Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler has been speaking to the media before Sunday’s FA Cup game against Manchester United at Old Trafford (kick-off 16:30 GMT).
Here are the key lines from his news conference:
On team news: “We need to see how far Yankubah Minteh is today in the training session. It’s a dead leg. So it can be like a chance, there’s a possibility, but we have to really like see how he is. Babis [Kostoulas Charalampous] and Joel [Veltman] should be available, so they should be an option to start the game.”
Hurzeler revealed there will be “changes” to his starting XI, but stressed that the FA Cup is a competition Brighton “take very seriously”, with opportunities handed only to players who “really deserve it”.
On facing a Premier League team away from home: “On the one side, you can’t complain; on the other side, if you want to achieve something, you have to beat the best teams, you have to beat the best challengers. So that’s why we’re not the club that complains about these kinds of things; these are just circumstances we can’t change, so we have to accept these kinds of things. Of course, the travels are more intense than if you play at home. I think that’s normal, but like I just mentioned, it’s not an excuse. We go there to get to the next round.”
Hurzeler said he is aware that Brighton have never beaten Manchester United in the FA Cup and plans to use that as motivation to “go there and change it”, adding that his side know they are “capable of going there and winning this game”.
Hurzeler also praised the “attitude” of Diego Gomez despite the midfielder missing a good chance against Manchester City. The Brighton head coach said Gomez “gets an understanding how important it is to attack the opponent’s box and to be in this position” and, while he was “unlucky” to miss the opportunity, praised his approach to “keep trying”.
On facing Man Utd with a new head coach: “It’s difficult to say because on the one side the players didn’t change. So we will face the same quality we faced under Ruben [Amorim]. Of course, I just mentioned that they changed the system. I don’t know how they will face us. We saw only one game against Burnley. It’s difficult to get so many conclusions out of one game, but the main thing is really what we can really control – is how we prepare for that game, how we step into this game, what our mindset is, how is our standard, how are our actions regarding the things we can control and then we might have to react to them in the half-time, but before that, it’s really difficult to prepare, only because of one game.”
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