Caulfield aiming to take the game to Reykjavik

As a player, John Caulfield was quite familiar with continental escapades having donned the green and white of Cork City over 20 times in Europe – however, he makes his managerial debut in European competition on Thursday night when the Rebel Army host KR Reykjavik at Turner's Cross.

Speaking at City's pre-match press conference in Bishopstown, Caulfield was upbeat about the mood in the camp ahead of the Europa League first qualifying round tie against the Icelanders. Last season's Premier Division runners-up are unbeaten in the league since April and head into the game on the back of a 2-0 victory over Derry City in the Brandywell.

“Preparation has gone well, training has gone very well since we got back from Derry,” said Caulfield. “We have done a lot of analysis on Reykjavik and preparation has been good, and we are looking forward to the game.”

Opposition analyst Lisa Fallon watched KR in action last weekend and when asked what he made of the side currently sitting in second place in the Icelandic Premier League table, Caulfield replied:

“They're a good side but we have prepared well and, crucially, we have worked hard in the last few days on what we want to do, and we will have to be at our best to prove that we are good enough for the side.

“They’ve three or four very good players and they're a physical team,” added Caulfield. “Individually, they have a few players that will cause you problems if you’re not defending well. They score a lot of goals from set-pieces. We have watched them a lot and we have seen areas where we think we can cause them problems.”

Caulfield expects the visitors to approach the game with caution in the hope of finishing the tie off in Reykjavik – and the 50 year old believes that anything less than a victory in Turner's Cross won't be enough for the Rebel Army to reach the next round, and stressed the importance of not conceding an away goal.

“We’re not going to sit back, it’s our home game and we feel that we can get the win and it’s going to go right down to the wire,” said Caulfield. “The onus is on us and we’re not going to sit down. We feel that we can get the win. We need the win if we are to progress.

“We expect them to sit back and be compact and we will have to be ready for their counter-attacks – yet it’s up to us to take our chances as well.

“We don’t want a nil-all game but the most important thing in Europe is not to concede at home, yet we also have to score at home,” added Caulfield. “We have no thought at the moment for a draw and are going all out for a win.”

A large turnout is expected for the first European game at Turner's Cross in seven years – City bowed out of the 2008/09 UEFA Cup in the first qualifying round following a 6-2 aggregate defeat to Finnish side FC Haka – but Caulfield is still calling on the home crowd to create a partisan atmosphere that will unsettle KR.

“We haven’t been in Europe in a long while and I’m really appealing to the fans to come out to the game,” said Caulfield. “We all know the Shed can rattle the opposition and it would be a shame with qualifying for Europe that there wasn’t a big crowd.

“When the crowds are buzzing it does rattle the opposition and let’s hope it works that way tomorrow.”

Caulfield will be looking to players with past experience of European competition to help guide his side through the tie. Karl Sheppard, Billy Dennehy and Dan Murray were all part of Shamrock Rovers' historic run to the Europa League group stages in 2011, while Liam Miller has 16 Champions League appearances to his name from spells at Celtic and Manchester United.

“We have lots of experience, there’s no doubt about that,” said Caulfield. “You’d hope it would be an advantage because [of] the hype and expectations. They’re all aware of [it], so from that point of view, you’d hope it would be an advantage.

“Reykjavik have been in Europe most years,” added Caulfield. “I think in the last seven or eight years they’ve been in Europe every year. They had Celtic last year, they’ve played Glentoran, so they’re used to it as well.

“The crucial thing for us is that we’re not naive in the sense that most of our team know what Europe is about, so that’s important."

On the whole, former UCC and Avondale United manager Caulfield is excited about the new challenge facing him, adding: “It’s an honour for me to be with the club. Is there extra hype this week in comparison to last week? No, as I love managing in football and I look forward to every game, and I was buzzing last week in Derry.”