[Albion] Brighton v WBA FA Cup 4th round Saturday January 26 (3pm)

[Albion Dan]

I just think we now have a very strong reserve" side

 

[Peter Grummit]

Surely the racist incident will add to the atmosphere? I reckon it will be a good cup tie. West Brom should bring 4k

I will be amazed if WBA bring that many.

It's a completely different situation to Coventry. Their fans had been starved of 'big matches' and were playing for an FACup QF for the first time in a generation, having beaten PL Stoke and had a huge day out at MK in previous rounds.

WBA have slipped out of the PL having got beaten at the Amex last season and will be less than happy with this tough yet unglamorous draw which, by their geographic standard represents a long trip. Their focus will be on regaining PL status, as their team selection Saturday showed.

A decent, winnable draw for us. Hope they open up the whole ground straight away but fear Barber will see the Coventry incremental ticket release model as a commercial success, never mind what the 'customers' would clearly prefer.

PG

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[smillie's garden]

I normally avoid FAC ties and will give this a miss too.

Can’t stand WBA, the (alleged) racist or their scummy fans.

Why do you think their fans are scummy?

 

[nicko31]

Home draw that will do, £20 tickets??

 

[saafend_seagull]

Lower - £10 adults and we’ll get 20k home fans.

Pleased with that draw but will be a tough game for our fringe players.

Tough game for prem reserves against champ reserves?


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[Weststander]

Why do you think their fans are scummy?

I lived in a part of Brighton in the 90’s when they visited, and they wrecked a load of cars ... I caught them doing it. May 17 at Hawthorns - unprovoked punches to the back of heads of Chelsea fans scattered around to see them win the title - cowardly, Albion fans would never do shit like that. Their near universal reaction against Bong - again, NSC’ers would debate it with mixed views rather than it be blanket tribal. The coin attack on their captain Brunt which almost blinded him.

Burnley, Stoke, WBA - similar.

 

[The Kid Frankie]

Was fairly meh when I saw the draw, considering the kind of opponents we could have faced.

But if when you add up the following: Jay Rodriguez saga, Bong will likely play, winnable game, hopefully reasonable ticket prices = big gate, a lot of fringe/prem fans won't bother which will add to the atmosphere, us treating the Cup seriously.

Ingredients for what could be a very decent tie.

 

[Bozza]

Yep (although that **** on Talksport said it was a game between ‘two reserve sides’)........hope it continues

Did he? I'm not sure that's the case, even if he didn't "play the kids".

Only three of the players who started against Bournemouth seem to be in Hughton's starting XI right now - Duffy, Stephens and Locadia, although you could make a case for Andone too.

We have a very strong squad now, and some players competing for spots are quite tightly matched, but let's not kid ourselves that the Bournemouth side was Hughton's first choice for when he wants to get a result.

 

[jasetheace]

The way the overall draw panned out in my eyes opened up a path to Wembley. For that reason, I will be there.

 

[Stumpy Tim]

It's a shame we've got Fulham away the following Tuesday, followed by Watford at home on the Saturday. Two winnable Premier League games within 7 days of the WBA game pretty much guarantees a weak line-up

 

[Hippy1]

WBA doing well in the Championship but this is certainly a good draw for us and a real chance to progress

 

[Hotchilidog]

Just hope that the whole ground is on sale from the start. If STH were allowed to claim their usual seat I think we can easily get in excess of 20,000 for this game.
If they decide to open the lower tier only I hope that all of it is opened so I can at least get a north stand ticket. With the bit by bit opening last season I ended in in the WSL which I really don't like at all.

Looking forward to the tie, it is a winnable one and this feels like a good year for a cup run. The needle from our previous meeting should spice up the atmosphere for this one too, unless they flog Rodriguez to Burnley this month.

 

[Simster]

Surely the racist incident will add to the atmosphere? I reckon it will be a good cup tie. West Brom should bring 4k

I doubt they'll bring anything like that - I reckon they'll bring around 2,500.

As for the game, we should win this comfortably. Both teams will be massively changed as both have league priorities, but our squad is actually very strong in depth.

It's a shame we've got Fulham away the following Tuesday, followed by Watford at home on the Saturday. Two winnable Premier League games within 7 days of the WBA game pretty much guarantees a weak line-up

When you look at our team at Bournemouth, it was full of players you'd be relatively happily see start in the league, and yet there was no Dunk, Ryan, Gross, Murray, Izzy, Bernado, Propper and March only came on with 15 to play. We have a very competitive squad and that is why I reckon there is real value in giving this competition a real go this season. I'm not sure we can actually play a genuinely "weak" team - our second XI must be a lot closer to our first XI than is the case at most Premier league clubs.

I might even lump on because the odds look good.

 

[Bozza]

Just hope that the whole ground is on sale from the start. If STH were allowed to claim their usual seat I think we can easily get in excess of 20,000 for this game.

I'd open the whole ground but make it a free-for-all from the off. The reason being is that this is the sort of game where people will bring along friends, family and kids that might not otherwise go. If it's STH claims first, then that makes it difficult for STHs who want to bring extras.

Open up the whole ground and let people choose. STHs will be able to get their seat, or very close to it, but also be able to sit in a group with non-STHs if they so wish.

 

[Bozza]

It's a shame we've got Fulham away the following Tuesday, followed by Watford at home on the Saturday. Two winnable Premier League games within 7 days of the WBA game pretty much guarantees a weak line-up

...and West Brom do not have a mid-week fixture that corresponds with our Fulham game, although they do play on the preceding Monday.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

Did he? I'm not sure that's the case, even if he didn't "play the kids".

Only three of the players who started against Bournemouth seem to be in Hughton's starting XI right now - Duffy, Stephens and Locadia, although you could make a case for Andone too.

We have a very strong squad now, and some players competing for spots are quite tightly matched, but let's not kid ourselves that the Bournemouth side was Hughton's first choice for when he wants to get a result.

But he didn't play the kids, or change formation, or play players out of position - like Bournemouth, Leicester and Liverpool did. Everyone out there except steele has been a premier league regular, in the position they played at Bournemouth, at some point this season

 

[Bozza]

But he didn't play the kids, or change formation, or play players out of position - like Bournemouth, Leicester and Liverpool did. Everyone out there except steele has been a premier league regular, in the position they played at Bournemouth, at some point this season

That didn't seem to be the point though. It was whether it was a reserve side. I'm saying it largely was.

I completely agree on squad strength etc, as I wrote.

I'm also not saying Hughton was wrong to play the side he did, although you can bet if we'd lost 3-1 there would be moans about "why did Hughton make so many changes when we're all but safe and could give the Cup a good go this year?"

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

That didn't seem to be the point though. It was whether it was a reserve side. I'm saying it largely was.

I completely agree on squad strength etc, as I wrote.

I'm also not saying Hughton was wrong to play the side he did, although you can bet if we'd lost 3-1 there would be moans about "why did Hughton make so many changes when we're all but safe and could give the Cup a good go this year?"

I wasn't arguing, I was embellishing


When I saw the two lineups I knew we'd win comfortably, just a little surprised it took so long for us to hit our stride. But when we did they looked lost.

 

[Klaas]

When you look at our team at Bournemouth, it was full of players you'd be relatively happily see start in the league, and yet there was no Dunk, Ryan, Gross, Murray, Izzy, Bernado, Propper and March only came on with 15 to play. We have a very competitive squad and that is why I reckon there is real value in giving this competition a real go this season. I'm not sure we can actually play a genuinely "weak" team - our second XI must be a lot closer to our first XI than is the case at most Premier league clubs.

I might even lump on because the odds look good.

This was a really pleasing thing about Saturday. When I saw the line up I thought, nice, not going with the second string. Then saw AN on twitter mentioning it was 8 (I think) changes for the Albion. That many changes and I'm still thinking strong team. That's a like.

 

[spence]

By the time we play this game we will have our Iranian and Columbian chaps back. That's some depth.