Sultan Azlan Shah tournament

[ssp]

Disappointing to lose by 4 goals again. I was hoping for a closer game, although we all knew a win was not likely.

We just can't cope with he intense Aussie press. Their forwards and midfielders effectively shut out any threats. Our forwards are not only too weak in possession, but also don't create enough pressure to create turnovers (watch how Mandeep seems to be running around aimlessly and then doesn't trap the ball or create anything!). I always felt our midfield would be too weak. I hope the selectors finally drop Danish, Uthappa, Chinglensana and Mandeep.

So, slightly worse than expected results. I knew we wouldn't compete with Australia but the NZ loss and the sluggish displays against Japan and Canada were frustrating as is the habit of one good performance followed by a poor one.

On the positive side, Manpreet, Kothajit, Harmanpreet, Sardar and Surender performed well. The forwards were brilliant in 2 matches and ordinary in the rest. The 2 big wins were a welcome surprise. I hope we continue this kind of domination in Asia at least.

Harjot needs to improve a lot to be selected again. Let's hope Birendra and Devender Walmiki recover for the European tour and CT.

[PKBasu]

Disappointing to see a second drubbing at Australia's hands. Of course Sreejesh's absence means that we conceded more goals than we normally would. I hope we get the combination right by the time Rio comes around.

[Qualia11]

Australia have been good in turnovers.The moment they get the ball, they seem to be having the numbers for passing options required to help them get their players to scoring positions where they have people available to take shots even after it has been saved twice.Also when we go as a group and lose possession, its like almost a layer of players have already been beaten.

When we get the ball, we have to wait for our players to come to create scoring opportunities.

If this is because of the physical superiority between two sides, now sure how this can be overcome.More than marking, they seemed to have done off the ball running pretty well


One other aspect where we were lacking is weak passing(which is different from incorrect passing) ,which may have worked against teams like Malaysia but wasnt effective against physical sides like Australia.


The third aspect is old perennial problem of mistraps which is more of a discipline issue more than physical strength

Ofcourse,it goes without saying that we have also had sloths in our team where teams that nimble footed players like Malaysia have exploited us

[jaydeep]

SSP and Qualia thanks for ur insightful posts over our performance.

I agree we r still miles away from Australia but I think we r moving towards right direction ... It will take some time to remove deadwood from the team but we r showing chance of dominance on Asian level in future.

[ssp]

Must make a special mention of Manpreet's performances. Sadly, he lost his father just before the tournament started, yet came back for the Canada game and played really well in all the remaining games. Incredible strength of character.

I have been (repeatedly) critical of several of our players, but have the utmost admiration for the ones that are top class. Luckily, we have more international quality players than in the last 2+ decades. Sreejesh, Birendra, Manpreet, Kothajit, Sardar, Gurbaj have been consistently brilliant. Rupinder Pal, Dharamvir, Nikkin & Sunil can be great too, but throw in some inconsistent performances. I also think Harmanpreet, Harjeet and Surender belong at this level. Then we have Affan Yousseff, Amir Khan, Lalit, Ramandeep (more bad days than good, but still rate him) and Devender Walmiki.

I know Gurbaj won't be coming back but the above group should be selected for Rio. I suspect Harmanpreet and Harjeet will be kept back and we will get Raghunath and Danish/Uthappa them.

[ssp]

Goalkeepers: Akash Chikte, P.R. Sreejesh, Vikas Dahiya, Suraj Karkera.

Defenders: Dipsan Tirkey, Pardeep Mor, Birendra Lakra, Kothajit Singh, Surender Kumar, Rupinderpal Singh, Harmanpreet Singh, Jasjit Singh Kular, Gurinder Singh, Amit Rohidas.

Midfielders: Chinglensana Singh, S.K. Uthappa, Sumit, Satbir Singh, Sardar Singh, Manpreet Singh, Harjeet Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Manpreet, Simranjeet Singh.

Forwards: Ramandeep Singh, S.V. Sunil, Talwinder Singh, Mandeep Singh, Affan Yousuf, Nikkin Thimmaiah, Gurjant Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Lalit Upadhyay.

This is the 33 man squad for the Azlan Shah Cup. The selectors seem to agree with my choices (see my post 23rd Dec)- apart from Armaan Qureshi. In fact they have added Nilakanta and Simranjeet to my suggestions! I suspect Armaan is still injured. I have high hopes for Dipsan, Gurinder and Sumit.

[ssp]

The final selections are:

Goalkeepers
1. P.R. Sreejesh (C) 2. Suraj Karkera
Defenders
3. Pardeep Mor 4. Surender Kumar 5. Rupinderpal Singh 6. Harmanpreet Singh 7. Gurinder Singh

Midfielders
8. Chinglensana Singh Kangujam 9. Sumit 10. Sardar Singh 11. Manpreet Singh (VC) 12. Harjeet Singh 13. Manpreet

Forwards
14. SV Sunil 15. Talwinder Singh 16. Mandeep Singh 17. Affan Yousuf 18. Akashdeep Singh

No Birendra, Kothajit, Uthappa and Nikkin. I suspect they are being rested for the HWL semi, although Uthappa needs to be permanently rested! I would have gone for Nikkin instead of Mandeep in attack (and Gurbaj for Pardeep Mor-but that's just a dream now).

Happy to see the U21s chosen and I hope all of these players perform exceptionally well. I'm hoping Armaan Qureshi is given a chance in the near future as well.

[srini]

2-2 draw it is..we barely survive with the last minute penality shot being hit wide by Britain

[sameerph]

Just to clarify for those who are reading here put a little more details about the opposing team etc.

2-2 draw against Great Britain in first match of Sultan Azlan Shah cup.

[srini]

Just to clarify for those who are reading here put a little more details about the opposing team etc.

2-2 draw against Great Britain in first match of Sultan Azlan Shah cup.

Sure Sameer.will do nex time. I also need to correct my wording , i should have said penality corner hit wide otherwise it would imply penality hit.Is the "Edit" ability not there on own posts?

[ssp]

At least we didn't lose, but bit disappointing result because GB have brought over a young, inexperienced team.

Now we have 2 tough matches- NZ today and then Australia. Like GB, NZ have a young team, but we are usually really rubbish against them, so I'm not expecting too much. They held Australia to a 1-1 draw, which is an excellent result.

[ssp]

At last we beat NZ convincingly. Pleased to see the young guns doing so well. Both sides are experimenting, with NZ missing many more of their best players, whilst we are nearer our full strength side.
Pleasing to see our team keeping possession so well and moving ball at good speed. More of this please, especially against Australia

[arjun2761]

Yes, good 3-0 win by India over NZ. Australia won 6-1 over Malaysia to set up a clash between the 2 teams at the top of the table.

[ssp]

Australia were too strong for us today, but 3-1 loss isn't too bad. Unfortunately, anything less than a thrashing from Australia is always a relief. First half performance was good, but then the Aussies stepped up to a higher level and we couldn't match them.

GB are are our main rivals for the final. I'm hoping Malaysia can do us a favour today, then we need Australia to get a 2-3 goal win (v GB) tomorrow. This is assuming we beat Japan and Malaysia.

[arjun2761]

NZ probably also has an outside chance to make the finals. On balance, I think a NZ-GB would help us the most in that it would take NZ out of the picture for the finals and allow us to get through even if GB is able to get a draw with Australia. In fact, with a right set of results, this may enable us to get in with a win and a draw in the final 2 matches although that would be a long shot.