Fabian Huerzeler has offered timely new perspective on the hottest tactical term among Albion fans right now.

The Albion head coach has said his team do not so much play a high line as an active line.

That “high line” has been under scrutiny ever since the Seagulls let slip a 2-1 lead at home to Nottingham Forest.

But even more so after the hard-to-watch attacking free-for-all at Chelsea last Saturday.

Albion conceded four goals, just one of them at all related to the high line.

But that advanced positioning should have been punished on several occasions.

The key points about the “high line” have been done to death by now.

That it is not just about the defenders, that it is about closing down the passer, that it is about forward players doing their job off the ball.

That it offers the reward of a team being compact, rather than stretched, and can lead to ball-wins high up the pitch.

Now Huerzeler has spoken about the active line rather than the high line – so what does that mean?

The Albion boss said: “Active line is for me like the line should adapt to some moments of the game.

“So, for example, if there’s an opponent, a free player and he can play a long ball, of course we have to adapt and we have to drop.

“The last line is responsible for the compactness of the whole team. And, if we are high, we press high, the last line has to be high.

“If we are low, the last line can be low. Therefore it’s for me like adapting to different situations of the game. And if you adapt, you have to be active. You can’t be passive.

“And I think that’s one of the most important thing to, to be active, not being lazy playing this high line. Being active.

“I think we have to adapt or adjust small things, but in the end, that’s our style of play and we try to continue doing it and learn from the goals we concede.”

That insight is timely because Albion and Tottenham are both seen as teams who love a risky high line.

Huerzeler will clearly look into things in more detail.

He said: “There might be some elements that are similar, yes, but I think Ange Postecoglu proved it over one year now and we are at the beginning of our journey.

“I think in some moments we are a little naive.

“We have to defend better, not to concede that many goals. I think it is also a priority for us to defend as a whole team.

“We are talking a lot about the high line. For me, it is not a high line, it is more like an active line but how do we get to these moments?

“ It is also a responsibility for the offensive player to defend the lines, that opponents can’t break the lines that easily, that their players can play a ball behind our line.

“So it is always a togetherness how we defend. We have to improve in these situations ad it is not only a thing about the high line.”

Albion’s 61.5% of possession so far this season is their highest such figure in any Premier League season - a greater share than they enjoyed even with Graham Potter.

Huerzeler sees that as important but not the be-all-and-end-all.

He said: “I’m a coach who likes his team to be dominant and who likes to have the ball because when you have the ball you can create something.

“Of course you must be aware of transition moments, especially in the Premier League.

“With the ball you can build your ideas in possession. But again it doesn’t tell the whole story.

“I think it’s important to find a balance when to have ball possession, when to have defensive stability.

“I think these numbers show we are able to beat every team in this league, to compete with every team.

“I didn’t feel we were much worse than Chelsea.

“I think this gives us confidence and clarity that if we are on point, and we have to be on point, and if we are on our limits, and we have to be on our limits, we can compete with every team in the league.”