The writing was on the wall but now we have the official confirmation.

Pietro Ghedin will step down from his post of national team coach after this week’s remaining World Cup qualifiers at home to Lithuania and Slovakia away in Trnava.

Ghedin told reporters last week said that it was his decision not to seek a new contract with the Malta FA after five-and-a-half years in charge, citing the need to seek a new challenge.

However, local calls for a change had been growing significantly lately as the fans were frustrated with the team’s continuous struggles.

With the Russia 2018 qualifying campaign drawing to a close, our national team is only one of four still without a point after eight matches, the others being fellow minnows San Marino, Gibraltar and Liechtenstein.

One can argue that Ghedin’s men were always going to be up against it when taking on the likes of England, Scotland, Slovenia, Slovakia and Lithuania.

However, the real disappointing factor is the failure to produce positive and constructive football in most of the matches played.

Sure enough, no-one expects our team to adopt attacking tactics against opponents of that calibre. However, there were many who were wishing to see our lads not just focusing on defence and keeping the ball away from our zone as long as possible.

Our team’s lack of ambition is mirrored in the ‘goals for’ statistic with Malta having found the opponents’ net just twice in eight matches.

Added to that one has to go back to June 2013 to trace our last competitive victory – a 1-0 win over Armenia in Yerevan in another World Cup qualifier.

Since then, we only had three wins to show, all in friendly matches against Faroe Islands (3-2), Lithuania (2-0) and Ukraine (1-0).

As Ghedin himself admitted the dearth of results have left him with no other option but to step aside and open the way for someone else with fresh motivation and ideas to try and revitalise our national team.

But what is the way forward now?

We all expected Ghedin to go at this juncture but the new man in charge has plenty of problems to overcome before an ideal set-up is established

In the last few weeks, there were growing calls for the MFA to appoint a local coach to replace Ghedin.

However, the indications are clear that a decision has already been taken to stick with the Italian philosophy as Ghedin will most probably be replaced by a fellow compatriot.

One hopes the MFA reasoning to go for an overseas trainer is not based on the fact that they believe there are no qualified Maltese coaches who can do the job.

In summer, Paul Zammit was without club following his departure from Valletta. He was the overwhelming favourite to replace Ghedin but then he returned to club football after reaching a deal with Birkirkara.

 Ray ‘Zazu’ Farrugia had also drawn a lot of support over the years to one day be given the reins of the national team, given his vast experience at this level.

Yet again, he is likely to be overlooked.

The new coach will probably have to take a little longer to settle down, with him enjoying very little knowledge of our game. So, the no.2 job, currently filled by Farrugia, should again be offered to a Maltese coach.

Aside from Ghedin’s replacement, I believe that the Malta FA should take a serious look at the programme being adopted for the national team as it’s crystal clear that it’s not working fully.

At present, the national coach has only three to four days at his disposal to work with his players before an international, allowing him very little time to give trials to new players or work on the physical condition of the squad.

A case in point were the last international matches when the national team players struggled physically against England and Scotland despite the fact that they had supposedly underwent a serious fitness regime with their clubs during pre-season a few weeks before.

Training scheme

This shows that the decision to ditch the national team’s training scheme to appease the clubs’ wish of having their players training with them more often than before had backfired badly. 

A simple solution to this problem would be that the MFA and the clubs agree on two, perhaps three, other slots throughout the season when the national coach can summon the squad at Ta’ Qali and work on their shortcomings.

We all expected Ghedin to go at this juncture but the new man in charge has plenty of problems to solve before an ideal set-up is established and the team can play better on the international scene.

The only way forward is for all stakeholders – MFA, clubs and players – to come together and pull at the same direction.