By Tim Hodges from the Amex Press Briefing
At the Amex this morning Gus Poyet told the assembled press that Will Buckley was back training with the first team and that if necessary Vicente can take Albion’s penalties although he added that Ash (Barnes) was likely to be his number one penalty taker.
We were also told that Zoltan Ziptak, a Hungarian international centre half, was currently on trial with the Seagulls.
There are no fresh injury worries from Tuesday night.
Poyet said that he expected West Ham to bring plenty of fans and this was one of the games along with Leeds, Southampton and Birmingham that the players really looked forward to. The game may even have the same status value as the Sunderland and Liverpool matches.
I asked the Albion boss how two extra days might affect his selection. He repsonded saying there were positions available in the “eleven”.
Gus also commented how nice it was to have a “blip” and be two points behind West Ham.
Poyet went on to say how pleased he would be if Craig Mackail-Smith was selected for Team GB, the Olympic football squad. He went on to say that you should always represent your country if given the opportunity.
The Albion boss thought the suggestion of a closed (non relagation) Premiership was nonsense, suggesting that teams such as Southampton and West Ham would never agree to it.
The conference ended with Gus suggesting we take one cup out of the English domestic league and reduce the number of Championship teams to 20 so as to enable players to maintain fitness levels.
