Melbourne Heart addressed one of its key squad concerns when it signed Maltese international Michael Mifsud last month.
A lack of quality firepower has been a longstanding concern for Heart, who have struggled to convert chances.
Eli Babalj offered brief respite, and an ageing John Aloisi was a handy striker despite being on his last legs, during the club’s first season, and coach John Aloisi will be hoping Mifsud can prove to be the club’s most potent forward yet.
Experience
Mifsud is a well travelled player.
He is perhaps best known for his two-year stint at Coventry City, which included a famous brace against Manchester United in the 2007 League Cup, but he has also played in Germany with Kaiserslauten and Norway with Lillestrom.
The Maltese international is also on the verge of his 100th cap for Malta, and is the country’s top international goalscorer with 37 goals to his name.
Mifsud will play his 100th game for the little Mediterranean country this month, at the expense of the first Melbourne derby this season.
Style of play
Admittedly, I have not seen much of Mifsud since his stint in the English Championship came to an end following a loan stint at Barnsley in 2009, but he has always been a striker blessed with plenty of pace and superb core strength.
Mifsud is a goalscorer, and his tally of 37 goals for Malta is good evidence of a player who won’t need many chances to score.
That should make him a great fit for Heart, who have an abundance of pace and creativity in wide positions as well as through the middle with the addition of Harry Kewell.
Mifsud didn’t seem to have lost too much of his pace in Malta’s recent World Cup Qualifer against Italy, which is the last time I have seen him play, and having watched Heart play against Adelaide United last week, I can see the Mifsud’s signing being a very astute one for the club.
Heart looked at its best on the counter attack that day, although they lacked a quality finisher, and it would not be silly to suggest that Mifsud would have enjoyed a bit more success in taking the chances the likes of David Williams and Golgol Mebrahtu continuously spurned on that day.
Title winner
Not on his own.
If the players around him can create clear enough chances, and Mifsud has retained the majority of his pace and sharpness in and around the box, he can certainly score the goals that will book Heart a finals spot at the very least.
Truth be told, he will have to if Heart are to have any hope of embarking on a decent Finals run.
Concerns
A lot of Mifsud’s success will depend on just how quick he is.
He is also very small in stature, but he has been able to navigate that problem with quite a bit of success throughout his career, so that is not a major concern, so long as Heart aren’t overly reliant on high crosses for goals.
Another worry is Mifsud’s ability to draw a crowd.
I would hope it is his ability on the park that has made him an attractive option to Heart, as opposed to what I believe, as an Australian with Maltese heritage, is the misplaced notion that the Australian-Maltese community will flock to AAMI Park to see Mifsud.
He will have some impact, and perhaps any impact is enough for Heart, but expectations about his ability to pull “all the Maltese” should perhaps be downplayed.