Champions trophy Hockey 2014, Bhubaneswar- Dec. 6-14

[ankit1407]

While we were structured and measured against Dutch and Belgium, it was like excited kids going for glory against Pak forgetting all basic and strategies... Wonder why against Pak we always play the opposition and not the situation..
It was a lesson on how Australia never allowed us easy passage in D.. Do we not have better players in domestic circuit that we select jokers like Akashdeep, Raman deep, Gurbaj, Nikkhin etc... Sardara either was injured or time has come to retire for him..

[PKBasu]

So the Champions Trophy eventually was nothing that special for us. A fourth place finish is precisely the same as our performance in the last edition (2012) when we lost the third-place play-off 2-3 to Pakistan. Last time, we had done better in the group stage -- winning our pool by beating England and New Zealand, but losing 2-3 to Germany, then beating Belgium 1-0 in the QF. That we achieved all that in Australia (and did worse this time as hosts) suggests that this year's performance was clearly worse.

We have finished fourth in the Champions Trophy in 2002, 2003 and 2004 -- and before that in 1996 and 1983. Of course our only podium finish was finishing 3rd in 1982. Pakistan have won the Champions Trophy three times (although the last time was 20 years ago), while Australia have 13 titles, Germany 9 and Holland 8.

[Qualia11]

While we were structured and measured against Dutch and Belgium, it was like excited kids going for glory against Pak forgetting all basic and strategies... Wonder why against Pak we always play the opposition and not the situation..
It was a lesson on how Australia never allowed us easy passage in D.. Do we not have better players in domestic circuit that we select jokers like Akashdeep, Raman deep, Gurbaj, Nikkhin etc... Sardara either was injured or time has come to retire for him..

Manpreet hit the board 1feet from outside the circle even though there was lot of space to move in.These things cost us dearly.The difference between champion material and a competitive side is attention to details

As for playing against Pak, we lost mostly because of psychological/emotional reasons than technical/objective reasons.Pakistan always takes the game emotionally but we dont have to.We should play the game more objectively

[sameerph]

For the record, Germany won the final easily beating Pakistan 2-0. Germans have got a young team and will be a stronger team by Rio 2016.

2 wins and 4 losses. Standard performance. It is only the idiotic format that got us 4th, but we have probably regressed without Walsh.

True, also the idiotic format led to Pakistan finishing runners up after losing the first 3 matches. In no sports does a team which loses 3 matches (or for that matter even 2) , gets another chance in the tournament.

Looks like in next champions trophy which will be in 2016, they will be revert back to old 6 team round robin format. That will be a welcome change.

[ssp]

Rather belated summary, but I feel we did better than expected (given that Walsh wasn't in charge).

We under performed in 3 matches- Germany, Argentina and Pakistan. These should have been draws or wins with some common sense defending. The Pakistan game was our worst showing. We played like excited school kids and just gave away silly goals and kept missing at the other end. We did ok v. Australia and on another day may have sneaked a win. The wins against the Dutch and Belgium were great.

We reverted to some of our usual habits; getting excited soon after scoring or panicked in our D or got stupid cards. Some of our players went back to their previous standard of play. Lots of ball watching rather than marking closely/getting in front of an attacker or dribbling needlessly in dangerous areas.

So how did the players rate:
Goalkeepers;
both were good. Sreejesh could have saved a couple of the goals, but prevented many more. Harjot's save in the Dutch game was brilliant.

Defence:
Rupinder Pal had lots of shocking moments and could have cost us a few more goals. I don't know why he has to show off his dribbling skills. Even the commentators were 'pleading' him to just stick to his strengths- using his reach and passing cleanly out of defence. Gurjinder played better than I expected, but can be a liability with his panic tackling. Maybe we should select only 2 out of Raghunath, Rupinder Pal and Gurjinder and get a quicker, more composed defender (Gurinder or maybe Harmanpreet or even Dipsan Tirkey). Marking was cr*p in the Argentina and Pakistan games.

Midfield:
Pleasantly surprised by Uthappa. I have been critical of him but he looked good in several matches. Dharamvir was probably our best attacking player. He is another one I have moaned about, but he has won me over. Manpreet was good too. Sardar was slightly below his brilliant best but still our main guy. Danish continues to baffle. Why is he in the team? Probably loses the ball almost as much as Akashdeep. Could do with at least one replacement- I'd like to see Harjeet Singh tried out.

Attack
Akashdeep still frustrates the hell out of me. Too many times he fluffs a shot or can't keep possession or simply mis-traps. Ramandeep is not progressing into a top level player (yet). Nikin and Lalit too, missed chances or kept mis-trapping maddeningly. Sunil has moved to another level since the Australia series. He was excellent. Let's hope Chandi gets fit and gets back to his best. Maybe Affan Youssuf should replace Akashdeep or Ramandeep.

[Qualia11]

The thing about Akashdeep is that he has played well in HIL.He is good in only one thing at the moment and that is deflection.He messes up in one on one situation where he has to eliminate one defender and score

Affan was impressive but others havent been impressive in HIL.

Lalit disappointed me after showing a lot of promise in HIL

Lets see if there are better players in this HIL season

By the way, how good is Vikramkanth as a defender