Every word from Fabian Hurzeler's pre-Brentford press conference

Main Club Sponsor

TICKETS

SHOP

The gaffer discussed a range of topics ahead of this weekend's match.

2025-11-21T13:25+00:00

Fabian Hurzeler's team are unbeaten in the Premier League at the Amex so far this season. 📷 by James Boardman.

Fabian Hurzeler will take charge of his 50th Premier League game on Saturday as Albion take on Brentford.

Here's every word from his press conference ahead of the match at the Amex.

What are you most proud of as you go into your 50th Premier League game managing Brighton?

I always emphasise that being the head coach of Brighton & Hove Albion is a privilege. I'm really proud to be head coach. I'm really proud to work with really good staff members, with really good experts that drive really good culture. I'm really privileged that I work with great leaders, with players who have great personalities, with a great group that really drives the togetherness, who tries to get better every day, no matter the circumstance, no matter how many adversities they face, they always try to stick together.

What I really love is to see a team developing, to see an individual developing, to see how they get the potential out of themselves through an intrinsic motivation. I always emphasise that this club is special. This club has a great identity - identity is the most important thing to keep on driving. We try to keep on working hard because on the one side we are known for great values, but on the other side we want to be known for success. That's really what we live for, what we work for and we have to keep pushing to achieve it.

So where do you want Albion to be in another 50 game?

Fabian Hurzeler has been pleased with the culture he has built in his 50 Premier League games as Albion's head coach. 📷 by James Boardman.

Better than we are now and then we will see what happens. First of all, it's about togetherness and second of all, we really need to deliver the performance on the pitch. It's time now to show the right performances. It's time now to not search for any excuses. We want to make our supporters proud, to make our supporters happy. I think that's our responsibility and we have to drive the next phase. Then we see what happens.

Did you enjoy getting swept up in that drama of the international break and also seeing Germany qualify?

I'm a hundred percent involved. We have so many players and staff members involved wanting to qualify for the World Cup. We already have players who have qualified with their countries and it's a big achievement for them. We celebrated it. Then on the other side, we still have players and staff members with Crofty for Wales, with Yasin for Sweden, with Diego Coppola for Italy, with Ferdi for Turkey, who are still involved in trying to qualify and trying to fight to get to the World Cup. We are really involved. We all watch it together. It was very exciting to watch and now we hope for the best for Crofty and for our players that they can qualify for the World Cup, because it's something special.

After the last international break, you talked about how maybe you weren't happy with how some nations have looked after your players. Has it been better this time round?

Definitely. Yes, it was better.

Yasin Ayari wasn't involved in his country's second international match, is he ok?

Yasin Ayari is fit to face Crystal Palace. 📷 by James Boardman.

He's fine. He's available.

How are Kaoru Mitoma, Jack Hinshelwood and Solly March?

Jack Hinshelwood has played 53 first team games for Albion. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

Jack is an option. He will definitely be on the bench. Solly March is getting really close. It's only a question of two or three weeks maybe until we see him back. This will be exciting for me, for us, for him, to see him back in our group. He’s been out for a long time and we are all looking forward to having him back. Brajan Gruda is also an option.

We still have Adam Webster and James Milner, who will be out. James is out for the next two or three weeks. Adam is long term.

With Kaoru, it's not an easy thing to predict. In the last international break I said it's just a question of two or three weeks. But now he's getting close. He has to handle the pain, so it's not a big issue, everything is healed, so he should be fine. We just have to see how he can handle the pain. When he will be back, I'm sure that it won’t take that long.

Does he need a procedure?

It’s healed. Everything is fine structurally. Now it's just about handling the pain and that's something what we have to work with him on. There are different methods to go through. There are different things but it's very individualised, so you can't say that this method is working every time for the player. You have to really understand how the player reacts to pain, how he reacts to different methods to overcome the pain. We have to find the right way for him and then I'm sure that he will be back quickly because we already saw him on the pitch. He's already working hard. He's getting into a good physical shape. He just needs to make the last step.

How much have Brentford changed in terms of their style since changing head coach?

Thomas Frank left Brentford in the summer to become Tottenham boss. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

I think they're very effective and have a good understanding of how to win games. They're really good in transition. They are really good at set-pieces and they're really good in understanding how to keep opponents away from their goal. All these things you need to do well to win Premier League games, they're really good at these things.

It's another challenge. It's a challenge to understand how to take away their strengths regarding transition, regarding set-pieces, throws, and to keep them away from our half, to not let them enter into our final third. On the other side, it's a challenge to break the low block because they're doing it really well. They're defending it with a good structure, with players who have good intensity in general. They're really physical in general – they run a lot, they work a lot. So it will be a different challenge and we need to be prepared.

What did you learn from your time with the England rugby team?

I learned a lot. I learned that it's really important in their culture to have a good balance between joy, learning and work ethic. That's something that they really understand, not only staff members and the coaches, also the players, that they understand how to create this culture.

On the other side, it's very players led, the players take a lot of ownership. The players take a lot of responsibility. These are all kinds of things I think we can really learn from them. They do it quite well. They do it really well in building a culture where players take responsibility, they're doing well in building a culture where they really emphasise it's about everyone taking ownership. Whether it's on or off the pitch, everyone is responsible for the success. That's something that I really like.

On top of that, they handle games differently. The head coach is always in the stands, the head coach is always observing, not that emotionally involved on the sideline. It's really more about overseeing things, like an analyst and making decisions from the stands. That's something that might be the future in football as well. There are a lot of similarities and also things you can take away.

I'm always keen on learning. I'm always keen on trying to bring really good things from other sports into our business because you're living in a football bubble and most of the time you try to find answers to different questions in the football bubble, but sometimes the answers are in another bubble. I think it's important to see the answers or to find answers in other sports because they also have really good culture, really good coaches with really good environments that you can learn from.

You previously said that set-pieces were game changing, match winners. Brentford score a lot of their goals from set pieces and long throws. What do you make of the long throw this season?

Brighton take on Crystal Palace in the latest contest between the fierce rivals. Highlights in partnership with @mpbcom. Buy, sell and trade used camera gear. https://bit.ly/MPB457

I think I already said it – we faced it against Palace. It’s slowing the rhythm of the game. We compared the time the ball is in play – we played, for example, against leads and then we went to face Palace. The difference was about five to six minutes. So you play five, six minutes less football. That's not the thing that the supporters are paying for. I hope that we find a rule to have the football on the pitch, it’s still the most important thing, and to keep the game fluid. I think one rule was excellent – what the FA implemented regarding the goalkeepers only have eight seconds with the ball in their hands. It just keeps the game flowing. There’s more actions on the pitch. That's something that we have to think about, so it’s not turning too much into a game of set-pieces, so it’s not stopping the rhythm or with the ball outside of the pitch.

On the other side, it's a thing where we have to adapt to and we have to adjust. I talked about building and creating a set-piece culture, we brought in a set-piece coach. It's not only about trying to stop them doing good set pieces, it's about us doing good set pieces and trying to create danger doing creative corners, creative free-kicks. That's what we try to emphasise as well. On one side it's about adapting and adjusting to them. On the other side, it’s about building your own set-piece culture and trying to be dangerous in creating a match winner or a game changer through your own set-pieces.

Brentford made their set-piece coach their head coach. Have you been impressed with some of the results he's got for Brentford this season?

I am really, really impressed and I know him a little bit. He's a great person. He's had a great start with Brentford. He and them, they really understand how to win games. They're really efficient in the way they do it. It's always difficult to play against Brentford. We experienced it last season, so now it's really about us trying to make it better. It's really about us learning from these things and trying to step into the game and from the first second try to do all the things we didn't do well in the last games against them. Try to improve them and win the game.

It could be Georginio’s 50th game for Albion tomorrow. Have you been impressed with how he's developing under you?

Georginio celebrates with Danny Welbeck.

How he’s adapted to the Premier League is impressive. How he started was impressive. The injury [last season] knocked him out of his rhythm, that stopped his great performances and now it's about us and about him getting back to his best shape, He has everything. He has a very special profile. He is a very special player. There's still a lot of potential in him. Now it's about him, about us to get this full potential out of him, to get him as quick as possible into his best shape. Then I think he can be a key player for us.

You’ve only lost three Premier League games at the Amex. How far into the process of making it a fortress are you?

Quite far, I would say. I think it's really difficult to beat us at our stadium, together with the fans. That's what I said from the beginning, that it's our fortress, our castle. We have to make it really difficult for every opponent who come to the Amex. That's what we always have to do. I always emphasise it's about us bringing the energy and the intensity on the pitch, that this energy flows to the stands and then it builds the togetherness we have in the stadium.

I'm quite happy how far we are regarding this development, but we have to keep pushing it. We can't be satisfied. We always have to understand that it's a lot of work we have to put into the games. A lot of energy, a lot of intensity. And that's always the basic thing. From the first second we have to be intense, work hard, to outwork and outrun the opponent. And then together with our fans, we can be very, very strong at home. That's what we have to keep doing.

What did you learn from your games against Brentford last season and are they a different breed of animal now in terms of Mbeumo, Wissa and Flekken all leaving. How well do you think they have coped with the loss of big players?

They have coped quite well. They had really good replacements, starting with the goalkeeper. Then they brought in a new striker. They still have very physical and fast wingers with [Kevin] Schade, they brought in Dango Outtara, who's a danger in transition. They still have Damsgaard, who's a key player for them, and Henderson, who brings a lot of experience and a lot of quality. There's still similarities there.

They've shown a big danger regarding set-pieces and are still a big danger regarding transitions. These are things we really have to avoid and these are also things we didn’t do so well when we faced them last season. These are really small areas where we have to improve. Set-pieces can be game changers, a match winner, and therefore we need to get an understanding that we have to be switched on all the time. The second thing regarding transition, it's about us being patient. Don't make easy technical mistakes. Don't force it. Try to understand that not every pass has to be the pass. Not every action has to be finished within five or ten seconds, so we need to be patient. We need to understand when to break the lines, and I think that's something where we have to improve and that's something we will try to do better tomorrow.

What have you made of Keith Andrews - a former Albion player?

I think it's always important to understand how other teams, for example, Brentford is always known for really good set pieces. I think it's important in some ways you can learn from others about how they build this culture, how they're doing so well regarding set pieces is how much time you need to invest.

Keith Andrews was the energiser regarding set pieces for several years for Brentford. He did an unbelievable job. Now he has a different role, but you still see that they're doing well in set pieces. To do set-pieces well is a big quality, set-pieces are not easy to train, are not easy to deliver during the match day. So that's a big, big quality and that's what I meant before. It's a way to win Premier League games and if you do it well, you can win a lot of Premier League games. That's why I was really impressed by how he did it and how they still do it. That's why I try to learn from them regarding how to implement it. I'm really happy for him in terms of how he has started his career as a head coach and tomorrow we are like enemies, but I'm still supportive of him.