by Malta will be hosting Andorra at the Centenary Stadium at 19:30 this evening, for the second match of this edition of the UEFA Women’s Nations League. Malta’s Manuela Tesse & Andorra’s Albert Panadero Garcia discussed the selection and approach for tonight’s match, while drawing on the positives & negatives of the defeats to Cyprus & Georgia respectively. Malta’s captain Emma Lipman called on the team to show they’ve learned from Friday’s defeat as they search for the first points in the competition.
Assessing The Defeats
Malta and Andorra both head into this second fixture of the UEFA Women’s Nations League yet to register a single point following 2 – 1 defeats to Cyprus and Georgia.
Malta’s Manuela Tesse spoke of the disappointment of losing the match, while giving credit to Cyprus for the way they executed their game plan to earn the victory. Malta still could not muster the necessary comeback to earn points in the opening matchday, despite halving the deficit early on in the second-half. The Sardinian praised the response in the second half from her team and the performance put in by Alishia Cassar to inject momentum in attack. However, Manuela Tesse was clear that more is needed from the team to achieve the target of promotion.
Captain Emma Lipman framed the lessons following the defeat, “I think it was a good wake-up call for us, because we can see how we’ve improved as a group in all aspects of the game in the past year or so, but if we don’t go into matches with that desire to fight and win, then it becomes very difficult and you will be punished.”
Still the captain of Malta saw positives from the second-half, “However, I think we showed our identity as a team in the second-half, to fight and the determination to win the ball back which we didn’t do in the first half. We just have to start the next game like this. Sometimes these results can be difficult but they are important lessons to remember that if you don’t show up you will get punished in football.”
On the other hand, Andorra saw a lead struck down with two quick and late goals by Georgia. Coach Albert Panadero Garcia attributed the change in result due to the inexperience within the team, “We know that we are a young team, with a target to evolve and grow. It’s a match where we had things under control for a lot of the time, but details make differences in these matches. I think if they had not scored the penalty it was a match for us to take points for sure, but things changed.”
Set-Pieces Continue To Rear Their Head
Malta came under pressure once more from set-pieces against Cyprus, while Andorra are a side who are also known for having a knack for them.
Captain Emma Lipman was probed about what she views as the way forward for the team to avoid conceding such goals, “I think ideally the first thing is that we avoid having to defend them in the first place. However, if this is unavoidable, then the next thing is for each of us to focus on our individual roles.”
She continued, “We have been training how to defend these set-pieces together for a long time now. So, it is about putting it together and then defending is an art of attacking the ball, so we must be the hungrier to win the first ball and avoid having to deal with the second and third.”
Meanwhile, Andorra’s Albert Panadero Garcia is a new coach in the side since the last UEFA Women’s Nations League, where Andorra was associated with an approach to harm opponents via set-pieces. Asked whether he is looking to imprint a new philosophy, he seems to be sticking to the strategy passed through the Federation in terms of the style of play the team adopts.
Speaking of the philosophy he replied, “We follow a structure that we have set as a Federation for the philosophy we want our teams to adopt. We believe that this has helped us to compete with such strong national teams like Malta, Georgia and Cyprus. We feel that this has put us on a good path and so we try to give our best in this competition and we take it from there.”
Selections & Pushing Forward
Meanwhile, Manuela Tesse confirmed that Jade Flask is back in contention, with the forward chosen following an injury for a defender. Manuela Tesse confirmed she opted for the forward to shake up the options in attack following the display against Cyprus. “We had an injury in defence for Jessica (Dimech), but after the match against Cyprus I wanted to get a different type of forward because I believed this was an area where we most needed to change things for the match against Andorra.”
Although the result against Cyprus was disappointing for Malta, there were positives. Maya Lucia looked more comfortable in the full-back role in her first competitive match in the position, which Manuela Tesse was pleased with.
Speaking of Lucia’s performance against Cyprus, Manuela Tesse remarked, “She was very good without the ball and she needed to mark one of the strongest players, so I am very happy with that. Of course now it is a matter of putting together the defending and attacking as a full-back. However, she is young so we need to give her time, but I see positives from this match and the friendlies against Hungary.”
Despite being just seventeen years old, Lexine Farrugia was also trusted to take one of the final direct free-kicks in the match with a chance to draw level. Manuela Tesse showed full belief in the youngster, “It was my responsibility, I know she has a great kick and as I said before it is not a matter of age, but I believe she has the ability to score because I’ve seen it. The problem was the distance to the wall and she didn’t have the experience to challenge the referee. However, I’ve spoken with the more experienced players in the team to guide these young players in these circumstances.”
Manuela Tesse was also probed to give some insight into the decision not to start any of the three new players for Malta (Fiona Buttigieg, Oceane Grange and Jana Barbara), with Fiona Buttigieg being the only one out of them to make an appearance, albeit very late on.
“We had good balance in the friendlies against Hungary, so I didn’t want to disrupt this and at the same time these players need time to adapt to our principles and the team. I gave some minutes to Fiona (Buttigieg) but I was a bit sad to put her in that moment because I knew that it’s not the best circumstances to put a player on their first cap for the national team. However, I knew she has a very good left foot and we needed someone to put the ball in.”
There were also key milestones for Gozitan duo Emma Xuereb and Maria Farrugia in the match against Cyprus. Xuereb marked her 80th cap with the Malta team, while Maria Farrugia reached the 50th appearance at national team level.
Andorra started the match against Georgia with several young players in the mix, including fifteen year olds Zoe Planaguma and Chloe Izquierdo. Albert Panadero Garcia suggested he is sticking with the youngsters despite knowing Malta packs plenty of experience in the team, “We want to grow and if we want to do this we must look at every match as an opportunity. So, I believe we must give these players the chance to play in these matches.”
Three Points
Manuela Tesse is intending for the team to start the match against Andorra with the attitude shown in the second half against Cyprus with a target to earn the three points. However, the Sardinian did not negate that there might be changes in the system adopted. She said, “It is a different match, we need to stick to our philosophy but we will consider our opponents and choose the best approach to get the three points.”
The coach of Malta echoed the captain, Emma Lipman, on the importance of learning from the opening defeat, “We lost the first game, but there are now no more chances to slip up. We must be focused on getting these three points.”
Meanwhile, Andorra head into the fixture knowing that history is stacked against them, with Malta having won all five encounters between the two nations. Albert Panadero Garcia is expecting an aggressive stance from Malta, “We know that they want to go back to League B and so we definitely believe that they will look to control the match to get the win. We expect them to give the maximum to win this match, but we will stick to our gameplan.”
The two teams will take to the pitch in the Centenary Stadium at 19:30 CET this evening. Tickets are available for purchase online. The match will also be broadcast on TVM Sports+.
The other match in Group C2 will be played in Larnaca as Cyprus welcome Georgia at 18:00 CET.
Lead Image: Lara Schembri
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