Hurzeler has issues but has to be pleased with Brighton’s start
After a number of years of being successfully run and in many ways, showing Premier League rivals how to manage growth alongside the finances, Brighton and Hove Albion took a more unexpected pivot over the summer as they replaced the outgoing Roberto De Zerbi with basically an even bigger unknown in the shape of Fabian Hurzeler.
Brighton have consistently got their managerial appointments right for basically the last decade going back to the success that they first tasted under Chris Hughton, but with the selections of Graham Potter, De Zerbi and now Hurzeler, they have also managed to unearth future, quite cost effective gems that have then been developed and made a name for themselves in the English top flight and have been snapped up for big money, that more comfortably enables Brighton to continue with their own plan both on and off the pitch.
That is a trick, allied to their managerial changes, that few other clubs have been able to pull off particularly whilst competing at the Premier League level, and now pretty regularly challenging in the top half for the European competition places – and let us not forget Brighton enjoyed a maiden Europa League adventure back in the 2023/24 campaign and have also had some good Cup runs.
With the appointment of the former Under 19 German international midfielder, they not only selected the youngest ever Premier League manager in its history since the rebrand back in the early 1990’s, they also broke with a bit of tradition and spent heavily on players on the 31 year old’s arrival in the job and whilst he has naturally struggled to adjust to the division, Brighton are again more than in the mix under him.
As he made his own adjustments, he was also bedding in almost £200 million worth of new talent, and the players have had to have their own bedding in period as they adjusted to a new division as well but they still find themselves in seventh place in the table again.
You can see how online bookers Betway are rating them this season and where the money is for the final position, bearing in mind they are only a point off the top five and eleven points behind Arne Slot’s league leaders Liverpool.
It is certainly looking like a very good debut season for the former Bayern Munich youngster and they could be set for a very interesting second half of the campaign if their form continues – albeit they have had a little bit of a results wobble in recent matches and have developed a tendency to drop points late on from a winning position (14 points in total so far, the most in the league).
The wobble itself is probably understandable when you factor in the fact that Brighton actually sit top of the injury table for the current campaign, and with 17 injuries so far they have lost a total of 638 player days.
The nearest to them, and in second place, is Ipswich Town who have also had 17 injuries, but their days lost amounts to significantly less at 530.
Whilst fans in the wider world of football will be very familiar with certain managers talking about the fixture list, their travel commitments and how hard their preparations have been hit by players needing to spend time on the side lines, Hurzeler has been one of those few managers who refuses to blame what is a natural part of the game despite being the hardest hit side to date.
Presumably their injury situation will improve in the New Year, so it will be interesting to see what happens to their form in the next few months and where they end up finally finishing.
