What's behind Brighton's good start under Fabian Hürzeler?
The hype around Roberto De Zerbi had reached such a fever pitch at one point last season, it seemed inevitable he would move from Brighton to one of the illustrious vacant jobs at that time.
There was even a Jurgen Klopp endorsement in one of his final Liverpool games: "I told De Zerbi to keep turning the football world upside down."
The maverick Italian’s vibrant, daring and innovative style of football had propelled him to fame at Brighton and was taking the footballing world by storm.
The former Sassuolo manager and shrewd Brighton owner Tony Bloom eventually parted ways over disagreements in how the club should operate in the transfer market.
De Zerbi guided the club to Europe for the first time intending to push on ambitiously and sign established talent away from Brighton’s tried and tested model of signing those considered highly-rated and developing them.
Bloom on the other hand believed in sticking to the successful formula that had got the club to where they are.
Losing such an acclaimed manager that had brought success to the club wasn’t easy, but the greatest compliment you can pay Bloom and Brighton is that no one is talking about them missing De Zerbi.
Instead the club is thriving, seven points off top of the Premier League table, two off the Champions League spots with victories over Tottenham and Manchester United and it could’ve been even better if not for a dramatic late collapse at Wolves over the weekend.
Fabian Hurzeler may be the Premier League’s youngest manager ever but you wouldn’t think it from the way he’s seamlessly transitioned into his new role.
Europe’s second highest spenders
Ironically, and possibly to send a message to De Zerbi who frequently made his irritancy at the lack of activity in the transfer market public, Tony Bloom splashed the cash this summer.
Brighton became Europe’s second highest spenders after Chelsea, forking out approximately £200 million.
The Seagulls always had a first eleven that can cause any team problems, but once injuries to a few key players occurred last season, the squad was woefully exposed, that has now changed with added depth coming in.
Georginio Rutter was signed for a club record of £40 million and is gaining more first team minutes with the forward able to take the pressure off Joao Pedro.
Yankuba Minteh added for £30 million from Newcastle has been hailed as one of the potential breakout stars of the league, whilst adding Turkish midfielder Ferdi Kadioglu from Fenerbahce, German attacking midfielder Brajan Guda from Mainz and Dutch midfielder Mats Wieffer from Feyenoord for £25 million each indicates a sign of intent.
It signals that Brighton want to compete in Europe consistently and aren’t afraid to buy more established talent as well as still buying youth prospects in order to develop them.
For instance, Brighton also signed midfielder Malick Yaclouye from IFK Goteborg and forward Ibrahim Osman from Nordsjaelland, immediately loaning both out to Sturm Graz and Feyenoord for the season.
They hope that both develop into Premier League ready talents in the same mould of Moises Caicedo and Kaoru Mitoma, who had spells in the Belgium first division before they became established top level players.
Brighton are one of the smartest clubs in the world when it comes to player trading as the expenditure has mainly been financed from the outgoings of the last two seasons.
The sales of Marc Cucurella, Leandro Trossard, Caicedo, Alexis Mac Allister and Robert Sanchez has brought a huge injection of cash whilst they’ve bought players for cheap and developed them.
They can now afford to reap the benefits of their strategic plan and have beefed up their squad in the process.
More use of full-backs and wide wingers
Hurzeler has Mitoma, Rutter, Minteh, Simon Adingra and Kadioglu who can play on the wings at his disposal, not to mention Solly March who is currently sidelined.
There has been a clear shift from Brighton to use the flanks more in attacks, encouraging the full-backs to push higher and wider or drop deep for the ball.
Against Chelsea, Kadioglu dropped deep for the ball as an inverted full-back, as he turned and received he could play Mitoma on the opposite wing.
While this happened, Danny Welbeck was busy making a run in between Chelsea’s centre-backs.
It’s all about getting it to one of Brighton’s dangerous wingers and then using an overlapping full-back to overload these areas, alongside using a striker in Welbeck to occupy the centre-backs before crossing into the box where a winger on the opposite side has also joined to flood the box.
The plethora of players at Brighton who can play on the wing emphasises Hurzeler’s insistence on using the flanks dangerously, as crossing and dribble stats have increased for Brighton in comparison to last season.
If you have Mitoma, Adingra, Rutter and Minteh, why wouldn’t you try get the ball to them as quickly as possible?
Utilising a high line
One of the interesting additions from Hurzeler that has resulted in chaotic results has been Brighton’s high line.
Though they are catching teams offside more, in games against Chelsea and Tottenham the high line was clearly exposed, so much so that Hurzeler mentioned how surprised he was at Chelsea constantly taking advantage of it.
Though Brighton will not face attacks like Chelsea every week, Nottingham Forest also had forwards like Anthony Elanga and Morgan Gibbs-White run in behind Brighton’s defence which isn’t the quickest, making it harder for them to track runners once they have beaten the offside trap.
Counter-pressing is a huge part of Hurzeler’s attacking philosophy and it doesn’t feel as though Brighton have reached the levels needed to press teams high up the pitch.
Perhaps once this increases and he has more time with his team, the high line will become more effective, as it will be interesting to see how Hurzeler refines this as the season progresses.
For now, Brighton have proved once again with their good start that regardless of who they sell or who leaves, be it a star midfielder or charismatic manager, the Brighton machine will continue rumbling on.
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