[Albion] Hürzeler’s (Brighton) Tactics

[Not Andy Naylor]

Rushworth has earnt his stripes, successful loans, his last being in the Championship where he excelled.

I honestly don’t see how a further loan is going to now progress him further, unless it’s within the Premier League and that’s hugely unlikely IMO.

Now is the time to integrate him into the first team, let the coaching team have a good look at him and mould him into the number one we want him to be, expose him into the first team setup, give him some game time and allow him to genuinely compete with Verbruggen. Not just have a few weeks here in pre season.

I really don’t think people appreciate how good Rushworth is! Mark my words, he will be Englands number one in the future.

Am I alone is being unconvinced by Verbruggen? I know RDZ said he was going to be the best in the league/world, but I don't quite see it. Rushworth, on the other hand ...

 

[Munchkin]

Am I alone is being unconvinced by Verbruggen? I know RDZ said he was going to be the best in the league/world, but I don't quite see it. Rushworth, on the other hand ...

In the words of Michael Jackson - ‘you are not alone’

 

[Eeyore]

While largely in agreement with most of what you say, I would suggest it’s possible that in extreme circumstances we could score, and/or concede.

So we either score, concede, or there are no goals at all. Sounds all too familiar. Whoever is in charge we always seem to win, lose or draw. Hardly 'progressive' is it ?

 

[AstroSloth]

Who are our strongest front three? If Herzeler plays his preferred 3-4-3, I'd start with Mitoma on the left, Joe Pedro central, and then Minteh /March, when fit, on the right.

Then 4 across the middle. Barco, Wieffer, Baleba or NEW CM, plus NEW right sided defender.

The 3 at the back . New CB. Dunk. Van Hecke/Webster.

A place must be found for him but still can't see where he fits in a 3-4-3- system.

If Hurzeler plays his St Pauli system, then it's not a 3-4-3 in the traditional sense as the central CB plays as a Libero, playing in defence whilst out of possession but in midfield in possession.

This makes it more of a 2-1-4-3 in possession.

The central CB is likely to be Wieffer or Baleba based on pre season and the St Pauli system.

We could have Enciso as one of the midfielders, but I don't think he's disciplined enough to play there defensively, as such he's a great rotation option as he can play across the entire front 3 as necessary.

 

[JetsetJimbo]

I've just flippantly described our tactics to a colleague as "everyone's a winner winger, baby" and I'm feeling quite pleased with myself.

That is all.

Well except for this:

 

[Han Solo]

Am I alone is being unconvinced by Verbruggen? I know RDZ said he was going to be the best in the league/world, but I don't quite see it. Rushworth, on the other hand ...

Players who dont play (like Rushworth in this case) are often believed to be better than those who play. Bit like how every signing is always praised because the idea of it is nice. But in most cases, the players turn out to be human, making mistakes and whatnot - not really as good as in fantasy. Rushworth made a bunch of mistakes in Swansea that would have had people on their knees begging for Steele, Bart or Sanchez. And sometimes Bart will make mistakes that make people scream for another keeper.

Bart is probably one of the least good current starting goalies in the PL. But you kind of need the context imho. The best goalies are usually in their thirties or a little younger, and they've all received several hundred hours of first team football and likely thousands of more training hours than Bart has to date. Considering his youth and inexperience and that he is already "ok" in the strongest league... don't see why he wouldn't be one of the best in three or four years.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Not sure we can read a huge amount into two friendlies with a significant number of key players missing for various reasons.

Yep, surely we’ll be better defensively with Dunk, Weiffer and Bart in the team. And very hard to call tactics from two friendlies over a stream.

If we are resorting to simply scoring more than opponents in high scoring games then at least it looks like we have blades to take to the fight instead of pea shooters.

 

[Han Solo]

There's almost nothing to say about the tactics yet imho, because its clear the players haven't managed to grasp everything just yet. You could see several times against Tokyo Verdy that one player made a movement that was clearly supposed to be supported by another playing move into a specific space or angle, but someone just missed out on their part.

Just hard to tell much yet. There are indications, like the wing backs being a lot more involved in build up than they were under Potter or De Zerbi, and that our new "underpopulated" defensive area will be between our midfield and CBs rather than between CB and full back like last season. But this could also change of course.

 

[West Upper Seagull]

Still difficult to work out clear tactics at this stage, however the thing that jumped out at me the most watching yesterday’s game was our tempo and we moved the ball a hell of a lot more quickly rather than simply standing on the ball or going backwards to invite the press as we did under RDZ. This is what will be key when we play the likes of Everton to not give them time to get back and settled.

 

[saafend_seagull]

Much more purposeful than zerbis football. Defending can judge in a couple of weeks.

Far more advanced than Chelsea are if you’re reading anything into pre season with a new manager.

 

[amexer]

Early days and will be interesting to see line up against Everton. Saw in Japan we may struggle playing 3 at back. They had so much space out wide because our wide players are not great defenders. March is only natural wing back but he is not as good in attack. Prefer 4 at back

 

[Hugo Rune]

Just hard to tell much yet. There are indications, like the wing backs being a lot more involved in build up than they were under Potter or De Zerbi, and that our new "underpopulated" defensive area will be between our midfield and CBs rather than between CB and full back like last season. But this could also change of course.

I noticed the opposite.

Very little cover in the full back zones when Verdy attacked. Huge unpopulated spaces for the Japanese wingers to exploit. For one of their goals, JPvH had the option to move into the vacant full back position and make a tackle but he had such little cover, he made an error and kept to his central position leaving the attacking player all the time in the world to work a brilliant threaded pass.

I do agree with your conclusion that it’s still too early to see the tactics working properly but it’s amazing how people see different things.

 

[Han Solo]

I noticed the opposite.

Very little cover in the full back zones when Verdy attacked. Huge unpopulated spaces for the Japanese wingers to exploit. For one of their goals, JPvH had the option to move into the vacant full back position and make a tackle but he had such little cover, he made an error and kept to his central position leaving the attacking player all the time in the world to work a brilliant threaded pass.

I do agree with your conclusion that it’s still too early to see the tactics working properly but it’s amazing how people see different things.

Admittedly the midfield observation was primarly made on the basis of the first game. I agree Tokyo were more threatening on (especially) their left wing because midfield didn't react as quickly as they need to cover those spaces, but it did look like they were intending to.

The "nice to have but hard to reach" area between our defenders and midfielders should be our weakness if Hurzeler intends to keep the 20-30m distance (rather than the 10-12m distance) between defenders and mf in buildup. Imho it suits us a bit better than having the "not exceptionally dangerous but very easy to reach" wide areas exposed all the time like last season.

But like we've all sort of established... so far its not very clear or structured. We can't even be certain that the tactics are already "set" for next season - could be plenty of adapting and modifying to come.

 

[el punal]

I went to the game today.

First half it looked very much like we were playing in blocks of 2 and 4. Depending on the situation we were set up as 4-4-2, 4-2-4 or 2-4-4.

Second half, no idea, I couldn't work anything out beyond in possession we had 3 at the back.

Hopefully Premier League opponents won’t be able to work anything out either.

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

Hopefully Premier League opponents won’t be able to work anything out either.

I'm not sure they'll need to. Tokyo Verdy were walking through us at will at times in the second half and always seemed to have a man spare, especially out wide.

I'll caveat that with it was just a friendly and of the 10 second half outfield players I'm not sure more than three or four will make the final first team squad.

 

[Frankie]

Hurzeler's tactics.

Play it Wide guys .

 

[el punal]

I'm not sure they'll need to. Tokyo Verdy were walking through us at will at times in the second half and always seemed to have a man spare, especially out wide.

I'll caveat that with it was just a friendly and of the 10 second half outfield players I'm not sure more than three or four will make the final first team squad.

My comment was flippant of course! I just wonder if Fab used ALL the available players to see how they fared, give them all a run out, even if they were playing out of position. I’m sure that come the start of the PL season all will be resolved.

 

[Marshy]

Am I alone is being unconvinced by Verbruggen? I know RDZ said he was going to be the best in the league/world, but I don't quite see it. Rushworth, on the other hand ...

you are certainly in a minority i would say, remember he was in and out of that side last season, thats not easy to do.

On top of that he is a year younger than Rushworth, people forget Bart is 21....

Both are going to be incredible and we have them

 

[Super Steve Earle]

It will look a bit different when we get our missing team of injureds and Internationals back. Seriously, let's not forget the quality of missing players. It's literally a full team of 11 covering every position from Verbruggen through Dunk, Groß and Gilmour to Solly and Ferguson up front. The Japan crew are the newbies trying to stake a claim.

 

[y2dave]

Early days but clearly looking to transition with pace and more players flooding forward. Looks like wingback quality and athleticism will be key so hoping for further business on the right hand side.