In the last match against Newcastle, not much was seen, as he conceded a goal from Burn on a corner kick, but Brighton has definitely improved in managing the set pieces, as they are called in England: set plays. By now in the Premier, they have almost become an obsession: the first to choose experts in this special game situation was Arsenal, which since the arrival of Nicolas Jover has become the team that scores the most from set pieces in the league; Liverpool, during the Klopp era, had hired the “genius” of throw-ins Thomas Gronnemark, who was then “stolen” by Arsenal. Brighton has done even better, choosing a former MMA coach to defend better in the penalty area when the ball is in the air.
This was confirmed a few days ago on BBC Radio 5 by midfielder Jack Hinshelwood, who scored the only goal yesterday in the 3-1 defeat against Newcastle. The German manager Hurzeler confirmed in a press conference that the initiative dates back to “a couple of months ago” and is part of a broader path of adaptation to the new dynamics of the Premier League. “We have talked a lot about set pieces, blocks, and new trends,” explained the coach. “I don’t want this club to be known only as a ‘nice’ team. At certain moments, we need to be concrete and tough in individual duels.”
Hence the choice to look beyond football: “An MMA fighter constantly lives one-on-one situations. Their job is to find a way to beat the opponent. We want to take cues from other sports as well,” added Hurzeler, emphasizing how some ideas have already been integrated into the team’s daily work. The goal is clear: to increase competitiveness in physical duels, especially against more structured opponents. “We are not a particularly dominant team physically, at least in terms of height, but there are always ways to defend and attack better in these situations,” the coach recalled, without revealing the identity of the involved fighter.
At 33, Hurzeler is the youngest manager in the Premier League and is building a reputation as a visionary coach. This is in line with his predecessors, Roberto De Zerbi and Graham Potter, who made Brighton synonymous with offensive play, technical quality, and innovative ideas. However, his course aims to add a different dimension: more physicality, more cunning, more adaptability. As mentioned, the Premier is heading in that direction. In the English league, in fact, as reported by The Athletic, there has been a significant increase in corners that come back in, rising from 41% in the 2018-19 season to the current 71%. A trend that has increased traffic in the small area and made body-to-body duels even more decisive.
Teams like Arsenal and Aston Villa have set the standard in this regard, developing sophisticated strategies for set plays. Others, like Chelsea, have built much of their offensive threat precisely from these situations. Hurzeler has chosen an alternative but coherent path: to improve the management of contacts and marking through techniques derived from mixed martial arts. An approach that fits into a broader trend in contemporary football, increasingly open to contamination with other sports. Brighton’s experiment represents a clear example: a seemingly marginal detail, like a duel from a set piece, can become a field of study and research.