Andrew Crofts in action during training.
Image by: Paul Hazlewood
Andrew Crofts has his sights set on an international recall with Wales, but first says he expects a battle to be a regular in Sami Hyypia’s first 11 after a summer of signings at Brighton & Hove Albion.The midfielder, who agreed a one-year contract extension this month, believes that competition for places is how it should be in a squad as it makes everyone more focused to achieve their potential on the field.
He told seagulls.co.uk, “I don’t want to be comfortable, thinking I’m going to be playing every week. You’ve got to earn your place every week and the gaffer has got a squad in place now. It’s an intense league with the amount of Saturday/Tuesday games and obviously the cup runs.
“Everyone in the squad is going to be used and that’s good because you need to freshen up with the number of games. That’s why it’s important to have a fresh squad and with the new boys our squad is really strong and I think the fans are really excited now.
“It’s looking like a real strong and competitive group. The gaffer is going to be happy with his decisions, he’s going to have some tough decisions which any manager is going to be happy with and the boys are a great set of lads and we’re all working hard to achieve what everyone wants to achieve for this club.”
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Crofts has also enjoyed the support of his international manager Chris Coleman, who has been in contact with him during his rehabilitation.“He wanted me to go away to Andorra. He called me to say, ‘If you’re ready to come we would like you to come. But if you need this initial period to get back then I’m happy either way.’
“He was brilliant. He phoned me up five or six times since I’ve been injured and I’ve got a lot of time for him.
“He had a bad injury himself so he knows what it’s like. For him to ask me so quickly to come away was a big confidence boost as well.
“Obviously a couple of people came to watch a few of the games and they must’ve been happy with what they saw and that I was ready to come back in.
“But he understood it was a case of needing a couple of weeks and assessing it further down the line for the next couple of games.”
Crofts has also revealed his frustration after his opening day red card against Sheffield Wednesday – but typically the bullish midfielder has turned the suspension into a positive.
“I was devastated. I was thinking the referee might just have a word with me or in the worst case give me a yellow, but then it was a red and I thought ‘I’ve missed six months and now I’m going to have to miss ten days.’
"It made me feel a bit sick at the time, because I was so buzzing to be out there and to have started the game which was a bit of a goal of mine.
“Thankfully, it went quite quickly, with three games close together, but having worked hard to get back for that game, when he pulled out a red card I couldn’t believe it – but things like that make you stronger.
“I used those ten days as best I could though as I always look at the positive side where maybe that was meant to happen, and I used those days to get fitter and stronger.
“I’ll reflect on that as a difficult time to get through mentally, but you get through it.”
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