EL: West Ham Utd 2-0 Rapid Wien (30/09/21)

[prophet:marginal]

So, I gave some time to swotting up on Austrian football, given that this club are the first we have played from that country, in our occasional forays into continental competitions. Zagreb were the 2nd Croatian team, for the record.

There are two clubs in Vienna, who play in the country's Bundesliga. It is a 12 club league, which suggests something akin to the Scottish model of 4 matches against every opponent (I guess). Anyway, neither of the Viennese clubs are setting it alight and our opponents on Thursday are 10th, with a record that notes 2W2D4L, 10 scored, 10 conceded. In fact I think they may be playing today, because some teams, including the runaway leaders, RB Slazburg, have played 9. Salzburg have a 15 point lead over the 3rd placed team - after 9 matches!

I am not going to lie and pretend that I know anything about their team, so will restrict this post to noting that, in their first match in this competition, they were at home but still posted (only) 41% possession and managed to use 5 subs and still pick up 5 yellows. This tends to suggest that they may turn up at our place and attempt to Allardici us out of a point, before flying home again.

Looks to me like our back line is going to be Coufal - Diop - Zouma - Cresswell.

Highly doubt Declan will be a sub, but am not sure who will partner him. Also expect Manu and Vlasic to start.

Expect a large crowd and great atmosphere and, as much as this feels odd to type, can't see past a home victory and further progress towards topping this group.

[ironilunga]

A number of players that featured in the cup against Man Utd proved they can be trusted to deputise and deserve to come in for this. Coufal needs resting and so does Soucek and Bowen. Antonio plays and is rested for Brentford.

..........................................Areola...............................................

....................Zouma..............Dawson....... ......Diop...........................

Johnson.....................Kral...................Rice...........................Masuaku

..............................Vlasic................Lanzini...................................

...........................................Antonio...............................................

[vietnammer]

Don't want to come the doom merchant, but there's this little piece of history (Wiki)

Maccabi Vienna (formerly known as Hakoah Vienna) : "On the team's trip to London in 1923, they defeated West Ham United by a score of 5–1, admittedly against a largely reserve team. Nevertheless, Hakoah became the first continental club to defeat an English team in England"

Appropo of nuffink except curiosity value COYI

[HammerAl]

Areola
Coufal Dawson Diop Cresswell
Rice Kral
Bowen Lanzini Vlasic
Antonio

Not wholesale changes, but enough to keep some of the players fresh. That great first result takes a bit of pressure off for this game. Go 2 up and then take Rice, Bowen and Antonio off.

[paulhs1]

Areola
Coufal Dawson Diop Cresswell
Rice Kral
Bowen Lanzini Vlasic
Antonio

Not wholesale changes, but enough to keep some of the players fresh. That great first result takes a bit of pressure off for this game. Go 2 up and then take Rice, Bowen and Antonio off.

Makes sense. I'd go all guns blazing for 45 then at half time swap Soucek for Rice, Johnson for Coufal and Yarmolenko for Antonio.

[r99c]

A number of players that featured in the cup against Man Utd proved they can be trusted to deputise and deserve to come in for this. Coufal needs resting and so does Soucek and Bowen. Antonio plays and is rested for Brentford.

..........................................Areola...............................................

....................Zouma..............Dawson....... ......Diop...........................

Johnson.....................Kral...................Rice...........................Masuaku

..............................Vlasic................Lanzini...................................

...........................................Antonio...............................................

Wouldn't dream of playing Antonio in this match - need him on Sunday to perform at his best as Brentford look decent but can get in behind them.

Obviously the problem then is who do you play up there? Yarmolenko was ok the other day I thought, other than his miss, so he gets the nod for me with Antonio available on the bench should we get to the 60th minute mark and need a goal.

[Puff Daddy]

Didn't Hans Klopek once manage them

[funky chicken]

I’d go with…..

———————————-Areola————————————

-Coufal———Dawson———Diop———-Johnson-

—————————Noble——Kral——————————-

———————————Lanzini————————————-

-Vlasic———————-Bowen——————-Masuaku-

Subs: Randolph, Ashby, Zouma, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Rice, Soucek, Benrahma,Fornals, Yarmolenko, Antonio.

[El brooko79]

------------Areola
Fred--Dawson--Diop--Johnson
---------Kral---Noble
Vlasic---Lanzini---Masuaku
----------Yarmolenko

Rice, Antonio, Benrahma and Fornals all on bench if needed.
If Fredericks is out then Coufal to play.

That team competed well with Man Utd. I expect Vienna to conseed a lot of possession so suited to Yarmolenko up top instead of Bowen.

[prophet:marginal]

Don't want to come the doom merchant, but there's this little piece of history (Wiki)

Maccabi Vienna (formerly known as Hakoah Vienna) : "On the team's trip to London in 1923, they defeated West Ham United by a score of 5–1, admittedly against a largely reserve team. Nevertheless, Hakoah became the first continental club to defeat an English team in England"

Appropo of nuffink except curiosity value COYI

iirc, they were one of several Jewish clubs in that area, between the wars. They feature in that book Inverting The Pyramid - a really interesting document of how football spread across the world and changed tactically in doing so.

[carnage]

Play a full side, win the game, a step further to winning the group, then when that’s done rest players,

[bubbles1966]

They have a game at 16:30 - they're playing Sturm Graz.

The only familiar name in their squad is Kevin Wimmer - he's the ex-Spurs centre back who Emenike terrorised in the 1-0 win in 2016 which , i think, psychologically killed Spurs' title winning chances. If they had won that night, I think they would have beaten Leicester to the title.

Aside from the 'keeper , and top scoring centre forward Ercan Kara, this is going to be another game where our lot are going to dwarf the opponent in the penalty area at set pieces.

I'd expect something similar to Zagreb in terms of rotation - five or six changes.

12 points was enough to win around 70% of the groups last year - so if we can get the wins on board, we might even be able to relax a little in the last game or two. Fixtures are coming thick and fast so that might be a useful thing to aim for.

[Sawbo]

Paddy Power have us at 1/4 for this game. I cannot remember our team ever being at odds that short.
FYI Rapid are 17/2

I'm worried

[One Peter Butler]

Preview proph

[BondsoBob]

They have a bit of european pedigree. Regular competitors in europe, and got to the final of the old cup winners cup in 1985 when they lost 3-1 to Everton.
Without tempting fate I see a fairly comfortable evening for us, 3-0, and we go marching on. ⚒

[bubbles1966]

...

[Denzil]

Strong team, rest up once qualified from the group. Antonio to start and hopefully subbed for rest at 60mins when we’re 4-0 up

[Bubbles Fortuna]

Can 'United' be put in this thread title?


We are f***ing massive, Europe shouldn't forget.

[Peaches]

I think we have to give Soucek, Coufal, Antonio, and if possible Rice a rest at every possible opportunity. I even think Fornals is looking a bit tired, Bowen is the only one who played in the Carabao cup match so I’d consider giving him a rest too. I’d also give Aerola and Diop a game. We can make 5 subs in this one so we can have the big guns on the bench.

[Aceface]

My instinct is to go strong in these first three Europa games and try and secure early qualification but honestly, if that team was good enough to beat Man United at Old Trafford it should be good enough to do the job at home here.

Given the number of midweek games + the fact the first team largely picks itself these days there is some sense in repeatedly using a similar team for these midweek games here and in the cup so they get used to playing with each other. You can always pack the bench to try and dig you out of a hole if it goes awry.

I also think Brentford’s early form might be a consideration - might need a bit more in the tank to get the job done there than we maybe expected when the fixtures came out so consequently a bit of rotation for this.

Bowen must be the one question mark from the OT line-up - played a lot of games lately.