'Hurzeler put his head on the block and played lads that he could trust'

Former Brighton defender Warren Aspinall says fans were "astonished" by Fabian Hurzeler's team selection in Saturday's win over Brentford, but the players he picked "performed really well".

"The manager put his head on the block with the team he picked," Aspinall told the Albion Unlimited podcast.

"He knew if it backfired he would take the blame and the fans were ready to pounce on him.

"Even the fans on our phone-in said they were astonished when they heard the team news so he was under pressure straight away. But, he put out lads that he could trust and they performed really well.

"The people on the bench are on there for a reason. He played a left back at right wing and kept two players who can play right wing and cost £80m combined on the bench. Is that a wake up call about the two lads in [Yankuba] Minteh and [Georginio] Rutter?

"I asked for a bit of bite and a bit more running, working a bit harder, and I got that. As a fan that's all you can ask for.

"If we're going to beat teams we have to run more and if we can do that and outrun them by 10% it's like we're playing with an extra player.

"We controlled the game in the first-half especially. Playing [James] Milner and [Pascal] Gross, two aging midfielders, worked. [Karou] Mitoma showed a bit more bite and did well defensively.

"Week in and week out [Lewis] Dunk and [Jean Paul] Van Hecke perform to the highest level and kept Igor Thiago quiet."

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds