Asian champions trophy

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ssp
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Re: Asian champions trophy

Post by ssp »

Mandeep actually went past a couple of players on the base line and created a goal for Dilpreet and then scored a clever goal v Pakistan. That's already a huge improvement over his normal contribution in an entire tournament! He is still prone to mis traps and gets dispossessed easily.

Akashdeep has just looked fitter and faster than before, although he hasn't completely cut out silly errors or got nothing from a promising circle entry. He can be forgiven some of these if he creates chances or scores goals. In the past both of these guys just specialised in errors! :frown:

I think the main reason these 2 have looked better than usual is the (lack of) quality or speed in the opposition. Maybe Harendra's instilled some confidence in them as well. Let's see how they perform in the remaining matches. I still feel Sumit or Affan Yousseff or Armann Qureshi or Nikkin Thimaiah (last 3 have been dropped from the pool of main players) would strengthen the team ...certainly over Mandeep
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Re: Asian champions trophy

Post by sameerph »

Goalless draw against Malaysia. I did not see the match but looked like our forwards messed up again.We do seem to have some kind of mental block against Malaysia.
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Re: Asian champions trophy

Post by ssp »

We were very silly yesterday against Malaysia.

If there was a safe, easy pass on, our guys would always take a hurried, risky option and just give the ball away. Mandeep and Akashdeep reverted to normal cr*p mode. They were not alone. Gurjant, Kothajit and Dilpreet played poorly as well. We had so many circle entries, but till the last 3 mins had only 1 PC and about 5 shots on target. Every single time our guys would get absolutely nothing from a promising situation near the Malaysian goal

Malaysia were very poor too, so to finish goalless against them doesn't augur well for the WC. As I mentioned previously, we have a truly rubbish performance in every single tournament we play in. We needed 2-3 calm heads who could slow the game down for 5-10 mins and just make sure we controlled possession and moved the ball around. Instead, every single time, our players attempted difficult passes or crashed the ball into the D without even looking up. Just dumb nonsense from the entire team for the entire match.

The only surprise is Malaysia didn't snatch a winner! In a game like this, a win is still possible if a PC can be converted, but we were hopeless in all 3 attempts. No variations were tried.

Logically, we need to drop Mandeep, Akashdeep, Kothajit & Gurjant but the first two will remain to mess up our chances for the next 4-5 years at least.
Mandeep was comically bad- even for his standards. No amount of training or match practice will help if we keep selecting dross like this :puke:
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Re: Asian champions trophy

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Started watching our game v Korea. We were 2-0 up when I started, but since I have been watching, we have been crap. All over the pitch, we are playing over excited stuff and frankly, I can't see us holding on. It's 2-1 now, Korea have had a good goal disallowed and missed 2 PCs. We have done nothing of note. Akashdeep and Mandeep have been atrocious. Laughably inept. Same nonsensical rubbish that was on display against Malaysia yesterday. We are not even top 8 in WR on this evidence.

Somehow we survive Q3. Idiotic crash balls into the Korean circle seems to be the extent of our attacking plans. If we do manage to get into the circle, there is no composure. When a clear shot is not possible, why not manufacture PCs? At the other end, we have been very lucky not to concede more PCs with really poor tackling.

We win it 4-1. The 3rd goal was vital. We won and converted a lucky PC award. Then we played some decent hockey and got a 4th after Korea took off their keeper and Mandeep won a PC which was a duly converted by Harmanpreet.

Harmanpreet was involved an all 5 goals in the match. 3 PC conversions, a magic pass for Gurjant's goal and also gave away the ball for Korea's goal!

Gurjant scored a beauty, but Aashdeep, Mandeep and Kothajit were poor again. Today, Varun and Sumit made a fair few mistakes too.
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Re: Asian champions trophy

Post by suresh »

ssp wrote: Wed Oct 24, 2018 6:11 pm Harmanpreet was involved an all 5 goals in the match. 3 PC conversions, a magic pass for Gurjant's goal and also gave away the ball for Korea's goal!.
:rofl: @ssp :notworthy:
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Re: Asian champions trophy

Post by sameerph »

We narrowly beat Japan 3-2 in the semi final. Looks like another mediocre effort as we had thrashed the same team 9-0 in the league phase and also at Asiad. Shows how we do not play at our best in the matches that matter.

Thankfully, Pakistan beat Malaysia in the penalty shootout in the other semi final.

We have been bad against Malaysia in recent matches, a little better against Pakistan. But, you never know in a final.
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Re: Asian champions trophy

Post by ssp »

Another poor performance in the semi final v Japan. We dominated the game, but as usual were appalling in both circles. Japan had 5 attacks and each resulted in a PC or shot at goal. At the other end, we had silly rubbish from almost every attack. 27 circle entries and 9 shots. The Malaysia game was similar in terms of stats. Remember, we have beaten Japan 9-0 and 8-0 in our previous 2 matches. We should have won this game by 3-4 goals at least.

Mandeep and Akashdeep had serious competition from Kothajit and Chinglensana to be the cr*ppiest player on the pitch. Sumit looks a shadow of the dynamic player of the U21 WC. Jarmanpreet and Nilakanta mixed some good play with garbage. So many of our attacks break down due to really poor pass, mis trap or needless dribble.

Against a stronger team we will have little chance because of the lack of quality from so many of the team. I expect the coach will be sacked if we do horribly in the WC, but the selectors will continue to pick their favourites.
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Re: Asian champions trophy

Post by ankit1407 »

Match abandoned due to heavy rain , India Pakistan declared joint winners ..
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Re: Asian champions trophy

Post by ssp »

A much delayed ACT starts in Dhaka on the 14th of December. Here's our team:

https://stick2hockey.com/akashdeep-retu ... ns-trophy/

Good to see some rotation. No Mandeep will please me no end. But we have Gursahibjit to remind us that the selectors still have their 'lunacy' decision making touch. Akashdeep returns too. Unconvinced about Shamsher and Jaskaran. Pleased to see Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Shilanand Lakra and Mandeep Mor given a chance.
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Re: Asian champions trophy

Post by ssp »

1st match under way. We are 2-1 up v Korea. We've had most of the play but have not made much of our circle penetrations, thanks to the usual culprits, Gursahibjit and Akashdeep.

We are picking up cards needlessly and there was a typical 2 minutes of lunacy. Yellow card for Lalit, Gurinder gifted a PC, Harmanpreet infringement on the PC and sure enough, Korea scored

Worse still in Q4. Korea have equalised. Very predictable showing. Dominate all game and end up with a pathetic result.
Last edited by ssp on Tue Dec 14, 2021 11:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Asian champions trophy

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Yet another yellow card after utter nonsense by Mandeep Mor. He was surrounded by 2 Korean players and instead of passing to an unmarked teammate, he tried to dribble, lost control and hit the Korean player.

We'll be lucky to get a point with 10 players for the last 4 mins.

Up ahead, Akashdeep, Gursahibjit, Jaskaran and Jarmanpreet continue to make basic errors.

Ended up 2-2. Korea had 1-2 circle penetrations, scored a deflection off a cross and we gifted them a PC. At the other end, we had 4-5 clear chances and several PCs. How many times have we seen outcomes like this. Think we had 4 green cards and 3 yellows. So, about the average ;)
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Re: Asian champions trophy

Post by ssp »

We beat Bangladesh 9-0.

Bangladesh offered nothing in attack and simply got everyone defending, so we were under no pressure at all. Not convinced that Jarmanpreet, Gurinder and Jaskaran should be considered for the big tournaments coming up next year. Msandeep Mor is prone to crazy decision making. Gursahibjit and Akashdeep lost possession or miss-trapped almost every time. How many times have we seen Akashdeep put in performances like this? If he wasn't good enough for the Olympics team, why are we wasting time on him now? He's been in the team for nearly a decade. I fear Gursahibjit will be given a similar time to 'prove his worth'!

The standards are pretty ordinary at this ACT, but we managed to mess up against Korea, so we shouldn't take anything for granted in the remaining matches.
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Re: Asian champions trophy

Post by Rajiv »

Uninspiring 3-1 win , when expected a win by a wider margin, 2 nil until Q3,when Pakistan reduced the deficit and put relentless presurre forcing 2 PC's for an equalizer. Finally a PC by Harmanpreet in the 54th minute spared the blushes.
And for a change it was enjoyable to watch dribbling sub continental hockey.
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Re: Asian champions trophy

Post by ssp »

Yes, a rather scrappy win.
Some good stuff mixed with usual unforced errors. We missed some clear cut chances and didn't win enough PCs given the dominance in possession. Akashdeep was at fault on several occasions. I really hope this is his last outing.

In any match against any decent opposition, we are going to give away silly PCs with reckless tackling, so even a 2 goal lead is not comfortable. We allowed Pakistan to get back into the contest and on another day this match could have ended up in a draw- just like the Korean game. No point in being dominant and getting into the circle 20-30x when we are so poor in both Ds! :-(

Gurinder, Jarmanpreet and Jaskaran need to be dropped too. Gursahibjit was rested today and his replacement, Shilanand was miles better, but I fully expect the selectors to make the wrong calls next year (and for several years afterwards too). :mad:
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Re: Asian champions trophy

Post by PKBasu »

A 3-1 victory over Pakistan is par for the course these days, but the Pakistanis usually play out of their skin against India, so it's great that India were able to win this one with a clear 2-goal margin.
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