Brighton Head Coach, Fabian Hürzeler has urged his players to be “realistic” about their win over Manchester United.
Joao Pedro nodded in a 95th minute winner for Brighton in a 2-1 home win over Man Utd, having initially led through ex Red Devil – Danny Welbeck before Amad Diallo equalised for Utd.
Hürzeler though has urged his players to stay realistic after they went second in the table behind Manchester City on goal difference.
“It’s always difficult. What I want is that we show the attitude of never giving up in every game and that we try to win it, try to be the best prepared team, try to get the momentum, try to outwork the opponents. And of course these wins build a good connection.
“But I know the football business is like just daily business, so you have to win the next game, make the next step, try to improve. That’s my passion, so I think it was a good start and now we should continue this process.
“That’s why I will always be realistic – never euphoric – because I think euphoric means that you lose the focus on the realistic things, and that’s why I try to concentrate on the process.”
Brighton will now host Crawley Town in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday 27 August then head to Arsenal in a blockbuster league encounter on Saturday 31 August, in a 12:30pm BST kick-off at the Emirates Stadium.
Hürzeler consequently has refused to get swept up in the emotions of his strong start to the season as Brighton manager, instead iterating that the Seagulls have “two big challenges” before September’s international break.
“We have now a very important game in the cup against a good Crawley Town team on Tuesday. Then we play in Arsenal. So there are two big challenges ahead of us. And we should focus on every day.
“We still have phases in the game where we have to improve. So we have to be honest. We could have lost today as well, and if United had scored the second goal, then it would have been quite difficult to win this game.”
Hürzeler proceeded to reflect upon his first home win as Brighton manager, as he warned that they were “lucky” to get the victory after a dip in second-half performance.
“After we conceded the goal, we lost a little bit the control of the game. I think the start of the second half was especially good. We had the chance to make the second or the third goal.
“After their goal the game was too open and that’s one of the biggest strengths of United, to have good transition moments.
“And we have to be honest, it was lucky that we didn’t concede the second goal after the VAR decision, but this was a wake-up moment for us and we started to control the game again and how we played in the last 10-15 minutes was amazing.
“We were pushing for the second goal and controlling the game.
“We had chances and in the end I’m very happy that the players never gave up and always believed in their own strengths and in each other. I could feel it on the sideline, the atmosphere was incredible.”
Hürzeler added that he was delighted with Pedro’s late winner which validated the work done by the team this week, with a successful result in front of the home crowd.
“First of all, I’m very happy for our supporters. In the end it’s always about making them proud, and of course I also feel proud and happy of the team, for the whole staff, because it’s always about hard work and that’s why we have to enjoy the win.
“It’s important to enjoy some moments because they make memories, and we have to enjoy it. And then we should focus on the next game on Tuesday.”
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