Watch: Former Malta Coach Breaks Down Worrying Stats From Euro 2024 Results
Former Malta football manager Pippo Psaila has warned the team’s performances and results during its Euro 2024 qualification campaign are serious cause for concern.
While praising Malta’s attitude during last week’s 2-0 defeat to England, Psaila warned the team’s overall performance was simply not good enough.
“This was the first time since 2000 that we didn’t win a single point in a qualification group,” he said during a discussion on TVM Sport+, before proceeding to give a more detailed breakdown.
“We conceded five penalties in eight games, which is absurd and something the Japanese would call harakiri. To concede a penalty, you must either be late on the ball, clumsy on the tackle or you can’t defend, unless it’s a handball. But the penalties we conceded weren’t handball; they were all one-on-ones.”
He also noted that Malta’s total possession over its eight qualification games was a measly 37%, while the team only managed 11 attempts on target throughout the entire campaign.
“Eleven attempts on target over eight games. Do you know what you’re saying? That you need a miracle to score.”
It was always going to be tough for Malta to navigate a group containing England, Italy, Ukraine, and North Macedonia, but Psaila insisted that Malta should seek to raise its standards.
“Are we simply going to be pleased with beating the likes of Gibraltar, who lost 14-0 against France, San Marino, who can’t even be described as a village team, Andorra and Liechtenstein? That’s why we aren’t progressing.”
Psaila said it is time to take stock of Malta’s progression under MFA president Bjorn Vassallo, who has been in charge since 2019.
“Four years aren’t a lot but they aren’t a little either,” he said. “A development cycle is usually eight to ten years so we’re almost at the halfway mark now.”
“I come from the business world and whenever I invest a euro, I would like to see what my return on investment is. We spent hundreds of thousands of euro on a staff of 16 foreign nationals, so how much did it cost us to gain two draws (against Cyprus and Slovakia) and one victory (against Cyprus) in four years?”
Cover photo: Left: Former Malta national coach Pippo Psaila, Right: Current Malta national coach Michele Marcolini (Photo: Malta Football Association)
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