Brighton and Hove Albion head coach Fabian Hurzler addresses the media ahead of Brighton's Carabao Cup third round clash against Wolves
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Fabian, nice to meet you. Can we just ask you for this game, no Ruta obviously, he can't
00:05play. Jao Pedro, is he fit and will you play him in this match?
00:11We have to see the training today, if he's fully fit. Like I said, after the game against
00:17Ipswich we don't want to take any risk with him. Let's see the training today and then
00:24we will decide if it makes sense to let him play or not.
00:28You made 11 changes in the last round against Crawley, would you dare play 11 new players
00:35for a game against a Premier League team?
00:39On the one side I trust all my players who are in the squad, so I'm completely convinced
00:44that everyone who will be on the pitch tomorrow can compete with a Premier League club like
00:50Wolverhampton and against every Premier League club. So I feel like my trust to all my players
00:57is very high.
00:59On the other side, of course we have to go in discussions who we give a break. They had
01:08all international matches, they had long travels, so of course there will be some rotations.
01:17But I think there will be also players who played against Ipswich who will play tomorrow.
01:21So it will be a mix. But I'm sure that the players on the pitch, the squad will be strong
01:27enough that we can compete with Wolverhampton.
01:31Evan Ferguson played a few minutes against Ipswich, is this a great chance for him to
01:35start and show you what he can do?
01:39So he doesn't have to show me what he can do because I know what his potential is. I
01:45saw a lot of games from him already in the past when he played for Brighton. He's a great
01:51finisher in the box. He has the whole package for a striker. So for me it's important that
01:58he integrates in our style of play, that he follows our principle. That's the most important
02:03for me and he doesn't have to prove anything to me. He should do his work on the pitch,
02:09in possession, out of possession. He should help the team and then he will have a great
02:13impact on our game for sure.
02:15I don't think he's started a match for Brighton since March. He must be dying to start for
02:20you isn't he?
02:21I think he is, yes.
02:24Just tell us about Vifa, is he fit and also Gruda, are they possible players for this
02:29game?
02:30So Vifa will be an option. With Gruda he's still in rehab training, there we have to
02:39go day by day. But he's doing a great improvement with his issue and I'm really looking forward
02:47that he's back in training soon.
02:49Verbruggen has been your goalkeeper for the last three games, which seems to imply that
02:54he is your number one now. So does that mean that Jason Steele will possibly play in this
02:58game?
02:59That's a possibility, yes.
03:02How important is the Carabao Cup to you Fabian?
03:06For me in Germany you only have the one DFB Cup and for me a cup competition is always
03:16a competition where you can win a title. In the end I want to win titles, the club wants
03:23to win titles, the players want to win titles and therefore it's a chance for us. And of
03:28course I know that we have three days later an important Premier League game but for me
03:35I take this game very seriously and I also will transport this message to my team. The
03:40Carabao Cup is a chance to win a title and therefore we take it very seriously. We try
03:47to prepare this match like a Premier League game and hopefully we have a chance to win
03:52this game.
03:53And you know too that Forest, who you play on Sunday, aren't playing in the week so they
03:57have the week off. Does that come into your thinking as well?
04:01Of course there are some thoughts in my mind but for me, in my opinion, the players should
04:07have the power and the basic to play three games in a week. So in the end I think all
04:18the teams who play in the Champions League or who play in the Euroleague, they have to
04:23play this rhythm and therefore I think that my players should also be ready to play three
04:30games in a week. But of course there are some thoughts about this game against Nottingham
04:35for sure.
04:36There are only three competitions to enter, do you have those discussions amongst the
04:45backroom staff about how important this could be, particularly with the players and the
04:50incentive that there is for them?
04:55Like I said, for me, cup games or cup competitions, we should take them seriously because it's
05:01a chance to win titles and there's no waste of time in games like this. We should use
05:08this game, we should use every second to improve, to adapt our style of play, to get fitter
05:15also in case of how much we run, how much high speed metres we do and therefore there's
05:22no option to waste this game. No matter if it's a friendly game or a cup game or a Premier
05:27League game, I want to use every second with this team and also this should be the attitude
05:31of the individual players. Therefore I'm really looking forward to this competition because
05:37again it's a repetition but for me it's a chance to win a cup.
05:41I know there's only one cup competition in Germany but do you have memories when you
05:46were growing up, was that something that you thought about, lifting trophies, creating
05:50memories?
05:51Yes, so I lifted one trophy, although it's only like the second league in Germany promotion
05:59but having your trophy in the hand and lifting it in the air and the people, they cheer to
06:08you, they celebrate with you. I think these are memories you will never forget and you
06:13can't pay money to get these memories, you can only create them by your own and that's
06:19something that stays in your mind your whole life and therefore it's always my vision and
06:26my ambition to win titles. I know that the players feel the same and if you want to win
06:34titles of course you need a little bit of luck but you need to work hard and you can't
06:38waste any second and that's what I expect from my players tomorrow.
06:42In terms of Wolves, I know they might make changes themselves as well but it's been a
06:47tough start to the season but what do you, I mean they have some exciting attacking players?
06:52Yes, they have great individual players with Kunja, Larssen in front is a great target
07:01player, they have out of the midfield good players who can carry the ball quite good
07:07for the midfielder. They have for me a good structure in possession and therefore will
07:13be a big challenge. It's a good Premier League club, I saw them a lot of times last season
07:19because I thought they made a really good impression, they have a good style of play
07:24and it will be a tough challenge for us.
07:27What about those players that may get an opportunity that haven't played much football yet this
07:31season, whether it's Igor or Lamptey who played in the last game, how much of an opportunity
07:37is this for them to impress you?
07:40For me it's not important that the players have the feeling they have to impress something
07:45to me, for me it's important that they prove their own, that they belong to the squad.
07:52I'm completely convinced of all of my players who are in my squad and I'm completely trusting
07:56and believing in them that they can help us on the pitch. Of course at the moment there
08:02are some players who didn't play so many minutes but on the other side we do a lot of substitutions
08:09during a game so we always try to give the players time to play because in the end we
08:15know the player only develops of course if he trains good but on the other side he needs
08:20to have game time, he needs to have this competition.
08:24We saw it against Crawley I think in the first round that it was tough for them to get in
08:30this rhythm and I think now they've had one game, for example Igor and Adam, and they're
08:37more in this feeling of having a competition and now there will be the next opportunity
08:42for some of them.