Brighton coach Hurzeler calls for consistency and improved fitness after the stalemate at Arsenal
Fabian Hurzeler is calling for more consistency from his Brighton players and admits their fitness needs to improve despite their strong second-half performance in a 1-1 home draw against title contenders Arsenal.
Ironically, the Seagulls have remained largely consistent with their recent results, drawing six of their last eight Premier League games.
But such a run has not resulted in a league win since the end of November. And it proved to be a familiar result after Joao Pedro’s penalty just after the hour canceled out Ethan Nwaneri’s opener at the Amex Stadium on Saturday.
Despite a strong start to the season, Brighton are now slipping down the table. They are currently in tenth place.
FT: Another well-deserved point against Arsenal. 🤝
(1-1) 📲 #BHAARS // #BHAFC 🔵⚪️ pic.twitter.com/Hvip9KAe8l
— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) January 4, 2025
And Hurzeler, the youngest permanent Premier League manager ever at 31, admits he is frustrated after raising the same issues every week.
“Yes, I think it should be more,” Hurzeler told Sky Sports after being asked if his side should have taken more than a point against the Gunners.
“I stand here after games and feel like I have to repeat myself all the time and that’s obviously a disappointing feeling.
“The big word for us is to be more consistent. Try to play the whole 90 minutes with the identity you want to play and then hopefully we will get the results we expect.
“We had to invest a lot to get back (in the game). We came back but weren’t clean enough in the final third.
“We had great chances and I think against Arsenal you have to use the momentum to win the game and today we couldn’t do that.”
Room for improvement
One area of improvement that the Brighton manager believes could help solve the consistency problem is his squad’s fitness.
But he is aware that improving players’ physical condition is not a quick fix and that it will take time to see real progress.
Hurzeler said: “(Fitness level) could be one of the reasons why we are not able to play consistently for 90 minutes.” The game we want to play is intense, the game has to be intense when you’re high want to press.
“You have to run a lot and at high speeds. We are not yet where we should be, but it is a process. We needed a lot of physicality for this game and in some moments we struggled and couldn’t maintain that physical level for 90 minutes.
“That’s why we’re still working on it and using the training time to improve it.”
Brighton are next in action when they face Championship side Norwich City in the third round of the FA Cup on January 11.
