Fabian Hurzeler has demanded more consistency from his Brighton players and admitted their fitness levels need to improve despite a spirited second-half performance in their 1-1 home draw against champions Arsenal.
Ironically, the Seagulls have drawn six of their last eight Premier League games, matching their recent run of results.
However, such a run has not resulted in a league victory since the end of November. Joao Pedro's penalty on the hour proved a familiar result after Ethan Nwaneri's opener was canceled out at the Amex Stadium on Saturday.
Despite a strong start to the season, Brighton now find themselves slipping down the table. They are currently in tenth place.
FT: Another well-deserved point for Arsenal. 🤝
(1-1) 📲 #BHAARS // #BHAFC 🔵⚪️ pic.twitter.com/Hvip9KAe8l
— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) January 4 2025
Hurzeler, who at 31 is the youngest permanent manager in the Premier League, admitted he was frustrated after dealing with the same problems every week.
“Of course, I think it should be more,” Hazell told Sky Sports after being asked if his side should have taken more than a point against the Gunners.
“I'm standing here after games and I feel like I'm repeating myself all the time and it's a frustrating feeling.
“The big word for us is more consistent. After trying to play with the mark we want to play for the full 90 minutes, we hope to get the results we expect.
“You have to invest a lot to get back (in the game). We came back, but we weren't clean enough in the final third.
“We had big chances and I think we have to play with speed to beat Arsenal,” he said. We just couldn't do it today.”
Room for improvement
One area of improvement the Brighton manager feels could help solve the consistency problem is the fitness levels of his squad.
But he acknowledges that improving players' personalities is not a quick fix and it will take time to see real progress.
Hurzeler said: “(The fitness level) was probably one of the reasons why we couldn't play consistently for 90 minutes. The game we want to play is serious; If you want to push the game higher, you have to be serious.
“You have to run fast. We're not where we should be, but it's a process. This game requires a lot of physicality and we struggled at certain moments and we couldn't maintain that level of physicality for 90 minutes.
“So we're just working on it and using the training time to improve.”
Brighton will travel to Championship club Norwich City in the third round of the FA Cup on January 11.