Champions Trophy Hockey, Breda,Netherlands, June 23-July 1 2018

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Re: Champions Trophy Hockey, Breda,Netherlands, June 23-July 1 2018

Post by PKBasu »

Hockey should go back to having extra time or at least the golden goal rule. Going straight to penalty strokes is ridiculous.
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Re: Champions Trophy Hockey, Breda,Netherlands, June 23-July 1 2018

Post by ssp »

Disappointing to lose the shoot out, but this match should have been won in normal time. How often have we said that against Australia in the last 40+ years.

Positives:
We looked solid in defence. Lots of hard running by all the team denied teams easy access into our D in every single match (a glaring shortcoming that we failed to address for decades). Trapping and tackling at the back was brilliant. Special mention for Surender Kumar (who wasn't selected for the CWG!). Harmanpreet, Varun and Birendra made crucial tackles. We gave away far fewer PCs than usual. Got far fewer green and yellow cards. Didn't have our usual shocking game or even too many bad quarters even , so consistency was way better.
Several players impressed-apart from the defenders mentioned above, I like Vivek and Dilpreet.

Negatives:
Still a fair few unforced errors and lost possession more often than other teams.
Poor PC conversion rate.
Missed quite a few chances. Not surprising given that we had Mandeep!
Midfield still lacking creativity or a strong ball carrier (like Van Ass or Kemperman or any of the Aussies) who can break down defences. Chinglensana looks too weak at this level.

Congratulations to the players and Harendra for getting us a medal in such a tough tournament. Now please bring in some better quality replacements for our weaker players and maybe we could get a medal in the WC or Tokyo!
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Re: Champions Trophy Hockey, Breda,Netherlands, June 23-July 1 2018

Post by jayakris »

ssp wrote: Sun Jul 01, 2018 4:26 pmWe looked solid in defence. Lots of hard running by all the team denied teams easy access into our D in every single match (a glaring shortcoming that we failed to address for decades). Trapping and tackling at the back was brilliant. Special mention for Surender Kumar (who wasn't selected for the CWG!).
Yeah, it was a thing of beauty to see us denying easy access into our D. You are so right that this had not been addressed for years. I guess it is only when we do it right, that we even realize what should have been done for so long. Again it is not rocket science. Simply a matter of reacting earlier and having the confidence to take them on right outside the circle. But then again, what you always used to say, that we didn't have the players to do much, was also correct. Now we do have some players with the quickness and skills to try to do it right and reduce circle penetrations.

I only saw now how good Surender Kumar is. To me, he looks like the BEST Indian player right now, and it is not even close. How could they not elect him for CWG? And Dilpreet and Vivek will be great for years to come.
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Re: Champions Trophy Hockey, Breda,Netherlands, June 23-July 1 2018

Post by arjun2761 »

Overall good tournament by India. Finishing second and having the edge on Australia is progress. The core of the team is mostly young other than a few such as Sardar and Sunil and we probably have talent to replace them if they decline further. Good to see that we are moving away from having sloths for defenders who would be played for their PC prowess but were otherwise complete defensive liabilities.

Clearly, we are now a 1-6 level team and in fact if the ranking table were updated after the Champions trophy, we'd probably be ahead of Germany to be 5th. It looks like the next official update will be after the 2018 World Cup. A top 3 finish in the world cup will probably get us quite close to a top 3 or top 4 ranking. Agree that Oltmans is making a difference and Pakistan is probably playing at a 7-9 level now.
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Re: Champions Trophy Hockey, Breda,Netherlands, June 23-July 1 2018

Post by ssp »

Our best player is Harmanpreet. Excellent skills, calm, tackles well and has a great range of passes. Surrender is a superb defender and also very calm and strong on the ball. I'm hoping Jarmanpreet gets to the level of these two.
However, I feel some of players just don't cope well against such physically strong and quick opposition. That's why the likes of Chinglensana, Simranjeet, Lalit etc get dispossessed so often. Too many times we get no outcome in the opposition circle.
We are still being hampered by poor selections. Maybe Harendra can get a few more of his U21 world champions (Submit, Manpreet jnr and Armaan Quershi) in to the team
This is a huge improvement from our displays since the last CT. How heartening to see us competing do well with the best teams of the world rather than looking dumb and amateurish.
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Re: Champions Trophy Hockey, Breda,Netherlands, June 23-July 1 2018

Post by Sin Hombre »

Excellent performance by India.

This was my first time watching India in person since the 2012 Olympics, and we should give credit where it's due, we have come a long way from how terrible we were in London.

I also watched the warmups of all 4 of Australia, NL, India and Argentina.

Netherlands had the most practiced and intense of sessions followed by Australia, with everyone practicing PCs. We only had 3-4 guys practicing PCs supervised by Harendra and most of the Sikhs were playing ball amongst themselves.

Most of our team looked nerveless when going into the field; I have a video of that if anyone cares.

Leaving aside the first 6 minutes, we were clearly the better team throughout. Not that many Indians came out to support (despite the ridiculous amount of Indians living in NL these days) but we were a vocal lot and got the local Dutch into it and by the end, the stadium was supporting India 90-10 amongst those who cared.

Our trapping was miles better than both the Dutch and Argentines though that could be a function of both teams playing at a lower tempo in the 3rd place match.

None of the usual panicking when the Aussies tried to press us hard, a few scoops but we were playing out most of the time.

Video referrals has been such a boost for us. I am surprised ssp hasn't mentioned it as a positive. We are also very good at using it.

I have lots of photos and can upload some if the regulars are interested.
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Re: Champions Trophy Hockey, Breda,Netherlands, June 23-July 1 2018

Post by jaydeep »

Sin Hombre wrote: Sun Jul 01, 2018 7:04 pm I have lots of photos and can upload some if the regulars are interested.
Thanks for sharing your view from your stadium experience ... Please share photos and videos with us.

Really, good upward performance from Indian team under Harendra ... Congrats.

I feel we should also give credit to foreign coaches to see improvement in our defence, in trapping and tackling ... For me, performances of Harmanpreet Singh and Surender Kumar were notches above other players ... Young Dilpreet Singh and Vivek Prasad's performance showed that we are having unused young talent.

Now I am hoping for consistency in our team's performance in next tournaments.
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Re: Champions Trophy Hockey, Breda,Netherlands, June 23-July 1 2018

Post by ssp »

https://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.c ... -language/

Very accurate description of our weaknesses. Too many unforced errors and trapping have blighted our teams for decades. Harendra's U21 world champions were successful because they kept possession very well.
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Re: Champions Trophy Hockey, Breda,Netherlands, June 23-July 1 2018

Post by ssp »

Akashdeep and Sumit were in the original squad, but were replaced by Lalit & Simranjeet due to injuries. However, Akashdeep played for India A against Bangladesh a couple of days ago. So a few extra days of 'rest' ensured he was fit to play in a competitive match??
I've been a critic of Akashdeep for years and was hoping he had been dropped for his poor showing at the CWG, but unfortunately, I expect him back in the next squad ;)
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