It is often said that the honeymoon period is over when a new manager loses his first game.
Right now though, Brighton & Hove Albion’s hiring of 31-year-old German Fabian Hurzeler as head coach maintains the appearance of a marriage made in heaven.
They remain unbeaten a month into the season after edging past Premier League rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-2 at the Amex Stadium on Wednesday to reach the last 16 of the Carabao Cup.
They worked for it after racing into a 2-0 lead on 31 minutes through fine strikes from Carlos Baleba and Simon Adingra, but an 85th-minute goal for summer signing Ferdi Kadioglu sealed their place in the fourth-round draw on 25 September .
Unbeaten start but a lot to work on
Fabian Hurzeler was named the Premier League manager of the month for August (Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)
Six games unbeaten, four wins and two draws, with 13 goals scored and four conceded. What’s not to like about the start of Hurzeler’s reign? Especially since he still hasn’t had the chance to properly integrate six of the nine summer signings (three were on loan).
Well, quite a lot actually. In most of the matches there were sticky periods. They appeared to be cruising against Wolves, but they gave away a poor goal just before half-time when Jack Hinshelwood was left outnumbered on the right side of the defense for Goncalo Guedes to make it 2-1 – Hurzeler described it as a “lazy transition reaction” and ” something we cannot accept”.
The visitors were the better side after that for most of the second half. The prospect of Hurzeler’s team blowing a 2-0 lead and being condemned to a penalty shootout lasted until substitute Kadioglu restored a two-goal cushion.
Even then, they made heavy weather of it by conceding another sloppy goal in added time. Jason Steele’s short pass to Mats Wieffer was intercepted by Wolves substitute Jorgen Strand Larsen and Tommy Doyle fired in via the underside of the crossbar.
Hurzeler struck the right tone later identifying the need for improvement. He told The Athletics: “Results are the most important (thing), but as I have often said, I judge the team by results and the performance.
“It was more like a learning game for us. How do you manage a game, what do you have to do to win such games. We weren’t at our best (at that), especially at the end of the game. We didn’t manage the game as we should have. We didn’t control the game the way we should have controlled the game in some situations.
“Of course, you need results, but I also try to focus on the process and there are still many things we need to improve.”
Adingra makes his case for a Premier League start
Simon Adingra continues to press his claims in the battle of the wingers.
The hero of the Africa Cup of Nations triumph for the host nation Ivory Coast in February was behind the left wing Kaoru Mitoma and the summer signing Yankuba Minteh on the right for a place so far this season under Hurzeler.
He didn’t start any of the first four Premier League games, but he still made an impact from the bench. Adingra scored after replacing Minteh in the 3-0 win at Everton. This was followed by providing the cross for Joao Pedro’s header in stoppage time in the 2–1 win at home to Manchester United.
The pattern of key contributions from Adingra was maintained in the Carabao Cup. He was in goal on his first start of the season in the 4–0 win at home to Crawley in round two. And he struck again in style in the first half against Wolves, cutting from the left flank away from two opponents to double the lead with a right-footed shot into the bottom corner of the net.
Adingra’s influence did not end there. He played a huge part in Kadioglu’s third goal, which converted the rebound of Danny Welbeck’s shot, which was parried by Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa.
Adingra started the move, releasing Welbeck after a nice piece of skill. He flicked the ball away from Nelson Semedo on the volley to leave the Wolves substitute trailing in his wake.
Adingra can operate on either side of the pitch – he started on the left against Wolves but he prefers the right. Competition on the right will increase with new signing Brajan Gruda and Solly March available after injuries, but Adingra is firmly in the mix.
How Lamptey became Brighton’s fifth-choice full-back
Tariq Lamptey may have to move to find regular first-team football (Top photo: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
It’s hard to see Tariq Lamptey getting much playing time this season, with the capture of Turkey international Kadioglu from Fenerbahce for £25m ($33m) increasing the competition for places at the back.
Kadioglu was introduced to the Amex crowd at the 4-0 win over Crawley. Although Lamptey started that match, he only came off the bench after 82 minutes of the tie against Wolves.
That was despite Hurzeler making eight changes to the team that started Saturday’s draw with Ipswich. Lamptey didn’t even make the squad for that game and he didn’t get any minutes in the first four league games. That’s because Kadioglu, Pervis Estupinan, Joel Veltman and Hinshelwood are all ahead of the 23-year-old in the pecking order.
The signs are ominous for the lightning-fast Lamptey. Injury problems have contributed to just 13 league starts in 76 games over the past two seasons. Hurzeler, speaking ahead of the Wolves game about the Ghana international right-back signed by Chelsea in January 2020, said: “His most important weapon is his speed. It’s incredible, so he has to trust his body.
“He had some small problems in pre-season where he couldn’t train fully, so now we try to integrate him. Now it’s up to him to show it in every training session and show that he deserves to play. In the end, we have four full-backs, and plus Tariq, so five defenders, and I only have two positions.”
With that last remark in mind, there’s a good chance that Lamptey’s future will be elsewhere in one of the next two transfer windows.
(Top photo: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)
