'A lot of leaders are missing' - Brighton boss and key defender ponder key problem as youthful Albion falter

Albion are now winless in the last four Premier League games after a 3-1 loss at the hands of Oliver Glasner’s Eagles.

Fabian Hurzeler, 31, deployed a youthful line-up, with the average age of the starting 11 being 23.8.

Lewis Dunk, 33, and Kaoru Mitoma, 27, were the two most senior players in the team – with youngsters Evan Ferguson, Julio Enciso, Simon Adingra and Brajan Gruda coming on as substitutes. At 25, Mats Wieffer was the most senior sub.

There is a notable lack of experience in the club after Pascal Gross and Adam Lallana departed in the summer. James Milner has been missing for weeks through injury, as has Adam Webster.

"I think we have a really young team,” Dutch defender Jan Paul van Hecke, 24, told reporters after the Palace defeat.

"And then you can see, you beat Man City at home, you can beat all the top teams because we have so much talent. But I feel sometimes in that kind of games we need a bit more."

Van Hecke was also asked if there was a lack of leadership in the team – something which was a topic of conversation in Hurzeler’s pre-match press conference.

The Dutchman said: “I think we have leaders in the group and everyone is trying their hardest. You can see, like today as well, you cannot see boys don't run around and don't try.

"So it's not like we're not trying to do everything. But what I said about the age sometimes as well, I think it's a process and I think you see a lot of talent.

"So by spells we are a really good team and we can beat everybody, also Palace. But sometimes I think the game asks a bit more.”

Hurzeler praised this question when it was asked on Friday. Albion were linked with veteran defender Mats Hummels in the summer and time will tell if they look to sign an older head in the January transfer window.

The Albion boss said: “For me it's so important to have this structure, to have the team player, the leaders and the individuals.

"And when the structure is not perfect on the pitch, there are reasons where we might not be able to manage the game in the right way, where we might have bad periods in the season.

"Of course, it's always a discussion about having leaders in the team and having old players and experienced players in the team. But in the end we also need to understand and be completely convinced about the way the club works.

"It's the way from the club and also my approach to give young players the chance to grow as a leader. So, we have young players like Jack Hinshelwood, JP [Van Hecke], Bart Verbruggen. They have all the things to be a leader, but we need to give them the chance to grow.

"If we only buy old, experienced players then it might happen that we stop the development to being a leader, so it is very important to find the right balance.

"On the one side to understand the structure of the team, of the club, where we might be able to add an older, experienced player and where we might push our own players to develop into this role.

"We always have to analyse that and it’s a big thing for me, because in the end it's not only about tactics and having the right match plan, it's about having the right hierarchy and the right structure in your team.

"When a lot of leaders are missing on the pitch, the structure is not the best and then there are reasons why things happen."