please log in to view this image Thursday 30th September 8pm Europa Conference League Group Stage Tottenham Hotspur Stadium 3 consecutive losses in the league, conceding 3 goals each time and concluding with a loss to the filth. It's a very poor run since the international break, interspersed with a couple of draws in the cups. 5 matches without a win and very few goals to show for it is rather unimpressive, so this is now a vital match. With Villa coming up on the weekend before another international break, this requires some thought. Can Espirito Santo dispatch the underdogs of the group or will more pressure mount? Our opponents NS Mura are the current Slovenian champions and they have a rather complicated history. They were formed in 2012 from the ashes of ND Mura 05, themselves a phoenix club of NK Mura. The original side were founded in 1924 and dissolved in 2005 due to financial difficulties. Neither incarnation of the team had much success, failing to win a single title in that time. They did pick up a couple of Slovenian Cups, but one of those was essentially a regional competition. Football in Slovenia was part of the Yugoslavian pyramid until 1991, when the country gained independence. It's been largely dominated since then by Maribor, who have won half of the 30 titles available in that time. The resurrected Mura had to start in the 4th tier and only returned to the top-flight in 2018/19. They finished 4th twice, qualifying for Europe and then won their first ever league title last season. This resulted in them playing in three European competitions this year. The club started out in the Champions League, facing off against our old Macedonian friends KF Shkëndija. They handily dispatched them 6-0 on aggregate before losing to Bulgarians Ludogorets 3-1. That dropped them into the Europa League, where they faced Zalgiris of Lithuania, who they beat 1-0. That set up a play-off against Sturm Graz of Austria, who beat them 5-1 to progress to the group. Now they're in the Conference with us, Rennes and Vitesse, who they lost to 2-0 in the first game. I can't find any footage of Mura, barring their 1-0 victory in Macedonia, from a controversial penalty: No injury news yet, so I'll update later when some is available. Lineups for each side's last league game: Spurs: Lloris; Tanganga, Sanchez, Dier, Reguilon; Ndombele, Hojbjerg, Alli; Moura, Kane, Son. Subs: Gollini, Royal, Rodon, Romero, Davies, Skipp, Lo Celso, Gil, Scarlett. League form: WWWLLL. Mura: Obradovic; Marusko, Karamarko, Gorenc, Sturm; Kozar, Horvat; Mandic, Marosa, Mulahusejnovic, Klepac. Subs: Lotric, Karnicnik, Kous, Skoflek, Cipot. League form: WLWWDD. Ref: Yigal Frid (ISR). 29-year-old Israeli ref that I can barely find any information about. Hmm... TV: BT Sport 2. How would you like to line up for this one? Would you stick with much of the same lineup from the last game, tinker a little or change it completely? Which system and tactics would you use and what are you expecting the Mura to go with?
Gollini Emerson, Rodon, Romero, Davies Ndombele, White Markanday, Lo Celso, Gil Scarlett This should be a 5-0er type of game. No excuses.
One thing to note: in the CL qualifiers, Mura beat Shkendija but lost to Ludogorets, aka two of the more rustic stadiums we played at in last season's Europa League
Think we'll see a make shift team ... we can not afford another bad performance and or result on Sunday against Villa so most players will be rested. We did that against pacos and they hardly covered themselves in glory, losing one nil and putting in an awful performance almost worthy of a NLD! Not hopeful unless a very strong team starts tbh.
Can you put your real username in your signature or something, Spurlock? I thought we'd gained another Chelsea poster for a minute!
They're 5th in the Slovenian division right now. There are 10 teams in the Slovenian league. Come on, you can't seriously think you'll screw this one up.
It doesn't matter who we're playing and we'd do well to learn from the mistakes of others. Real lost to Sheriff, as did Shakhtar, Red Star Belgrade and our mates Dinamo Zagreb. We got turned over by the 8th placed team in Portugal and a frankly **** Arsenal team. I expect we'll be resting players and the team selection needs to still make sense and have balance. Our away game against Pacos was none of those things and we deservedly lost. We cannot afford to be so complacent and wasteful in a group where 1st place actually matters.
Fair enough. However, I think this also depends on whether you view the Conference League as something you actually want to win or not. Some Spurs fans I know feel it's a total waste of time. And isn't it a bit of a lose-lose situation? If you win it, the narrative will be that it's a third-tier competition with a lot of nobodies, so winning it isn't that significant. Whereas if you get knocked out, people will ridicule you for not being able to win a third-tier competition. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
If we win it then we finally pick up a piece of silverware and it puts us in the Europa next season. I don't care what other fans think of it, to be honest.
