What Fabian Hurzeler said at his pre-Wolves press conference

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2025-10-02T14:00+01:00

Fabian Hurzeler pre-Wolves press conference

What is the latest team news ahead of Wolves?

Joel Veltman has a small calf issue and he won’t be available. Kaoru Mitoma has an issue with his ankle and he is being monitored on a day-to-day basis. Jack Hinshelwood is progressing well and hopefully we will see him soon after the international break. In terms of Joel, we have options in that position with Max [De Cuyper] and Ferdi Kadioglu.

The mood in the squad must be high after beating Chelsea?

I think every win gives you confidence. Every win creates a good energy and a great atmosphere, but it should not be only about the result. I think we should also focus on our performance and on how we faced adversity, especially in the first half, against Chelsea and how we overcame it.

I think we could have more points, but in the end I always try to emphasise the process, the work ethic and see how much effort they put into every training week and every game. I'm quite happy how they work together, how they stick together and how they try to put their energy on the pitch.

After his two goals from the bench is Danny Welbeck in your thinking for a place in the starting XI?

He's always in my thinking. He’s a great player, a great goalscorer. Of course, we have to sometimes make tough decisions in selection regarding the next opponent … what do we need, how we want to play, what is their set-up?

There are several factors we have to go through before we make that decision. But he's always a factor in my head, and he will be always a key player for us. He brings plenty of experience which he shares. He's also someone who really takes care of his teammates and supports the whole environment and the atmosphere in the building.

Yankuba Minteh is in great form at the moment. What has he changed in terms of his development this season?

He is doing the easy things right and getting a better understanding of how he can bring his danger into our game. And on top of that I think there’s more consistency in how he takes care of his body and how he behaves. Now it's about him staying really humble and working hard because we know that it can also go quite quickly in the other direction. We have to all make sure that he keeps the momentum that he stays in the flow.

What do you make of Wolves so far this season?

When you only look at their results you might think it's an easy opponent. But in every game I have seen so far by them they had a chance to win. They play good football, they were very stable out of possession and they don't give away a lot of chances. They have a lot of players who attack the box, so it's not easy to defend the box against them.

Then they have really good strikers and a lot of physicality on the pitch. Their back line is quite fast. They have a good coach, so we have to be ready to play at the highest level. We know that we should never underestimate any opponent in the Premier League. We have to push our limits.

How important is it not to rely on like one individual player? You have had eight different goal scorers already this season with everybody chipping in.

It’s so important because it emphasises that everyone in this squad is important.

It's not a one man show, especially here in Brighton. It's always the team first. You can be disappointed if you're not playing, but you have to ready to accept a role for the team. And then when the team plays well then you can shine as an individual.

You’ve already beaten Man City and Chelsea this season but your record against the sides in the lower half of the table is not so good. Is that just a coincidence?

I think there’s a long answer I could give but, to make it short, of course you can overanalyse these kind of results. There’s also a little bit of truth so we have to face both parts.

We know that we have to have a different approach. We know that on Sunday we have to play with the same intensity as we played last week. It starts in the head and with the mindset - how you approach, how you prepare. I wouldn't say that it's a habit that we're not able to beat these teams, but for sure we have to do better in the future. And there are several ways to find a solution to do that.