Bart Verbruggen feels that Brighton are “still building” in performance under Fabian Hurzeler after a bright start to the season.
Brighton currently lie third in the Premier League after a 3-0 victory at home to Arsenal in their 125th anniversary match, and Verbruggen feels that Hurzeler’s vision is becoming clear after two seasons in charge.
“He has his own principles and his own style, and I think we’re still building. But we’re getting better every single time,” explained Verbruggen to Brighton’s website on Hurzeler’s vision for the club and proceeded to add that his tactics are becoming visually clear in the match performances.
“On Saturday you could see his ideas really clearly and what makes them so strong.
“The way we win second balls, the way we’re in front of our opponents, the way we win our personal duels, the way we control the ball when we can, how much we can switch between short and long, and how tough it is to play against us when we bring that intensity.
Verbruggen added that Hurzeler’s focus on winning second balls, press, duels, ball control and varied play with intensity has formed the genetics of the team’s progress under his reign.
“That is the DNA of this team, and that’s what the gaffer has brought in. We executed it very well for the most part against Arsenal, so that’s big praise for him.
“Every day in training, we just try to continue to improve, try and always be positive but are never satisfied. There’s no secret, it’s just hard work and dedication and Saturday was a day where we got rewarded.
“But the next game will be tough and we have to understand what makes us good and keep bringing that to the pitch every single week.
“It was a perfect way to finish before the break, but we will come back and look at what we could have done better.”
Verbruggen however noted that set-pieces is a particular passion of Hurzeler and to deliver from those aspects of play against Arsenal brought pride to the team.
“The gaffer always speaks about the set-piece culture,” continued Verbruggen. “A lot of things we work on showed against Arsenal which is very nice. It gives a big gratification to everybody who works so hard.
“If you can win the set-piece game against Arsenal and we score one and don’t concede one, then that makes us very happy.”