Football: Clark to demand cautious approach

The Champions' League notwithstanding, the Uefa Cup offers the most painfully compelling evidence of the fact that English clubs are having to learn all over again how to play in Europe.

This, after all, is a competition which teams from what is now the Premiership won six times in a row from 1968 and on a further three occasions before their post-Heysel exile. In the six seasons since the ban was lifted, only Norwich and Liverpool have progressed beyond the second round, which makes the prospect of that total being doubled tonight heady indeed.

Nottingham Forest, who lead Auxerre 1-0 going into the home leg, and Liverpool, starting with a blank canvas against Brondby at Anfield, must be favourites to reach the last 16. Leeds, seeking to overturn a 5-3 deficit at PSV Eindhoven, have it all to do, while Raith Rovers' hopes of maintaining Scottish interest surely belong in the realm of fantasy as they visit Bayern Munich already 2-0 down.

Not that Forest, in particular, can afford any complacency. In France, they came under ferocious pressure before and after Steve Stone's breakaway goal, owing much to the goalkeeping heroics of the oft-maligned Mark Crossley. Moreover, the Auxerre midfield, directed by Corentin Martins, showed enough technical ability to suggest that they might be lethal if the home side press forward too eagerly.

In short, Forest face a dilemma which has defeated all too many British clubs of late. Their manager, Frank Clark, acknowledged as much, saying: "We can't afford just to sit on our lead, and our fans will want us to attack. But we must do so with discipline or we'll be caught on the break."

Hearteningly for Forest, 17 cross-Channel confrontations in Europe have produced only two French victories, the last in 1977. Auxerre, who have lost both domestic fixtures since the first leg, will also be conscious of having buckled at Liverpool four years ago after bringing a 2-0 lead.

While Brondby have no such cushion, the knowledge that a repeat of last autumn's 2-2 draw at Arsenal in the Cup-Winners' Cup would take them through should spur the Danes as much as it forewarns Liverpool. Rob Jones returns at right-back for the ineligible Jason McAteer, who played a marauding part in the 10-0 aggregate mauling of Manchester City in the Coca-Cola Cup and Premiership last week.

John Barnes and John Scales are doubtful after picking up strains on Saturday. Stan Collymore, who missed training last week with a recurrence of the "mystery virus" which caused similar absences at Forest, was back at work yesterday and is expected to start on the bench.

Leeds, meanwhile, flew to the Netherlands clutching at historical straws. To eliminate PSV, they need something on the scale of the 4-1 win over VfB Stuttgart in the European Cup three years ago - after the Germans had won 3-0 at home - or their 3-0 win in Monaco. "It's not impossible," Gary McAllister, their captain, said. "We created enough chances at home to take a bit of belief into this one."

Unfortunately for Leeds, Tony Yeboah, the scorer of a sublime hat-trick in Monte Carlo, is betraying the effects of 17 games in 10 weeks and has been barren in the last six. More ominously, PSV's Brazilian prodigy, Ronaldo, is fit after missing the first leg though injury.

n Eight British supporters were arrested and ordered to be deported yesterday after nearly 100 Leeds fans arrived in Eindhoven without tickets. The eight were arrested for "violent and threatening behaviour" in the centre of Eindhoven. "Eight fans were arrested near the stadium because they were aggressive and intimidating as they tried to get tickets," a spokesman for Eindhoven police said.