After a great run of form lifted you to 5th, Brighton are now without a league win in three matches – how would you summarise your season so far?
Frustrating. It feels like the Albion have only played well
in 20 minute patches in most games this season. Yet that has still been enough to climb as high as fifth last month and be will in the fight for a European spot.
If Brighton could extend those 20 minute spells into a half of football or even an hour, it is frightening to think what his group of players could achieve.
Fabian Hürzeler is the youngest manager in the Premier League. How has he got on at Brighton and what factors make him a great coach?
Eighth place in 2024-25 was the second-highest finish in Brighton history and he achieved it with one of the youngest squads in the Premier League in what most Albion fans accepted would be a transitional season.
There have been highs – he has overseen wins over all the European Super League Elite Six accept Arsenal – and some lows. The Albion did not beat any of the relegated sides at home last season and Hurzeler also has the heaviest league defeat in 67 years on his CV from a 7-0 thrashing at Nottingham Forest.
But he is obviously very young, learning on the job. That explains the inconsistency. He also knows he will get more time and patience at Brighton that almost any other club in England. He was clearly appointed for the long-term by Tony Bloom and is doing alright so far.
Sunderland signed Simon Adingra from Brighton this summer and after a good start, he has since lost his place in the side with his poor defensive work rate being an issue. Is this something that he struggled with the Seagulls?
I cannot say I ever noticed a poor defensive work rate from Adingra. The one thing that was clear when he was at Brighton was he was nowhere near as effective down the right as he is on the left. Which was a bit of an issue as he was never going to usurp Kaoru Mitoma down that flank for the Albion.
Going the other way, our promotion hero Tommy Watson signed for Brighton, but has had limited first-team opportunities. What have you thought of him when he’s played so far and do you think he’ll go on loan in January?
Hurzeler seems to view him as exclusively a left winger which again means he has the Mitoma-factor against him. And unfortunately for Watson, he managed to get injured at virtually the same time as Mitoma. Otherwise, we might have seen a bit more of him than we already have.
That being said, Brighton are very cautious in hope they bed young players into the Premier League. Moises Caicedo had to wait 18 months before becoming a regular and Alexis Mac Allister over two years.
For a more current example, the Albion spent £51 million combined on two Greek teenage strikers in the summer – Stefanos Tzimas and Charalampos Kostoulas. Hurzeler has given them one Premier League start between them.
Watson has clearly been bought with the future in mind and presumably, the possibility Mitoma moves onto bigger and better things as he deserves too. From the little seen of him in a Brighton shirt so far, Watson looks exciting and would be an intriguing replacement.
Jason Steele won’t have fond memories of Wearside. But since leaving, he has made 35 Premier League appearances and also played in the Europa League with Brighton. Are you surprised looking back to initial expectations as to how good a signing he’s been?
I always remember when we spoke to you guys about Steele after he signed for Brighton and somebody said they could not believe any club were willing to pay more than a pack of Space Raiders for him.
He was bought in as third choice to tick the English quota box, worked his way up the pecking order and then Roberto De Zerbi loved what Steele could do with the ball at his feet, so threw him in as number one.
I really like Steele for a couple of reasons. The first is that he is so entertaining. One minute he will make a superb save, the next a horrific mistake. Probably not want the manager wants necessarily, but how can you not love a bloke who drops a clanger to gift Newport County a last minute equaliser in the FA Cup – but then goes and saves four penalties in the shootout he caused?
He is also a brilliant professional. Finding a quality goalkeeper good enough to play but also willing to sit on the bench is tough. Brighton fell on their feet with Steele – although nobody would have predicted that back in 2018.
Another former player of ours, Danny Welbeck, is enjoying his most consistent goal-scoring season so far at Brighton despite now being 35. What makes him such a great striker?
Welbeck is one of those players you can only truly appreciate if you watch him live. The stuff he does off the ball is different class; the way he creates space with his movement or tracks back does not get picked up by the television cameras.
Obviously, he is a quality finisher and I think Brighton are benefitting from the work they put into getting him fit. It was the Albion who sent him for hamstring surgery in 2021, an operation which seems to have sorted out all the other issues he suffered from.
And those injuries earlier in his career mean he does not have as many miles on the clock as other 35-year-olds. Hopefully, he can keep going for a few more years yet.
Aside from the above-mentioned players, who do you think will cause Sunderland problems on Saturday?
Yankubu Minteh on his day is one of the most electric wingers in the Premier League. He is extremely inconsistent though, so it will depend which Minteh turns up.
Probably not what you want to hear with him having played for the Saudi Sportswashers.
Both Lewis Dunk and Diego Gomez are suspended for the match, while Carlos Beleba will also be at AFCON. How big a miss will those three be?
Dunk will be the biggest miss of the three based on the past month. Before that though, he had looked very much like a player whose powers were on the wane hurtling into his mid-30s.
Baleba has been pretty awful all season since not getting his summer move to Manchester United, culminating in being dropped recently. Gomez meanwhile is a bit hit and miss. He scored four at Barnsley in the Carabao Cup, two against Leeds but then missed an open goal from six yards out at Liverpool last weekend.
If you were Regis Le Bris, how would you set up to beat Brighton?
Sit back and play on the counter. Hurzeler has beaten Manchester City twice, Manchester United, Chelsea twice, Liverpool, Spurs and Newcastle at the Amex. All sides who came and attacked.
He has failed to beat Ipswich, Leicester, Wolves, Southampton, Fulham, West Ham… all opponents who sat back and invited Brighton to break them down. The Albion struggle to do that and are usually then good for giving away a goal at the other end.
How would you describe Brighton’s style of play and what would your starting XI be?
Trying to identify a style of play is difficult – and that has been one of the biggest criticisms of Hurzeler, that Brighton do not really have an identity under him. Certainly compared to under De Zerbi or Graham Potter before he slithered off to Chelsea.
As for starting XI… I would expect something like Bart Verbruggen in goal. Mats Wieffer, Jan Paul van Hecke, Olivier Boscagli and Ferdi Kadioglu as back four. Jack Hinshelwood and Yasin Ayarin in midfield. Minteh right, Georginio Rutter in the 10, Maxim De Cuyper left and Welbeck up top.
It will be the first time the two sides have played one another since 2011 – what is your prediction for the final score?
A 1-1 draw. Probably followed by Brighton winning away at Arsenal next week.
