With Fabian Hurzeler officially appointed the next head coach of Brighton, what impact might the new man might have on current Albion players?
Hurzeler’s style of play is similar to Roberto De Zerbi. Good news for a squad which played such devastating football under the fiery Italian when not ravaged by injuries.
Expect Brighton to keep the ball at the back with short, often risky passes between defenders. When the opposition are then lured into pressing, Hurzeler’s St Pauli would change pace and rapidly break through the spaces offered.
There are though differences between the two head coaches. Whereas DeZerbiBall was at its brilliant best in a 4-2-3-1 formation, Hurzeler preferred 3-4-3 at St Pauli.
Most interesting from a Brighton perspective is Hurzeler developed a Plan B capable of overcoming opponents who sit back, never taking the bait of pressing.
The Albion under De Zerbi tended to struggle against such opposition. Not so St Pauli, who swept virtually every club aside on their way from Bundesliga 2 relegation candidates to champions inside 18 months.
If Fabian Hurzeler deploys the same tactics and style of play which were so successful at Hamburg’s cult club, these three Brighton players in particular can find themselves thriving under his management.
Jan Paul van Hecke
Jan Paul van Hecke loves to charge out of defence with the ball at his feet. We saw that in glorious technicolour when the Albion won 4-2 in the third round of the FA Cup at Stoke City in January.
For the fourth Brighton goal, Van Hecke found himself embarking on a mazy run. He exchanged passes with Pascal Gross and the next thing you knew, he was breaking the Potters offside trap as the furthest Brighton player forward.
One low cross into the box later and Van Hecke had an assist for Joao Pedro’s second goal of the afternoon. A centre back popping up on the right wing to set up a goal is not something you see every day.
Although maybe Albion fans will in future. A key component of the way St Pauli played under Hurzeler was defender Eric Smith moving out of the back three to become an additional midfielder whenever the team were in possession.
Sometimes, the desire to overload became so strong that St Pauli ended up playing in effect a 2-2-6 formation. Two remaining centre backs, one centre back joining a holding midfielder and everyone else buggering off to join the front line.
Van Hecke has proven he can do a job in midfield before. When Brighton’s injury crisis reached its nadir in late February, De Zerbi had him moonlight as a central midfielder away at Fulham.
If Fabian Hurzeler rates the Dutch defenders ability to do a job there as highly as De Zerbi, Van Hecke can become one of the most important players for Brighton next season.
Valentin Barco
News flash – Valentin Barco is good at football. As the 2023-24 campaign petered out into nothingness, his performances towards the end against Chelsea and Manchester United provided some rare excitement.
Barco looked capable of making something happen whenever he was on the attack. Which was quite a lot. Less convincing was the defensive side of his game. At only 19-years-old, he clearly has plenty of time to work on that.
Playing as a wing back in Hurzeler’s 3-4-3, any defensive frailties will matter less than as a proper left back in a four. Good news for Barco.
Even better news is the way Hurzeler uses his wing backs. They are often pushed up as high as possible, alongside the forwards.
When opponents were dragged wide to cut out the threat posed by St Pauli’s wing backs, it created a lot of space in the middle.
If they decide to ignore the wing backs and stop St Pauli playing through the middle, the right diagonal pass out wide suddenly left said wing backs one-on-one with space to advance into.
Barco using his searing pace and box of tricks under Hurzeler, taking on an opposition full back after being found by a Lewis Dunk spreading the play out to the left? Yes please.
Evan Ferguson
Up until the end of November, Evan Ferguson was the hottest teenager in British football. Three goals against Newcastle United in September saw him join an exclusive club of four teenagers to score a Premier League hat-trick. His 11 goals in 2023 were the joint-most by a teenager alongside Wayne Rooney.
In many ways, Ferguson going off the boil from December onwards reflected what happened to Brighton. He did not score in any competition for club or country after netting in the crazy 3-2 win at Nottingham Forest on November 25th.
Some critics have said it proves Ferguson was nothing more than a flash in the pan. The next Federico Macheda. Or worse, the next Aaron Connolly. There are even Brighton fans who think Ferguson should be sold.
The reality is that almost all young players go through peaks and troughs when they are learning the game. Ferguson will be a better player for the experience.
Not to mention he was seemingly playing through injury for most of the second half of the campaign. This eventually led to his season coming to a premature close at the end of March.
Out of all Brighton players, Ferguson is the one who looks like he can benefit most from Fabian Hurzeler. The new head coach’s ability to coax the best out of individuals and in particular young players can help Ferguson rediscover the form which saw him linked with a £100 million move to Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea.
Through the early part of the 2023-24 Bundesliga 2 season, St Pauli struggled for goals. They failed to score in three of their opening four matches.
It was when Hurzeler introduced Johannes Eggestein as main striker through the middle that the goals started flowing.
Eggestein had shown promise earlier in his career but had become something of a forgotten man now aged 25 at St Pauli.
His movement off the ball, willingness in dropping deep to link the play and hold up ability proved perfectly suited to Hurzeler’s 3-4-3.
Ferguson excels in all those areas and is a remarkably intelligent footballer for one so young. It is easy to imagine him doing as much damage dragging opponents out of position off-the-ball as he does on it.
Hurzeler also did wonders for Eggestein’s confidence. Whilst being only 31 has raised questions over how he might command the respect of senior professionals older than him, on the flip side he finds it easier to connect and understand young players.
Once Eggestein started scoring under Hurzeler, he plundered seven goals in his first eight appearances of the campaign.
You suspect Ferguson will embark on a similar prolific spell as soon as he gets the monkey of this long run without scoring off his back. Over to you, Herr Hurzeler.
