Milicic defends tactics

ANTE Milicic will stick to his tactical guns for the Matildas’ must-win showdown against Brazil, concluding there is no reason to alter a system because of simple errors.

And the Matildas coach hopes the team is strong enough to block out the noise around former coach Alen Stajcic’s sacking and deliver on World Cup expectations.

Milicic came in for significant criticism after Australia played a high defensive line in its opening 2-1 loss to Italy on Sunday night, an approach that did not directly contribute to the loss but resulted in two disallowed goals for offside.

“That’s understandable,” Milicic said. “At the same time, it’s not now after one game that we’re thinking we need to tweak things. We conceded from a set piece and we’ve been working on that all along. We work on our defensive structure. We could have executed that a little bit better.

“We are working on these things. It’s taken a little bit more time than expected. The girls understand. The information is clear. We’re looking to make it right against Brazil.”

To do that the Matildas must, to put it obviously, score more goals than they concede, which means capitalising on chances more ruthlessly than their zero-goal return from 16 shots against Italy.

Helping immeasurably would be getting Elise Kellond-Knight back in holding midfield, though Milicic would not be drawn on whether her increased minutes would come from a starting spot or off the bench.

Lisa De Vanna also has a cork while Clare Polkinghorne complained of hamstring tightness and Caitlin Foord pulled up sore, but the coach was confident all three would be fine to back up.

Milicic said he was too busy to pay attention to persistent questions around how and why Stajcic was removed as coach in January, though acknowledged its potential impact on the squad.

“Can these 23 girls block out all the outside noise? Are they mentally strong enough to do that? I hope they are, and in the end time will tell,” he said.