By Tim Hodges from the Amex Press Briefing
Gus Poyet told me today that he was convinced by the way he gets the Albion to play and that is what motivates him.
He believes when the Albion play as he dictates, they can beat anyone. But the team need to maintain consistancy, which they haven’t always done this season.
He believes that the transition to a higher level is the key to this.
He went on to say that he does not always like loans, as the incoming players take three or four weeks to get used to his style.
Poyet went on to comment on the individual qualities of the strikers saying Craig Mackail-Smith runs and chases the ball and that Marcos Paynter gives us something different to put the ball into.
He also mentioned that he may have asked a bit too much of Ashley Barnes at times.
Poyet seemed please regarding Lewis Dunk’s inclusion in the Engalnd under-21’s and had a wry smile when he discussed the young defender’s progess.
We were told that after the recent injuries to Will Hoskins, Vicente Rodriguez and Gonzalo Jara Reyes, only the latter had a real chance for Sunday … probably!
Poyet did bemoan his bad luck with recent pre-match injuires, saying that twice in three days people have been running up and down corridors to get the revised team sheet to the referee in time.
Lewis Dunk’s exclusion appears to have been more psychological than physical.
The Albion boss commented on how many games Dunk had played this season compared with last year. But Poyet said that it was his decison to rest him, not Dunk’s.
On Sunday’s opponents Barnsley, Poyet said that they played a similar game to Albion but the key would be quality on the day.
When questioned on Albion’s current four goalkeepers, Poyet said that it was more a question of a player’s character as to who replaced Casper Ankergren.
He appeared to be suggesting that the time wasn’t right for either Peter Brezovan or Michael Poke.
Later Gordon Greer told me that he thought the Albion fans had been great recently and that he was looking forward to 20,000 plus of them in the stadium on Sunday.
gus is doing a good job .brighton will finish in thev top half .and improve on that next season .you hear a lot of silly talk by fans who havnt supported brighton before .were going up etc .they dont know nilch about football .people that have just jumped on the bandwaggon .and will be gone if brighton do badly .a lot of those are in west stand lower .people were giving me and my son funny looks for cheering ha ha ,they were sitting watching as if they were at home in front of the box ha ha .wont go down there again .but once brighton adapt they will do wwell .and so will gus