Hurzeler thought his team deserved more against Arsenalplaceholder image
Hurzeler thought his team deserved more against Arsenal | Getty Images
Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler has been praising one talented Arsenal star after Wednesday’s Carabao Cup clash.
Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler had special praise for one Arsenal player after Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup clash. Arsenal progressed thanks to goals from Ethan Nwaneri and Bukayo Saka, but Brighton had their chances against a heavily rotated Gunners side, and it was a good contest, as many expected it to be, with the Seagulls usually proving tough opponents for all.
But for now, Arteta can be pleased with Arsenal’s progression, and indeed with how well his side coped with so many rotations. It was a chance for the fringe and young stars to impress, and players like Nwaneri and Max Dowman took their opportunity.
Brighton boss acknowledged Dowman, saying after the game: “I think he [Dowman] already played some minutes in the Premier League so he’s a good player.
“We all try to prepare our team the best we can do. Left-footed player, similar to Saka, so the profiles are not too different. We tried to prepare the best way we can but for sure you don’t always knows who’s playing until you see the teamsheet and at that point you can give some more advice to the players.”
Hurzeler added on the game more generally: “It’s a strange feeling not being in next round,” admitted Hurzeler. “You don’t usually get as many chances in a game against Arsenal so you have to score the goals and if you do that you are in the next round.
“We had several shots but couldn’t score so that is frustrating. Their first goal changed the game – it’s not easier to score goals here.“It is a missed opportunity. It’s a game of results and we have to deliver those so now we have to analyse why we didn’t do that in the last two games.
“Even in second half we had some good possibilities to score so we now have to give the players the right support to make sure they do it better next time.“We have to take the positives and there were plenty of those. The nice thing is that we have our third game in a week in three days when we will try to do better against Leeds. That is our focus now.”
Arteta pleased with Dowman impact
Arteta himself also praised Dowman after the game. “He just does what he does best, which is to play football, to play football with a lot of courage and determination,” Arteta said of the 15-year-old. “Today, again, he's shown some incredible skill, some capacity to run past players at that level in the Premier League at 15. It's something definitely special.”
Asked about the youngster’s hunger to start more, the Spaniard added: “For sure, if you ask him, for sure. That's what we have to manage. Not only that, there are a lot of new things in his life, we discussed that a few days ago, make sure that he does the right steps, that he behaves and accepts because he's going to go with this one, then he's going to play in a different team, and he needs to cope with all that because it's happening very, very fast and we all need to be aware of that. Let's encourage him to keep going that way, but let's protect him as well.”
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