Opposing views: Brighton
Brighton fan Chris says Chris Shuker always has a good game against Brighton, he’s wary of Tom Pope and he thinks Brighton’s flying wingers may be key.
Chris is 19 and a life-long Brighton supporter (and semi-professional football career of his own). He lives in Telford and talks to REP about the next match
Oscar is a fantastic manager who keeps getting better and better with each game. He’s not afraid to change things around and in my opinion he’s better than Poyet…
How are your team doing?
We’ve done very well this season although we’ve had dreadful luck in terms of injuries. The start of the season was very tough but Oscar has started to implement his style of football on the squad and that shows with our recent form. Losing the likes of Barnes and El-abd is disappointing, not to mention Andrew Crofts who is out for the season now. Buckley and Lualua have been injured recently but both should be back for the game versus Vale.
Who should we watch out for?
It’s quite difficult really because I don’t know what sort of team Oscar will play. He played something of a ‘reserve’ squad in the last round against Reading and they all impressed so I’d say it would be a similar team. Should the cyclone Leo Ulloa play, I’d say for sure to watch out for him. In my opinion, he’s the best striker outside of the Premier League but he needs a goal at the moment!
The two flying wingers Buckley and Lualua would of course be ones to look out for should they play, but I’ll reserve special comments for young Solly March. He’s an exciting young winger, pretty two footed, quick, skillful, can deliver a ball and can strike a ball incredibly well. I would have thought he’d get a game so keep an eye out for him.
What are your thoughts on your manager?
Oscar is a fantastic manager who keeps getting better and better with each game. He’s not afraid to change things around and in my opinion he’s better than Poyet who we were a tad too slow with. Under Oscar, we still play the nice attractive football but we get the ball forward much quicker and aren’t afraid to go direct at times. I think Oscar will take us to the Premier League and he will be a top manager. It’s not a shock that fans and pundits in Spain talk a lot about him.
What are your thoughts on your board and off-field club activities?
No problems really, Poyet had to go because enough was enough with the way he behaved and spoke when other jobs became available. There’s obvious frustration currently with our bad luck in the transfer market so far but there’s no point in over-paying for a player. I’m very happy with Tony Bloom, a rich man and life-long Albion fan with a family history on the board of directors.
Another one is Chris Shuker, who has been very impressive every time I’ve seen him down the years and ALWAYS scores or plays well against us…
Any views on Port Vale and our players?
I know quite a few Vale players, the obvious ones being Loft and Birchall but of course there are others to look out for. Tom Pope scored a hat-ful of goals the other year and can be dangerous. Jennison Myrie-Williams I’ve seen plenty of and is a tricky little player who can cause a lot of trouble. Another one is Chris Shuker, who has been very impressive every time I’ve seen him down the years and ALWAYS scores or plays well against us. I also know Sam Johnson a little bit too as I played against him in a youth team game when I was at Wolves and he was at Vale.
Any views and memories of players that have played for both teams (Loft, Fraser, Birchall and Micky Adams as Manager)?
Yeah, they all did quite well for us. Lofty had great talent but was always injured. He did tend to score the obligatory one goal a season and I was amazed when Micky signed him for Vale as he NEVER played him at Brighton.
Micky was loved by the fans but had a disappointing end to his tenure both times…
Tommy was an academy lad, technically not the greatest but always gave 110%. I’m disappointed with the way he talks about us as a club now as he feels (and possibly rightly so) that he deserved a new contract. You’ll see no Brighton fan making too many good comments about him!
Birchall was a player I liked a lot and could have gone far in his career but he lacked pace. He was a very nice guy and I feel for him as we didn’t originally let him go to LA Galaxy when he originally wanted to. He never got to show his best at Brighton.
Micky was loved by the fans but had a disappointing end to his tenure both times. First-time he left to take an assistant managers job the second time because we were down the bottom.
A score prediction?
Absolutely no idea.
Of course, I’m confident of winning the game but it’s the FA cup so it’s hard to make a prediction…
Of course, I’m confident of winning the game but it’s the FA cup so it’s hard to make a prediction. Also, as we have no idea what sort of a team we’ll be putting out its hard to say.
I’d like to say we’ll win by a couple either 2-0/3-1 something like that. It would be nice if Ulloa starts and gets a goal but I’m pretty sure that either Loft or Shuker will score for you guys!
Good luck for your season, apart from in the FA Cup of course. It would be nice to see you guys doing well!
Thanks to Chris for answering our questions.