Brighton’s manager Fabian Hurzeler described the key tactical elements of which his team must be wary to beat Southampton this weekend.
The Seagulls go to St Mary’s on Saturday, aimed at handing over their rivals from the southern coast a third consecutive home loss in as many weeks.
Southampton’s boss Ivan Juric fights to keep his team in the Premier League, with an intimidating gap of 10 points now separating them from the wolves and the security placed.
Hurzeler noted an important tactical change since Juric took over, moving away from the approach observed during their 1-1 draw in November under Russell Martin.
“There was a change. In general, they play very oriented towards man, “said German.
“They are trying to accumulate by increasingly using the target player, Paul Onuachu. They always have an individual quality with (Mateus) Fernandes, (Tyler) Dibling, (Kamaldeen) Sulemana.
“They have front -line players who have the competence to score after each action. In addition to that, I see that they play a little more directly.
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“They try to press more man orientation, try to press very high, trying to be very aggressive. I think there was a change of style, yes.
During the previous meeting between the two teams, Flynn Downes recovered a point for Southampton after Kaoru Mitoma advanced Brighton.
The saints have also been controversially prohibited. Despite Lérement, Southampton was forced to settle for a draw, while Brighton climbed in second place at the time.
Now the Hurzeler team is located in 10th place in the League.
By reflecting on this match, Hurzeler recognized the lessons that his team could take in this meeting.
“The players are always the same. They have many players on a right foot, for example.
“In their accumulation, this is something where we have to be careful. They play a lot of holidays with their central defenders. These things have not changed.
“Of course, you can look back the game we had at the Amex. You can think about it. You can take some lessons from this game.
“I hope you can make a few better details we have made in the last game. In addition to the way we work individually, how we gain personal duels.
“It was the essential where, especially in the second half, they were better than us in the first match.”
Brighton hopes to apply these lessons on Saturday when they aim to continue their thrust for a solid final in the Premier League.
