[jjamez]

Vs

Well January has come and gone, town have had a rather quiet window, as per usual, but have still managed to pull of what at present look like decent deals for the club. Izzy Brown has come in and settled rather well, already showing how useful he could be over the next few months, whilst Colin Quaner has come to challenge for the striker role and also looks to offer something different to the side, scoring a simple goal on debut whilst also setting Hef up for his second. He too could be a useful weapon in the second half of the season, Colin that is, not Hef, although a few more goals from Hef at corners wouldn't go amiss!

The rest of the Championship, my word, some teams have got desperate. The sheer volume of money being splashed around is stupid and really makes a mockery of the FA and football league who allow it. Not one of these teams will get close to breaking the FFP and even if they do, it will be a case of being called to the headmasters office where he tells them they have been a naughty boy and not to do it again. But they will. They always do.


In terms of deadline day deals, Villa splashed the cash on Scott Hogan from Brentford in a deal worth up to £13million, Sheffield Wednesday may or may not have signed Jockey McRhodes for £10million (at time of writing it was still up in the air) the FA and Football league are having to look into the deal to see whether Wednesday got the paperwork off in time, what happens if they didn't is anyones guess. Elsewhere, Norwich sold Robbie Brady to Burnley for a reported £15million and spent some of that cash in getting Town tormentor Yanic Wildschutt from Wigan for £7million, Wigan replaced him with players such as former Manchester United winger Gabriel Obertan and Grimsby goalmachine Omar Bogle. Our nearest and dearest Leeds United signed Modou Barrow from Swansea on loan as well as some Spaniard on loan, with a view to an £8.5million move, fellow fallen giants and fellow former champions of Europe Nottingham Forest got busy on the final day, bringing in Joao Texiera on loan from Benfica, after his loan at Wolves was terminated, Ross McCormack joined on loan from Villa, whilst League One stars Zach Clough and Gaby Aryibi (or something ) came from Bolton and Chesterfield respectively. To much surprise Newcastle were rather quiet on the final day as were Derby, both of whom seemed intent on buying their way out of the league.

So thats deadline day sorted, dont get me going into the rest of the window, I'm still puzzled at how Wolves have managed to sign Helder Costa for £13million. All I can say is thank god for Deano as Kachunga at a future £1million looks a snip, in the current market we could sell him on for over £10million and I look forward to seeing what we bring in this summer, especially with the Nahki Wells money   . (this isnt a dig at Costa more a general comment after the Costa line, he does look a good player)



Anyways, onto Thursday nights game, sounds wierd saying that and to be honest it is, Thursday is for the shabby European cup games and darts, English domestic football is Friday, Saturday and Tuesday. The Premier League get Sunday and Mondays. Now for some on here it is probably different, but I for one feel a bit put out having a game on a Thursday night, but lets face it, it is all due to Murdoch Sports dictating terms and yet again we are at home for the television games, just to add to the Sheffield Wednesday, Wigan, Leeds and Newcastle games, with only Norwich and Bristol City being away, unless more are added. 7 times we have been on TV, 5 at home. Last year we were on twice. Wolves and Leeds, I guess it shows how far we have come in such a short space of time.


So Thursday sees Town welcome promotion chansing Brighton to the JSS and in my eyes Brighton are the best footballing side in this division, with us not far behind. They like to play the passing game, whilst utilising dynamic players like Knockaert in order to get oppostion defences back tracking. I do hope that they get promoted this season and go unbeaten for all games after Thursday. They have an owner much like ours, one who bailed them out and has fired nearly a quarter of a billion pounds into the club and I am not sure whether that includes the new stadium and the new training ground, one would presume so. They have built their club the right way and are in and around the community in the right way, much like us and now they are reaping just rewards, like we will, hopefully in the next few years.

In terms of playing squad, they have a very strong unit at their disposal, players like the aforementioned Knockaert, Glenn Murray who they have resigned for £3million, plus players like Sam Baldock, Lewis Dunk and the evergreen Bruno. Obviously the league doesnt lie and they are there on merit, if anyone here went to the reverse fixture back in September, they played nice football but were limited to a handfull of chances, we approached the game much like we did up at Newcastle and looked to hit them on the break and we didnt really create many clear chances, we probably showed a bit too much respect to them. On Thursday, I would expect us to attack them and them to attack back, with both teams trying to catch the other on the break, rather than a game of attack versus defence as we have seen against teams such as Ipswich and Wigan etc. This game should be a fine game to watch for the neutrals with two teams playing the game how it was meant to be played. Famous last words I guess...

Now what do they have at their disposal? well I have mentioned a few players and I expect them to be fielding a much stronger side to the one that lost at the weekend to Lincoln.

I would expect them to line up with;

Stockdale- goalkeeper that originates from Yorkshire, but has made more of a career down south playing for the likes of Fulham and Brighton. Reliable shot stopper but prone to a few 'keeper' moments...

bruno- I believe he is fit for this game, but if not it will be Connor Goldson at fullback, either way, they are both decent going forward, whilst Goldson can be suspect defensively

Brighton possess two large centre halves who are strong in the air whilst be adept with the ball on the ground in the form of Dunk and Shane Duffy, the latter being signed in the summer from Blackburn. It is worth noting that Dunk has a history of seeing the red mist and really clattering players, over to you Nak

left back god knows, last league games theyve had former WBA fullback Sebastian Pocognoli filling that position, but from what I know of him is injuries are a familiar territory for him.

Their midfield is where they possess the major damage with the likes of Knockaert, Steve Sidwell, Beram Kayal and Dale Stephens in and amongst the talent, as well as former town 'favorite' Ollie Norwood. I would expect Sidwell and Stephens to fill the central roles with Knockaert and probably Jamie Murphy, although the left wing is normally subject to rotation with the likes of Skalak and Solly March also operating there.

Up top is where they have strengthened in January with Glenn Murray joining full time as well as Arsenal striker Chuba Akpom joining on loan. I expect Murray to start alongside Tamer Hamed with Akpom featuring on the bench.


As for Town, we made 8 changes for the Rochdale game and I expect it will be another 8 changes for this one.

I can see Danny Ward returning in goal, hopefully being able to make up for his mistake in the return fixture by keeping a clean sheet.

Tommy Smith and Chris Lowe to operate at full backs with the Hef and Chris Schindler taking the central roles.

In midfield it will be a return to full strength with Mooy and Hogg reuniting, with Kachunga, Rajiv and Izzy sitting in front of them and behind the Nak.

That would leave us with a bench of Coleman, Hudson, Billing, Quaner, Palmer, Payne and Whitehead. Which means Lolley and Bunn are amongst those to miss out.

So who has played for both?
Well its a long bloody way between the two sides, trust me! but one obvious name to mention is that of Ollie Norwood, but to add to that I am really racking my brain trying to think of some of the more recent ones.


One name that comes to mind is that of Joel Lynch, who began his career at Brighton, before moving to Forest, then town before moving on to QPR


other names, I'm sorry I really do not know, to the extect that I dont believe there has been many direct dealings between the two sides, and that players who have played for both will have most likely been loan players for one or the other at some point during their career.

Not the greatest thread but it is over to you guys    

Before I post this, Rhodes has signed for t'owls and i cannae be bothered to change the thread!

[theo_luddite]

Ey up, don't knock it jjamez, a reet rivetin' read that while half-watching England getting knocked for 6's all over Bangalore. You forgot already that Elvis (Manu) has left the building? Well both buildings now to be honest and I think he was possibly a better singer than footballer.

Looking forward to this one on the telly and the other match this weekend live and in person. Too much hassle and cost involved in getting up 'home' for midweek games generally, though had it been played last night and not on the box, rather than Thursday night I might have made the effort for this one. My local has just had a refurb and re-opens tonight so hopefully tomorrow night I will have a few beverages in hand to celebrate a point or three.

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Oh and as for Wolves - like everyone else down here, now owned by Chinese take-away owners. They take-away lots of Chinese cash and spend it on Ingrish Foolbaw crubs and prayers. Gong Hey Fat Choy to all our Cantonese friends by the way. We wish you a Happy Rooster.

[jjamez]

Hope you enjoyed that batting performance theo....

[theo_luddite]

8 wickets for 8 runs - they couldn't get on the plane home fast enough. Pathetic.

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[jjamez]

and to think I might be off to watch them in barbados :/

[Lord Snooty]

I were listening to the cricket at work. All seemed ok, switched my noisy bookmaking machine on and by the time I'd finished about half hour later it was all over. Bloody rubbish.

Anyway. Cracking thread, jjamez. I can only think of Keiran O'Reagan and Brighton Rock King Chris Cattlin who also played for both.

[jjamez]

Can honestly say that I have never heard of chris cattlin

[theo_luddite]

You didn't miss much there mate.

[Lord Snooty]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Cattlin

Ran the Novelty Rock Emporium when he retired.

[theo_luddite]

Newcy Bar Codes dropped points again tonight. Hollowmouth seems to have got QPR sorted out somewhat even if their 2nd was a tad fortunate and it was Newcy v Smithies for most of the evening. Won't be a walk in the park down there next weekend. Hope Ann Hough takes her tin hat that Deano was supposed to buy her for Xmas.