Miller alters tactical plan

A new tactical module has been concocted by Malta U-21 coach Mark Miller in the hope of undermining Hungary's plans in this afternoon's European Under-21 Championship qualifier at the Gozo Stadium.

After studying a video of a match played by the Hungarian Under-21 team, Miller concluded that a 3-4-2-1 approach will give his team a better chance of pulling off a good result in today's match rather than the conventional 4-4-2 formation.

"We have changed our tactical plans for this game to counter the Hungarians who normally play with three strikers and three men at the back," Miller told The Times from Gozo.

"Hungary are a very technical side and we will try to knock them off their stride by having two wide midfield players supporting our main striker. The pace and skill of our advanced players will hopefully give a hard time to Hungary's three-man defence."

Miller is banking on the talents of the returning Mauro Brincat, Trevor Cilia and Cleaven Frendo to torment the opponents' rearguard.

Hamrun Spartans' midfielder Brincat missed the team's last two qualifiers because of an ankle injury but he has been thrust straight back into the starting formation at the expense of Hibernians' towering striker Terrence Scerri.

Frendo, of Pietà Hotspurs', will spearhead Malta's attack but Floriana's Cilia and Brincat will be expected to supplement the team's forays with their incursions down the flanks.

Andrè Schembri was deployed as an adjunct striker in the last games against Iceland (1-0) and Bulgaria (1-2) but Miller has given him a central midfield role for this game where he will be assisted by Roderick Bajada and Karl Sammut, who has been preferred to Christian Cassar.

Goalkeeper Reuben Gauci, Alex Muscat, Ryan Mintoff, Shaun Tellus and Shawn Bajada have all kept their places in the team.

Miller returned from the UK on Friday night after attending the funeral of his father who passed away last week.

The national U-21 coach is calling on his players to maintain the work ethic they displayed against Iceland and Bulgaria.

"I hope we can work as hard as we did in the last few games," Miller remarked.

"Playing at home should bolster our hopes of doing well in this game and I have been urging the players to try and exploit the home advantage."

Although Miller is positive about his team's chances of attaining another satisfactory result to go with their 1-0 victory over Iceland last month, he warns his team that they must keep their tactical shape if they are to surprise their opponents.

"We have to keep things tight. Our players must show a high level of tactical discipline by cutting the space out for Hungary and using possession in an intelligent way," he said.

"I always try to be realistic about our own qualities when compared with our opponents' strength.

"If we can get anything out of this match against a team of Hungary's calibre, we will be very happy. If we can repeat the victory against Iceland, it will be fantastic but we have to stay cautious."

Difficult week

The adverse weather in the last few days has not aided Malta's preparations for today's game but Miller is hoping that the squad's determination to maintain their upward trend will compensate for these difficulties.

"It's been a difficult week for all of us. The weather has complicated matters as the training pitch at Ta' Qali was hardly suitable to conduct any training.

"Moreover, we had planned to cross over to Gozo on Sunday but we had to postpone our departure by 24 hours because of the weather.

"Our build-up has not been ideal but it could have been worse," Miller said.