Michael O’Neill must jump-start Shamrock in Russian cold

AFTER the saga of being linked, then overlooked, for the Hibernian vacancy, Shamrock Rovers manager Michael O’Neill gets back to Europa League business tonight when his side play Rubin Kazan in sub-zero conditions in Russia.

Shamrock have not played a competitive game since their Europa League outing on 3 November, a 3-1 home loss to Greece’s PAOK Salonika, whereas Rubin’s last match was a Russian league fixture on Saturday. They did, however, travel to Sweden last week to face Malmo in a friendly and manager O’Neill is confident his players are ready for tonight.

“There are many factors that will make this difficult for us: the travel, climate and quality of Kazan,” said O’Neill, who is without injured duo Craig Sives and Conor McCormac. “This will be as difficult a game – if not the most difficult – as we have faced in the Europa League so far. But the players have been excellent since we came back together. The Malmo game was a bonus and was very good for us. The team is in good shape despite not having played competitively for four weeks.”

Shamrock will round off their Europa League campaign against Tottenham next month, and White Hart Lane manager Harry Redknapp admits he has a fight on his hands to keep his fringe players happy. With Spurs currently on a ten-match unbeaten run that has seen them climb to third in the Barclays Premier League, Redknapp has been loath to rotate his squad, although today’s Europa League clash with PAOK Salonika will be a rare exception.

Vedran Corluka this week joined Sebastien Bassong, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Heurelho Gomes in declaring his wish to leave White Hart Lane in January due to limited first-team chances, while Jermain Defoe has been linked with a move to QPR. But with two-thirds of the season remaining and the club fighting for silverware in three competitions, Redknapp is reluctant to deplete his squad.

“It’s difficult because the players want to play. You won’t keep them happy [if they’re not],” he said. While Spurs’ league form has seen them rocket to within two points of second-placed Manchester United, their Europa League campaign has stuttered slightly.

A 1-0 defeat at Rubin Kazan saw the London club drop to third in Group A, but they could return to the summit if they beat PAOK at White Hart Lane, and could go through as winners if they also win against Shamrock.

Elsewhere in the competition, Birmingham travel to face Braga, with Stoke and Fulham not in action until tomorrow against Dynamo Kiev and Twente respectively.