In a strange radio appearance that left many questions unanswered, Fabian Hurzeler labelled Arsenal as part of the Premier League 'establishment' that Brighton are trying to battle against
Brighton Head Coach Fabian Hurzeler labelled Arsenal as part of 'the establishment' in bizarre radio appearance
Brighton Head Coach Fabian Hurzeler labelled Arsenal as part of 'the establishment' in bizarre radio appearance(Image: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
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Now there is a strong chance that what follows is the ramblings of someone a little salty about Arsenal’s defeat to Brighton. After the game, I was full of praise for the Seagulls, who royally pecked the Gunners to pieces, and when it comes to the individual battles, it was not a contest.
To use Jurrien Timber's words, Arsenal’s performance was “unacceptable.” They sleepwalked into the lion’s den, fully aware of what was coming, and played like a side totally shocked by what was happening.
But on Tuesday afternoon, having suddenly seen the bizarre sight of Fabian Hurzeler hopping onto TalkSport to be lauded for the victory struck me as odd. The international break is often a time when players say wilder statements while away with their respective countries, but seeing a manager hop on the radio to discuss an admittedly impressive one-off win is quite something.
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“I wouldn't say it's a perfect game,” said Hurzeler. “There are still things to improve, but overall our challenge will be now that we make these kind of exceptional performances normal. This is the challenge we have now, because we have this phrase, we want to challenge the establishment.
“And challenging the establishment doesn't mean to challenge them in one-to-one games. It's like you have to challenge them when you're not playing against them. So you have to be consistent in performances and these kind of performances, they have to get normal for us. And that's, I think, the biggest challenge we can set ourselves.”
Brighton got the better of Arsenal due to their overall performance. But they beat Arsenal courtesy of two low expected goal chances from outside the box.
The Gunners were architects of their own downfall too, not taking advantage of the chances they had, be that Bukayo Saka twice getting inside the box, Bruno Guimaraes’ baffling smash of the ball into the side-netting, Christos Tzolis being poorly set through on goal and the frustrating failed counter-attack that preceded Brighton’s second.
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The result was not in doubt, but the scoreline has elevated this game beyond the reality of what it was for me, as has this strange spot on national radio. I wonder if any other managers will do the same after similar results against ‘the establishment,’ whatever that means.
I don’t remember Everton, Norwich or Leicester’s managers doing so after they put three or more past Pep Guardiola’s side in years gone by. I guess we’ll have to watch this space to see if something similar happens again, maybe this is the start of a new trend in the sport… or maybe it isn’t.
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