The key talking points from the manager's pre-match press conference.
At his pre-match press conference, Brighton & Hove Albion manager Chris Hughton delivered the latest team news, expressed his thoughts on Leeds United, stressed the importance of having a solid defence, and spoke about the amazing support from the fans.
Team News: “The only one that did not train today [Friday] is Bruno, but we’re very confident he’ll be fine. It was just a kick at the back of his knee, the good news is that it wasn’t a strain or a twist. We hope to have him on Monday night.“Gaetan [Bong] is back in full training so in theory, he is available. It’s about us picking the right moments for him.
“Uwe [Huenemeier] is still going to be a bit longer and will be a matter of weeks before he’s available”.
Threat from Leeds: “Generally their games are quite tight and close, but we’re at home and the points for where we are in the league are very valuable.
“I think it’s fair to say that their performances not translating into points. They’ve brought in a few players, but not many. They already had a lot of talent there, a lot of young talent and he’s [Steve Evans] trying to get that right balance.
“They can come here without so much fear, but they will do that anyway. They’ve got some good young talent in the side and sometimes we talk about young players feeling nervous, but they generally play without fear and enjoy it."
“[Toumani] Diagouraga and [Liam] Bridcutt have come in and are two more experienced options in midfield, so they’ve added something to what they already had. A lot of people would’ve seen their last performance on Sky Sports against Middlesbrough where they showed what a good side they are."
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Solid defence:
“We needed to get back to what we showed on Tuesday night at Bristol, it was unlike us on Saturday against Cardiff. The clean sheets are valuable and they always give the team something to thrive and progress on. A reflection of that is if you look at the teams at the top of the division. At the moment, in Hull, Middlesbrough and Burnley; they are all top teams that can score goals, but they are also teams that can win 1-0.
Praise for fans: “They’ve been outstanding all season and I made reference to it in my programme notes. As a team, we have to adapt to playing three away games in a week. We have to adapt in terms of the travelling, organisation and recovery time. But we’ve also got supporters that have had to travel away to two midweek games, and it’s not as if it’s Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, it’s two midweek games that they have had to travel away from home.
“We’ll need that support going into the last third of the season, because every game takes on even more importance and we’ll need that same level of dedication and passion they’ve shown all season."
[h=3]ALBION V LEEDS UNITED
[/h]MONDAY 29TH FEBRUARY, KICK-OFF 7.45PM
[h=3]ALBION V SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY **
[/h]TUESDAY 8TH MARCH, KICK-OFF 7.45PM
[h=3]ALBION V READING
[/h]TUESDAY 15TH APRIL, KICK-OFF 7.45PM
Original article
At his pre-match press conference, Brighton & Hove Albion manager Chris Hughton delivered the latest team news, expressed his thoughts on Leeds United, stressed the importance of having a solid defence, and spoke about the amazing support from the fans.
Team News: “The only one that did not train today [Friday] is Bruno, but we’re very confident he’ll be fine. It was just a kick at the back of his knee, the good news is that it wasn’t a strain or a twist. We hope to have him on Monday night.“Gaetan [Bong] is back in full training so in theory, he is available. It’s about us picking the right moments for him.
“Uwe [Huenemeier] is still going to be a bit longer and will be a matter of weeks before he’s available”.
Threat from Leeds: “Generally their games are quite tight and close, but we’re at home and the points for where we are in the league are very valuable.
“I think it’s fair to say that their performances not translating into points. They’ve brought in a few players, but not many. They already had a lot of talent there, a lot of young talent and he’s [Steve Evans] trying to get that right balance.
“They can come here without so much fear, but they will do that anyway. They’ve got some good young talent in the side and sometimes we talk about young players feeling nervous, but they generally play without fear and enjoy it."
“[Toumani] Diagouraga and [Liam] Bridcutt have come in and are two more experienced options in midfield, so they’ve added something to what they already had. A lot of people would’ve seen their last performance on Sky Sports against Middlesbrough where they showed what a good side they are."
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“We needed to get back to what we showed on Tuesday night at Bristol, it was unlike us on Saturday against Cardiff. The clean sheets are valuable and they always give the team something to thrive and progress on. A reflection of that is if you look at the teams at the top of the division. At the moment, in Hull, Middlesbrough and Burnley; they are all top teams that can score goals, but they are also teams that can win 1-0.
Praise for fans: “They’ve been outstanding all season and I made reference to it in my programme notes. As a team, we have to adapt to playing three away games in a week. We have to adapt in terms of the travelling, organisation and recovery time. But we’ve also got supporters that have had to travel away to two midweek games, and it’s not as if it’s Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, it’s two midweek games that they have had to travel away from home.
“We’ll need that support going into the last third of the season, because every game takes on even more importance and we’ll need that same level of dedication and passion they’ve shown all season."
[h=3]ALBION V LEEDS UNITED
[/h]MONDAY 29TH FEBRUARY, KICK-OFF 7.45PM
[h=3]ALBION V SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY **
[/h]TUESDAY 8TH MARCH, KICK-OFF 7.45PM
[h=3]ALBION V READING
[/h]TUESDAY 15TH APRIL, KICK-OFF 7.45PM
Original article