By Tim Hodges from the Amex Press Briefing
Gus Poyet said today that Albion were in the best position that the club had been in for many years.
But that people should not think that this automatically meant that they should gain promotion.
He wants the club to be a competitive decent Championship team but on the prospect of going up this season he conceded that it would be “very difficult” or “almost impossible” now.
No one specifically was to blame, he said. His aim was to keep improving.
Poyet suggested that the club needed to spend money. He went on to say that the club would benefit from a tall physical midfielder who was able to fit in with the Seagulls’ style of play.
He made it clear that he was going to be a little bit harsh in summer and that a few of the current squad may be on their way out of the Amex.
However, one, Vicente Rodriguez, will be allowed to leave if he doesn’t want to stay.
“He’s too good and deserves to play at a better level,” Poyet said. But the possibility was that he may want to stay at the Albion, depending on what happens in the summer.
Poyet confirmed that Will Hoskins would be back with the Seagulls for pre-season training.
It is clear that the Albion boss wants to get back to normal against Watford tomorrow night (Tuesday 17 April) but he didn’t think that there would be significant changes to the team.
It was unlikely that any development squad players would be involved.
Poyet thinks that he should respect the other teams in the play-off positions before experimenting.
The Seagulls boss praised Watford, saying that he thought Sean Dyche had done a fabulous job.
He said: “It’s very easy to make the manager of the year the one who wins the league. He has done an absolutely magnificent job there.”
Poyet told Brighton and Hove News that the Seagulls were in a fantastic situation until this month but everyone that knew what had happened.
Perhaps the pressure was too much, he said. It would be interesting to see if the club won the next three games then try to measure why they lost the previous three.
Poyet made it clear that the Albion did not have too many players who had experienced playing at as high a level as they were now.
He wants the Albion to keep getting better and thinks that the club has a great future but admits that he wants to manage in the Premiership. He is in no hurry and thinks he can achieve that with the Albion.
