Europa League qualifier preview: FK Rabotnicki v Liverpool
Eighteen days after four of their players were involved in the squads that contested the World Cup final, and 18 days until they get their Premier League campaign underway against Arsenal at Anfield, Liverpool are back playing competitive football, and quite a few things have changed.
The Philip II Arena in Skopje, Macedonia, is the setting. Philip ruled over Macedon between 359 and 336 BC, during which he had seven wives and six children, including his successor Alexander the Great, a fearless warrior and the creator of one of the largest empires in ancient history.
There was nothing great about Liverpool last season though, and that’s why they’re here.
After starting the campaign supposedly ready to challenge for the title, the Reds’ abject failure in 2009/10 culminated in a seventh placed Premier League finish and the need to qualify for Europe through the back door.
Rafael Benitez’s empire crumbled, and a new figurehead has been appointed in his place. Here, in the most unlikely of settings and with the most unlikely of troops to call upon, the Roy Hodgson reign begins.
A year ago tomorrow, Hodgson was in Lithuania.
Very little was expected of his Fulham side as they kicked off their Europa League campaign against FK Vetra in Vilnius, but a 3-0 win set the tone for the London club’s improbable, glorious run to the final in Hamburg, a feat that certainly helped Hodgson’s case for the Liverpool job.
Now he’s expected to do well, but as Hodgson prepares for his first real assignment as Liverpool manager, some of his players tonight may require a few introductions.
Teenagers Nathan Eccleston, David Amoo, Lauri Dalla Valle, Jonjo Shelvey – a summer signing from Charlton – and Thomas Ince – son of Paul – are all in the 20-man squad that the Reds boss has taken to Macedonia with him.
The fact that youngsters such as Martin Kelly, Stephen Darby, Jay Spearing and Daniel Ayala – who made a handful of first team appearances between them last season – represent some of the senior pros on the trip indicates Hodgson’s problem, but it is a problem that Liverpool insist that he should have.
The club’s medical staff – led by new arrival Dr Peter Brukner – have insisted that no player who played in the knockout stages of the World Cup should be risked in this game, meaning that Joe Cole will have to wait to make his Liverpool debut, and the rest of the players who figured for England in the competition miss out too.
Indeed, only Daniel Agger, Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Martin Škrtel and new boy Milan Jovanović will be involved from the 13 Liverpool players who featured at the World Cup, and so it is they, along with the likes of Lucas, Alberto Aquilani and David Ngog who Hodgson will be relying upon in Macedonia.
He could turn to new signing Danny Wilson to fill his problem left back position too.
The 18-year-old signed from Glasgow Rangers last week, and, although nominally a centre back, he has indicated a willingness to play anywhere for his new manager.
“Yes I would love to play,” he said yesterday. “Anybody would rather be starting than not. But I am not going to say I should be pushing the star players that Liverpool have out of the team. I know it could take a while for me to get in and I've got to learn about a faster paced game.
“At the same time, I knew if there was a chance of coming here then I definitely would. Everybody knows Liverpool around the world. They've won five Champions Leagues and 18 league titles. You cannot argue with a record like that.”
Hodgson and his young charges are faced with the prospect of avoiding the kind of result that would place an ugly blotch on that record tonight.
It must be remembered that this is only a first leg, and – with many more of their star men available – Liverpool should be fully capable of emerging from this tie with that reputation still intact.
Tonight represents the chance for several youngsters to make their mark on the club, and it certainly provides Hodgson with the opportunity to get his reign off to an impressive start in difficult circumstances.
Skopje might not be the most glamorous of locations, but each successful empire must start with a small step.
Just ask Alexander the Great.
Prediction: FK Rabotnicki 1 Liverpool 2
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