For Fabian Hürzeler the heat is on, and at the Amex on Sunday it was inescapable. With his team chasing the game against Crystal Palace, the heckling from the home end began. “You don’t know what you’re doing” was among the disgruntled chants before boos engulfed him at full time.
Brighton’s form has declined over the past three months. They have won only one of their past 12 league matches, and that was against lowly Burnley. Those matches have mainly been tight — only one was a defeat by more than one-goal margin, against Liverpool at Anfield — while six have been draws.
But they have taken nine points since the start of December and now sit 14th in the table. Before this spell, they were fifth. This is not what we have been accustomed to from the poster boys of the Premier League’s middle class. For nearly a decade their trajectory has been upwards.
At 32, Hürzeler is younger than a number of his squad, in particular the 40-year-old Milner
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Unsurprisingly, Hürzeler, 32, the youngest manager in the Premier League, is under pressure. Brighton finished eighth last season, narrowly missing out on the European places, and the ambition was to either match or improve on that this term. Sitting eight points above the drop zone was not in the forecast, and the fans have certainly picked their target. Hürzeler has shouldered the blame, saying: “It isn’t an easy situation to take, but in the end I will absorb the criticism.”
But should he take all of the flak? There are challenges to managing Brighton, despite their perceived infallibility in recruitment. Roberto De Zerbi, Hürzeler’s predecessor, made transitioning from one coach and one set of players to another look simple, taking in his stride the departure of 30 players and backroom staff to achieve the club’s best league finish and European qualification.
But following De Zerbi has been difficult. Hürzeler actually picked up more points from his first 50 games than the Italian — with four more draws (80 points to 76). But he does not have De Zerbi’s charisma, and on the field his team do not play with the same personality. Brighton, under De Zerbi, were eye-catching and bold with their man-for-man press and slick attacking patterns. Today, in the midst of a difficult run, Brighton’s identity is much harder to discern.
They remain an aggressive pressing team — only Chelsea allow opponents more passes before they are pressed — but that has not always translated into improvements in the final third. They are seventh for shot-ending high turnovers, yet conversely, they tend to construct more methodical passing moves instead of direct attacks, for which they rank 15th.
They rank sixth in the league for passing sequences of more than ten exchanges, and sixth for build-up attacks — yet they have not scored a goal from a single one. They battle well, fight and compete in duels, but are muddled going forward.
Their attack has been the team’s biggest flaw — their conversion rate compared with last year has dropped significantly, from 12.4 per cent to 10.5 per cent (from eighth in the league to 15th). They remain reliant on Danny Welbeck, 35, in attack, their top goalscorer with nine goals. Charalampos Kostoulas was signed from Olympiacos last summer for about £30million but is only 18 and has scored only two league goals, while Georginio Rutter, the £40million club-record signing, is not really a No9. He has not kicked on under Hürzeler and Sunday was a case in point: in an attacking midfield role against Palace, he completed five passes in 82 minutes.
There is a sense that De Zerbi, with the peak of his squad, had a stronger starting XI — which of course included João Pedro, Moises Caicedo and Alexis Mac Allister — than Hürzeler has had at his disposal. But Hürzeler’s tenure began with a £200million outlay and since his appointment in 2024, Brighton have spent nearly £300million, an unprecedented amount for the south-coast club.
There is a case to say their recruitment has not struck gold as it has in the past. Rutter was part of that 2024 summer splurge. Yankuba Minteh has proven a successful signing, as has Ferdi Kadioglu, albeit belatedly after serious injury. The eight other recruits have been a mixed bag or a slow burn — Matt O’Riley and Brajan Gruda, both signed for more than £25million, have been sent out on loan this season, to Marseille and RB Leipzig, respectively.
Kadioglu has been one of the few successful signings in recent times, with Brighton having spent nearly £300million since Hürzeler’s arrival
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It is hard to keep regenerating a squad. There are more teams mirroring Brighton’s model; Bournemouth, Brentford, Palace and the big boys too, such as Chelsea, are all fishing in the same pond. Departures have also hurt, with João Pedro a big miss.
But there is also an argument to say that Hürzeler is not getting enough from this squad. There is a feeling that there is more strength in depth than under De Zerbi, but it is hard to pick out the next Caicedo or Mac Allister. Carlos Baleba’s form has oscillated, while Kaoru Mitoma’s star has waxed and waned because of injuries.
Improving the value of players is inevitably key to the Brighton model. The concern for Hürzeler is that, for as much as the 2024 investment was designed in part to take advantage of Profitability and Sustainability Rules headroom created by those record-breaking sales, which needed to be used within the three-year rolling period, it was also meant to help Brighton to take the next step forward.
Lewis Dunk and Milner reflect on defeat by Fulham at Craven Cottage last month after they had led for much of the game
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The target this season was to challenge for Europe, and Tony Bloom, the club’s owner, will surely have expected more of a return from his outlay — particularly with those clubs with bigger pockets again faltering and a door to Europe sitting ajar.
There is no panic at Brighton, who will review the situation at the end of the season. There have been elements of misfortune — an offside denying a winner for Welbeck away to Fulham only two weeks ago emblematic of those fine margins — and there is realism about mistakes that young players can make, and have made.
But results can always change the story. Hürzeler will need to inspire confidence. He has a strong personality and such intensity can come across as prickly, and not always warm.
That Brighton are looking downwards at the moment, after years of looking the other way, underlines why he is under pressure. “It’s the hardest moment,” Hürzeler said. “But it’s also the moment where I try to get the most out of it, where I learn the most and I will grow the most. So therefore I will face this adversity and I’ll get through it.”