Fabian Hürzeler: A Retrospective Look
Player-Profiling, Defensive Woes, The Future
Okay, let’s address the elephant in the room.
Brighton’s results have been pretty awful recently. And the performances warrant those outcomes. But do those outcomes warrant criticisms of Fabian Hürzeler?
From player profiling to structural issues, let’s take a look at the good, the bad and the ugly (minus Clint Eastwood) of Fabian Hürzeler’s tenure at Brighton.
Player-Profiling and Roles
Here’s a brief look at one of Brighton’s build-up sequences. I’ll elaborate on this positionally, but for some context:
All radars and bar charts have been taken from mclachbot and fbref.
FBs — Estupiñán and Kadioğlu :
Both fullbacks stay relatively wide as Verbruggen passes out from the back, cut inside as soon as van Hecke (or Dunk) receives the ball, and congest narrow passing lanes, allowing both wingers to run high up the pitch. Once play is settled, both run high and wide to overlap Mitoma and the RW (both Georginio and Minteh cut inside a LOT), hence holding width.
A role that suits both Estupiñán’s underlapping tendencies and Kadioğlu’s ability to invert and overlap.
We’ve also seen Veltman invert as a defensive decoy from time to time, so point one to Hürzeler for match-specific tweaks.
CBs — Dunk and van Hecke:
Dunk and van Hecke get a lot of responsibility on the ball. But it’s not just your simple build-out-from-the-back stubbornness. You see, van Hecke’s EXCELLENT at driving forward with the ball, and he makes as much use of this as he can. He carries the ball, Dunk sits a little deeper (as a sweeper, which… is a concern, what with age and pace), and van Hecke can help offset a mid block with a long ball over the top.
But for all the good this creates, I’m worried about the implications of the defence on the CBs. More on that in a bit.
DM — Baleba/Wieffer:
Both Baleba and Wieffer are excellent at ball-carrying and counterpressing to win duels. So they both get the freedom to do this. When in settled possession, they drive forward and counterpress to win position high up the pitch. The pitch is naturally congested with both fullbacks sitting narrow, so there are plenty of passing options available there.
Speaking of, both are excellent passers. So they get the time and freedom to be metronomic (sort of), although they’re usually asked to set a higher tempo, what with ball-carrying.
Playing to the strengths of your DMs? Sounds like good profiling to me.
AM — João Pedro:
10, 8, AM, CM—whatever you want to call this role. But yes, let’s consider João Pedro specifically. Whatever I say will apply to Georginio too, but ultimately football is a sport of maximising your best players, and João Pedro is one of Brighton’s best players. Put two and two together, some quick mafs, and bam!
Look, if we assume João Pedro is one of Brighton’s players, you want him to get as much of the ball as he can. And that’s what Fabian Hürzeler is enabling—a trequartista, sort of, but one that has a lot of OOP work.
JP floats between the lines and roams as he pleases. He ultimately helps a lot in ball progression and eventually finds himself in zone 14 areas (but more toward the edge of the box), from where he can open up shooting opportunities.
Now imagine Gruda in this role. Or Julio Enciso. That sounds fun.
LW — Mitoma:
Mitoma’s allowed to stay wide and hug the touchlines when the fullbacks are sitting narrow. He’s stretching the width of the pitch and pinning the opposing RB.
When Brighton’s LB runs wide, Mitoma finds space, creates separation, and is allowed to dribble the ball for as long a distance as he wants.
In other words, you’re getting the most out of his ball-carrying, 1v1 dribbling, creation of separation, and crosses from near the box. TLDR: you’re maximising literally everything he’s capable of.
RW — Minteh/Georginio:
Okay, what do these two fellas have in common? They’re fast and like to score goals.
So Hürzeler has them making runs in behind and cutting inside so aggressively that they’re essentially in the penalty box. Their speed makes it easy to get away from defenders, and the fact they like shooting means it makes sense to have them in goal-scoring situations. None of this perpetual holding of width stuff—THESE are your difference makers. You WANT them central.
CF — Welbeck/João Pedro:
Both are excellent at holding up the ball and physical enough to pin opposing CBs back. Hence, they create space for a central overload with both CMs behind, which then enables them to get inside the penalty box and stay there.
These are your strikers. You want them in the penalty box. You get them there. They shoot. Ball goes in net. Game won, thanks for coming.
I do think João Pedro suits this role well too (true of literally every position everywhere and anywhere), but I’d just prefer him as the AM. That said, I think his future lies as the CF this season, given the lack of depth at CF and the overload at AM (Diego Gómez, señor, go out there and have fun).
So, all in all, here you go:
The Defence
Okay, just take a second (four, actually) and watch the above video. And, oh my god, what’s that? The DM counterpressing high up the pitch with fullbacks wide?
Look, this is perfect for the players in those roles. But when the DM counterpresses and Brighton’s caught in possession, they have, quite literally, only two defenders and a very high line to maintain.
And for how good van Hecke and Dunk are, they aren’t the quickest. But they’re expected to be.
What I mean to say is the defence isn’t really helped by how offensive Brighton’s set-up is.
Now, Hürzeler is clearly aware of this. That’s why his number one criterion for starting a player is their off-the-ball work. If the attackers counterpress too, the midfielders and fullbacks have enough time to run back and help out the CBs. It’s smart, follows the basics of football, and just makes sense.
And the board also realises something needs to change. Brighton have been linked with Boscagli (very similar to Dunk, plus his bonus of age, leadership and captaincy experience), as well as St. Juste, who, oh boy, is quick, and also, Vitor Reis.
So, reading all this back, one thing is clear to me—Dunk is not the SOLE problem. He hasn’t been great, yes, but all things considered, it’s quite hard to be perfect in this role. Perhaps Igor could do better, but I do not think Igor’s better than Lewis Dunk, and you lose out on a LOT of leadership and experience.
Cost-benefit analysis of dropping Lewis Dunk? Cost. Big cost. Until a new CB comes along at least (soon, please).
This is a real image, by the way. Somehow.
Hürzeler? In, or Out?
Seriously, how is this a question? No, like, actually, how? Look, Hürzeler’s young and is managing in the most difficult league in the world.
He’s completely changed his system to suit the players at his disposal, speaks brilliantly in front of the media, possesses knowledge of the dark arts (this sounds way too ominous), and is learning quickly.
That’s enough for me to entrust him with my hopes and dreams.
He's made mistakes. He’ll continue to make mistakes. But he’ll succeed. With time, he will. And in a sport of uncertainty, that’s a surety.
Pedro might not be the fpl asset I expect him to be if this analysis is to be believed. Watched a few games too and not impressed with Pedro's positioning fpl wise
Absolutely love reading this. Thank you!