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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Darren Johnstone

Luzern coach warns team to deal with Hibs' long ball game

Luzern head coach Mario Frick has told his players they must be up for the fight of dealing with Hibs’ long ball game.

Frick believes he knows what to expect in this evening’s Europa Conference League clash after studying footage of Lee Johnson's team.

The former Liechtenstein captain also admitted that his side will need to keep an eye on Elie Youan, Martin Boyle and Joe Newell in the first leg of their third qualifying round match.

Frick, who scored in Liechtenstein’s agonising 2-1 defeat to Scotland at Hampden in 2010, said: “We are expecting a very difficult game, we watched the St Mirren game and the two games against Andorran team. 

“It is rather easy football with a lot of long balls, a lot of energy from the team. 

“In this stadium it’s going to be very difficult but we are positive that we can get a good result.

“It’s important we take on the energy that Hibs bring to the pitch, that we focus on second balls. There will be a lot of long, high balls.

“When comes to the Hibs players, we know Elie Youan very well from St Gallen and Joe Newell and Martin Boyle are other players we need to keep an eye on.” 

Frick also reckons Sunday’s Swiss league defeat at St Gallen will help Luzern prepare for tonight’s clash at Easter Road.

He added: “Because we played St Gallen, which is known to be the loudest stadium in Switzerland, this was the perfect test that we expect to face on Thursday night.

“After that defeat, the plan is to get back in a good mood, especially to keep going the way we played against Djurgarden in the last round.

"It’s important to have a good performance to take back for the game in Lucerne to then try and qualify for the next round.”

Luzern defender Marco Burch said: “It’s going to be a very noisy game so we have to get our performance right.

"It will be very intense and loud so it’s important we stick to our plan so we get a performance out of our game.”

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