A look ahead to Brighton and Hove Albion's FA Cup quarter-final against Nottingham Forest at the Amex Stadium. Derren Howard is joined by Sussex World reporters Sam Moton and Henry Bryant, along with lifelong Albion fan and columnist Ian Hart.
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00:00OK, welcome to another episode of the Goalmouth Action Podcast, where we take a look at all
00:07the latest goings on at Brighton and Hove Albion. I'm Deren Howard, and this week I'm
00:11joined by Sussex World reporters Sam Morton and Henry Bryant, and lifelong Brighton fan
00:16and columnist Ian Hart. Brighton, along with the rest of the Premier League, calls for
00:20the international break and resume action this Saturday at the Amex Stadium against
00:24Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup quarter-final. So, Ian, let's start with you first. Obviously,
00:31there's going to be a lot of talk of the painful loss at the city ground. I'm sure that'll
00:35feature quite prominently in the build-up this week. So, Brighton, first of all, can
00:39Brighton get revenge and progress to the last four and set up another Wembley semi-final?
00:44Yeah, I mean, the defeat was bad. I was on holiday at the time and I had it by text and
00:52fans weren't very happy. But it all seemed to be, it's almost turned into some sort of
00:58cathartic experience, hasn't it? Yeah, yeah. We had this bonfire at the training ground
01:06where he burnt his tactics, a bit like Kirk Douglas in the Vikings. That's one for the
01:11teenagers. That's one of my favourite stories of the season, though. You know, but it is,
01:16and then we've had this turnaround, and then we won the four games on the bounce in
01:23the top flight, which we hadn't done since 80-81. And I went to three of those four games.
01:29My mum wouldn't let me go to Sunderland away because I was only 16. But yeah, look, I did
01:38it in the column the other week. There were comparisons to when Palace got done 9-0 in
01:441989 by Liverpool. And then in the very same season, they knocked them out of the FA Cup
01:50in the semi-final. So, you know, the 7-0 will actually be on Nottingham Forest's mind
01:58as much as it is Brighton's mind. Brighton, it will be, you know, that we had this clear
02:02out, we burnt the tactics, we've now gone on, we haven't lost in seven, we should have
02:10won seven, you know, we should have beaten Manchester City at the Etihad. So, we go forward.
02:19This is our fifth FA Cup quarter-final in our history. The other four have been a bit
02:24of a mixed bag. Check the column this week, it's online. But this is the one, I believe
02:30this is the best chance the Albion have had of winning the FA Cup. Every one of those
02:36seven teams left in the competition, Brighton can beat on their day. You take McAllister
02:42and Casedo, yeah, the Europe qualifying squad was a great squad. All round, ability-wise,
02:49this is a better squad. Yes, we had trouble replacing McAllister and Casedo, but this
02:56is the best squad of Albion players we've ever had. Is he the best manager? I don't
03:03know. I made a very bold claim last week, or bold prediction, when I said that I felt
03:08that he could win the Champions League before his 40th birthday.
03:11Yeah, I saw that. That's a great column, yeah.
03:15Sadly, I don't think, well, they're always a great column, love, don't worry about that.
03:18No, they are.
03:22But that is a prediction. I believe that this boy is something special. Boy, well, he's
03:27younger than my daughter. This lad is something special and he's got it. But he had blips
03:34in management. Don't forget the season that we're talking about when Palace beat Liverpool
03:43in the FA Cup semi-final. In the fourth round, Alex Ferguson was one game from getting the
03:49sack at Manchester United. So all managers have blips, all managers have learning curves,
03:54all managers have bumpy roads. We've had our bumpy road. I firmly believe this is the best
04:01squad we've ever had and this, to date, is the best chance we will ever have to win the
04:07FA Cup. And I actually believe, and I'll say it here now, we are going to win the FA Cup.
04:13Wow, that's some prediction. And yeah, I agree with you. I think the way Herzele dealt with
04:19that defeat has been really, really impressive following that. But it's not going to be easy,
04:25Sam, is it? Nottingham Forest, they've been a surprise package of the Premier League this season.
04:31And what have you been impressed by them this season and which players have stood out for you?
04:37Yeah, it's a difficult question because there's just so many players to name, really,
04:41because they have been brilliant at Nottingham Forest. I mean, the league position says it all,
04:45third in the league, obviously just four points below second place Arsenal. So it really is
04:51incredible and they look almost certain to be getting into the Champions League places,
04:55unless obviously there's a bit of a collapse in the last few games of the season. But as I say,
04:59they've just been so solid. And the whole team have just been all working together to a really
05:07great end goal, really. They've obviously been set up brilliantly by Nuno Espirito Santo. And
05:13obviously, just firstly, you have to mention Chris Wood. He scored goals for fun this season,
05:18fourth in the top scorer's charts with 18 goals. He's only behind Salah, Harland and Isaac. But
05:23he hasn't scored since February 15th. So Brighton perhaps could be hopeful. He might be quieter
05:27than he was in the last game, obviously, when he scored a hat-trick. So there's hopeful signs
05:34that he might not be firing on all cylinders at the moment, but he's been so brilliant this season.
05:39At any point, he can get back into scoring goals as he has been. He's kind of just that perfect
05:44Premier League striker that knows where the goal is, knows where to be. And he really is a quality
05:51player. And you obviously have to mention Morgan Gives-White, Elanga, Hudson-Odoi, Milenkovic,
05:56Eina, Elliot Anderson. They're just some of the names that have kind of impressed me
06:00this season. They really have been a superb team that have just made other things look very average
06:06and just so well-drilled and caused problems for anyone, really. And Brighton will have to be
06:12on their A-game on Saturday. But I feel like the memories of that 7-0 will actually help Brighton
06:20because there's no team talk, there's no motivation needed. But that's it, that game will
06:26be the fact. But Sam, could also, could the Champions League thing be a factor as well?
06:34Yeah, 100%. Their money men will be sitting there, not saying to Noonan, but their money men will
06:42know it is better for them to get in the Champions League than win the FA Cup. That's a sad reality
06:50of our modern-day football. But Forrest will, 100 times out of 100, if asked the question,
06:58would you rather get in the Champions League or win the FA Cup, their money men,
07:02their people that are controlling their club, will say we want to get in Europe.
07:07So that's going to be a factor. That's going to be at the back of their minds.
07:13Yeah, because we've asked this question on the podcast a couple of weeks ago. I mean,
07:17from my point of view, I think winning the FA Cup trumps it. I think football is about winning
07:21trophies. And obviously, from Brighton's point of view, they haven't in so many years. And you
07:25kind of think, well, a trophy would be even better than getting to the Champions League.
07:29And obviously, if you couldn't have both, if you win the FA Cup, you automatically get into the
07:33Europa League. So you kind of get a taste of European football anyway. So I feel like both
07:37teams will be desperate to win this game and go to Wembley, obviously, for the semi-final.
07:43You think so? You don't think Forrest would really have an eye on, because, you know,
07:49Darren mentions, could there be a collapse in their European qualification? I personally think,
07:56I think, all right, the players may be, but they will want to be in that Champions League,
08:01by hook or by crook.
08:03We will know at four o'clock when the team sheets come out, won't we?
08:12When those team sheets come out, we will know roughly what the game plan is. If they go strong,
08:20Hart, he's got it wrong. Not for the first time in his career, and not for the last time. But
08:25if they're resting a couple of people and we go strong, we need to put out
08:31the strongest available XI in the club, all right? We don't need to be sentimental.
08:40We don't need to be thinking about Jimmy Melia and inflatable seagulls.
08:43We need to put the strongest team out and we need to win that game of football.
08:48I think Brighton will go strong. But Nott and Forrest have only just scraped through,
08:53haven't they, in the previous round? They needed a penalty to beat Ipswich. They needed penalties
08:57to beat Exeter City as well. So, it hasn't been straightforward. I personally think it was a blip
09:03at the city ground and I think it would be more like the 2-2 that they played out at the Amex
09:08earlier this season. I think it's going to be very feisty. But, Henry, after the loss at the
09:15city ground, as we touched on earlier, Fabian Hoelzer said after the match that they didn't
09:21have a midfielder that was fit to play 90 minutes and then also set fire to his tactics as well.
09:28But then, looking back, what did you make of the loss and what have you made of
09:31how Hoelzer has dealt with the response since then?
09:36Well, I don't think this is his first mistake tactically as a manager. I think another big one
09:42that Brighton fans saw was when Brighton went to Stamford Bridge against Chelsea
09:47and lost in that fashion 4-2. And there were just some really easy mistakes that were made,
09:53especially at the back. And it just didn't look like a Premier League performance from Brighton
09:58and Chelsea were actually quite poor that game. There were plenty of chances for Brighton to get
10:03into it, individual mistakes all across. But going on to this 7-0 defeat, I think it was just the fact
10:09that, yes, there's been so much press about Fabian Hoelzer being an inexperienced manager
10:18in terms of the age he is and whatnot. He's done some great things with St Pauli,
10:23but he's still relatively unproven. This has been a gamble. We know Tony Bloom is a gambling man.
10:29So when Brighton fans saw that 7-0, especially at that sort of midway point of the season where
10:34it's sort of an all or nothing at the moment where you can either finish mid-table
10:38or you can finish in one of those European spots because it's so tight up there,
10:43Brighton fans were quite quick to go, oh, is it Hoelzer out and whatnot? But the way he's responded
10:49with burning the tactics and also I spoke to Adam Webster after Brighton beat Chelsea 3-0.
10:54It was their second win against Chelsea back to back, which was brilliant. One in the
11:00Cup and one in the league. And he was saying that after Fabian burnt all of those tactics,
11:06they then had some fantastic training sessions. He said some of the best training sessions they've
11:11had. We know that Fabian, his intensity of training as well, he does like to keep training
11:19intense. And I think that they've just stuck by Fabian and he's been able to sort of come around
11:27and the results Brighton have been able to get, especially when we're talking about
11:32in a previous game, they should have beaten Manchester City and having golden opportunities.
11:37I mean, it's a stark contrast to just a few games ago, even a month and a bit ago where
11:43everyone was going, oh my gosh, here we go. This is going to be the start of the end.
11:47So I think he's responded really well, especially for a young manager. And he's not a boy, he's a
11:53man and he's doing well. And I think although Nottingham Forest are going to fancy themselves
12:00because of the way that they were able to detonate Brighton in that game,
12:04that it is going to be a closer affair. And I'm really, really looking forward to it as a fan.
12:10Yeah, no, it's certainly going to be a good occasion at the Amex Stadium this
12:14Saturday and join us after the break. And we'll be looking at potential team news and
12:19players who may be doubtful for the match. So join us after the break.
12:25Well, thanks. Thanks again, guys. So we were speaking earlier about the Brighton's
12:33upcoming match against Nottingham Forest at the Amex Stadium this Saturday and potential
12:38players that have been missing out, Sam. Lewis Dunk has missed the last six matches with a rib
12:42injury. I was speaking to Ian just before the podcast about this and Ian was of the opinion
12:48that he shouldn't come back in. Adam Webster has been playing very well. If he is fit, he is the
12:53skipper. Where do you stand on that one, Sam? I completely agree with Ian on this one. I think
13:00Adam Webster deserves to keep his place in the team. I think he's been brilliant in the time
13:04that Lewis Dunk has been out injured. He had obviously a little blip against Man City where
13:09he gave away that penalty. But I felt like on the whole, since Dunk has been out, Webster has really
13:14come in and just been brilliant in defence really. He's kind of been really solid and not really let
13:19anything get past him. He's kind of done every individual job that he's had to do really well.
13:24He's a slot in alongside Van Geck really well and they complement each other nicely.
13:29So I feel like he definitely deserves to be in the team for this game. I think you obviously
13:34don't want to rush Lewis Dunk back as well. He's had a number of injury problems of late and he
13:38remains a really important part of the team for Brighton and I'm not at all suggesting that he
13:42should be squeezed out in any way. But I feel like he's been obviously out with a number of
13:46injuries and you kind of want to ease him in gently and make sure you're not disrupting the
13:50harmony that's obviously that's been built up in the squad in these running games. So I think
13:55Hirstle, I think will try and keep things as it has been really in terms of the team and not
14:00to make any too drastic changes. But when he was asked about Webster, he said he's a leader. He's
14:05always there for the team. He's so supportive, helpful and sometimes also the voice for the team
14:09as well. When they need him, he's there and that's something special. You never saw a player who's
14:14always that ready to come into a game and be immediately the best version of himself. He did
14:19obviously mention he has different options and he could bring in Lewis Dunk if he decides to for
14:24this game. So yeah, time will tell. Time will tell on this one. But as I said, I think Webster
14:28definitely deserves to be there. Yeah, yeah. Ian, it's Brighton have won their last six, isn't it?
14:34And so Webster stays in, doesn't he, for you? Well, he has to. I love Lewis Dunk. He's an
14:43legend and he can be every bit as positive in the dressing room and on the bench as he can on
14:51Saturday. There is no room, as much as I'm a sentimental old sod, there is no room for
14:56sentiment in football. And you have to go, as we said in part one, you have to go with the best
15:0211 players available to you. And at this time, Adam Webster, you would pick Adam Webster over
15:10Lewis Dunk. You say there's no sentiment in football. We've seen this week sentiment creeping
15:17in because, I'm sorry, and I liked him when he played for us, Dan Byrne, Adam Webster was more
15:26deserving of an England captain than Byrne. That was purely sentimental, something schmoozy,
15:32whatever, too cool, trying to get some gravitas, get some brownie points. Webster should have been
15:40in that squad much, much before, but 32 years old, never, never played international football.
15:47It's crazy. But anyway, move on. Well done to the Toon for beating the Scousers. Marvellous.
15:53But no, so going back to Lewis, you know, he will come back and he will play a part.
16:01But at this time, we need to go with our strongest 11. And, you know, he can't win.
16:10You know, he's damned if he does. He's damned if he doesn't. Say he does bring him back
16:17and we get another roam where, you know, he makes a mistake or two, you know, that's
16:25ever going to be remembered. Herzl has changed a winning team. You can't change, you cannot change
16:31a winning team. The other thing is we got this factor with the, you were mentioning, Darren,
16:36when we were talking about the three lads coming from South America and they're wondering if
16:41they're going to be tired. They're travelling back first class. They're travelling back first class,
16:49all right? Yeah. If anyone who's ever been lucky enough to be in first class, you get treated like
16:54a king in first class. They'll be stepping off that plane as fresh as a daisy. So all this
17:02rubbish about jet lag and whatever, they will be fine. So if they're the three of the strongest
17:09players we've got, they have to play. Yeah, yeah. We know Pedro, as I've said before,
17:19they're challenging Mark Lawrenson as my greatest ever player to pull on the blue and white shirt.
17:25You know, he's a game changer and he's a match winner on his own. It would be absolute, well,
17:35I can't use the adjectives because this is a family show, but if I get there and see that
17:41team sheet come out at four o'clock on Saturday, if he's not playing because he's a little bit tired,
17:49sorry, doesn't wash with me. Yeah, well, I don't think he played against, because they got,
17:55Brazil were beaten by Argentina quite heavily, weren't they, last night? And I don't think
17:59Pedro played. So hopefully he'll be fresh. Estupinan and Gomez both played last night for
18:07Ecuador and Paraguay, respectively. But yeah, I don't think Pedro played against Argentina.
18:12Pardon? Are they in the air as we speak?
18:15I'd imagine they'd be in the air. So it's a 15-hour flight.
18:18You know, complimentary nuts and champagne and, you know, a couple of movies, have a meal,
18:24get your head down. You've got a lovely bed there. Don't even go there. They're not showing
18:30in cattle class with all the tooey lot, are they? You know, they are coming back in luxury. So it's
18:38a nice spot as far as I'm concerned. Sorry. Hopefully he should be fresh. And he has been
18:43very good, hasn't he, Henry, for Brighton of late, Jal Pedro? All things being equal,
18:49he would probably start ahead of Welbeck, wouldn't he?
18:53Yeah, I think so. I just think that he's got the ability to sort of turn again on his head. And we
18:59saw that when Brighton played Fulham and he was just such a fox in the box and he was able to sort
19:05of get that penalty decision through. And although there was a bit of controversy over that, and if
19:11you're playing against him, you hate him. But if you're playing, you know, if he is for your team,
19:15you love him. He is one of those players, isn't he? Yeah, he is. But he can change the game.
19:21I've got to say that. That's why we love him though, isn't it? That's why we've taken him to
19:26our hearts. You know, he will have his picture outside the ground in 10 years time because
19:35he is that, he's just an exciting player. They only come, you know, I'm an old git,
19:41unlike you three young'uns. There's only a few players down the years that when they get the
19:46ball, you have that sense of anticipation. I've got to say that. We are like pigs in muck at the
19:52moment because we've got two. We've got Matoma and we've got... Matoma, I was going to say that, yeah.
19:57But when they get the ball at their feet, you think, hold on, something could happen here.
20:01Even a goal kick, you know, you think something could happen here. And, you know, that after 52
20:08years, that feeling is very rare, very few and far between, I assure you. So, you know, to have
20:15two in the team, that's superb because they're both match winners. And just giving a mention to
20:22Welbeck, having his Indian summer in his career, what an indictment by Wayne Rooney
20:31the other week on Sky, who said, I wish he was still at Manchester United. He would do a job here.
20:36And I think that says it all. And we know to have someone like Welbeck on the bench and in the
20:42dressing room with all the young players in their ears, it's brilliant. It is a luxury. Wouldn't it
20:48be great if he comes on and gets the winner? That would be the ideal scenario, yeah. And I think
20:54you're right. With that front five that Brighton have now, there's very few squads in the Premier
20:59League that have that attack in the talent that Brighton have. I think it's really impressive.
21:05And, Sam, would you go with that as well? Pedro ahead of Welbeck all being well?
21:11I think so. I think you've got to go with Joao Pedro. Obviously, as has been mentioned,
21:16he's the difference maker in kind of key moments and he brings that little bit of flair.
21:20But then you can't rule out Danny Welbeck because he's been brilliant this season as well. But I
21:23feel like Danny Welbeck is a great option to bring off the bench as well. You've seen him in recent
21:27games and coming back from that injury, he's come on and scored the winner against Bournemouth
21:34from the bench. Then he scored the winner against Newcastle from the bench as well.
21:37So, I feel he'll continue that going, really. He can add something different if things are
21:41not going quite right and he just gives a bit of a different option. But you've got to start
21:45with Joao Pedro. I think he's obviously a class player and gets fans off their seats and he kind
21:53of frustrates opposition defenders as well. He's clever as well. He knows kind of dark arts,
22:00as you say. He was clever to win that penalty against Fulham. If Brighton do get a penalty,
22:05you know he's going to score it. He's one of those players that is so, so composed
22:09from the down to the spot. I feel like you've got to start with Joao Pedro,
22:13but Danny Welbeck is a superb option to have coming off the bench.
22:17I think Marco Silva even said that after the game. He had no complaints with Pedro. He said
22:21that he did his job, didn't he, when he went down quite easily for that penalty against Fulham.
22:26But, yeah, Henry, one other player I just wanted to raise with you quickly was Matt O'Reilly. He's
22:32been injured for the last couple of games, had a knee injury. He's hoping to be fit again after
22:39the international break, but he's yet to really make his mark, isn't he, on this team this season?
22:44What have you made of him following his £25m move from Celtic? I guess Jorginho's just been
22:52he's just been better than him, hasn't he? He hasn't been able to get ahead of Jorginho.
22:57Yeah, I'd have to agree with that. I think also it's a down town a little bit to a bit of
23:02unfortunate circumstances because we know when he had that start against Crawley Town
23:08that he got injured straight away and that was a real damper from the off because he wasn't
23:13going to be back until I think it was around Christmas time and he just tried to make his
23:18mark and I really did feel for him because I think, you know, that's still a considerable
23:23amount of money in, you know, Brighton terms, £25m to bolster that midfield, especially after
23:29we've had quite a few departures and, yeah, he's had 12 Premier League appearances, seven off the
23:35bench and his most notable movement or action was that goal in the 2-1 win against Manchester City
23:43at the Amex but that was in November and I think that he's just lacking a certain spark at the
23:49moment. He hasn't kicked on since, has he? No, exactly and he's, you know, there's people in
23:55front of him, like you say, Jorginho's just become this really likeable character, not just because
24:00of his play style but because of the way he is. I mean, even on Brighton's social media he's having
24:05a laugh, he's having a giggle and he just seems like the most, you know, excitable man in the
24:10room when Brighton won the game and whatnot and I think that that's really hard. It's not just about
24:15how he plays but he's almost able to rub off this sort of positive attitude with other players.
24:21I don't think, if I'm honest, I don't want to judge but it does seem like Matt O'Reilly's not
24:26been able to sort of mix in with the group of players as well just yet. Whether that will
24:32happen and it will have this, you know, fantastic opportunity to get involved in this game and do
24:38well and put in a real shift against Nottingham Forest, we'll see. I hope so because it will
24:44create more competition and it would be great to see him press on and do well in a Brighton shirt
24:49but, I mean, the two years he was at Celtic from 2022 to 2024, if you look at the amount of
24:54appearances he's had, he's had 93 with 25 goals so he's probably thinking, I'm a little bit frustrated
25:01at the moment, I'm not getting the opportunities I'd quite like, whether that's down to injuries
25:06or placement, whatever that is. So I do hope that he's able to have a strong finish to this season
25:12because it wouldn't be nice to see him go in the summer and there's been a few murmurs about that
25:17so I'd hope that he can stay, press on in a Brighton shirt and compete to, you know, that
25:22attacking midfield position. Yeah, yeah, good call. Yeah, hopefully he'll play some part in
25:26that but let's have a quick, just before we go, quick predictions for the game this Saturday.
25:31Ian, we'll start with you. What do you think the score will be this Saturday at the Amex?
25:36Albin 2, Forrest 0 and I think we'll have, Matoma will score and then Pedro will score
25:46in the last 10 minutes and he won't need to give it all that because the players will be
25:52rocking and rolling. The roof will come off there and the only thing, I've got this in my mind,
25:59I want Fulham to knock Palace out at lunchtime because the jeopardy of drawing Palace in an FA
26:07Cup semi-final. I know, I know. Because it is a one-off game and to lose an FA Cup semi-final
26:12to Palace, I don't know, I think I'd have to go on holiday 52 weeks of the year. I just don't think
26:19I could cope with that because I know I've done a lot of things and there's a lot of Palace fans
26:23living in Worthing, you don't realise the demographic. Oh yeah. You know, it's horrible,
26:28they're amongst us, like the marsh. Anyway, I think we'll win 2-0. I think we're rocking and
26:33rolling. Remember we're going to win the FA Cup, done and dusted.
26:38All right, okay. Well, that's 2-0 from Ian. Sam, are you positive as well?
26:43Yeah, I'm positive. I think that 7-0 is going to be in the minds of all the players and
26:47it's just going to be motivation in itself. I think 3-1, 3-1 Brighton.
26:533-1 Brighton, okay. I'm going to go 2-2 and then a winner in extra time, I think, from Brighton.
27:02Danny Welbeck.
27:03Again?
27:05Yeah, I'm going to go for another Welbeck winner. I think he's got something this year off the
27:09bench. Henry, how are you feeling ahead of this one?
27:14I'm genuinely nervous. I'm genuinely nervous. I'm going to say 2-1 and I think that they're
27:19going to score first quite early on in the game. I think Forrest will be on us trying to press us
27:29and I think Brighton will be a little bit nervy at the start. Then once they get the game plan
27:32going, Jal-Pedro will score to make it 1-1. Then I do think that guy Welbs inevitably is going to
27:39get a goal. I reckon he's going to get it. I'm going to go in detail. I'm going to say
27:4791st minute. That's what I'm saying. Come on now.
27:54And if anyone runs on the pitch, they do it in excitement. So, can the club have a little bit
27:58of clemency, a little bit lenient with people? Because if we score in the 91st minute,
28:03the place is going to go ballistic.
28:04It's going to erupt.
28:06I will erupt and I'm 60 years old. The place will go ballistic, right? So, let's remember that,
28:13stewards and coppers. We're all excited and we all love the club.
28:18Yeah, exactly. All right. Well, thanks a lot. We'll let you go. We'll let Sam get
28:23off to Buckingham Palace shortly as well, who's got an appointment at the Palace.
28:29Thank you very much. You can catch up with all the latest sports news covering everything we've
28:32talked about today at sussexworld.co.uk. You can watch more excellent videos on
28:37sussetv.com and Freeview channel 262. Thanks very much for watching. Thank you.