Every word from Fabian Hurzeler ahead of Newcastle away

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Albion will be looking for their seventh win in nine games when they play at St James' Park.

2026-05-01T22:00+01:00

Fabian Hurzeler's team are sixth in the Premier League heading into this weekend. 📸 by James Boardman.

Fabian Hurzeler was asked about team news and the influence of his key players in his press conference ahead of our game against Newcastle United on Saturday.

You've been nominated for the Premier League Manager of the Month. Your team's been doing superbly, but how much personal satisfaction do you take from being nominated?

Not a lot because I know that I'm responsible and I'm the head coach, but in the end I'm only as good as my players are and I am only as good as how hard my staff work. That's why it's never a one-man show. One of the biggest values of this club is togetherness and all we do is done together. I always say to the players that if they’re successful as a team, if we are successful as a group, then the individual can shine. It's a nice reward, but in the end I always emphasise the togetherness of the group.

Pascal Gross has been nominated as Player of the Month. You've said a lot about him. He's been superb, but what a fitting accolade.

He has been superb. I have had a lot of questions about him and I can only repeat myself. He's a great connector on and off the pitch. He understands the human being behind the player and I think that's a big quality of his. He understands the different ages and generations. He also understands my perspective as a coach, so he can function quite well as a bridge between player and coach. On the pitch he's a role model for the young players. He has an unbelievable quality. He understands the game. He can change the rhythm of the game. He can control the game by his movement, by his cleverness. It’s great to work with him.

Team news for Newcastle – James Milner, Solly March. What can you tell us?

Unfortunately, both are not available, but both are very close and they will be in training next week. I hope that they will be an option for the next game.

Diego Gomez's agent's has said Diego will play before the end of the season and can go to the World Cup. Is he right?

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Albion players finalise their preparations on the training pitches before travelling to the North East to take on Newcastle United. 📸 by James Boardman.

Yes, his agent is right. It’s not always the case they are right, but in this case definitely! I am very happy. It’s one of the best pieces of news in the last few weeks, because when you see a player has to be changed because of an injury, then you really see his face - his concerns and his bad emotions. It's definitely something that influences me because I have built a close relationship with the players and that's why I'm really happy that he's on a good recovery run and that he doesn't have a bad injury. Like the agent said, we will see him back this season and I think he's also quite close to coming back into the training sessions.

Just on this match, Fabian, one of the decisions you have to make is whether you put Lewis Dunk back in, he was fit last time but he was benched...

So this is quite a big decision, but that's part of my job. I need to make decisions and I have to make them through the whole season. That's why I'm quite relaxed because I see it as a positive thing, because I have two centre-backs available. They have performed well. Olivier had a good game against Chelsea. Lewis was always there through the season. So now I have to make the decision. I always make the decision on what's best for the club, what increases our percentage of winning the game. I'm sure that both will keep giving everything so that this club will be successful at the end of the season.

You've got a 13-goal striker who wants to start as well. Is this a match for Danny Welbeck to start from the off?

Every game is a match to start for him, he's done so well. 13 Premier League goals, it's incredible.

Should he go to the World Cup in your view?

That's another question I have to respond a lot to, but I want to say that you have a great coach in the English national team with Thomas [Tuchel] and I am sure he will make the right decisions. From my perspective, what I can say about the player is that he's a great human being with a great personality. He is a great goal scorer. He can help every team in the world. On the pitch, he’s someone who makes the players around him better. Off the pitch, he's someone who recognises dynamics quite well, who takes care of every age, of every generation, of every culture. So that's why it's difficult to find a player like him, to create a really good culture. Being together for a long time is always helpful and that's why I can only give a lot of praise to Danny Welbeck because I'm very grateful and thankful for what he's done for this club so far. I hope he will get the chance.

He likes scoring against Newcastle too, as you well know from the last few games. That's got to be a factor as well, hasn't it?

It’s definitely a factor. Players always have a feeling when they go to a place, when they face opponents they like to play against and there are weaknesses that they can find against them. It's always important that the players have a good feeling going to a stadium and playing against an opponent they like to play against and that's why he has had some really good performances there. He scored some goals and therefore he always will be an option to start.

You mentioned James Milner not being available with Solly March. Their contracts are up at the end of the season, will they get new deals?

I always handle it the same way. I will never discuss internal things about contracts in the media and the public. What I can say is working with both of them is great. I especially have a good relationship with James Milner, who is a great role model for all the young players, a great role model for everyone in this club who helps me build the right culture and that's impressive. I'm really grateful to work with him. Solly March unfortunately has had a lot of injuries, but what is impressive regarding him is he always comes back, he always fights back and we see his quality. So when he is on the training pitch, also when he has had a few minutes to play for us, then you always see that he can have an impact on our team. That's why we are in an exchange with both of them. They know how we see them, they know how we plan our future.

Can you say anything about the Adam Webster development and Joel Veltman?

Adam Webster had a really tough moment in pre-season. He was a great player for us [last season] especially in the final part of last season. He has such a nice energy, such a positivity and therefore we are in exchange with him. What matters to us is that he should come back as quick as possible to be on a pitch again and to carry on his career. I think that's the most important thing. And regarding Joel, he’s a great team player. He knows the values of this club and he’s very reliable. The best example was against Chelsea when Mats Wieffer had to come off the pitch and then Joel came in and he replaced him in a very impressive way. That's why I think that players who are reliable players, who are team players, are always welcome in my team. Let's see what happens.

You are in great form with six wins from the last eight. Newcastle are in some trouble at the moment, so you must be full of confidence going up there this weekend?

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We are definitely full of confidence but we also have a lot of respect for Newcastle because they have a great squad with great individual quality. Especially in their stadium they play with such an intensity and energy with the crowd behind them. It will be a loud, intense game. So that's why we have to stick to our principles, we have to go there with the belief to win this game, we have to understand there will be a lot of work to do. We have to suffer, we have to play with intensity too. We have to stop their individual quality and then we want to go there and dominate this game, play our game. Then we know that we have a chance to win it.

Earlier this week, the club announced a new women's team stadium right next to the Amex at Falmer. It’s a landmark move and a really good display of how inclusive the club is. What do you think about that?

First of all, I think it's a great step to emphasise the meaning of women's football. It's growing and I think we as a club are a role model for that. We really try to live it day by day. Our women's team have had some great performance recently. They are in the FA Cup semi-finals. So that's why I think they definitely deserve it. They deserve to have a similar stadium like we have. We as a club, it’s known that we always want to grow, want to be innovative and that's why I think it's another great idea, great project from this club. Hopefully it's finished as soon as possible, so that we have two stadiums beside each other and that we can have great events, great games and hopefully the women's team can carry on growing and can achieve great things. I'm very pleased with this project and hopefully it'll be finished soon.

It’s great news regarding Diego Gomez. Is he going to be in the matchday squad in some form tomorrow?

No, not yet. But he will be available next week I think.

The players were delighted to get five days off. It's a nice video that the club put out after the Chelsea game...

It's very important that this time was not a time to relax. This time was to refresh. I think that's a big difference. It's very important that everyone understands that it's about refreshing mentally and physically. We had a really intense game against Chelsea and we tried to use this time to give not only the players, but also the staff who work really hard through the season time off, so that they can really refresh themselves. They came back with a lot of energy, with a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of positivity and that's exactly what we wanted to achieve. We had a good training week and we are prepared as best as possible.

Mats Wieffer came off against Chelsea. How is he doing with that injury?

Good. He trained the whole week. It's a small issue with his ankle. He has had it through the whole season, so we try to keep helping him to keep improving his ankle and he will be available for tomorrow.

If he's involved tomorrow in some form, it'll be his 50th Premier League appearance. The majority of those matches have been in the right back position, which is not his preferred position. Is he gradually coming round to the idea that you like him as a right back?

Mats Wieffer could make his 50th Premier League appearance this weekend. 📸 by James Boardman.

I hope that he also likes playing there. I think that's the most important thing. It's always important to understand the quality and strength from a player and then try to find a good fit for him. We gave him the chance and we saw in him a possible right back because he has some quality we don't have. He adapted quite quickly. Of course, there are always some moments where he can improve. How we want to see our right back is very inverted, so he comes into positions where he is normally a six, especially in an offensive way. That's why we want to give him the freedom so that he can express himself as a midfielder, especially when we have the ball and that's why we also see a lot of actions when he attacks the box, when he's able to create a chance in these areas where normally the sixes are. We try to give him the space and the freedom that he can express himself the best he can do. But overall we are really happy with how he's doing. I think that he’s become more and more to be a right back, although we know he's also a really good midfielder.

Jack Hinshelwood did an interview earlier this week and he mentioned that you'd brought in an MMA fighter to in training to help with the defending. Who was it that you brought in and why?

It was a couple of months ago, so Jack has a good memory. We brought him in because I think we spoke a lot in press conferences about set pieces. Set pieces are about blocking and therefore we try to adapt to it as well. I don't always want to be known as a club that is nice. In certain moments you have to be quite resilient, win your personal duels and there are different ways of being resilient. There are different ways of using a block. There are different ways and techniques to win a one against one duel, especially in set pieces. An MMA fighter always has one against one skill, they always need to find a way to beat their opponent. We try to get ideas from other sports and this was an idea we used in quite an effective way. If players remember, it's always a positive thing. We got some ideas from it, they were helpful for us because we as a club, we were never known as being so dominant at set pieces. We were never known as recruiting only for set pieces. So we need to find ways to be innovative. We need to find ways so that we can't be beaten that easily when we face taller opponents. That's quite similar to what we face against Newcastle, a very physical team. We might not be that physical regarding our height, but there are always ways you can defend, there are always ways you can attack.

With four games left to go over the season, how are you keeping the players focused on this European finish? Because I know you might not want to talk about Europe, but it's very real and you could finish in a Champions League position..

From day one, my approach has never changed. We have this line in our daily business, this line means we will never get too depressed when we have a low, we'll never get too up when we have a high. So it's always about performance. It's always about what can we do today to improve. What you do today is the most important thing. Say it’s only the training session today, this training session is the most important we have in the week. The game tomorrow is the most important game we have, so we always try to really see the short term things and emphasise we have to do our job. We have to focus on the things we can control. We have to focus on performance because that's what we did the whole season. Then we know that we have enough quality, we have enough resilience, we have enough belief in our team that we can get the results we deserve. But results will come when the performance, when the process, when the job you're doing on a daily basis is good.

Carlos Baleba came in for Yasin Ayari last time out. In terms of that performance, how confident are you that he's able to achieve those kind of levels on a more consistent basis?

Carlos Baleba started in the Albion midfield in our 3-0 win over Chelsea last time out. 📸 by Paul Hazlewood.

I'm quite convinced that he will do it because I think we saw the Carlos Baleba from last season [in the win over Chelsea]. We saw him performing on the highest level and especially his body language was something I really liked, because he was really staying alive. He was really energetic and powerful in personal duels. We know he has something that we don't have in our squad. He’s very physical, but you need to use it in the right way. You need to have the right body language, right mindset, that you can use it and that's why I'm really convinced that we will see a Carlos in the final part of the season on the highest level. He gave me the feeling not only in this game but also in the training sessions that he's ready to perform now on his highest level and wants to help the team and have an impact on the final part of the season.

In terms of your goalkeepers, more reports continue about an interest in Bart Verbruggen. Carl Rushworth has achieved promotion with Coventry, who are looking at their Premier League squad for next season. How comfortable are you with where you are at in the situation around your goalkeepers?

Very comfortable, because I have a big trust in my goalkeeping team. Jelle [ten Rowelaar] is doing a fantastic job with Jason Steele and Bart, together with his analysts and his assistant coaches. The goalkeeping team in general have a really high standard in their training sessions. They push each other, they hold each other accountable. For me, it's no surprise that Jason Steele will have a chance to go to the World Cup because he's such a good personality, such a good person who's taking care of having good levels and a good energy in the training sessions and he really pushes to make the next step, to improve every day. That's why I'm seeing it as a really relaxed and really comfortable situation, because I'm sure that Jelle and the recruitment team will make right decisions in the future for finding the best fit for this club’s goalkeeper.

You mentioned about Europe with with four games to go, you could finish third. But you could also finish 16th. Have you ever known anything like that in terms of the proximity between the teams?

No. Now you make me think. But I think it's just confirming and proving again that the Premier League and the season is unbelievably tight. It's unpredictable. That's why you can never get into a comfort zone. You always need to push, you always need to make the next step. You can never be satisfied. You need to play on your highest level, you need to keep doing the small margins right if you want to finish strongly.

Your team have scored quite a few goals in recent games. Is there a new freedom about the team or do you think you're just maybe capitalising on the opportunities that you're creating?

I always emphasise that before we went on this run we had some good performances. The only thing that was missing was that we weren't able to manage the key moments right. Managing the key moments right means that you also have this little bit of luck, that you can score in the right moment, that you use the chances in a more ruthless way. That's the main bit. So we performed well before and we perform well now, but we are able to be more ruthless and more effective. Now we are able to manage the key moments well. That's hopefully what also brings us now the success in the final part of the season.