Brighton & Hove Albion find themselves 5th in the Premier League after 13 games played, currently on track for a 64 point season.
But it seems Fabian Hurzeler’s side are currently going under the radar, having won three of their last four games, scoring seven goals and only conceding once.
The young German coach has only lost 12 times in his 51 league matches since taking over the Seagulls, with his squad starting to really buy into his tactical philosophy.
In this article, we’ll cover
Hurzeler’s general principles
Brighton have been an interesting side to watch this season, pressing aggressively shown by their 10.5 PPDA (fourth-highest in the Premier League) and forcing the most high turnovers in the division this season with 116 so far.
Hurzeler’s men want to be aggressive and direct when they regain possession, with 20 of their high turnovers ending in a shot this season.
On the ball, Brighton want to bait the opposition press before looking to exploit them with quick combination play between the lines, creating artificial transition moments.
The Seagulls are second in the league for shot-creating actions from take-ons, which suggests once they bait the press and progress play to the final third, they have players willing to take-on their man in 1v1 situations further forward and create chances.
Van Hecke’s importance
One of Brighton’s most important players is Jan Paul Van Hecke, who is tasked with orchestrating his side in build up, utilising his bravery and passing range in the first phase of build up.
Van Hecke has the third-highest volume of touches in the Premier League this season, with only Elliot Anderson and Virgil Van Dijk having more.
The 25-year-old is averaging 6.4 progressive passes per 90 minutes, making 7.1 passes into the final third per 90 and completing 6.8 long passes per 90, leading Brighton in all three of these metrics.
Van Hecke is often the trigger for Brighton to speed up their build up, looking to progress quickly through the lines, encouraging quick combinations in central areas and looking to create chances.
The Dutch defender has pinpoint range to pick out those switches of play and find wingers in 1v1 isolations, but also the accuracy to fizz passes through the lines into the strikers feet or the midfield players between the lines.
Of course, being a defender, he also has to do his part defensively, which Van Hecke does making 1.54 tackles per 90, making 1.77 blocks per 90 and winning 2.92 aerial duels per 90.
Central overloads to progress
Hurzeler’s side often start with a 4-1 base building out from the back, keeping their wingers high and wide to pin the opposition defensive line and overloading the centre with three players between the lines (two pocket players and the striker dropping deep).
The aim in this early build up stage is to bait the opposition press, looking to probe and activate the press to then bypass it with quick combination play.
As the opposition begin to press with more intent, Brighton begin to make rotations with a secondary midfielder such as Diego Gomez dropping in to aid passing options, while both full-backs make dynamic movements to arrive behind the opposition midfield line.
From here, Hurzeler likes his side to be brave on the ball, looking for up-back-through combinations, aiming to quickly progress through the lines and find the wide players in 1v1 situations.
This is followed up by the full-back continuing their runs into the box to attack the vacated centre-forward position, with the midfielders and centre-forward himself also attacking the box.
Direct attacks & dribbles
With Brighton’s patterns of play often leading to wide areas, Yankuba Minteh is a huge part of their attacking strategy, averaging 9.6 progressive passes received per 90, the most of any Brighton player by far.
Once the ball is shifted into these wide areas, where Minteh often finds himself isolated 1v1 with the opposition defender, the focus is for the wide man to be direct, beat his man and attack the box to create a goal scoring oppurtunity.
Minteh is averaging 3.3 carries into the opposition penalty area per 90 this season, completing 2.4 successful take-ons per 90 and averaging 0.6 shot-creating actions via take-ons per 90, leading Brighton in each of the three metrics this season.
With Kaoru Mitoma missing the last seven Premier League games, the left-sided outlet has instead often been a full-back, with either Ferdi Kadioglu or Maxim De Cuyper holding the width on that side.
In their most recent game against Nottingham Forest, the pair played together on the left-hand side with De Cuyper starting in a more advanced position on the left-wing.
This afforded the pair to interchange further forwards, making it harder for the opposition defenders to pick them up, with De Cuyper actually attacking the inside channel for his goal, putting Brighton 1-0 up at the weekend.