Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler has called on his team to deliver a strong response in their FA Cup clash against Chelsea on Saturday night, following a humiliating 7-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest last week.
“We were honest to each other that our standards were not high enough,” Hurzeler admitted. “We were not demanding enough from each other. We were not ruthless enough. Maybe we accepted a little bit the lack of intensity.”
Addressing his squad’s commitment, he continued, “We accepted that players don’t give 100% in training and therefore we said to each other we need to commit now. We need to be a team now that is difficult to beat.”
Hurzeler emphasized the importance of consistency moving forward: “We need to have the standards we had in the last two training sessions for the rest of the season. It makes us better as a player and we will improve as a team. We can’t accept if anyone doesn’t commit fully to the club and doesn’t commit fully to the intensity.”
Despite the heavy defeat, the 31-year-old coach urged calm within the squad: “If we have one bad game, analyse it and be honest to each other but don’t change the whole approach. Come back to the basic things and the basic things we can influence on the pitch is intensity. We missed this intensity in the last game.”
Hurzeler also highlighted the importance of resilience, saying, “It is very important to stay calm. To not let yourself be defined by one game. There are reasons why we lost this game. We know the reasons and therefore it is about mention and emphasise these reasons but the next step is about carry on and work hard.”
With a passionate message to his players and fans, he concluded, “We have to show a reaction at our home stadium for our fans. Then we can be judged by the fans, then we can be judged by the public how we react. Now all things I say are important but in the end we have to live it.”
Confident in his squad’s ability to bounce back, Hurzeler added, “I am full of confidence and full of belief that we will get out of this together.”