Csaba plan a one man show up top for Hearts

Published on Friday 17 October 2008 10:33

CSABA LASZLO today mounted a stringent defence of his tactics and stressed he won't be altering his favoured 4-4-1-1 formation for Sunday's Edinburgh derby.

The Hearts manager retains faith in his system despite a lack of goals from strikers this season. He is aware of pressure to deploy two principal forwards but holds resolute belief that his tactics will bear fruit.

Only Jamie Mole and Audrius Ksanavicius have scored while occupying striking roles under Laszlo, prompting many to question whether a conventional 4-4-2 formation would serve Hearts better. Laszlo responded unequivocally today and insisted he will not divert from his tried-and-trusted methods at Easter Road.

"If you talk about football and tactics and you see the trend football is taking, 99 per cent of teams play with one target striker, not two," he told the Evening News.

"If you play 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-1-1, it makes no difference. The difference is after the game if you have won.

"We go to play offensively in every game. I won't change the tactics for one game. We know what we can do and we know our strengths. We also know the weaknesses and strengths of the opponents but we will concentrate on our strong points."

Laszlo openly admitted that goalscoring issues remain unresolved and pointed to Mike Tullberg and Christian Nade as potential answers.

"Tullberg and Nade are ready but it's not only fitness," said the manager. "Christian Nade has worked very hard to come back, as has Tullberg. The problem is scoring, it's not running or fitness. Our strikers have not scored many goals and this must be better."

Eggert Jonsson is likely to return to the Hearts team on Sunday having completed a one-game ban. Laszlo is toying with the idea of reinstating him to a midfield berth and keeping faith with Jason Thomson at right-back.

"Eggert is back and I have more possibilities. I have Jason Thomson too and there is big competition. Eggert can also play on the right side of midfield, this is also a possibility. He is developing well and, if you saw his games at right-back, he did well and can take confidence from that."

Laszlo will make a later decision on whether to include Andy Driver in his squad after the winger returned to full training earlier this week.