Every word from Fabian Hurzeler's pre-Manchester United press conference

The head coach covered team news, contact with Thomas Tuchel and Jan Paul van Hecke's century of appearances for Albion.

2025-10-24T11:30+01:00

Fabian Hurzeler's team have won three of their opening eight Premier League games. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

Here is every word from Fabian Hurzeler's press conference on Friday, ahead of our trip to Manchester United on Saturday.

Can we start by getting some team news? What's the latest with Diego Gomez? He was spotted in training after coming off against Newcastle. Is he going be fit for Manchester United?

I think he will also be spotted tomorrow at Old Trafford! He will be available to start.

And what about Brajan Gruda, Kaoru Mitoma and Joel Veltman? What's the latest with them?

They're all close to the team, so maybe one or two of them might be available for tomorrow. They don't have big issues, they don't have anything serious. I can't say that they all will be available, I can't say that they won't be available. We have to see how it goes today and then we have to make a decision.

How important is Kaoru Mitoma in a game like this?

Kaoru Mitoma wasn't in the matchday squad for our 2-1 win over Newcastle. 📷 by James Boardman.

I think Kaoru Mitoma is helpful for us in every game because he has a special quality that is always a danger for the opponents. For sure it would be great to have him in the team if he's available. We won't complain [if he’s not]. We will find solutions. We have other good players. There might be a chance for Tommy Watson, there might be a chance for other wingers in our squad. But for sure, we will try everything so that he will be in the squad because he's a game changer us.

Danny Welbeck's two goals against Newcastle has prompted talk again of him possibly being called up by Thomas Tuchel to the England squad. How strong a case has Danny Welbeck got for an England recall, do you think?

I haven't talked to Danny about that. I'm sure that he's only focused on performing well. That's the only thing he can influence. The rest isn’t in his hands, it's nothing that he can control. It's only about performance. It's only about improving, getting better every week, and showing that you are ready to play at the highest level. I'm sure that Thomas will watch him, but I'm happy that I see England is progressing well with Thomas and I'm sure that he will make the right decisions. Let's see what he will decide regarding Danny.

Have you had any discussions with Thomas Tuchel about not just Danny Welbeck, but some of your players and the England team in general?

Sure. it's not a regular exchange, but if we have time, we get in touch. We don't talk specifically about our players, it's more general football discussions. I really appreciate his opinion and how he's doing with the England national team. I congratulated him for qualifying for the World Cup. Let's see what England can achieve in this tournament. But I think it's always good for me as a young coach to have an exchange with these kinds of coaches. They have achieved a lot, especially Thomas, who has worked for England, and what he did with Chelsea was just as impressive. It's always an exchange that I can learn from.

What do you think Danny Welbeck could offer the England squad?

There’s always two perspectives as to how you have to see Danny. The first part is on the pitch, he's a goal scorer. He has a special skill when it comes to finding the opponent’s goal, to be in the right position, to have a very clean finish, to smell where the ball might come down to finish the attack. He has a special skill. The other side is he's a very good connector. He takes care of his teammates, he tries to bring the different cultures and nationalities we have here together. I think that's very important for a good environment, for a good culture. I'm really happy that we have Danny Welbeck in our squad because he covers the on-pitch stuff, but he also covers the things regarding the team off the pitch, and that's very important for being successful.

Carlos Baleba posted on social media after the Newcastle game, ‘Good team win, and I'm feeling like myself again’. How confident are you now that he's settled down after his somewhat patchy beginning to the season and do you think he's now going to kick on and show his best form?

I think it's very important to understand that we saw a lot of really good actions and really good behaviours from Carlos against Newcastle. I'm very pleased to hear this from you as I didn't read it, because I'm not on social media, but I'm very pleased to hear that he feels that, and that's always the most important thing, how the player feels and that he feels that he's getting back to his own best. Now it's about all the behaviours and all the actions he showed against Newcastle, to make these behaviours his habits. You only make these behaviours and these action habits if you do them consistently. That's his next step. I saw him training this week and it was impressive. He is getting more and more back into a good shape, and hopefully it can continue with his performance tomorrow.

Do you have any concerns about playing against Manchester United given their interest in him during the summer?

Carlos Baleba has made 87 appearances for Albion. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

I think it's also the next step for him as a person, for him as a personality to overcome these rumours, to overcome this noise. Because in the end, it's only noise that tries to distract him from performing for us, for Brighton. The main thing, and it's not only for us here, regarding his development and in general for his career, is that he really has to focus on the things he can influence and he can't influence the rumours, he can't influence the noise around him. He can only influence the things he's doing on the pitch, how he asks for the ball, how he's positioned when he receives the ball, how good are his angles, how much effort he shows against the ball, how intense he can be against the ball. That's the main thing he needs to focus on. The rest is just noise. The rest is things that could distract him from his performance, from his development. That's something that he has to avoid. Then I'm sure that he will put in a good performance for us tomorrow.

On Manchester United, where do you think that they've improved under Rubin Amorin and in what areas can they be a threat to you?

I think they play a more direct, more vertical style. They play more long balls trying to target [Benjamin] Sesko, going with a lot of players for the second ball, trying to win the second ball and then continue on their wings, to try to attack the box with a lot of deep runs. They have a really good individual quality in their team. They can change the game with one action. Every player from them, especially in the front, can decide the game with one action. All of their players have great individual quality and therefore they're always a danger to us. We have to be alert for 90 minutes, no matter if you're in possession, out of possession or a set piece for us or against us, because they can score within every phase. I think that makes them so dangerous, this change of game.

Ruben Amorin will be trying to do something for the first time tomorrow. He hasn't won three Premier League games in a row since he's taken the job. Why do you think there's been a bit of a struggle there for him?

It’s not my job to comment on that. The only thing I can say is I'm really looking forward to competing against one of the best managers. I think he's one of the best managers. Of course he has not had an easy time in Manchester, but he has proved in the past how good he can be with his teams. I'm really looking forward to competing against him, against a really good team, we have to be ready.

I don't know how the environment is there. Our main focus is on us, our main focus is on our performance. Our main focus is that we try to bring consistency into our performances because we were also not able this season to win two games in a row. We have to look at ourselves, to make us better.

You mentioned consistency there. That was a word you used in that passionate speech after the win over Newcastle that the club put online. How do you make sure that your passion translates to every player each week?

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Living it every day. I always try to emphasise that it's a privilege to be a head coach in the Premier League, to be a head coach for Brighton, that I can do what I really love. I can follow my passion, it’s my obsession. I really want to think about football every second. I really want to deal with football topics every second. I want to try to make the players, my assistant coaches and my staff better. We try to create a culture where we can be successful. That's how I try to live it. Then I hope that this fire inside transfers to others. There are also much more staff members, much more players here in this training ground who have the same desire, the same hunger, the same passion. I think the more people we have, the more it gets spread to others, and that's what we try to do.

On the one side, there’s always pressure. There’s a big media focus on what you are doing. But on the other side I always say to my players that they have to enjoy it. You can do what you love. You can follow your hobby. You can follow the things you’ve done your whole life. I want to see the joy, I want to see the fun. I want to see the passion you have for football every day. Because if you don't enjoy it, if you don't have fun together and as an individual, you can't perform to your highest level. So that's why I always try to emphasise that and I try to live it every day. Sometimes it works better, sometimes not, but you always have to keep pushing no matter how many times you fail, always go again. Go again and try to find solutions.

Someone who's clearly enjoying his time here is Jan Paul van Hecke, who made his 100th appearance for the club last week. How important is he to you and do you see him as a future captain? Do you think he’s gone a bit under the radar?

I learned a new phrase yesterday – discretionary effort. Discretionary effort was explained to me, where if you go over and above the things someone expects, and I think JP is a prime example for that. He’s going over the expectations I have of him on the pitch. He always gives 120%. Beside the pitch he’s a great personality and you can see it in his development. When you see his past, where he has come from, what he went through to where he is now, you see a really consistent development. That's because of his, his attitude. That's because of his mindset. His effort is always above the things you can expect as a coach. That makes his values so important to us. He's a Dutch guy, so I already like his, he’s very straight with you and honest with his opinion. I think that's always powerful in the team. He's in the leadership group. He has taken more responsibility and more ownership this season. I think that's the next step for him, to not only be a great performer, but also try to be a leader in this club. We are all pleased to work with him and hopefully he can continue like this.

For all those reasons, would you like him to commit longer term to the club in terms of being the next Lewis Dunk as it were, someone who's been at this club for many years. Would you like to see that from Jan Paul van Hecke?

Of course, great players with great personalities are always welcomed at this club, a prime example is Lewis. Players who are here for a long time who have built a legacy. I am sure Jan Paul van Hecke can be one of them. But the main thing is really that we try to make sure that he can perform like he performed the last games for us, that the focus is here, the present. Don't try to focus on the future. Try to focus on the things he can influence now and his performances, his development regarding his role as a leader. I'm always pleased when I can work with great players, great people, and hopefully he has a long and bright future here in Brighton.

Jan Paul and Lewis are the only two outfield players that have played every minute in the Premier League this season. How crucial is their partnership as the bedrock of your success, particularly defensively in the last few weeks?

For me it's very important to build connections and relationships on the pitch. You can only build this when you have a consistency in the starting level. That's always what we try to aim for. Unfortunately, it's not always possible, you have small issues, small injuries, so you need to adapt. But I'm really big on building these connections because they’re building a connection on the pitch, but also building a connection off the pitch. When you have this trust in each other, when you have this relationship with each other, you make this extra metre for your teammate, you make this extra mile, you go into this extra personal duel because you want to sacrifice things for each other. You want to suffer for each other. You want to be there for your teammate, you want to cover his back. That's so powerful to build connections and relationships because it really means something for them being together on the pitch. That's something that we try to continue building on and off the pitch, not only for the centre backs. I think it's very important for the whole team.