Brighton has hired a mixed martial arts fighter to improve their set-piece performance, aiming to shed their 'nice' reputation. The team has conceded a significant number of goals from set-pieces this season.
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Brighton have scored 27% of their Premier League goals from set-pieces this season [Getty Images]
Fabian Hurzeler says he does not want Brighton to be "known as a club that is nice" after they enlisted an mixed martial arts fighter to help them improve at set-pieces.
In an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live last week, midfielder Jack Hinshelwood said the unnamed fighter had been brought in to help players "block from corners better" earlier this season.
Brighton have conceded 13 goals, a third of their overall total, from set-pieces this campaign and travel to Newcastle United - the fourth-most prolific scorers of set-piece goals and one of the Premier League's tallest teams - on Saturday (15:00 BST).
"It was a couple of months ago. We brought him in because we spoke a lot about set-pieces, blocking, new trends in the Premier League. Therefore we tried to adapt to it as well," said Hurzeler.
"I don't always want to be known as a club that is nice. In certain moments you need to be quite resilient in personal duels.
"There are different ways of being resilient, of using a block, different techniques to win one-v-one duels - especially at set-pieces.
"An MMA fighter always has one-against-one duels. They always need to find a way to beat an opponent. We try to get ideas from other sports and this was an idea we used. If it stays in a player's mind then that's always a positive thing."
Only four teams in the Premier League have scored fewer than Brighton's 13 goals from set-pieces this season.
"As a club we're not known as being so dominant in set-pieces," Hurzeler added.
"We're never known as recruiting only for set-pieces so therefore we need to find ways to be innovative. We need to find ways that we can't be beaten that easily against taller teams.
Brighton hired a mixed martial arts fighter to help improve their set-piece performance and to avoid being labeled as a 'nice' club.
Brighton has conceded 13 goals from set-pieces this season, accounting for a third of their total goals conceded.
Jack Hinshelwood is a midfielder for Brighton who mentioned that the team brought in an unnamed fighter to help players improve their blocking during corners.
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"That's what we face against Newcastle. We might not be that physical but there are always ways you can defend and attack in one-on-one duels at set-pieces and that's why we try to use techniques from MMA as well."
Hurzeler himself has previously trained with British boxer Harlem Eubank.