West Ham face old foes Astra Giurgiu
The draw for the playoff round of the Europa League has been made, and West Ham are set to play in one further stage than they managed last year, but they face a familiar foe in FC Astra Giurgiu.
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West Ham have been drawn against last seasons European conquerors FC Astra of Romania, who beat us 4-3 on aggregate last year, after Bilic made the decision to rest a number of key players before the opening Premier League match against Arsenal. West Ham went out of the Europa League but beat Arsenal on the opening day to underline why Bilic made the decision he did.
With a larger and more well rounded squad this year Bilic is not treating the Europa League as an easy competition, although I still think he would rest players for the Europa if it guaranteed a good performance on the Sunday. However nothing is guaranteed in football so resting players where it’s not necessary is always a risk.
FC Astra’s top scorer last season was Romanian international Denis Alibec, who scored 16 goals in 26 games in the Romanian league. He is yet to play a game this season and Astra would enjoy having him back to be able to trouble the West Ham defence.
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I really hope that we continue to play Oxford in the Europa League at the heart of the defence because outside of the Premier League there are not many strikers that can physically bully him out of the way, so it means his technical ability can stand up to most tests on its own.
I would also be interested to see Fletcher or Martinez given a chance in some Europa matches, especially if we dropped a central midfielder and played 2 up top with Carroll, because he seemed isolated last night and there are not many defences on the continent that could deal with Carroll when he’s on form.
Next: West Ham v NK Domzale player ratings
West Ham will be hoping that their progression to this stage of the competition will encourage a couple of signings who are close to joining to get on board and make this season a successful one on multiple fronts for the club.