Lord Large
Keeping the faith
Not seen this elsewhere on here. Sorry if it is.
Albion manager Micky Adams is resigned to losing the goalscoring prowess from midfield of Bradley Johnson.
The loan signing from managerless Leeds completes his stint with the Seagulls in the Christmas and New Year fixtures at home to Colchester on Boxing Day, at Swindon two days later and against his old club Northampton at Withdean on January 3.
Johnson, who has scored four goals in eight games so far for Albion, has been linked with a January move from Elland Road.
Premier League pair Hull and West Brom are among the clubs thought to be keeping tabs on the 21-year-old Londoner and, although Adams would like him to stay, he accepts that is a forlorn hope.
“I would like to keep him but I think the likelihood is he will be going back,” Adams said. “There is other interest in him from other clubs.
“The likelihood is we are going to lose him, because he will have other options.”
Johnson missed training yesterday with a tooth abscess but he will be available to face Colchester, which is the final home game of Kevin Thornton’s loan spell from Coventry.
Thornton returns to the Midlands after Sunday’s trip to Swindon. Ipswich left-back Matt Richards also finishes his loan spell against Northampton, while Stuart Fleetwood is due to go back to Charlton after Albion’s visit to Walsall on January 10.
Adams admits his players owe the Withdean faithful a performance after losing 4-2 to MK Dons in their last home outing.
The Seagulls slipped into the relegation zone with Saturday’s unfortunate 1-0 defeat at Tranmere and Adams said: “We owe them something.
“When you are in the position we are in you expect criticism and you can’t hide away from it.
“I’d be disappointed if I was a Brighton fan at the moment but, in the situation we find ourselves in, they have got to get behind everybody.
“We’ve got to show we are not as bad as people are making out we are. We did everything we possibly could at Tranmere.
“The fighting spirit was there. We played some good football, were unlucky in front of goal, hit the post twice, had other chances and should have had a penalty. You can’t do any more than that to try and win the game.
“We were disappointed to get nothing but I was pleased with it. There are ways to lose games.
“I’ll accept it when we have a go and play some decent stuff, I won’t accept half-hearted performances like MK Dons at home, where we really didn't show any sort of spirit.”
Would be a huge blow if he does go back. I can't see too many teams being happy to let us keep / send us loan players when we are struggling and many of the players we do / have had hardly figure in the starting team.
I think Johnson going back could be the start of a slide which ends up with us starting Virgo and El Abd centre mid.
Albion manager Micky Adams is resigned to losing the goalscoring prowess from midfield of Bradley Johnson.
The loan signing from managerless Leeds completes his stint with the Seagulls in the Christmas and New Year fixtures at home to Colchester on Boxing Day, at Swindon two days later and against his old club Northampton at Withdean on January 3.
Johnson, who has scored four goals in eight games so far for Albion, has been linked with a January move from Elland Road.
Premier League pair Hull and West Brom are among the clubs thought to be keeping tabs on the 21-year-old Londoner and, although Adams would like him to stay, he accepts that is a forlorn hope.
“I would like to keep him but I think the likelihood is he will be going back,” Adams said. “There is other interest in him from other clubs.
“The likelihood is we are going to lose him, because he will have other options.”
Johnson missed training yesterday with a tooth abscess but he will be available to face Colchester, which is the final home game of Kevin Thornton’s loan spell from Coventry.
Thornton returns to the Midlands after Sunday’s trip to Swindon. Ipswich left-back Matt Richards also finishes his loan spell against Northampton, while Stuart Fleetwood is due to go back to Charlton after Albion’s visit to Walsall on January 10.
Adams admits his players owe the Withdean faithful a performance after losing 4-2 to MK Dons in their last home outing.
The Seagulls slipped into the relegation zone with Saturday’s unfortunate 1-0 defeat at Tranmere and Adams said: “We owe them something.
“When you are in the position we are in you expect criticism and you can’t hide away from it.
“I’d be disappointed if I was a Brighton fan at the moment but, in the situation we find ourselves in, they have got to get behind everybody.
“We’ve got to show we are not as bad as people are making out we are. We did everything we possibly could at Tranmere.
“The fighting spirit was there. We played some good football, were unlucky in front of goal, hit the post twice, had other chances and should have had a penalty. You can’t do any more than that to try and win the game.
“We were disappointed to get nothing but I was pleased with it. There are ways to lose games.
“I’ll accept it when we have a go and play some decent stuff, I won’t accept half-hearted performances like MK Dons at home, where we really didn't show any sort of spirit.”
Would be a huge blow if he does go back. I can't see too many teams being happy to let us keep / send us loan players when we are struggling and many of the players we do / have had hardly figure in the starting team.
I think Johnson going back could be the start of a slide which ends up with us starting Virgo and El Abd centre mid.
