Tonight we start our away games in the Europa League.
Maribor are a team in Slovenia who actually in 1988 merged with another local football club called Branik, to form NK Maribor Branik. That is their official title, but they are usually referred to as Maribor.
They are regular achievers in the Slovenian league with them either winning it or being runners up, they are the current champions. They are also the only team in the country that has achieved Slovenian Championship and Slovenian Cup Doubles on more than one occasion – twice.
The side are mainly Slovenians, but they do have a couple of Croatians and Brazilians. Unfortunately for me, I am not familiar with their side which makes writing this difficult! In the last round at Club Brugge they put out this side:
Jasmin Handanovi? (GK), Zeljko Filipovi?, Aleš Meja?, Dejan Mezga, Marcos (C), Agim Ibraimi, Dalibor Volaš, Aleksander Rajevi?, Mitja Viler, Arghus, Aleš Mertelj
There will definitely be one change, Aleksander Rajevi? was sent off in their 2-0 defeat at Brugge, so he will definitely be missing.
For Blues, Carr and Davies aren’t in the squad. This is a real blow. For the much better attacking approach we have had since Hughton arrived, the one area we have struggled in, is defence. Out of the existing defence, Carr and Davies have probably been our better performers. This means that Ridgewell or Ibanez will probably cover Davies in the middle of defence and I would think Spector will drop to RB.
At the time of putting this together, I’m not aware of any other injuries. Zigic continues to get match fit, I would think he will play a part in tonight’s game. Youngsters Akwasi Asante and Luke Hubbins have also been included in the squad giving further weight to the belief that this competition isn’t being seen as a priority. The thing is, this is possibly a winnable game we just might get our stuttering season going properly. I really hope that CH plays the strongest side possible.
The first 20 minutes will be important, if we can get settled and not be behind, we could go on and do well in the game. If we do win, the positive impact on the players, club and fans would be massive and could kick start things in the league.
Prediction: (Because of our vulnerable defence) 1-1
(Apparently the yellow kit will be used tonight).
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