Andre Schembri winning an aerial duel against Slovakia, in Zilina, on Thursday. Photo: Paul Zammit Cutajar

Having had little time to work on the new 3-5-2-cum-5-3-2 formation during training, Pietro Ghedin harboured a few doubts as to how his players would adapt to the tactical switch but Malta’s disciplined performance in the 1-0 friendly defeat to Slovakia has reinforced his conviction that the new system offers more pluses than minuses.

It is still premature to judge whether the new approach would raise our performance levels in the long term as sterner tests, starting with Tuesday’s opening Euro 2016 qualifier against Croatia, lie ahead but the early signs are encouraging.

During Thursday’s friendly, Slovakia, as expected, held the initiative for long stretches but Malta were solid at the back and also fashioned a few scoring chances.

“Everything was positive,” Ghedin said of the match in Zilina.

“The players had faith and, with this tactical system, they looked more settled on the pitch.

“I spoke to all of them before and after the game. I was not happy because we lost the game but the players were upbeat because they felt the performance was good.

“About a year ago, we tried this system in training between three to five times but I decided not to alter our tactical approach because we were doing quite well at the time.

“Things change though and I felt we needed something different as we were giving away too many balls, especially in the box.

“With three central defenders, we are more compact at the back. This gives us an extra defender and an extra midfielder. Going forward, we can be quite quick on the counter.”

Adam Nemec struck the winner before half-time but Slovakia failed to impose themselves on the game.

“That is because we were good,” Ghedin replied when asked about Slovakia’s low-key match.

“It wasn’t easy but we did well. Once again, it was our mistake that led to Slovakia’s goal but, other than that, they had few chances.

After this game, the players have the conviction to do it again

“I must admit that I still had doubts about how the system would work but it was clear that we had to try this new module.

“We had the courage to take up this challenge and the result was positive.

“After this game, the players have the conviction to do it again.”

While the team’s tactical cohesion was the most positive aspect in Malta’s game in Zilina, Ghedin will also have been heartened by the fearless attitude shown by young players like Bjorn Kristensen, Zach Muscat and Ryan Scicluna.

Ghedin said: “Zach Muscat and Ryan Scicluna made their senior debuts. Zach has a lot of determination, he’s an interesting lad but he needs to improve.

“We also have Bjorn Kristensen who is coming through well. We still have to look at Steve Pisani and Jean Paul Farrugia but we have five interesting U-21 players available.

“We are also eagerly awaiting the return of Roderick Briffa and Gareth Sciberras who are key members of the squad.”

Malta’s sound display on Thursday ought to have raised the players’ confidence ahead of what promises to be a difficult opening Euro 2016 Group H qualifier against Croatia on Tuesday but Ghedin was dismayed by this suggestion.

The Italian, now flanked by a coach, Ray Farrugia, who is renowned for his positive attitude, insisted that it’s high time the players and national team staff show more belief in themselves and the project they are contributing to.

“We are trying to construct something and we must believe in what we are doing,” Ghedin said.

“We need continuity and consistency, also in the way we approach games psychologically.

“We all have to believe in what we are doing. People talk about morale but we tend to go from one extreme to the other. When we have a good game, everyone says that optimism is high but if we have a bad game, the morale is down.

“I’m not saying that our level is 8 but we should depart from 5.5 to 6, not a low 2.”

The squad now heads straight to Senec to step up preparations for the clash with Croatia.