danny Welbeck after his second goal and Stefan Tzimas leads the celebrations. 📷 Paul Hazlewood.

Hurzeler added: "In open play we created chances to score a second goal and defended really well. Of course, they are really dangerous. When they scored we lost a bit of our structure, but then we reacted impressively. We came back to our principles and our style of play. We showed personality, we showed character and we showed resilience. In the end it was a really good performance.”

"With Danny I think everyone will focus on his two goals. Of course, that's important to help win games but when I look at his performance it's about how many times he helped our defenders to defend the goal, how many recovery runs he did.

“And if you work hard, if you do basic things right, then you will get the rewards. And that was the case for Danny today. I think we all know that he has unbelievable quality in the box and has very good execution when he is in front of the goal, but for me it is how he stays as a leader, how he works for his team. That was just the best.”