Europa League Qualifying Round 1st Leg
Thursday 23rd August 2012
Tynecastle
Tynecastle
Hearts VS Liverpool
The only way to erase the memories of a game like Saturday is to get onto the pitch and create new, better ones. Brendan Rodgers and his team have travelled up to Scotland in the hope of doing just that, while in the process hopefully getting a positive result to take back with them to Anfield for the second leg in a weeks time.
Much like the Europa League itself, the rivalry between English and Scottish clubs has seen better days. The downfall of Rangers is only the tip of the iceberg and whereas players from the top clubs north of the border could easily come down and command a hefty transfer fee, more often than not in recent years they have been courted the Championship rather than the Premier League, a stark indication of their decline in quality. With Rangers now having been demoted to the third tier, there is now room - however briefly - for someone to step up and take their place at the top table alongside Celtic. It's unlikely any team will be well positioned to challenge them for the title - at least for now - but with a Champions League qualification spot up for grabs, Hearts are better positioned than most to rise to that challenge and take that injection of cash. Tonight will be a major test of those credentials, to see whether they have what it takes to hold court with major European opposition.
After having been discarded at this stage of the competition by Spurs last season, Hearts boss John McGlynn will be determined to avoid a repeat of the five goal thrashing that saw them all but out of the competition even before the second leg. Despite playing a reserve team throughout the competition last year, Tottenham played the majority of a senior side last year featuring the likes of Bale, Van Der Vaart, Lennon and Defoe so Brendan Rodgers will have to get the balance between youth and experience right if we are to take something out of tonight's game. The one positive coming from Daniel Agger's red card at the weekend means that he is a certainty to play tonight, so at the very least we will have some experience at the heart of the team even if it's being used as a chance for others to impress.
Steven Gerrard, Luis Suarez, Martin Skrtel and Glen Johnson have all left out of the squad, Enrique may still have a slight knock and new signing Oussama Assaidi is cup tied having played in a previous round for Heerenveen. The fringe players such as Andy Carroll, Jay Spearing and Charlie Adam are all potential starters but also there's room for the likes of Raheem Sterling, Jack Robinson and even Adam Morgan who has been linked with at the very least a place on the bench. While it's important not to get too carried away with the supposed inferiority of our opponents (because everyone loves to joke about the SPL), the fans at Tynecastle will be more than pumped up for this one. As such it will be an important step in the development of some of our younger players should they get the chance to feature. We also have the safety net of a second leg at Anfield next week should things go wrong.
There's something about a European night that makes everything that much more exciting. Travelling up to Edinburgh isn't exactly the most far flung journey we will have ever made but it's a stop along the way on a trip that will hopefully end in Amsterdam next year. Nobody knows what's going to happen between now and the end of the season, there are people already who see this game as something of an inconvenience with what happened at West Brom and Man City laying in wait for us on Sunday. It's almost certainly going to be difficult and after this stage it will only get worse. However, we had no European football whatsoever last year and I was away during the two clashes with Gomel. I've missed nights like these - and I fully intend to enjoy it.
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