Fabian Hurzeler takes it on the chin but is he the problem?
Fabian Hurzeler is front of house. Part of his healthy Premier League manager's salary is dealing with complaints when the service is not up to scratch.
And it did go wrong today against their old rivals Crystal Palace and it's been going wrong for a little while now. One win in 12 and Brighton’s recent reviews make grim reading.
It’s far from a fine dining experience at the Amex these days and Hurzeler takes the blame if Carlos Baleba can't control a ball and pass it to a teammate 10 yards away. The Cameroon international has gone from prime beef wellington to a Gregg’s steak bake in a season.
Hurzeler takes the flak if Georginio, Kaoru Mitoma and Yankuba Minteh can only muster five goals between them this season.
The buck also stops with Hurzeler if Brajan Gruda is sent out on loan and Matt O'Riley - who, all things being equal probably does not want to be here - is his attacking option from the bench.
Of course Hurzeler is to blame, but also he isn't.
The squad is quite good but it really is not that great. It badly lacks power and physically, which is must in the Premier League and recent transfer windows have not addressed that.
The return of Pascal Gross in January - Brighton's only signing - was rightly well received but it’s also an admission that his "replacements" Georginio, Matt O'Riley, Brajan Gruda and Mats Wieffer are not even close.
Hurzeler gets stick for putting James Milner on the pitch in the final stages (he didn't against Palace) but why does he do it? Probably, because he can't trust the others at the moment.
There are many moving parts at the club and while replacing Hurzeler may appease some fans, I personally believe it really will not get to the root of the problem... and that is the squad is not good enough to compete at the sharp end of the Premier League.
Tony Bloom has a big decision to make
The TV camera panned to Tony Bloom on the whistle, he looked far from happy. Bloom and the club gambled massively on the youthful Hurzeler at the start of last season. Will he now say I got that wrong? I’m not so sure he will, just yet.
The chairman has a big decision make and he clearly heard the boos at the Amex Stadium and the "sacked in the morning" chants. Brighton are on a terrible run and they've delivered a stinker against their old rivals. There was never going to be warm applause and “better luck next time old boy,” but the stick Hurzeler received also made me feel a bit uncomfortable.
Hurzeler is a good man, a talented coach and gives his all for this job. When Palace’s Oliver Glasner had a bad run, he lashed. The Austrian blamed the hierarchy, blamed the board and said the club had “completely abandoned” him and the players.
Palace soon smashed their transfer record and added Jorgen Strand Larsen to the arrival of Brennan Johnson. Both Premier League players.
Hurzeler has been backed to degree, but with kids and players completely unproven in the Premier League. Again, no physicality. Brighton look fragile. If they are not performing at 100 per cent each game, then they simply can’t cope.
The only physical beast they have is Baleba and he's terrible at the moment and most fans (and maybe his teammates too) would happily drive him to Manchester United at the moment, if they still want him.
Hurzeler takes it on the chin
But Hurzeler has not gone full Glasner. Maybe he should, but instead he takes it firmly on the chin. "I'm responsible," he said after the Palace loss in his press conference.
“It's not the moment to talk about my human feelings,” the 32-year-old added. “I think everyone can imagine how you would feel if 25,000 demand things and sing about you.
“So it's not an easy situation, but the only two options are to give up or to keep pushing harder, to keep working harder, and that's always the option I choose in my life so far.”
Football is indeed a brutal business but I felt for the German after today's defeat. He looked devastated.
Even skipper Lewis Dunk admitted the players "didn't do enough for the gaffer." But perhaps more worrying was his statement about training: “We are not training hard enough as a group and today we did not show enough fight.”
Hurzeler may well pay the price, whether that's now, the coming days or the end of the season is a matter for Bloom.
If Hurzeler is sacrificed, it will give some fans what they won't but it may not solve Brighton’s fundamental problems.
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