Match preparation in a different league now

Last Saturday we faced Reading in the FA Cup third round. After a hectic festive fixture list which caused plenty of debate within the game, the cup generated an increasingly familiar controversy, even before a ball was kicked.

Managers are always criticised for not being up front and honest with the media, but when both Paul Lambert and Sam Allardyce suggested that this famous competition wasn’t high on their priority lists, with both sides struggling at the wrong end of the Premier League, they were widely condemned by the purists.

I can sympathise with them, however, as such are the fortunes at stake at the highest level, survival is the main priority. For us here at Brighton it’s a different story as we try and get promotion to the Premier League. We sit seventh in the table, level on points with our play-off rivals in sixth. We have a near fully fit squad that has been playing both well and relatively consistently in recent weeks, so there has been competition for places all over the park.