Every word from Fabian Hurzeler ahead of Villa away

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Head coach reflects on difficult result against Palace and wanting reaction at Villa Park.

2026-02-11T08:20+00:00

Fabian Hurzeler has won 23, drawn 17 and lost 17 in his 63 Premier League matches as Albion head coach. 📸 by Paul Hazlewood.

Fabian Hurzeler discussed the defeat to Crystal Palace, Lewis Dunk and Villa away in his press conference on Tuesday.

Obviously at the final whistle on Sunday there were quite a lot of boos. Is that the first time you've experienced that in your career? I can't imagine it happened before here or at St. Pauli. What was that like?

No – I experienced it already at St Pauli. But I said after the game, it's part of the game. There are a lot of emotions and the supporters come to the game to see us win, to see us perform well and we didn't do this against Palace. I especially deserve the boos and I will take responsibility for that. But I also will say that we definitely want to show a reaction tomorrow, and that's a positive thing in football, that you always have another opportunity. We go there to try and win this game.

Do you feel that you are either are already in or are drifting towards a relegation battle?

I think we have to see the reality of where we are at the moment in the table. I think it's important to be humble, to know where we are, and to know that we have to get results. The table never lies. But on the other side, we know what we're capable of doing. We know that we can put in good performances, we just have to get the rewards. We have to have a good reaction in the next game. And we have to see the reality of where we are at the moment.

It's one win in 12, but you'll probably tell me that a lot of those games you were the dominant team, you created a lot of chances and you just didn't quite get the result. So what gives you the confidence that you can turn things around?

Exactly, these performances and these numbers, these statistics, because of course we focus on the results, but on the other side we definitely have a clear focus on the process, on performances. We have a young group. If you only focus on the result and demand that we must win, it definitely avoids the development of the young players. When we look at the statistics we look much better there. And now it's about managing the key moments better. Now it's about putting the right players on the pitch, who play the game until the end and who manage the game well. And that's what we try to do in the next game.

As you say, you've got a young group and therefore the experienced older players are so important to have around. We've spoken in the past about Danny Welbeck and James Milner, but Lewis Dunk was given permission to speak to Nottingham Forest, but wanted to stay here. How important is he to have here and how pleased were you to hear from him that he wanted to stay here?

Lewis Dunk has made 510 appearances for Albion. 📸 by Paul Hazlewood.

Lewis and I have a good relationship. I need him here. I need him as a leader. So I really appreciate that he stays here and that he keeps fighting for this club. That was kind of his words. I really appreciate his words and and his performances after these kind of rumours because I think you might get distracted, but he shows what he can still can give to the club what he gave in the past.

You say you need him here. Why was he then given permission in the first place to speak to Forest?

I think there are always two perspectives and it's very important to understand the player's perspective. There’s a club perspective and there are always things that are going on in a transfer window. But the most important thing is how Lewis sees it from his perspective. I put a lot of focus on his perspective. We had a good chat. We looked in each other's eyes and we spoke about it and he made his decision. I really appreciate his decision. And what makes you much more impressed by the whole situation is how he played afterwards. I think that's not normal. That's outstanding for me and I think he deserves a lot of credit.

Could we just get the team news ahead of tomorrow's match please?

Jan Paul van Hecke could be back in the team to face Aston Villa. 📸 by Paul Hazlewood.

Jan Paul van Hecke will be back in the squad. Mats Wieffer is close but won’t be in the squad. Other than that we have no injury concerns.

You said you've experienced this booing before. Have you had any different conversations in the past few days with people that you've previously mentioned, other managers that have influenced your career. Have you spoken to experienced managers for a bit of advice?

I think everyone says that the same. The message as a coach I try to send is your performances, the results and development aren’t always going to go up. You have to go through tough times in life, but tough times create tough people. I see it as a challenge that I now need to face, to be a role model in these tough moments, to be the leader, to be the positive leader, to take the responsibility to find solutions. I'm really positive because I've faced it in the past. I'm also now very positive that I will find solutions together with my team, the staff and with the club. And that's what we try to do in the next games.

You mentioned the solutions. What are the solutions to turning this form around?

We just spoke about the performances. Let's not include the game against Palace – I think it was one of our worst games in the season, it was just not good enough. Now we have Villa ahead of us, and we all expect a reaction now because we can't be satisfied. We can't be happy with the last game. Now it's about us showing the right reaction on the pitch and to stick to our principles, to stick to our style of play because it's also shown in the past that we were successful with this type of play, successful with these principles. If you want to get the luck back, you need to work harder. You need to be more hungry every day, more humble every day. That's what we try to do. We try to go there and be a hardworking team, be a team that tries to get the result, be a team that sticks together, be a team that sticks to our style of play, and then we are all confident that we will get the results back.

You mentioned about sticking to principles. Aston Villa had to do that at the start of the season when they were going through a difficult time, they got through it and now things are obviously going much better. Does that give you hope that you can also turn things around here?

We don't need other examples that can or should give us hope, we experienced it ourselves last season. I think this club’s experience means that they always stick together in tough times and that makes this club so special. In the end we all understand the supporters but we all need to be there together. We can be frustrated, we can share emotions. I'm very open to criticism, but we can only come out of the situation as a club if we really stick together, if we are honest with each other because we have to create togetherness and that's what we try to do.

Aston Villa have lost their last two home matches in the league 1-0. Have you looked at those performances, how Everton and Brentford managed to do that and maybe take a few things on board?

Definitely. You look at the games, but in the end it's about us. It's about playing our style of play. We can't copy other teams. Of course you always can adapt. But in the end we stick to our principles, we stick to our style of play because we have the biggest belief in it and that's what we try to do tomorrow.

Aston Villa obviously strengthened during the transfer window that's just gone. What have you made of them in the past few weeks?

Midweek in the Midlands. 👊🔜 pic.twitter.com/aKS8KJPFJZ
— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) February 10, 2026

They are a team with a clear style of play. They have one of the best managers in the world. They have good individual quality. Good tactical patterns. It’s always difficult to go to their stadium to win games. They’re a top team, but I think we proved in the past that we enjoy playing against top teams and enjoy these kind of challenges. That's what we want to do tomorrow: to enjoy it, to defend as a team and show great togetherness.

In the past you've told us about things like after Nottingham Forest where you burned a piece of paper. Was there anything different in terms of the internal analysis or conversations that you had as a group following the game?

I think it's always different. It's always something else. We didn't burn anything. There was nothing to burn. But I think it was important that we looked at each other and we just spoke the truth, that we looked at the table and saw what the reality is. We need a hardworking team because if you work hard you will get the results.

I know you've spoken a lot about the reaction from the fans. Do you feel like you can turn that relationship around?

The fans need to get the feeling that we are giving everything on the pitch for them, for the club, that we are proud to wear the Seagulls’ colours. It’s our responsibility to make them proud and to show the best effort. We can't promise wins, but wins are always the best way to heal relationships. What we can promise is that we want to show a reaction tomorrow and then hopefully we can get the wins that we deserve and what they deserve. I'm definitely 100 per cent convinced that we all can become closer together and achieve the things we want to achieve.

Pressure is quite prevalent in the Premier League this season. Eddie Howe, Thomas Frank, even Arne Slot has been talking about it. What do you make of the pressure that is on head coaches in the Premier League, particularly this season?

I don't really feel pressure from outside. The most pressure I feel is the pressure I put on myself. This is the biggest pressure because I always want the best for the club. I always want the best for the players. I always try to come into this training ground and try to be the best version of myself. I try to make the team better, try to improve the staff, try to have good relationships with supporters. I'm obsessed with this sport. I'm obsessed with football. I'm obsessed with thinking about how can I help my team, how I can help my players. So it's a 24-hour job.

Luckily I don’t read criticism from newspapers, from outside. Otherwise, I think there will be too much distraction and especially at the moment, it's not nice to read bad things about you. But overall it's part of the job to be criticised. It's part of what makes football so beautiful, the emotions. Everyone can share these emotions, no matter if it's on social media, no matter if it's in the stadium. I think that also makes the Premier League so special and everyone wants to be in the Premier League. We need to find a way to deal with pressure and my way to deal with pressure is not to feel it from outside because I always put the most pressure on myself. That's how I try to handle it.

It's quite rare for us to speak to you after training. What’s the reaction been after all those conversations you had with the players? What have you seen from them this week?

Really good. We unfortunately only had one training session together with the team. I saw a team full of energy. I saw a team that gives me a lot of confidence. I see a team that really sticks together. I see great players, great personalities, great characters. I'm quite happy sitting now in front of you and speaking about my team because I'm confident there'll be a big chance tomorrow.