Jackson Irvine is talking about what it is like to play for Fabian Hurzeler, the Premier League’s youngest-ever permanent manager or head coach.
Irvine, captain of Hurzeler’s previous club, St Pauli in Germany, says of Brighton & Hove Albion’s new head coach and fellow 31-year-old: “The biggest thing is just the focus on detail. He is the most detail-oriented coach I have ever had in 15 years in the game.
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“Everything you do, every training session, every aspect of the day, is centred on understanding the principles of the play and the specifics, details of positioning. It’s the same for every player. Everything is structured to go into the way you play. It really shows, because the connection the players then have on the field is the understanding of everything you do.”
The longer you speak to Irvine, the easier it is to appreciate why Brighton have, on the face of it, taken a big risk by appointing Hurzeler as the replacement for Roberto De Zerbi, who left by mutual consent at the end of last season.
Time after time during the Australia international midfielder’s exclusive interview with The Athletic, there are pointers to similarities in approach, playing style and personality between the Texas-born Hurzeler and his Italian predecessor. Forensic, intense, passionate, animated on the touchline, an ability to improve players.
In that sense, Hurzeler is not so much of a risk but a natural next move. Why would Brighton not want continuity, to develop De Zerbi’s work in taking them to sixth place and European football for the first time in club history?
Hamburg-based St Pauli will play in the German Bundesliga next season for the first time in 13 years, and to help their promotion push, Hurzeler examined the way De Zerbi’s Brighton played out from the back.
Irvine says: “We watched a lot of other football. We were always analysing different ways of playing and Brighton were a part of that. He is a big fan of (former Leeds and now Uruguay national-team manager) Marcelo Bielsa and you can see the similarities in his style in terms of the intensity and that attention to detail. That is obviously why it is a good fit.
“There were teams that seemed to continuously pop up in video analysis and Brighton’s build-up was one of the ones we watched the most. When it came to defending against the ball, we watched a lot of Arsenal and Manchester City, but for building up from deep and opening from goal kicks, we used analysis of Brighton.”
Hurzeler’s career is on a steep upward trajectory.
He was effectively third in command at St Pauli, responsible for opposition and video analysis, before he replaced Timo Schultz as head coach in early December 2022 with the team just outside the relegation zone of Germany’s second tier. Schultz had been at the club for 17 years as a player and coach. Hurzeler was only 29 and the fans were sceptical, but he immediately stamped his authority in the dressing room.
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Irvine, signed from Scottish Premiership side Hibernian 17 months before Hurzeler stepped up to the top job, says: “You tend to have a very familiar relationship with assistant coaches. One of the things Fabi (Hurzeler) did in the early part of his tenure was to very quickly establish that boundary between the relationship he had with the players before and moving into a head coach position.
“He managed to keep that trust and familiarity, but also separate that line the head coach needs. I found that incredibly impressive from someone a week older than me. It was difficult circumstances, but I got an immediate understanding of the changes that would be made.”
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It was several weeks after the appointment before Irvine actually worked with Hurzeler.
Contact had been made to establish a relationship that has endured but Irvine, capped 70 times by Australia and St Pauli’s captain, was away playing at a second successive World Cup in Qatar, where Australia were beaten 2-1 by eventual champions Argentina in the last 16, at the time.
The difference when he returned to Germany was stark.
“The biggest change was the demands,” Irvine says. “For all Timo Schultz’s qualities as a man-manager and the positive atmosphere he generated, it was a step in the other direction in the intensity. Fabi is obsessed with training. It is a huge thing for him — you train the way you play. That was the biggest shift.
“It’s hard. It’s not Jurgen Klopp-esque, all love, it’s pushing, constantly trying to demand and get the best out of you. Fun was a topic of conversation that came up a few times during the season. Boys would say, ‘B***dy hell, mate, can we just play a five-a-side?’. For Fabi, his attitude is you find the fun in being successful, in getting better. It was tough and very rarely fun and games.
“Even when there were small-sided games or things footballers would consider more fun at training, they would still be tied in. He would never miss an opportunity to get in some kind of principle, something where he could still develop part of the game within the fun.”
Another of De Zerbi’s traits at Brighton was an ability to improve the output of players such as wingers Kaoru Mitoma and Solly March. It was that way for Irvine under Hurzeler at St Pauli after 102 appearances in Scotland’s top flight for Celtic, Kilmarnock, Ross County and Hibs, plus 152 games in the second-tier Championship in England for Hull City and Burton Albion.
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His goals tally pre- and post-Hurzeler being appointed across equal periods of 44 league games increased from four to 11. His number of assists also doubled over the same period from five to 10. Irvine contributed six goals and nine assists in 27 league appearances in St Pauli’s title success last season. He was part of the team’s backbone, with fellow midfielder Marcel Hartel (17 goals and 12 assists in 33 league matches) and Swedish central defender Eric Smith.
Irvine says: “You look at our statistics for the season — he found a way to get the best out of us.”
Hurzeler wears his heart on his sleeve on the touchline, just as De Zerbi did. While the Italian was booked five times last season, his successor accumulated seven cautions — all by February. “He is probably the most fiery (coach) I have worked with as well,” Irvine says. “We are very similar, very emotional when it comes to football. He puts a lot into it.
“It is not always directed at bad decisions. Sometimes it is because he has such a clear vision of what he wants to see. When that isn’t carried out how he imagines it, that can come out in big body language and gestures. It all ties into his character.”
Brighton need Hurzeler to rediscover momentum. De Zerbi’s reign did not end well. A 4-1 defeat on aggregate by Roma in the last 16 of the Europa League was followed by one win in their final 10 league games last season, which saw them finish 11th. De Zerbi left primarily due to differences over the club’s player recruitment strategy (young or old, rather than more expensive twenty-somethings with little resale value potential).
They shipped nine more goals last season following the big-money summer sales of key midfielders Alexis Mac Allister (to Liverpool) and Moises Caicedo (Chelsea). “The main thing we had to change (when Hurzeler took over) was our defensive behaviour,” says Irvine. “He is very pragmatic, very focused on behaviours and principles. He very rarely criticised individual errors. It was always based on the idea we were trying to put together.
“We had the best defensive record in the league this season. Within that, goals we lost sometimes came from our own mistakes in transition moments. Very rarely did we feel stretched and broken down. That was because of how he would drill, especially into our front players, that defensive behaviour starts at the top of the pitch. That was a huge key to our success.”
Hurzeler is in line for a baptism of fire at Brighton, where he will face seven of the top-eight teams from last season in his first 11 Premier League games. Emulating his flying start at St Pauli will be almost impossible — he registered 10 straight wins there, with 18 goals scored and seven clean sheets.
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“There is going to be a spotlight on him,” Irvine says. “He will recognise that. He is obsessed with the game. He will develop new qualities and skills. For those of us who have worked with him, we are excited to see how that develops. He will push all the way and want to improve himself, improve the players, improve everything around him. That’s his philosophy, his style: never waste an opportunity to improve.
“He never seemed overly affected by media or talk on the outside. There were a lot of eyes on him in Germany but it’s really difficult to say how it will look for him at this (Premier League) level.
“He is going to be more than capable of stepping up and handling the questions that are going to be asked of his experience and capabilities. I have no doubt he will stand up and answer those with full force. His way is to do it his own way, and that is what he will be keen to show.”
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(Top photo: Cathrin Mueller via Getty Images)
