Brighton writers Derren Howard and Henry Bryant discuss Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler's pre-match press conference before their home fixture against West Ham in the Premier League.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Yes guys, how's it going? I'm Henry Bryant and that's Darren Howard. We're reporters for Sussex World and we've just been to the pre-match press conference as the Albion are at home to West Ham in a Premier League clash tomorrow on Saturday.
00:13So Darren, talk to me about what is, I'd say, some quite positive overall injury news.
00:19Yes, there has been some movement on the injury front. You know, they've had so much trouble this season, particularly with the right-back spots with Tarek Lamptey and Joel Veltman being injured.
00:29We saw Matt Swiffer filling in last week. We've had Jack Hintrelwood filling in at right-back as well.
00:35But luckily this week, both seem to wait for ages and then two come along at once.
00:40So Veltman is fit to go against West Ham and I think he's been missed. He had such experience game management to the team.
00:47So I think that's a real boost for Herzella. They've been missing that lately. And also Lamptey's available as well.
00:53So a real boost for Brighton. On the downside, Jean-Paul Van Hecker, who had that terrible head injury against Brentford.
01:01I think the match is, well, he's going to come too soon for him. So he's going to be ruled out for the West Ham game.
01:08Premier League sort of guidelines state that they need six days to recover, which he would have been just within that.
01:14But it's clear that Brighton aren't going to take any chances with Van Hecker's fitness, particularly after a nasty head injury.
01:21And hopefully he'll be back for the next match.
01:24Absolutely. And I mean, how important is it to have the likes of Joel Veltman coming back?
01:28Has that sort of changed your perspective on this game? Obviously, there's been a winless streak here.
01:32But do you think that now with that sort of news, with that experience in the back line, that Brighton might have a bit more assurance in this game?
01:39I think he'll certainly help. Yeah. Yeah. They've been really lacking, I think, concentration more than anything.
01:47And just seeing these games out against, obviously, Brentford are a tricky team, Premier League ready team.
01:53And against Leicester, they were just so open and so vulnerable to any attacks going forward.
01:59And I'm hoping that if Lewis Dunk plays better than he did against Leicester, Joel Veltman coming back into that team as well, will add that experience that they've been lacking.
02:09Obviously, Pervis Estoupignan will be on the left back, I should think, as long as there's no injuries that we don't know about.
02:15And then that's the case of who plays in that centre-back spot alongside Lewis Dunk.
02:19Probably, I think, Carlos Belaiba, judging from what Hazella was just saying in there, I think Belaiba will be ahead of Kasheen to fill in at the centre-back.
02:30And then you could see the likes of Matt Swiffer moving into that central midfield role alongside Jack Inshilwood.
02:37That could be the way they go. But you never know. We'll see what happens on match day.
02:41Yeah, it's a tricky one, but at least he's got a few players back.
02:44And I also wanted to mention the fact that the fans were mentioned.
02:48And it's been a few games now where there's been a few boos, a few jeers, especially aimed towards Fabian Herzlera
02:54and some of the tactics that he's brought into the game, some of the substitutes that he's got into the game,
02:58people questioning those sort of decisions.
03:01He was talking about how he wants the fans not only for this game, but also for the last few games of the season.
03:08Do you think that's quite a clear message from him? He's aware of what's going on.
03:11There's a bit of discontent, isn't there?
03:13There has been. There has been. And you're always going to get that when results have been on this bad run.
03:19And, you know, that comes with criticism from the fans.
03:22And his main message was, you know, give me all the stick that you want.
03:27He's prepared to take the criticism, but he wants them to support the players.
03:32It can have a detrimental effect on the players, I guess, if the fans are on their backs during the matches.
03:39So he's keen for the supports to get, like you say, to get behind them, not just for this game, but for the rest of the season.
03:46There's still plenty to play for, you know, they're still in the mix despite this winless run.
03:50It's been such a weird season.
03:51And despite this winless run, that they're still in the mix with these European places.
03:56And that has got to be the target going into these last games.
04:00And Herzella wants the fans to really get behind the fans, fans to get behind the players.
04:05But he said, give me the stick if you want.
04:07But please do support the players.
04:10That was his message.
04:11Absolutely a real key message there.
04:14And for all the coverage for this game and the last games of the season for Brighton and Hove Albion and more,
04:20please check sussexworld.co.uk.