please log in to view this image Thursday 17th September 5pm Europa League 2nd Qualifying Round Stadion Lokomotiv, Plovdiv Our season has lurched off the blocks with a shambolic loss and next up is a potential banana skin in Europe. I think that it's fair to say that none of us know anything about our opponents, so let's hope that the club does. They've arrived at this point by winning back-to-back Bulgarian Cups, despite never having won it before that. Perhaps their manager, Bruno Akrapovic, knows what he's doing? I guess we'll find out if Mourinho does, as we head into a congested run of games. The picturesque city of Plovdiv is Bulgaria's 2nd largest and its their cultural capital. It's history goes back over 8,000 years and it's changed hands many times. It's probably fair to say that football has never been a major part of it's culture or history, though. The Bulgarian league has been totally dominated by the two Sofia clubs, CSKA and Levski, until recently. Both have been swept aside for the last nine seasons by new money club Ludogorets. Plovdiv's current manager is Bruno Akrapovic, a Yugoslavian-born who was a midfielder as a player. He spent most of his career in Germany, representing Wolfsburg and Mainz, plus a handful of smaller clubs. His early managerial career saw him bounce around a variety of Croatian clubs, for the most part. Things seem to have worked out for him at Plovdiv though, since he joined in 2017. They've steadily improved in the league, finishing 2nd last season and winning two cups on the trot. Plovdiv's squad is pretty cosmopolitan, featuring players from Brazil, Argentina, Tajikistan and Mozambique. They've had a mixed start to the season and currently sit in 6th place out of the 14 clubs in their division. They've won 3 and lost 2, but their losses were Ludogorets and their local derby against Botev Plovdiv. In order to reach this round they had to play an earlier qualifier against FK Iskra Danilovgrad of Montenegro. The away trip resulted in a 1-0 victory via a Dimitar Iliev penalty quite late on. They're the team in black tops and white shorts: No team news yet. Lineups for each side's last league game: Spurs: Lloris; Doherty, Alderweireld, Dier, Davies; Winks, Hojbjerg; Moura, Alli, Son; Kane. Subs: Hart, Aurier, Sanchez, Sissoko, Ndombele, Lamela, Bergwijn. Plovdiv: Lukov; Petrovic, Almeida, Masoero; Ilic, Salinas, Vitanov, Tsvetanov; Iliev, Aralica, Karagaren. Subs: Pirgov, Nikolaev, Pugliese, Umarbaev, Minchev, Muslimovic. Ref: Harm Osmers (GER). He's a young ref that got promoted to the Bundesliga in 2016. Still only 35. TV: Premier Sports TV. I think they did a couple of our friendlies last year and they've got our Youtube bloke. How would you like to line up for this one and what would you change from the Everton game? Would you stick with much of the same lineup, make a few changes or go for a wholesale switch? Which system and tactics would you use and what are you expecting Plovdiv to go with?
Nope. They're showing... well, nothing really. Pretty sure Burnley didn't even get televised at all when they were at this stage. **** knows why, as you'd expect it to be relatively cheap and to get a reasonable number of viewers, especially if we go behind.
I’m imagining there’ll be rotation due to the congestion ahead. I’d like to see something like: Gazza Aurier, Sanchez, Toby, Sess White, Sissoko, Ndombele Clarke, Kane, Bergwijn Though I think Hart will start over Gazza and Lamela will start over Clarke, Kane may also be on the bench with Son/ Dele starting - a game in which a new striker should’ve been!
I’d play Gazza Aurier Sanchez Toby Cirkin Sissoko White Tanguy Lucas Dele Sess Take Kane and Sonny to bring on at half time if things aren’t good. Might also be a good opportunity to get GLC minutes if he’s ready, we need him up to speed fast.
Yeah it would be nice to see Clarke but I want Bergwijn and Son starting at the weekend, so Lucas can play Thursday. We need to win this one.
GLC training today. Might be too early for tomorrow but hopefully he can make the bench at the weekend.
