Club news

Hughton's Praise For Locadia's Impact

By James Hilsum • 19 February 2018

Brighton & Hove Albion manager Chris Hughton praised Jurgen Locadia for making an immediate impact in Saturday’s 3-1 victory over Coventry City in the Emirates FA Cup.

Locadia got off the mark just 15 minutes into his Albion debut to send the Seagulls on their way to a comfortable win, and Hughton was pleased to see the Dutchman quickly hit the ground running.

He said, “Locadia can play anywhere across the front line and we wanted to get both of them [Locadia and Ulloa] off the mark. I'm really pleased for him because he hadn't played for close to two months now.

“He has scored goals at PSV, but we are still learning more about him. He hasn't always played as a number nine and featured in a 4-3-3 at PSV in a wider area, which he drifted into at some points on Saturday. That gives us more options.

"He came to us in the January window and he had a good start to the season scoring goals. He has got through 75 minutes and although he has trained for two-and-a-half weeks, you can't be sure how he is going to play, so I was pleased with his fitness.”

Hughton was also pleased to utilise his squad in Saturday’s win and highlighted the good options he has, before providing an update on Tim Krul’s injury.

"We have been fortunate this season that we haven't had a lot of injuries and a lot of players are pushing to play.

"It's always hard to pick a team because we have good competition, as most know there have been mainstays in the team and players like Connor Goldson, who scored, has found it hard to get into the team because of the form of the two centre-halves that we have.

“There is a lot of good competition in the squad, and that makes it harder to pick a team.

"Tim Krul has had a whiplash type injury, but we expect him to be okay. Our plan was always to take Dale [Stephens] off at half-time, his position is the one area we are a little bit lighter on."