0:00 Forget getting mauled by the tigers. Every Premier League club is getting pecked by the seagulls. >> You're getting pecked by the seagulls. Pecked by the seagulls. >> KOSTOULAS TURNS. KOSTOULAS! [screaming] WHAT A GOAL! >> JUNIOR STILL GOING. HE WRAPS his foot around and De KNIPER TUCKS IT AWAY! [cheering] >> BRIGHTON COULD be on the move. Here it's COME TO DE KNIPER. DE KNIPER STROKES IT HOME! >> BUT THEY are so exciting to watch. >> Brighton have become absolutely ridiculous. >> So Caicedo has and HE'S GONE FOR GOAL! [screaming] OH MY GOODNESS [cheering] ME! EXQUISITELY EXECUTED BY DIEGO GOMEZ WITH ONE OF THE GOALS OF THE SEASON. >> AND so teams will be be more wary of them now. They'll be
0:45 they'll be saying, "Okay, we need to we need to be more compact against them. We need to make it take our chances [music] against them because teams see them as a threat now." >> This is supposed to be the club that finds talented players, develops them, then sells them for a massive profit. Instead, they're just beating everyone. >> GROSS FROM RANGE. GROSS IS THERE! IT HAD TO BE HIM. >> SO FABIAN, LET'S GET into it. Three wins from your first five. You sit you sit third in the Premier League. A Europa Conference League playoff successfully navigated. As far as starts to any season go, how do you start a season? This is a strong one, isn't it? >> I think it's a it's a good start, but it's just a start. >> They look completely comfortable going up against teams with way more money and supposedly better player. In fact, they reminded Arsenal how football is
1:31 supposed to be played. You guys remember in the 2026 season, Hürzeler told Arsenal to stop wasting time and play like actual champion. >> I will never be that kind of manager who who tries to win in that way. I want to to develop players. I want that my players are keep improving. >> I'm not sure if I would ask now everyone here in the room did they really enjoy this football game. I'm sure maybe one raises his arm because he's a big Arsenal fan. >> Hincapie mocked him, but Hürzeler got his revenge. He beat the Gunners, then went on Talksport to explain how he did it. >> Our approach was like we focus really on us and our approach was like we want to to win the small battles first. So, what I mean with the small battles like win the first header, win the first tackle, win the first throw-in, win the first
2:17 corner. It sounds a little bit old school, but this really was our approach. >> In the 2025-2026 season, Brighton finished eighth, which is not terrible. I mean, they got European football, but there was a lot of frustration around the team. There were games where it felt like they were just passing for the sake of passing. And during one stretch, they won only one game in 11. Naturally, people started questioning Fabian Hürzeler. But you fast forward and the conversation looks completely different. Brighton are near the top of the Premier League. They have one of the best attacks in the country. The defense has improved massively. And some of the tactical ideas Hürzeler was getting criticized for last season now look like the exact reasons Brighton are destroying teams. >> Also, last season when when we had the bad run, it was never about about the table because uh one thing um we have we have a phrase is like results create judgments, but process creates
3:05 improvements. And we were really want to focus on on improvement. >> Fabian [snorts] Hürzeler may have come into the season with no hair, but he just proved the point that the balder you are, the better you do in the Premier League. There is a direct correlation with lack of hair and points earned. >> We will be there. >> Do you care though? Who? >> We will be there. We will be there. >> By mid-October, these guys were third in the Premier League with five wins, one draw, one loss. But most importantly, they had 23 goals scored and only five conceded. A goal difference of plus 18 after just seven games. They were doing this while dealing with injuries to guys like Mitoma, Minteh, and Roder. They also sold Van Hecke and Baliba in the
3:51 summer. So, not even at full strength. >> We are we are keen on staying humble. We are keen on understanding that we had a good start, but it's really important why why we had this good start and it was just about hard work and therefore it's very important stay humble and keep working. >> The season started with them smashing Aston Villa 4-0. >> Well, that's loose. BRIGHTON GIFTED A CHANCE AND IT'S OFF the post and in. Kaipa, can he pick the cross? It is a good cross. GOAL THIS 3-0. >> [cheering] >> IT COULD BE FOUR. IT IS FOUR. >> THEN THEY GO TO STAMFORD BRIDGE AND THEY lose 4-3 to Chelsea, which obviously sounds bad. A loss isn't good. But even in that game, Brighton still looked incredibly dangerous. In fact, Chelsea were lucky to get out of that game with the three points because Brighton were all over them. Then came a 1-1 draw against Leeds, but after that Brighton
4:37 just started murdering teams. They go away to Coventry 5-0. This was a big moment for them because from what I researched, a lot of Brighton fans were very upset that their team couldn't break down deep and low blocks in the previous season. But against Coventry, there was no issues because they destroyed them. Next was of course the game versus Arsenal that I mentioned in the intro. Arsenal came into the game as massive favorites. Most people have them winning the title back-to-back. But Brighton just destroyed them 3-0. They made the defending champions look so uncomfortable. Before this, they also went to Old Trafford in the Carabao Cup. They go down 2-0, but come back and beat United 3-2. This wasn't a huge result cuz let's be honest, Manchester United suck. It's not as impressive as it used to be to beat these guys, but it was still a good result, especially when you
5:23 look at United's history of what happens in games when they're leading going into the second half at Old Trafford. In the Conference League, they were doing well, too. They had a nice 4-0 win over Tromsø. Then a 4-0 win over FK Kauno Žalgiris. Some of these Conference League team names, man. It looks like somebody smashed their head on the keyboard and then they came up with a name. >> [laughter] >> Then we get to Crystal Palace. Now, before this game, Brighton had also beaten Sunderland 2-0, but this was the big one, the M23 Derby, a game that is normally ugly. Well, Brighton won 5-0. The most interesting part about all of this was how many different players scored. The first came through an own goal, then Diego Gomez decided to score from about 35 yards out because, you know, normal goals are just getting boring now for Brighton. Then Yasin
6:09 Ayari gets another, and then the 19-year-old Kostolas scores shortly after halftime. And Jack Hincheywood finishes everything off with the fifth. This game was one of the best examples of what makes this Brighton team so hard to defend. The goals just come from everyone. They also have not conceded that much. Most of the goals they conceded were all in the game versus Chelsea. So, they are destroying teams at one end and barely giving anything away at the other. And that's the biggest difference from last season. >> They're great to watch, but of course, like any club, particularly if you're maybe not [music] the big huge clubs, they need a bit of luck with injuries, etc. But, they are so exciting to watch. They've got some really good experienced players as well. And they're, yeah, to and they're training up after 10 minutes. They're quick out of the blocks. They're on a great place. Let's hope they can keep it up. >> No, I enjoy I I do >> [music] >> hope that they can keep it up and give us a kind of like a a lesser kind of
6:55 energy. See how far that can go. I think that'd be pretty cool in this season [music] of all seasons. >> One of the biggest reasons they have been able to dominate so much is their pressing. At one point in the season, they had the most effective high pressing in the entire Premier League. Look at this chart. It shows opponent pass completion and build-up percentage versus opponent danger possession law. And look at Brighton alone on the right. Teams lose the ball a lot and their passing is worse when they play this eagle. >> Top goal scorers in the league, and playing a style of football that is I [music] think is the best way of playing football. There's there's lots of different ways, and it may be think because you're in in tonight in De Zerbi, he's absolutely adored by the Brighton fans, and rightly so. Not just because they finished sixth in the Premier League, but the style of football that they played. I think the
7:41 style of football Brighton play now is better or certainly something I do want to watch more. And it reminds me a little bit about the debates we used to have about Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola. Two obviously very successful managers, great managers, great teams. But I think most people in this country would almost plump for a Jurgen Klopp style of football. And that's what I think we're watching here. It reminds me so much of Jurgen Klopp. >> Now, the pressing itself is not really new. Brighton were already one of the most aggressive pressing teams in the Premier League last season. In fact, according to The Athletic, no team won the ball back in the attacking third more than them. And they're leading in the league in that category again this year. Number one for shares of regains ending with a shot in 10 seconds. The difference though is that last season only around 2.5% of Brighton's defensive recoveries led to a shot within 10
8:26 seconds. This season it's at 6%. So, more than double for some of you that can't do math. And I've seen some of your comments. A lot of you can't do math. So, Brighton were already good at winning the ball high up the pitch. The difference is now after they win the ball, they kill you. If we look at the following images from The Athletic, a lot of their press starts in a pretty familiar way. If the opposition tries to build from the goalkeeper, Brighton will go man for man. And then backward passes are a massive trigger. The second you play backwards, everybody starts jumping forward. Against Arsenal, you could see this after literally 2 minutes. Calafiori goes back to Gabriel from a throw-in and immediately Brighton step up. Kostola starts chasing the ball. He curves the press so Gabriel cannot go back to Raya. Now Brighton have locked onto everyone. Raya ends up having to go long under pressure and he completely overhits it. Ball out. Brighton have
9:11 already forced Arsenal into a mistake 2 minutes into the game. Then from the next sequence, Brighton do the same thing again. Ayari curves his run towards Raya. He's pressing him while also trying to block the easy pass out wide. Arsenal initially managed to escape, but then Declan Rice does what he does best, which is play backwards. And there's the trigger again. Brighton immediately squeeze forward. Schima Andres flies towards Odegaard. De Kuyper pushes up on the outside. Then you have Ayari, who even though Arsenal had just played through him, immediately recovers and gets goals out again. Then look at Vuskovic, he's the center back and even he's stepping all the way forward to join the press. By the time Gabriel gets proper control of the ball, Arsenal are trapped again against the touchline. Every option is covered and eventually Brighton win the ball again. Hürzeler explained this really well after the match. "The whole idea is that when one player jumps into a duel, there's
9:56 another guy behind him. So, okay, you beat the first guy, there's another guy there and another guy after him. It's like a chain reaction. It's like if you've ever played the Spider-Man or Batman games and you're surrounded by a bunch of dudes and you have to beat them up." Obviously, Brighton are not the only Premier League team pressing man-to-man. Loads of teams do it now. The difference is how often Brighton are willing to commit to it because these guys can run a lot. Their midfield, especially, does a ridiculous amount of work. Pascal Groß has covered more distance per game than anyone in the league since the start of last season. Then next to him, you have Che Adams. They call this guy Baby Rodri. He's 6'3 and good luck trying to shake him off. >> Che Adams, who scored the third goal. His nickname in Spain is Baby Rodri. He's not someone who's come out of nowhere. He was a key part of the Stuttgart team that got into the Champions League in the Bundesliga last season. Brighton went and got him for 22
10:42 million euros. They have a bit of an advantage in terms of culture in that there is more patience and that, I think, is the thing that Brighton has, that very few other teams can manage. >> Brighton are also super aggressive pressing out wide. Look at this graphic from The Athletic. It shows where the Kaiper and Gómez have made their defensive action. So, Brighton are actually very happy to guide you towards the touchline because once you go there, you have less space. The touchline becomes another defender. Then Brighton jump you. You could see this around the hour mark against Arsenal. Keep in mind, at this point, Brighton were already winning 3-0. Most teams would have relaxed, but these guys were still hunting the Arsenal players. Bruno Guimarães plays backwards to Caicedo. There's the trigger. Everyone goes, they win it forward, immediately play forward and they have turned another defensive action into an attack. That recovery effort is really important because if you press this aggressively and then stop running the second somebody beats
11:29 you, the whole system dies. Brighton's wide players do not do that. They recover. Even when teams clear the first press, Brighton's center-backs are really good at stepping forward and winning the ball. The best example came against Manchester United in the Carabao Cup. Brighton had rotated the team, but that didn't matter. They were still pressing high, still going man-for-man. Yeah, Kuya and Gross pressured United and forced the ball backwards. United eventually managed to get the ball clear, but only as far as Vuskovic. He attacks it before Sesko can even get there. One header straight into Gross on the edge of the box. Gross turns, scores. That entire chance starts because Brighton's center-back is standing in midfield and ready to attack the clearance. Right now, nobody in the Premier League is doing that better. >> We all understood that it's about outworking, outrunning the opponents. We have this phrase, we want to be really, really difficult to beat. And if you
12:14 want to be difficult to beat, you have to be good in every phase of of of a modern football game. So, every phase means set pieces. [music] No matter if it's offensive or defensive, you have to be in highest level. Then in possession, you can be also very annoying to play if you're good in possession cuz it's [music] difficult to to get the ball, it's difficult to press us. And then the third phase, you have to be very, very good out of possession. >> Now, a great tactical system is useless if you don't have the players to execute it. And Brighton, boy, do they have some quality players. You got Gross, who at 35 years old is having the best season of his career. The dude is everywhere. Sometimes he drops so deep that he's basically a center-back. Then Brighton press and suddenly he's flying forward into midfield. Then 5 minutes later, he's standing in the right half-space creating chances like a number 10. He has already created 15 chances this season, more than anyone else in the
13:00 Premier League. So much for the Bundesliga attacks, right, guys? Bro has looked way better in the Premier League than he ever looked in the Bundesliga. Then at the complete opposite end of the age spectrum, you have Enciso, the 19-year-old. Another player who is just constantly moving. Once Brighton win the ball, he has the speed to immediately attack the space in behind. You saw that against Arsenal. Brighton win it, Enciso is gone, calm finish. Same thing against Crystal Palace. He gets another goal. Then you have Jack Hinshelwood, who's really good at making those late runs into the box. He waits for the defenders to look at the winger, then he in behind them. You don't really notice him arriving until the ball is already at his feet. That's exactly how he scored against Palace. Then you have the full-backs that I mentioned earlier, De Kuyper on the left constantly running. He's already scored twice and gives Brighton another way to attack when they want to go more direct. On the other side, you have Facundo Buonanotte, who gives you something a little bit different. Keep in mind, the Turk can
13:45 play anywhere. He's played at left-back a ton during his Brighton career. He's played further forward. He's so versatile. He can stay wide, he can come inside, he can turn into another midfielder during build-up. Roberto De Zerbi loves players like this. Then you still have Lewis Dunk. At this point, this guy has been at Brighton through about 17 different versions of the club, but he's still massively important. He averages more than 90 passes a game, so a lot of Brighton's possessions still start with him. And then on set pieces, you have this massive center-back walking into the box, just being a menace. Diego Gómez has been another extremely important player. He's been playing out wide despite being a natural central midfielder, but that tells you everything about his profile. He can play anywhere. He can press, but he also has enough quality to hurt you after he wins the ball back. I mean, the goal against Crystal Palace was just ridiculous. You can't coach that. Then you have Bart Verbruggen. He's probably going to be the next Brighton player to
14:30 be sold for 100 million plus. I cannot believe Spurs let him go for so cheap. Physically, the guy, I mean, he's huge, strong in the air, aggressive, but also so comfortable on the ball. The perfect modern-day center-back. Then there's Mahmoud Dahoud, the Swedish playmaker is so good in tight spaces. I remember being super impressed by this guy at the World Cup. He was so good on the ball, excellent at creating chances, and he's always capable of scoring a magical goal. And then you have Malik Fofana. He brings a lot of chaos, very direct player, excellent at carrying the ball, and we already saw he can score goals versus Chelsea and Coventry. So, when you look through the squad, you start understanding why Brighton can play this way. Almost everyone can do multiple jobs. >> I think in football, people talk about the incredible data and and how you recruit players here. But then also a lot of that then falls on you. >> Yeah, but I think we we are known for
15:16 very data-based recruitment, very analytical recruitment. A lot of uh scouting regarding numbers, but what we shouldn't forget is we do a lot of research about the character. So much research about how does the player react when he's under pressure? How does the player react when when he's not playing? How is he in the locker room? So so much research about the character, and I think uh you need to find good balance between scouting, recruiting the right player with with the right potential who fits our style of play, but also who has like the right character. >> If you enjoyed this video, I'm sure you will love this one too. Check it out right here.
