Fabian Hurzeler has gone and done it now! The German head coach at Brighton & Hove Albion has put the kibosh on any chatter about making it to Europe. He reckons all this talk is just getting in the way of the club’s real goal of getting better and better.
Under the previous head coach, Roberto De Zerbi, Brighton made it to Europe for the first time by finishing sixth in the 2022-23 season, earning themselves a spot in the Europa League. Fast forward to now, they’re sitting pretty in ninth place with four games left to play, still in the running for a spot in the Europa Conference League in Hurzeler’s debut season in charge.
But Hurzeler ain’t having any of this Europe talk. He told The Athletic during a presser before the Newcastle United match, “We talk too much about that, and I try to avoid it now, because I think you get distracted by thoughts like this.” He’s all about focusing on what they can control – their performance, training, preparation, and how they play on matchdays.
According to Hurzeler, “The thing we can influence is our performance, how we train, how we prepare, how we play on a matchday, how we can do the things we want to do on the pitch.” He believes that by staying focused on the present, they can achieve great things without getting bogged down by lofty European dreams.
Hurzeler has made sure to drill this into his players too. He wants them concentrating on the upcoming match against Newcastle, who are gunning for a spot in the Champions League. He’s not interested in hearing about how close they are to Europe or the Champions League. He wants them to focus on the here and now.
The coach expressed, “Everyone knows the expectations, we all want to achieve the same thing. We know how we can make our supporters proud, but the only thing we can influence is the next game, the game on Sunday, and we really try to focus on that.” It’s all about taking it one game at a time and giving it their all on the pitch.
Hurzeler is adamant that all this talk about Europe is taking away from their growth and progress as a team. He’s concerned that they’re losing sight of what they can learn from each game and how they can improve in the next one. He emphasized, “Sometimes I have the feeling we get a little bit distracted from our development, from our process, from our focus, and therefore I want to really focus on ourselves in the last games, to focus on the things we can influence on the pitch, and then let’s see what we get out (of it) at the end of the season.”
In the world of sports reporting, Andy Naylor is a legend. With 32.5 years under his belt at The Argus, Brighton’s daily newspaper, 25 of which were spent as the chief sports reporter, he’s the go-to guy for all things Brighton and Hove Albion FC. You can catch Andy on Twitter @AndyNaylorBHAFC, where he shares his insights and updates on the team.
