According to The Athletic, Brighton & Hove Albion's decision to keep the entire squad in Manchester between two consecutive away matches against Manchester City paid off, as the team secured a historic 1-0 victory at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
How do you react after a painful loss? Do you go home to sulk, or does the entire team unite to seek revenge against the same opponent three days later?
Brighton & Hove Albion's choice to keep the entire squad in Manchester between two matches against Manchester City paid significant dividends. Fabian Hürzeler's team, currently third in the league, earned their first win at the Etihad Stadium in their 12th attempt across all competitions on Saturday, narrowing the gap to the Premier League's top two to two points.
Since returning to the top flight in 2017 after a 34-year absence, Brighton & Hove Albion have won at the home grounds of several strong teams, but not Manchester City's. Now they have crossed another item off their list on the path to becoming a formidable force, with a resilient 1-0 victory. It came just days after their deeply disappointing Carabao Cup Round of 16 exit at the same stadium on Wednesday, when they lost 4-3 on penalties after a 2-2 draw in regular time.
That defeat was a blow to the club's pursuit of its first major trophy. But they quickly picked themselves up. The manager's rallying speech set the tone for a swift recovery, and a club owned by Manchester United legends also helped with the preparation for the second encounter.
When Brighton & Hove Albion visited Manchester United in the third round of the Carabao Cup in mid-September, they came from 2-0 down within the opening 10 minutes to win 3-2, which added further strain to an already demanding schedule. Four consecutive away games in the Premier League and Europa Conference League became five after they were drawn away to Manchester City in the next round of the domestic knockout competition.
Charter flights to and from Jablonec in the Czech Republic (a 0-0 draw) and to and from Liverpool (a 2-0 loss three days later) added to the travel fatigue. Normally, the logistics for two matches against Manchester City would have involved charter flights to and from Gatwick Airport on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by a repeat on Friday and Saturday.
Instead, the entire squad of 22 players stayed at The Lowry Hotel in Manchester, traditionally Manchester United's match-day base. José Mourinho lived in a river-view suite at the hotel during his time at Old Trafford from 2016 to 2018. Thursday was a recovery day after the Carabao Cup match, in which Brighton had twice led. Successive penalties from Yasin Ayari and Lewis Dunk could have sent them through, but both were saved by Manchester City's substitute goalkeeper Gerónimo Rulli.
The bitter taste still lingered when the players returned to train at Salford City's facilities on Friday. Salford City is a League Two club based in Greater Manchester, owned by a group led by former Manchester United players, including Sir David Beckham and Gary Neville.
"There are always pros and cons, but I think you have to look at the bigger picture," Fabian Hürzeler said at a press conference held at The Lowry Hotel on Thursday morning, discussing the decision to keep the team in Manchester. "We have five consecutive away games (ending with an away Europa Conference League match against Getafe next Thursday). We have traveled a lot, to and from Jablonec, to and from Liverpool. With too much travel, you lose a lot of energy."
"Of course, we want to give the players as much time as possible with their families. Especially in these moments, family is the best thing, because time with loved ones is always important. But on the other hand, we try to be a family for the players and to be united in these moments. We can connect with the players, and the players can connect with each other. They won't be alone in their apartments."
"We shouldn't underestimate that not every player has family around. Some players are alone, so we can really connect with them. Players can talk to each other and analyze games together, and we can also talk to the players, so we try to make the best of it. We try to stay focused on the connections we want to build on and off the pitch."
"We see this more as a great opportunity for everyone to be here together."
Fabian Hürzeler set the tone early in the recovery process. Shortly after the final whistle on Wednesday, within seconds of starting his media briefing, he said that "Saturday is a great opportunity for revenge."
Spanish midfielder Chema Andrés, who started in Saturday's victory after being rested in the cup defeat, told The Athletic: "He's very good at this. All his motivational talks and speeches are very inspiring. He also demands a lot from us, but that's why we are in this position now."
"Coming out of a loss like that is difficult for everyone, but the team sticks together. People are sometimes more important than football, and we are united here. Staying together in a hotel in Manchester makes it easy for us to get together. Last night (Friday), he gave a short speech. I'll keep it confidential for the team, but it was truly motivating and made us think a lot."
"It helped me a lot going into the game. It made me believe in myself and my teammates."
Andrés, signed from Bundesliga club Stuttgart for £15.5 million ($20.8 million) on deadline day in September, was one of 11 new arrivals during a busy summer window. Fabian Hürzeler has quickly molded players of different nationalities and backgrounds into a cohesive unit that is effective both offensively and defensively.
Brighton & Hove Albion are the league's highest scorers with 24 goals and have kept five clean sheets in their last six games, including a 3-0 win over reigning champions Arsenal. They can play beautifully with intricate passing patterns, but they can also win stubbornly. On Saturday, Manchester City led every statistic except the most important one.
City ran into the understated art of resolute, disciplined defending, a goalkeeping performance from Bart Verbruggen at his peak, and the constant threat of counter-attacks.
Fabian Hürzeler's team had only 38% possession, 7 shots (3 on target) and 9 touches in Manchester City's box, the most crucial of which led to Yasin Ayari's close-range winner in the 11th minute. Three days earlier, they had 43% possession, 17 shots (6 on target) and 33 touches in Manchester City's box. And then they lost.
"On Wednesday, we sat in the changing room feeling disappointed, because penalty shootouts are cruel, the worst way to lose," Fabian Hürzeler told The Athletic in his post-match press conference. "We promised ourselves that we didn't want to feel the same way on Saturday. We wanted to feel satisfied and happy after the game."
"We set the tone, we created energy, we created positivity, because if you want to focus on the next game, you need these things in your environment. Immediately after the game, we saw Saturday as an opportunity to become stronger."
Away fans sang "We're going to win the league" at the final whistle. An exaggeration? Perhaps, but enough evidence has accumulated in the first quarter of the season to consider Brighton & Hove Albion strong contenders for Champions League qualification.
This result, after four days spent together in Manchester, validated their ambitions.