The Town players and staff enjoyed some sightseeing yesterday prior to tonight's match against Torpedo Moscow. Red Square and the Kremlin were visited, but maybe more importantly they later sat down to watch a video of the first leg.
Hero and villain of that game was Titus Bramble who scored in the last five minutes, but poor distribution let the Russian side lead in the first half. Bramble looks set to miss out with an Achilles' injury after manager George Burley said: "It would be unwise to push him too hard at this stage and I think it may be best to adopt a cautious approach regarding his situation."
Titus has come under a lot of criticism from Town fans as his passing has put us under pressure time and time again, especially in recent games. He has tended to try to be too clever by playing elaborate passes when the simple option maybe should have taken.
His injury gives Burley the chance to try a different defensive combination involving two or more from Hermann Hreidarsson, John McGreal and Mark Venus.
Venus is fit again after injury but is unlikely to be involved in a two-man defence, as he hasn't played in the first team this season.
We suspect that Hreidarsson will partner McGreal with Jamie Clapham at left-back. On the right George has the usual option of Fabian Wilnis or Chris Makin. Wilnis gives us slightly more attacking options so maybe preferred although he was withdrawn early against Manchester United suggesting a possible injury problem.
The other injury doubt is Martijn Reuser with a thigh injury and he will probably need a fitness test today to establish who plays on the left.
Finidi George has been used in a variety of positions so far this season, but was most effective on the right against 10-man Derby. That game showed what we can expect from the Nigerian star, but since then hasn’t been able to repeat anything like that two-goal display.
Finidi knows himself that he has been disappointing recently: "My form has not been so good lately but I’m still learning about the game with Ipswich. I loved those two goals against Derby. The fans gave me a wonderful reception and I would love to repay them with a top class show.”
Finidi George does have a lot of experience playing in Europe for Real Betis, Real Mallorca and Ajax, so this may come in useful. I would expect Finidi to play from the start, either on the left if Reuser isn’t fit, or alternatively on the right. Jermaine Wright could be used on the right if Reuser misses out. Jim Magilton and Matty Holland will complete the four in midfield.
Pablo Couñago or Richard Naylor will partner Marcus Stewart up front. We did look our best in the first leg when we were more direct with Naylor in the team, but Pablo is the better finisher. It is of course a 90-minute game and both are likely to make an appearance.
All this assumes of course that we will play in a 4-4-2 formation which is by no means certain. We seem to have so many options available, which is maybe a part of the problem this season.
We don’t have a team that is picking itself which was one of the features of last year. I would be in favour of reverting to last year’s team (with obvious forced exceptions) and formation. A good way of introducing Finidi George and Pablo Couñago would have been as second-half substitutes.
Mauricio Taricco was restricted to the reserves for a year when he first came, but you can’t do that to Finidi! You can’t help feeling for Jermaine Wright especially after such a good performance and improvement last season.
Today could see the end of a pretty short UEFA Cup run. It has been a dream come true to be involved in this year’s competition so soon after our long-awaited return to the Premiership, and is clearly a major achievement.
David Sheepshanks said: "Getting into Europe this season won't be the be all and end all because we have set our stall out to improve year on year and to do well in the Premiership. It won't be the end of our season if we lose but a good result could be the catalyst for our season to really begin”.
It’s hard to imagine how we can realistically improve on last season, but I’m up for that.
So, good luck lads. Let’s get it together tonight, just a 1-0 win will do nicely thank you.