Albion head to Roots Hall to take on Southend United in the Leasing.com Trophy tonight, and the coach discussed the positives from the differing dynamics of the group so far this term.
He said, “There has been a more mixed nature to the side this year, for a number of reasons, it has had its challenges – but every under-23 coach in the country would say the same thing.
“If you have a settled and consistent side every week then you might look at it and think that your players aren’t progressing at the speed which you want them to.
“It’s a double-edged sword – it’s a problem you want, but in terms of playing, you want that consistency to a degree as well.
“It’s not always easy for the players either, so it’s about making sure that each individual remains focused and sets their own standards that they want to ply their trade by, that’s very much how we take it.
“There are lots of positives at the moment around the group, the lads who played last week for the first team pushed a strong Aston Villa side all the way, and the ones who came into the side on Friday did really well in a good team performance.”
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The Seagulls make the journey to take on the Essex based side on the back of a 4-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur on Friday night at the Amex and a 2-0 victory over AFC Wimbledon last time out in the competition at the start of last month.
Rusk looked ahead to tonight’s contest, stressing the importance of maintaining the focus he’s seen from his side so far in the group stages.
“We know it’ll be a tough game and we know that our opposition will see it as a chance for them to build some momentum,” he continued.
“We have to go into tonight with the same mentality as all the other games in the competition, fielding a side who we hope can cause Southend some problems.
“We made a good start against AFC Wimbledon and we’ll obviously be looking to build on that this evening.”