It’s nearly that time of the week again. Thursday nights. A time when we forget our domestic troubles and embark on teaching a club from the continent a footballing lesson. As a result, I will save my moaning about the Stoke game for the Newcastle preview. This will be purely on European matters. So… what a season it’s been, we’ve been bloody brilliant. Bobby’s a genius and we’re all going to Warsaw. Ok maybe that’s getting carried away a bit, but the truth is we’ve hardly put a foot wrong in the Europa League this season, against some very competent opposition. The demolition of Young Boys was particularly impressive and unexpected. They’re not the greatest team in the world, but their home record in Europe before we arrived speaks for itself. 5 games this season, 5 wins and only 1 goal conceded, including a 2-0 win over Rafa’s Napoli.
The next assignment though is a certainly a step or two up. Dynamo Kiev possess some very handy players and have been formidable this season, only losing two games, both in Europe. The good news for us is that two of their better players, Belhanda and Lens are missing. Nevertheless, the pace of Mbokani and Yarmolenko up top has the potential to cause problems, the latter oh whom I’m surprised no one from Europe’s top leagues has snapped up . They’re managed by former Tottenham striker Sergiy Rebrov, who, despite being a complete flop in the Premier League, still managed to score against Everton. Twice. Naturally.
It’s always better to play away from home first, but unfortunately we’ve drawn the short straw so we need to make sure we do the business properly at Goodison. A two goal cushion would be ideal going into the second leg, and a clean sheet on top of that would be fantastic. Make no mistake though, this lot are no mugs and are used to winning.
I’d expect us to line up something like Howard, Coleman, Stones, Jagielka, Garbutt, Barry, McCarthy, Mirallas, Barkley, Naismith, Lukaku. Baines will probably come in for Garbutt if he is fit. I don’t think he’ll persist with the 3 holding midfielders. As much as the one wide player has been infuriating in the league, it has worked in Europe, and both Atsu and McGeady are doubts anyway. With Barry suspended for the next two league games, he will probably save Gibson for them.
For many, the game against Newcastle at the weekend is more important, and this Europa League has become an unwelcome distraction though. To an extent I agree, if you had to pick one you’d rather win, at the moment I’d happily take the Premier League points. It doesn’t work like that though, and resting players for the weekend is no guarantee of any points on Sunday. We’re coming to the business end of this competition, now, and the draw for the last 16 has pitted a lot of the better sides together. There’ll be some big names absent from the next round. So let’s enjoy this adventure, get behind the lads and see where it takes us.
Up the Toffees.
