Valancia Six Nation Cup, Spain

[arjun2761]

Looks like the game is still available on that link.

[akmohanty]

Yes, in the stadium, I think.

Thanks, Trojan.
Prasen, you still "think"

[prasen9]

I think. Therefore, I am.

[ssp]

Watching or game v NZL. We are 1-0 down after a comical display of defending. So pathetic that you can only laugh.

The display is sloppy so far...usual stuff happening all over the pitch; Uthappa and Danish losing the ball every time, no outcome from promising entries into the NZ circle, forwards fumbling almost every time and umpires missing fouls in our favour.

Can we somehow get our act together? We have about 40 mins to go.

Still 1-0 down at half time. I know Oltmans is trying out a few things, but some things are obvious: we have no replacement for Gurbaj, we can't have 2 'sloths' on the pitch, our forward are pathetic, our defending is still really awful, Sardar is wasted as a centre forward, our ball speed is too slow.

No improvement in 2nd half-in fact it looks worse as so many unforced errors. Akashdeep has been as awful as Uthappa. Akashdeep is winning his 100th cap and still can't trap or pass over 5m. Shocking nonsense

[arjun2761]

Saw parts of the first half and individually we are generally much better than the Kiwis. Noted two things:
(1) we often penetrate the circle with speed and with numbers but seemingly can't finish and more agonizingly can't seem to win any PCs,
(2) our forwards don't pressure the ball high enough. They generally jog around slowly and sag back to the half line before they pressure the NZ ball carriers. They are pretty successful whenever they do pressure the ball, so they would be much for effective if they pressure the ball further up the field.

[ssp]

3rd quarter over and still 1-0 down. NZ are able to play the ball out too easily (as Arjun mentioned) because our press is half hearted. However, some of the play has been awful. Unforgivable mis traps and poor passes. We have at least 5 really weak players on the pitch all the time.

3 mins to go and looks like we will continue our shocking record of defeats to NZ. Really flat and lethargic show....again

Had a late PC, but the umpire conspired to nullify the foot foul by the NZ defender. That's nothing new.

[prasen9]

We're back

[ssp]

Our 5th place in the world ranking is not totally accurate. I suspect we would have a poor win/loss ratio to the likes of Belgium, GB, Argentina and NZL. Over the last 10 yrs our record against all these teams is pathetic. We may struggle to beat Spain on this showing.

I understand we are experimenting and results aren't the main thing here in Valencia.

Our forwards were poor even by their usual standards. Talwinder and Ramandeep missed 2 easy chances. Elsewhere, Rupinder Pal looked uncomfortable as a right half, Birendra doesn't look fully match fit (understandable), Sardar is not a centre forward (looked uncomfortable), all the back line were too slow to pass the ball, Uthappa and Danish just don't have the basics (too weak on the ball- and how the hell are they keeping out Dharamvir and Lalit). For long periods of play we looked predictable and lacked creative ideas. Oh....and the umpires were cr*p. Missed at least a couple of PCs for us.

We didn't play Harmanpreet or Manpreet and Sunil was on only for a few minutes.

Positives: Devinder Walmiki was excellent and Harjeet looked better than his CT displays. We gave away only 1 PC and won 2. Chinglensana also did ok. Not much else, I'm afraid.

[sameerph]

Bad to lose again to NZ after we looked to have better chances than them in the match.


Some of the players who looked good in CT like Raghunath played badly here.

SSP, is there a chance that we are purposely not playing at our full ability here to catch other teams off guard ?

[Varma]

SSP, is there a chance that we are purposely not playing at our full ability here to catch other teams off guard ?

I suppose that was a joke, Sameer?

- Varma

[prasen9]

It may be that Oltmans is experimenting but not just lying low so that we can catch others off guard.

[arjun2761]

There may be some truth in what Prasen says. Our players were running hard only in very short spurts although to be fair that may be how they play. I haven't watched any of the CT matches to make a comparison. When they were running hard, they looked pretty good as if they had an additional gear which NZ did not seem to have.

[ssp]

SSP, is there a chance that we are purposely not playing at our full ability here to catch other teams off guard ?

Due to experimentation, we are probably not giving off our best. That's ok as this tournament isn't vital. The problem is, we are capable of inexplicably bad performances (the last Olympics is a prime example) when it matters, so I don't like the way our players just seemed to lack urgency today. I don't think we were deliberately trying to be poor but we have this inconsistency because our players make too many errors and crazy decisions all over the pitch.

Bringing Gurbaj back on the right would solve that flank nicely. Then play Rupinder Pal in central defence, bring back Harmanpreet, Manpreet & Sunil and move Sardar into central midfield and drop Akashdeep, Danish, Talwinder and Uthappa. Anyone else for the last 4 would strengthen our team no end. Improve the press from the forward line and suddenly we would look like a decent team. So just by selecting the best players and using them in their best positions, we would be better than this. Oltmans will sort out the latter problem but the selectors will not pick the best players that we have....

[sameerph]

SSP, is there a chance that we are purposely not playing at our full ability here to catch other teams off guard ?

I suppose that was a joke, Sameer?

- Varma

No, it was not a joke. There was so much variation in performance as compared to CT that I seriously thought Oltmans has brought some trick from the bag to succeed at Rio.

Full agree with you SSP. Picking the best team would solve most of our problems. For Akashdeep, Danish, Talwinder and Uthappa bring back Gurbaz, Dharmveer, Lalit and Mandeep ( I am still sticking my neck out for him as I think he is better than Talwinder).

[ssp]

Here is the squad with details of age and number of internationals played:
http://hockeyindia.org/6-nations-invita ... tournament

So, Danish has 150+ caps, Uthappa is nearing a 100 & Akashdeep reached 100 yesterday. I haven't seen any difference in their basic skills since they started. How are they 'managing' to keep their places? Uthappa is still only 22 yrs old (according to this list), but was in our 2012 teams. I don't remember him playing in the U21s.

Sameer; I don't think Mandeep is any better than this lot. He only scores off deflections, but is as 'adept as these guys at losing possession or getting cards for silly tackles. Watch the way he is always pulled up for shielding the ball when running on the left flank. His passing is as sloppy as Akashdeep.

Affan Yousseff has pace, skills and is more creative and can stop the ball! Amir Khan also looked good in the few matches he played, but strangely, these 2 (& a few others) just don't get a look in. Gurbaj's career seems over (due to one report from Jude Felix-although who knows what the real reason is). Not sure what's happened to Dharamvir. Possibly injured? Or silly politics again? I wonder how Oltmans feels about these crazy selections.