Hurzeler: We showed the belief we could get a result

Main Club Sponsor

TICKETS

SHOP

Head coach assesses Wednesday's 1-1 draw against Manchester City.

Bruce Talbot

2026-01-07T22:00+00:00

Fabian Hurzeler is animated on the Etihad touchline. 📷James Boardman

Fabian Hurzeler was pleased that his players showed the 'belief’ that they could get a positive result against Manchester City.

Albion’s head coach is now unbeaten in four meetings with Pep Guardiola’s team after Kaoru Mitoma cancelled out Erling Haaland’s penalty in a 1-1 draw at the Etihad.

“We started the game really strongly, we created a lot of chances and should have scored at least one goal. Then the goal for them came out of nowhere and that changed the dynamic a little bit,” he said.

“At the start of the second half we gave them chances through our own individual errors but we didn’t give up. We always had belief and after making it 1-1 we had more big chances. We made too many mistakes to win the game, so that’s why we have to be happy with a draw. It was an up and down game.

Jan Paul van Hecke outjumps Erling Haaland. 📷James Boardman

“But the most important thing was the chances we created. We stuck together as a team and had belief that we could get something from this game.”

Hurzeler believes Mitoma can play an important role in the second half of the season. “He can be a game changer for us. We need to push him so he’s 100% but in the second half he showed he is trying to get back on track as quickly as possible.”