Danny Welbeck
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Brighton’s experienced striker, Danny Welbeck, has taken time to reflect on the club’s performance during the 2024-25 Premier League season. Speaking from the team’s hotel in Marbella during a pre-season training camp, Welbeck shared his thoughts on the transitional year under first-year head coach Fabian Hurzeler. Despite challenges, including the departure of key players, Welbeck is optimistic about the team’s future prospects.
Danny Welbeck said: “I am always thinking you can do better. That we could have done better, that we can do more here. At the time, during the season, I am always thinking we need to be higher up the table. That we need to keep pushing, we need to get three points when we are playing these teams. We had a very young team, we lost some massive players in Pascal (Gross), Adam Lallana, Billy Gilmour. These were huge characters within the dressing room. When you lose these sorts of characters, it is really difficult to replace that. I think last season with the squad we had, in the end we did really well to finish in eighth place. We have had another year of experience now so the younger players are used to playing in the Premier League. Now it is about pushing on even more.”
Welbeck’s reflections highlight the challenges faced by Brighton during a season of transition. The departure of influential players like Pascal Gross, Adam Lallana, and Billy Gilmour left a void in the dressing room. However, the team managed to secure an eighth-place finish, a testament to their resilience and adaptability. With another year of experience under their belts, Welbeck believes the younger players are now better equipped for the demands of Premier League football.
Welbeck continued: “He is really big on the defensive work. Not just the strikers but the whole team as a unit have to defend as a team. He always says the first line of defence is the strikers and he says defence wins championships. If you’re not, then you are going to get a bit of a rollocking. He really sticks by that and he wants his forward players to be defending from the front. He maybe applies a bit more emphasis on that. My previous managers have been big on that too. I think in this day and age of football and how it has evolved, all managers now want you be defending from the front – unless you are Leo Messi! He can get away with it but I think the managers expect you to be defending from the front and that’s massive when I look back to how it was when I first started.”
Under Hurzeler’s guidance, Brighton has placed a strong emphasis on defensive work, with strikers being the first line of defense. This approach aligns with modern football’s evolution, where managers expect players to defend from the front. Welbeck, who has occasionally captained the team, appreciates this tactical shift and acknowledges its importance in today’s game.
Welbeck added: “The whole squad has got to adapt, the whole club has got to adapt to how the manager wants to operate. We have had the manager for a year now so we know a lot of what he wants to do and how he wants to train and the ideas he wants to implement. Japan was a longer flight, with the training loads. It is a lot better for the manager to push us more in training at this stage. He had to be a little bit more careful because of the long-haul flights and stuff like that.”
As Brighton prepares for the new season, Welbeck is eager to build on last year’s achievements. He aims to surpass his previous goal-scoring record and contribute to the team’s success. With a year of experience under Hurzeler, the squad is now more familiar with the manager’s methods and ready to embrace the challenges ahead.
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