Europa draw

Well a nice short trip would have been what Roy would have preferred at this stage but it was not to be. Instead it will mean a Thursday night match in either Macedonia or Armenia

Liverpool will face either Macedonian side Rabotnicki or Armenian outfit Mika in the third qualifying round of the Europa League.

The first leg of the tie will be played at Anfield on July 29 before the return a week later.

Rabotnicki currently lead Mika 1-0 following the first leg of their second round qualifier. They meet again in Armenia next Thursday.

Who are Rabotniki?

Rabotnicki are currently in the driving seat to face the Reds after securing a 1-0 home victory in the first leg of their second qualifying round. Wandeir got the all-important goal three minutes from time.

The minnows are based in Skopje and play at the Philip II Arena. They are managed by a Macedonian called Zoran Stratev.

Since the Republic of Macedonia became an independent country, Rabotnicki have been competing in the Macedonian Premier League, having previously played in the first Federal League of SFR Yugoslavia.

Also known as 'the Romantics', they have won three league titles in the past five years, as well as two domestic cups.

Sammy Lee will be well aware of any potential threat posed by Rabotnicki, having faced them in round one of the 2007-08 UEFA Cup during his time as manager of Bolton Wanderers. The omens are good too, as the Trotters went on to secure a 2-1 victory on aggregate.

Rabotnicki's squad consists mainly of players native to Macedonia, although they do have six Brazilians in their set-up.

Who are Mika?

Mika hail from Armenia's capital city, Yerevan, and finished second in their league last season.

They play their home games at the Mika Stadium, which has a capacity of approximately 8,000.

They have won only one European tie in eight attempts, beating MTK Budapest in their opening 2007-08 UEFA Cup qualifier.

However, domestically Mika have lifted five Armenian Cups since the turn of the century, as well as an Armenian Super Cup.

Mika's squad consists mainly of Armenians, although they are able to boast a couple of former Real Madrid youth players in Pedro Lopez and Ulises Cano.

Well Roy Hodgson is faced with his first real challenge as Liverpool manager in the form of who does he play in next week's Europa League qualifier.

The Board of the Club have to give him some help here. A decision has to be made as to where this competition fits into the financial plan for the coming season.

One one hand we have the Sports Scientists telling Roy if you play the stars now they will burn out in the league. On the other hand can we afford the lost revenue
of not being Europa if he plays the youngsters and loses?

It would seem to me that a compromise would be the best solution for many reasons.

1 I think the youngsters deserve their chance to show what they can do in a pressure match.
2, You cannot ignore the advice of the medical team, if you do you simply might as well not have one.
3, If we were to play the youngsters in the first away leg we would still have the home leg at Anfield to recover the situation if it all went wrong for them.
4, By this time the returning starts would have had another week to prepare their training.

Most importantly of all if we do go out due to fielding perhaps not our strongest side there has to be understanding from the fans and not a situation wher all the good work
Roy has started could be undone.

For me if the board say we can live without the revenue I would follow the advice of the medical team. I think it is fair to say we will not see the first choice 11 being rotated very much this season so they are going to have to play a lot more games. You only have to look at the tired performances in the league of the Fulham players last season to see what can happen.

The league and getting back into those CL places has to be our priority this season