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The silence is deafening.

There’s plenty of PL life left in Dale Stephens yet. A key contributor to the 6 points gained over the last 8 days, which are keeping us in the PL.

This. They play in totally different positions, Maddison the 'floating' creator just behind Vardy.

Another day, and the NSC Stephens Saga rumbles on. You’d think we’d just lost our critical match to Hudd, with Stephens the culprit. Shirley there’s more to Albion life than the Stephens dog with a bone?

That first clip will fuel the haters, who want DS out of THEIR club.

"Dale is only 3 interceptions behind MU's Matic" - that statement is so relevant - identical positions.

Quality post.

Yes, against a far lower standard of opponent than DS faces, Bridcutt still rarely scored. Not in their job descriptions.

Our CM has been far from ideal over the last 19 months, no one could deny that. But we couldn’t afford to upgrade the first team immediately. Plus, due to usually playing on-paper better teams, CH went for the cautious approach of a deep defence, with Propper and Stephens sitting deep with...

This.

There are mix of negative views: a) People who’d love to see an upgrade this summer over DS as our defensive midfielder. Yet respect he’s the best in that role just now. b) People who can’t stand the player, feel he’s holding the team back and are angry every time CH picks him. (Plus many of...

Gary Stevens didn’t really feature in CM.

....

I can’t believe any Albion fans don’t get that, and the various nuanced positions in a modern centre midfield. DS has never been and never will be a Pirlo-esque CM ‘quarterback’. He doesn’t need to be. Can only think that some people roll up at The Amex hoping that DS makes some ‘mistakes’...

Good post, big nuts knows his football.

I rate Propper and Kayal very highly. But Stephens is the best we have at the deep sitting midfielder role. Anecdotally mentioning a few games, doesn’t surpass the stats from all our games produced by Nixonator and others on anti Stephens threads - the Albion simply have a far higher win rate...

Brighton’s midfield as a collective don’t score many scores, very true. But most CM sitters rarely score goals in open play at the highest level - Makelele, Kante, Stephens. Not in their job description.

Propper hasn’t got the steel and positional awareness to simply shield the defence all day long and passing it simple. Plus every team requires a Stephens or two to avoid being bullied out of games. No wonder the Albion’s players rate DS highly.

:goal:

I hope we review CM creativity, pace, ability to burst forward in ‘transition’. We haven’t really cracked that at PL level.