The dogs from Vienna: Europa League preview

Rapid Vienna supporters will make some noise tomorrow and given the chance, they will also throw coins and lighters at our players. If you are sitting near them, take an umbrella as it wouldn't surprise me if they threw things at you too.

Even when a fellow countryman was down injured, feet away from them, they threw stuff at him. They are the dogs from Vienna and they deserve to be known for this.

To the match

It is am important match and one where we really do not need to see them scoring, so it really would be advisable, in my humble opinion, to play a fairly strict 4-5-1 with Petrov and Reo-Coker sitting in the whole behind Stephen Ireland with Webcam on the left and Albrighton on the right, tracking back and supporting.

This swapping of players from the left side of midfield to the right and vice versa also has to stop. I am sure it will produce a goal one day but Albrighton is far better on the right than the left and one of the reasons I am dropping Downing is because he is so awful on the right.

I know this is only my Disneyland team, but he really hasn't looked like he is worth £12mn so far in claret and blue and while I think he will one day, I don't think it actually helps him having to go play on the right as his right foot is about as effective as a Rapid Vienna supporter with a 20 piece jigsaw puzzle.

Progress is all that matters

Those words are easy to write but look what happened to Fulham. Last season, after getting to the final, they finished 12th in the league, from 7th the season before. I'm not saying that would necessarily happen to us, but Roy Hodgson blamed the 43 extra games on his poor league finishing and Roy Hodgson didn't need to make excuses for getting Fulham to 12th.

I jokingly dub this tournament the LDV League, for the money involved (when put next to the Chumpians League) but also because European football used to be about winners, but these days, almost half our league is playing in Europe.

My point is, does progress really matter in this tournament? For the amount of games, the impact it could have on our domestic season, unless we use scientific methods of squad rotation not yet invented and at the end of the day the money involved - is it worth it?

Wednesday speculation

There is going to be a new manager announced on Thursday with a press conference on Friday, if you want to believe that. You have to be a brave man, in a very small circle, to put your name to that, because you can't really get it wrong. That was on a forum - I'm not sure which one.

Or, you could if you wanted too, believe that Kevin MacDonald has two games to prove he is capable. This is rubbish, otherwise all managers would be hired on a three month trial basis and anyway, Kevin MacDonald doesn't want the job - otherwise he would have told us already.

Lastly, Hull City want Habib Beye. He was going to Hull before Martin O'Neill offered to make him a multi-millionaire to sit on our bench. I don't think he'll be going to Hull unless they offer him an awful lot of money as this is probably his last contract at 32 years old.

So, until tomorrow. I'll just keep moving on.

Match odds for Rapid Vienna