Fabian Hurzeler explains Brighton midfield reshuffle and confirms reason for Yasin Ayari absence
Fabian Hurzeler has explained his thinking behind some key pre-match decisions, after Brighton were beaten at Chelsea, in a seven-goal thriller.
Yasin Ayari missed Brighton's 4-3 defeat at Stamford Bridge with an ankle issue, with Hurzeler saying he hoped the midfielder would be back next week.
The Brighton head coach opted for a midfield three, with Malick Yalcouye given an opportunity to impress alongside the versatile Pascal Gross and natural defender Olivier Boscagli.
Chelsea regularly broke through the lines with ease and threatened to run riot in the first-half. They had three goals by the half hour mark but it easily could have been worse for Albion.
“We knew [about Ayari’s injury] yesterday and therefore it was another quick change we had to make,” Hurzeler explained.
“But again, the players reacted to these kinds of changes in an impressive way. They immediately tried to find solutions.
“We wanted to have three midfielders, three players who can dominate the game in possession, and that's what they showed.
“I know that Boscagli is capable of doing this because he has already played it in the past. I know that Malick has this desire to score. He can be very good at attacking the box but also defending the box. He can run a lot.”
Yalcouye made the most of his opportunity, scoring Brighton's first goal and repeatedly threatened Chelsea's defence.
Hurzeler was particularly pleased with the 20-year-old's display.
“I think he showed an impressive performance,” he said.
"We know since pre-season what he was capable of doing.
“Of course, he's a very young player. He needs to prove his physicality, but he also, like I said, showed personality, stepping into a difficult place, stepping into a top environment.
“It's proof of what he can do.
“I think he showed it today. Suddenly he scored, but also afterwards and before he had chances, he was always in dangerous zones for Chelsea. Everything was difficult for them to handle and manage.
“So that was the idea, to have three midfielders, two midfielders who can dominate the game in possession.”
However, the German admitted Brighton's unfamiliar combination contributed to some of the problems they experienced defensively.
“Regarding the rest defence, I think it's not that easy if you don't play with the same starting XI,” he said.
“In certain elements, we missed this connection, we missed these relationships on the pitch.
“But they tried as hard as they could and therefore I'm really proud of them.”
Hurzeler said Ayari's injury was an ankle problem and remained hopeful it would not keep him out for long.
“I hope he will be back next week,” he said.
"He couldn’t finish the game against Tromso, so hopefully it's not that bad.”
Brighton were also without Georginio Rutter and Jack Hinshelwood for the Chelsea clash, but Hurzeler refused to use the absences as an excuse.
“You can come up with a theory about how the game would be different, but like I said, it's not that I'm going to sit here and complain about the players we have,” he said.
“I think we played a good enough performance, a good enough game to take something away from here.
“That's credit to the boys who were on the pitch. I think we should focus on the players on the pitch, because they deserve a lot of credit for this performance.”
Despite the defeat, Brighton created numerous chances and had spells of sustained pressure against Chelsea, with Hurzeler believing his side deserved more from the contest.
The German said:” They showed a big belief in their quality.
“We showed personality. They made it 3-1, but we were there to control the game. We created plenty of chances, we dominated the game, we scored to make it 3-2.
“Then afterwards again, we had a lot of chances to make it 3-3. Who knows how the game goes afterwards?”
Hurzeler said Brighton now needed to learn from the defeat, particularly when it came to maintaining defensive stability while controlling possession.
“Overall, I think we weren't brilliant at the basics,” he said.
"We weren't clean enough in doing simple things right. In certain moments, we missed the balance between defensive stability and control of the game.
“There's definitely something we can improve, but coming here to this place and creating that many chances, having that much of the ball, causing that many problems for Chelsea, is something where we have to give my players a lot of credit.”