We can’t afford to let our guard down against a side that is looking at a chance at qualifying for a European spot for the first time in its history. De Zerbi has his side playing positive, incisive football depsite being the anti-Chelsea, selling key players and replacing them astutely. Tottenham’s recent wobble can only intensify the Seagull’s hunger for climbing the table, and we’d do well to prepare for a scene out of Hitchcock rather than a cakewalk.
Continue readingTag Archives: Brighton & Hove Albion
Brighton do Arsenal a massive favour…but also circle the wagons…
First, let’s get the schadenfreude celebrating out of the way. Courtesy of Man U’s 1-0 loss to the Seagulls, it’s now all but impossible for those devils to finish above us. Yes, they can match us on points, but we’d have to lose every last match while they win all of theirs while also overcoming our vastly superior goal difference. What’s more, Brighton, with two matches in hand, have overtaken Tottenham, sending those spuds down to seventh.
Continue readingForget Caicedo. It’s Rice or bust.
Tantalus has nothing on the Arsenal when it comes to transfer rumours, even less when it comes to finding the next dominant DM/#6/Heir to Vieira. With that as a backdrop, there have been some mouth-watering rumours circling around us circling both Moisés Caicedo and Declan Rice. We’re gonna need a bigger boat and all that. Sadly, it seems that Brighton’s form not to mention its recent transfer business may have shut the door on Caicedo bolstering our ranks.
Continue readingTrossard & White tell Caicedo what to expect…
As Arsenal attempt to convince Brighton to sell Caicdeo, they enlisted a flock of Seagulls (okay, two), and the conversation went something like this.
De Zerbi's thrown in the towel on Caicedo.
Brighton’s Roberto De Zerbi is starting to sound a bit like a manager who’s seen the last of his player. With Caicedo frozen out of the squad, similar to how ex-teaammate Leandro Trossard was frozne out, De Zerbi has spoken about how it’s time to “go forward without him”. It was just a few days ago that De Zerbi said that Caicedo is “only focused on Brighton. I hope he can stay with us until the end of the season”. Happier times on the southern shore. Those were the days. De Zerbi’s more-recent words seem to insinuate that a parting of ways is inevitable, and the only question is whether happens in the next few days or in the summer.
I would like him to finish the season with us but we are ready to go forward without him. When you are 21 and you receive the request of a big team that is playing in European competition, I can understand.
Those are hardly the words of a manager confident of keeping the lad in the club. I suggested earlier that Caicedo was being a bit mercenary. It’s worth considering his situation, not as a justification of our pursuit of him but as a understanding of his concerns. He’s the youngest of ten children from an impoverished family in Ecuador. While his weekly salary of £25k or so is probably more than most families see in a year, he has to be seeing just how much more he can do for his family on a larger weekly wage. Again, I’m not suggesting that we’re acting as some kind of noble benefactor interested only in the wellbeing of the Caicedo clan; I’m only suggesting that those who might criticise the lad should keep in mind what’s on his.
Back to Brighton’s state of affairs, De Zerbi added a few nuggets that offer us more reasons to hope:
I think we need some players in some positions. I have spoken a lot with [chairman] Tony Bloom and he knows my position. We have a good team but we can improve from the transfer window. We lost Leandro Trossard, and if we lose also Caicedo it can be a problem for us if we want to fight for a European league or the maximum position on the table. If you want to stay like this, we can stay but I don’t like that [approach].
This again sounds like a man who sees the writing on the wall regarding Caicedo’s future, and it gives some substance to Caicedo’s admittedly tone-deaf declaration that he’d be “proud to be able to bring in a record transfer fee for Brighton”. There’s a bit of hubris there, but there’s also some practicality as well. If De Zerbi wants new players, a £75 fee (plus add-ons) would go an awful long way—but time is running short.
The question then becomes, who will blink first?