Bobby Zamora lifted the lid on his return to Brighton and the impact of ‘amazing’ new boss Fabian Hurzeler.
Zamora spent four years at Brighton over two separate spells, scoring 51 goals in 108 appearances on the south coast.
The 43-year-old who retired from football in 2016, has recently returned to the club as part of Hurzeler’s backroom team which emphasis on further improving the club’s attacking fortunes.
And it appears his influence is paying off with fifth-placed Brighton having netted 14 times in eight league games this season.
Zamora has been tasked with coaching the club’s strikers in similar fashion to the way goalkeepers have individual coaches and the ex-Premier League marksman believes attackers, like goalkeepers, also hold unique positions.
“Fabian likes the idea of defenders, centre-midfielders, wingers and attackers working on their art,” Zamora told talkSPORT. “Goalkeepers have their own coach and trainer as its a very specialised position”
“But I feel that strikers certainly are that as well,” he added. “They can make or break seasons, championships, finals by that one drop of a ball and over the course of a week’s training I remember not getting too many shots.
“That’s where you have to grab your bag of balls after training and have your shots and get those in where you can.”
He continued: “The problem now with modern-day football is the training sessions are monitored and work-load is monitored so much that the sports science guys say ‘listen, you’ve done enough, you can’t do any more’.
“It’s nice and slightly refreshing for me to come in and say ‘we’re going to work in a different way’, maybe we take you out of certain sessions and work on your art.
“We’re not talking about smashing balls, we’re talking about little movements, ideas and positioning.”
Zamora has quickly got up to speed with Hurzeler playing philosophy of fluidity in possession while adopting an aggressive pressing style in order to disrupt their opponents and win the ball back quickly.
3
That involves an abundance of work and clever positioning off the ball from his front men, something that has required Zamora to analyse in depth with the club’s array of talent including Danny Welbeck, Evan Ferguson and Joao Pedro.
“Fabian’s been fantastic with me,” he said. “He really wants me to get involved and analyse the previous game, upcoming games and speak to the strikers.
“I’m not there preaching. I say ‘listen, what do you want to work on? How can we improve it?’ Then try to help the strikers and the club all in one.
“One of Fabian’s main points is hard work off the ball and for strikers, getting back behind the ball and making sure it’s hard to concede goals.
“It surprised me when I looked into Danny’s stats that he’d never scored ten Premier League goals in a season.
“For me, it was like ‘can we help Danny get ten. I’d love to be able to see that but watching and studying him, I realised why he hadn’t because he works so hard for the team and defensively for Brighton and all the other teams he’s played for previously.
“That contributes massively to when the ball is up the other end of the pitch. Are you sharp? Are you ready? Can you finish that one opportunity?
3
“Danny’s started the season fantastically and I’ve been in there maybe six weeks now and I’m just starting to build relationships with the guys so I can help the strikers and the team achieve their goals.
Asked about Hurzeler’s impact since arriving at the club from Bundesliga new-boys St. Pauli this summer, Zamora said: “He’s a real inspiration. Seeing him work, he’s so energetic, so enthusiastic and completely absorbed in succeeding and doing well.
“I think he’s an amazing appointment and I really see bright things for the club.”
