Brighton’s Fabian Hürzeler is preparing for a difficult Premier League season

That’s okay. This is football. It was fun while it lasted – and it lasted quite a long time, longer than most.

Fabian Hürzeler got off to a great start on the pitch in his first summer as Albion head coach and made a great impression off it too.

All of this remains and still counts for great importance as we prepare for the harsh winter.

The pre-season was fantastic, perhaps the best ever in terms of results and performances, experiences, new signings and getting to know the staff.

Although international commitments in the squad and injuries slowed progress in some respects.

Nevertheless, everything went smoothly and six points were quickly collected as well as a 4-0 win for the substitutes in the cup.

Now the evenings are getting dark, the results are not so good, there are a few injuries and ailments.

The start seems a little more difficult and it really feels like we are starting the real season.

The training ground is likely to be a bit cold, wet and windy. The freshness of the previous season has been replaced by a feeling of old routine.

There are problems to iron out and disappointments to recover from.

Again, good. It’s called the English football season and we’ve all signed up for it.

It is the challenge that Huerzeler has set for himself and the signs during his post-match press conference at Stamford Bridge suggested that he is ready for the challenge.

Of course he would like to win, win, win.

Of course, the pats on the back were nice given the success at the start of the season.

Even the “aren’t you good – and SO young!” type of attention he got.

It was flavor of the month. Aside from the now famous High Line, the national view has now changed further.

And Match Of The Day didn’t even care about that over the weekend.

One perspective on Saturday was that Albion conceded three goals when they were well positioned, be it with or without possession.

Hürzeler said none of the goals were due to the height of the line – there were two errors, a penalty and a free kick.

While that was true, it conveniently overlooked both the manner in which the free-kick was conceded and the unsettling sense of chaos that ensued as Chelsea continued to fight through the Albion ranks.

It was overlooked that Albion were lucky on several occasions, the first time when they led 1-0.

And the fact that they conceded a goal like that at home against Nottingham Forest.

But the Chelsea defeat is now water under the bridge, so to speak.

There was good football there too, not to mention.

What will they do about the oversights that have changed the mood after several exciting weeks?

Huerzeler generally hasn’t had to react to many goals conceded.

St. Pauli suffered two 3-4 defeats, one of them against Hamburger SV in the city derby.

A St. Pauli reporter in Hamburg said the top line wasn’t a big issue when Hürzeler was in Germany and he was never really criticized except for a lack of goals early in the season in three consecutive 0-0 results.

Of course, last year in Germany would have had some challenges, and Hürzeler would have made a step further anyway if he had stayed with newly promoted St. Pauli.

So it was always going to be a battle of the season.

When asked late Saturday evening how many goals were scored against his team, he said: “It’s a new experience.

(Image: Simon Dack)

“I knew there would be new experiences and not just positive new experiences.

“It’s clear to me that this will happen – bad experiences.”

“Of course it wasn’t clear to me that I would concede four goals in 20 minutes.

“But it happens every now and then, and now it’s about taking responsibility, trying to analyze it, being honest with myself about whether we should adapt something and then learn from it.”

Reviews of Saturday’s game shouldn’t just be about the goals.

Lewis Dunk and Adam Webster made brilliant last-gasp defenses to prevent further damage to Chelsea.

Cole Palmer hit the post (he also missed a keeper, but that could well have been an offside call) and a goal was disallowed due to an extremely close offside decision.

Palmer’s teammates let Albion off the hook several times.

But the guests should have scored more goals.

When Hürzeler was told this, he said: “We had a good game when we had the ball.

“We created a lot of chances and could have easily scored four or five goals.”

So there’s a lot to do – before facing a Tottenham side who have just won 3-0 at Old Trafford.

The challenges will keep coming.