Search the Community

Work-rate. Incisiveness. Nous. I don't ask for much. This is how it's gonna be. Build from the ground up. Back on the Europa League grind. Finishing top of our group meant that we had a bye from the Round of 32, which saw the Europa League group runners-up face the teams that had finished 3rd in the Champions League groups. One of those was not Sevilla thankfully. They are the only team in Europe that actively wants to finish 3rd in their Champions League group and drop down. They have an extraordinary record in this competition, which qualifies them for the elite competition each time, only for them to do very little in it. Anyway, I digress. We've only faced Sparta Prague once before, and that was in the Round of 32 stage of this competition in 2010/11. We had new owners in the boardroom and Kenny was now in charge, and we'd recently sold Torres and signed Suarez (who was cup-tied) and Carroll (who was injured). Ngog was playing up front as he'd been a regular starter in Europe that season, and we had the likes of Cole, Jovanovic and Coady on the bench. Kenny's record in Europe wasn't great as a manager. He never got the opportunity in his first spell with us, the entirety of which coincided with our European ban. Blackburn's first foray in Europe in 1994 resulted in a tame early exit from the UEFA Cup (he wasn't their manager when they played in the Champions League, and Le Saux and Batty got into a scrap). With Newcastle, the highlight was a home win over Barcelona in 1997 which featured a hat-trick from Asprilla. They finished 3rd in their Champions League group, ahead of Van Gaal's Barcelona. With the way our season had been going, it was no surprise that the game against Sparta was a drab goalless draw. Sparta had former West Ham defender Tomas Repka back in the side as captain. There is nothing noteworthy about the game other than this gif/meme, and even he had to come off after little over half an hour thanks to yet another injury: Incidentally, the final in 2010/11 would also take place at the Aviva in Dublin, which is where we hope to be come May. Note the kick-off time for this match. Like all our European travels this season, it's an early kick-off. I know nothing about the current Sparta Prague team other than they finished behind Rangers in the group stage, and beat Galatasaray in the Round of 32. For us, it will again be a needs-must situation. Earlier in the season, the fringe players and youngsters were given a run out with the big names making sporadic appearances, usually from the bench. Jurgen has had to turn to the youngsters in recent weeks, and also the likes of Danns and Koumas due to the catalogue of injuries, so we have a lot of players approaching the 'red line' the sports science guys are so fond of mentioning. This is one of those games where you still look to apply yourselves and try to get the result but without needing to get out of second or third gear, and also hope not to pick up injuries. I think he will want the likes of Darwin, Dom and Mo on the bench and will look to give them a run-out ahead of the league game against the oil cheats at the weekend. The balance has been a problem on our European travels this season. Whatever the line-up, I expect maximum motivation, concentration, attitude and application from first minute to last. We have an opportunity to bring home a significant advantage ahead of the second leg next week, so let's take it. Get it done!