Brighton and Hove Albion boss Fabian Hürzeler said that the club’s young talent will be all the stronger for having been throw in at the deep end this season.
Hürzeler praised the likes of 21-year-old Carlos Baleba who has made 30 Premier League appearances so far this season.
The head coach believes that Baleba and other young squad members will have benefited from an unexpected opportunity to play regular first-team football.
Hürzeler, who was 31 when he was appointed last June, making him the youngest head coach to take charge in the Premier League, said: “That is the way of Brighton and Hove Albion.
“Of course, we need to be patient with young players and we try to get them closer and closer to the team step by step but this season we had to do it quite fast.”
Hürzeler told a press conference: “In German there is a sentence – throw them in the ice water – so in the cold water they have to swim, find a way to deal with it.
“That is something that we are really impressed about in my young squad, how they work together, how they find a way to win Premier League games.
“They always stick together and worked hard on the training pitch and improved and improved and improved. That is something really special, something that I don’t take for granted.
“That is why I am very grateful to be their coach and I will continue, together with my staff, to give them the environment where they can improve – because they are still not finished with their development. There is still a lot of things to improve.
“The message I send to them daily is: ‘Stay grounded. Stay humble. It doesn’t matter anything if you have played 30 Premier League games. It is about, in the end, having 600, 700, like James Milner. That is the goal for you.’ And that is why I try to push them every day.”
Hürzeler will be able to call on some of those more experienced players as Brighton prepare to host Liverpool at the Amex tomorrow night (Monday 19 May).
Among those available again are the club captain Lewis Dunk, 33, after the veteran defender missed the 2-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend through injury.
Experienced Dutchman Joel Veltman should also be back in the squad while midfielder Joao Pedro has completed a three-match suspension after his red card at Brentford.
Despite two wins from their past three league games, Brighton’s hopes of qualifying for Europe have almost completely faded although there is still the slimmest of chances.
Crystal Palace’s FA Cup final win over Manchester City closed off Albion’s best chance of returning to European football.
Brighton’s opponents tomorrow, Liverpool, are very much in party mood after their record-equalling 20th league championship.
Reds manager Arne Slot and some of the players taking the opportunity to get away for a few days between fixtures to celebrate.
Hürzeler, though, wants his squad to concentrate on their own performance, saying: “I am not focusing on them.
“They deserve it (the trip away). They won the Premier League in an impressive way. It is not our responsibility to comment.
“Our responsibility is to be ready on Monday, to be the best prepared team we can be, to play a high-intensity game, to be ready to compete with a lot of individual quality.”
