Text here to move the logos across. please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Hello and welcome to the official match thread for Thursday’s Europa League play-off round first leg between Hearts & Liverpool. The game is scheduled to take place on the 23rd of August with a kick-off time of 7.45PM. It is to be played at Tynecastle stadium in Edinburgh. The game will be shown on ITV4. Preview. We might have only just started the 2012/2013 season but both Hearts & Liverpool have some European football to contend on Thursday. Yes, it’s the Europa League and the play-off round is upon us. This is the first involvement for Hearts in this season’s Europa League after qualifying for the Europa League via their Scottish Cup victory over Edinburgh rivals Hibernian at the end of last season. Liverpool, on the other hand, have already been involved in the Europa League this season after joining the competition in the third qualifying round. They faced FC Gomel of Belarus and came out 4-0 winners on aggregate after a 1-0 win in Belarus and a 3-0 victory back in England. Now, let’s have an in-depth look at Hearts and their chances of upsetting the odds and qualifying for the group stages of this season’s Europa League. Hearts have had another close season that has involved quite a lot of upheaval. Hearts aren’t strangers to high levels of upheaval since they were taken over by Russian-Lithuanian businessman Vladimir Romanov in the summer of 2005. There has been many managerial changes during his reign with nine permanent managers having been in charge during the seven years under Romanov’s control. This summer has been the same. There was an excellent end to last season with Hearts, under the management of Paulo Sérgio, taking apart fierce rivals Hibernian in the final of the Scottish Cup. Hearts raced into a 2-0 lead but Hibs pulled a goal back just before half-time to make it 2-1. However, they showed their quality and ended up winning 5-1 and lifting their first trophy since 2006. It was all change after that as financial cutbacks were implemented and Sérgio rejected a new contract to manage the side next season and left the club. Many players also left including fan favourite Rudi Skácel who had been a consistent scorer in his two spells at Tynecastle. Hearts then turned to the Raith Rovers manager John McGlynn to fill the managerial position at Tynecastle. The Scottish manager had previously been involved at Hearts working with the younger players and spent a decade at Tynecastle earlier in his coaching career. His ability to bring younger players through to the first-team and the ability to work with a reduced budget, which will be the case for Hearts this season, meant that the Hearts board felt he was the ideal man for the job. He has had to introduce younger players into the squad for this season and the likes of Kevin McHattie & Scott Robinson have already been given chances in the early part of this season. Add the more experienced players such as David Templeton, Andrew Driver & Marius Žaliūkas to the team and there is a strong spine to the team. The big threat, in my opinion, will be Andrew Driver. The winger has experienced injury problems recently but was very successful before those injuries and had been the subject of some significant bids. His career has stalled somewhat since then due to knee & thigh injuries. However, the quality is still there and he will be a threat from the left against the right-back for Liverpool. That could be one of Martin Kelly or Jon Flanagan. Striker John Sutton will also be a threat. The English striker, who has spent a large part of his career in Scotland, is now the main striker at Hearts. His future at the club had been in doubt under Paulo Sérgio but he is back in the fold now under McGlynn and has 2 goals in 3 games so far this season. Moving onto the away side and Liverpool will be favourites for the tie itself and qualification into the group stages. The Premier League side, as previously mentioned, have already begun their Europa League campaign with a 4-0 aggregate victory over FC Gomel in the third qualifying round. However, Liverpool’s first Premier League game didn’t go according to plan. Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. One sending off, two penalties given away and a 3-0 defeat away at West Brom. Not the result Liverpool would have wanted going into this game... It will be interesting to see what sort of team Rodgers sends up to Tynecastle for the first leg. Rodgers played strong sides in both legs against FC Gomel but with the current League champions, Manchester City, visiting Anfield in the Premier League on Sunday, Rodgers has decided to leave some important players back in Liverpool. Glen Johnson, Martin Skrtel, Steven Gerrard & Luis Suarez have all been left behind to prepare themselves for the league game with Manchester City on Sunday. Another player who didn't travel was Jose Enrique who is still recovering from the knee injury which kept him out of the West Brom game. In defence, you can expect Pepe Reina to continue in goal but the rest of the defence is unclear. As I have already stated, both Glen Johnson & Martin Skrtel have been rested and that leaves places in the back four that need filling. I would suspect that Glen Johnson would be replaced by Martin Kelly. With Daniel Agger suspended for the City game, he would be expected to play against Hearts to keep the match fitness at a high level. One of Jamie Carragher or Sebastian Coates would be likely to fill in for Martin Skrtel. In the left-back position, the only other recognised left-back in the squad is young Jack Robinson and Rodgers has hinted at Robinson getting the nod at left-back. In midfield, the selection doesn’t get easier. If, as expected, Rodgers plays three in midfield, there are limited positions available. I would fully expect Lucas Leiva to take up one of those positions to continue his recovery from injury and boost his overall match fitness. The recent signing from Swansea City, Joe Allen, would also be expected to continue his integration into the side and could be involved from the start. That leaves one position left available and quite a few names pushing for that slot in the middle. Charlie Adam, Jay Spearing, Jordan Henderson & Jonjo Shelvey can all stake a claim for that final position. Both Charlie Adam & Jay Spearing haven’t been involved since cameo appearances in the second leg of the third round qualifier with FC Gomel and have been linked with moves away from Anfield. Jordan Henderson hasn’t played since the first leg away in Belarus but could feature here. And the final option, Jonjo Shelvey, impressed in pre-season but didn’t feature against West Brom on Saturday. Even more selection dilemmas for Rodgers in midfield. And finally in attack, more options for Rodgers to consider! Stewart Downing will probably keep his position on the right-hand side. New signing, Oussama Assaidi, isn't eligible due to his involvement for Heerenveen in the qualifying rounds of this season's Europa League. Fabio Borini will probably play on the left-side and that therefore leaves the middle. Luis Suarez has been rested so you would suspect that Andy Carroll would be given the nod in the final attacking position. It gives Carroll a chance to prove his worth to the side and prove some of the critics, who feel that he doesn't suit the style Rodgers wants to play, wrong. To conclude, an interesting game in prospect. Liverpool go into the game as favourites but with a poor performance against West Brom, confidence may be low. Hearts could cause an upset if they are on top of their game and Liverpool aren’t. Should be good! Injury/Team News. Hearts. Mark Ridgers: Knee Injury. Liverpool. Joe Cole: Hamstring Injury. Jose Enrique: Knee Injury. - Oussama Assaidi isn't eligible to play in Thursday's game due to his involvment for Heerenveen in the earlier stages of this competition. Hearts 0 - 1 Liverpool Goalscorers: Liverpool... Andy Webster: 78th minute. (Own Goal) Hearts: MacDonald - R. McGowan Webster Zaliukas Grainger - Robinson Taouil - Paterson Driver - Carrick Sutton SUBS: Enckelman D.McGowan Smith Novikovas Barr Templeton McHattie - Hearts Substitution: David Templeton comes off to be replaced by Andrew Driver: 79th minute. Hearts Substitution: Arvydas Novikovas comes off to be replaced by Dale Carrick: 84th minute. Hearts Substitution: Darren Barr comes off to be replaced by Scott Robinson: 87th minute. - Liverpool: Reina - Kelly Carragher Agger Downing - Henderson Allen Adam - Shelvey Morgan Sterling SUBS: Jones Flanagan Coates Robinson Lucas Spearing Borini - Liverpool Substitution: Jack Robinson comes off to be replaced by Stewart Downing: 62nd minute. Liverpool Substitution: Jay Spearing comes off to be replaced by Joe Allen: 67th minute. Liverpool Substitution: Fabio Borini comes off to be replaced by Adam Morgan: 90th minute. - YNWA.
I'm going to Jockland Would love to see Sterling and Robbo etc get a run out. Not sure what the team will be seeing as we have Citeh on Sunday but will be a tough first leg either way. Score draw will do but we'll need to play better than against West Brom to take the win.
My 11 Reina Kelly Carra Coates Robinson Shelvey Hendo Adam Downing Carroll Sterling Assaidi is cup tied for this, and besides I would save him for Sunday and drop Downing v Citeh
Can we please get strict mods on match day threads! Especially during the game, its just annoying having to scroll down through the crap, especially as Chris takes his time to make it for us every week. Force them to go wum somewhere else, I'd rather actually discuss stuff here.
At least delete his post, reposting the whole of Chris' intro just to add a couple of worthless words of ****e.
Oh GOD no!!!! Not Adam, he can never wear the red jersey again, if he has been told to **** off, then let that be the end of it, no putting him in the shop window, let his agent win him a new club, without the player making it twice as hard.
I expect us to be quite strong. --------------Reina------------- -Kelly-Carragher--Agger-Enrique- -------------Lucas------------- -------Gerard----Henderson/Shelvey ----Downing----------Suarez--- -------------Carroll------------
GK: reina rb: johnson Lb: Enrique CB: Agger CB: Coates CM: Shelvey CM: Lucas CM: Allen RF: Suarez CF: Carroll LF Pacheco Subs: Stirling for Pacheco 2nd half, Borini for Carroll, Henderson for Allen...Lucas Captain.... Not going to happen..lol
Want to see an experienced team, but with some youth talent squeezed in for a bit of flair.......And my youth talent i dont mean Spearing or kelly..i mean the likes of Sterling, pacheco, Suso, Ibe.....players who cn make something happen find a little pass, beat a man, accelerate, pass and move.......We had lots of possession the other day the other day but didnt score....Think youth pushing for places in an attacking sense will make the senior players work harder.... And This is the time to do it rather than in the prem, but has to be an experienced side with youth rather than just whacking out a youth team with no structure as happenned under Hodgson.
I'm unsure who's fit right now. I do expect to see agger in europa action seeing he'll be just polishing boots in the prem now. Hearts aint THAT bad so i hope we don't go the kids and scratch team route but i do think 1/2 guys ought to come in here. I'd kind of like to see robinson given a go here. maybe push kelly a bit cos he looked like he needs it. I'd like to see lucas given a little rest now cos as good a recovery as he's on i think just perhaps a little caution would be wise. finally left side forward is an area we might make a chang eon but i can't see pacheco turning up..... Reina Kelly Skertl Agger robinson Gerrard Allen Shelvey Suarez Borini X X could be sterling, or downing or a couple of other i suppose.
I expect a strong squad, they all need more practice, not given the night off. Carling Cup is when you can rest your players, we need to get to the group stage to get some money in. I doubt we will be slack about this one.
I want to see a mostly strong side... I'd rest Gerrard and one or two of the other older less fit players for city... I want to see Carroll play in a decent line up... no Adam or Spearing midfield. Mostly though... for those that can handle this and city I want to see our first team... they need more gelling.