Invitational Hockey Tournament at London

[arjun2761]

Why are be playing both Sandeep and Raghunath at the same time if that is the case? It seems their primary value is in PC conversion, so we should have only 1 of them on the field at a time and preferably further up in the mid-field. In fact, if we have a 2 goal lead with not much time to play, perhaps we take them both off the field.

Overall, we seem to have played better towards the end against 3 of the top-4 teams in the world. Also, the conditions in London were probably also most alien to India compared to the 3 other western teams, so would have expected India to play relatively worse for that reason as well. That is why this tournament was very important for India to play. Overall, though it does look like that a top-6 finish is the best we can hope for in London.

[Ankit Desai]

Why are be playing both Sandeep and Raghunath at the same time if that is the case? It seems their primary value is in PC conversion, so we should have only 1 of them on the field at a time and preferably further up in the mid-field. In fact, if we have a 2 goal lead with not much time to play, perhaps we take them both off the field.

In today's match that is wt happened. Sandeep and Raghunath were not on pitch at same time.

-Ankit

[PKBasu]

I am actually rather encouraged by our performance, despite the whitewash of four consecutive defeats. We did better as the tournament wore on. Best of all, England in August is much more like India in October -- pleasant weather, perfect for Indians to play sport. In early May, England is bitterly cold (like Delhi in the winter months), and Indians would obviously have been disadvantaged. I was opposed to playing this tournament, because I thought the team would get demoralized. In the end, I think our losses have been sobering enough to ensure our team continues to put in serious effort in the months ahead, but not bad enough for them to feel humiliated. The best outcome possible, I think!

[jayakris]

In the end, I think our losses have been sobering enough to ensure our team continues to put in serious effort in the months ahead, but not bad enough for them to feel humiliated. The best outcome possible, I think!

Well said. That is what I felt too. Not bad enough for them to think that nothing will work, and decent enough for them to listen to whatever Nobbs tells them to do, as I am sure he will frame it as "look, we only need to address these these things, and we are close to these guys" .... They certainly know now that they cannot be complacent. Jay

[ssp]

I was apprehensive about how this tournament would turn out, especially after the practice match mauling from the Aussies. The results were OK, but slightly disappointed by the 2 losses to GB. The close result in the Germany match was better than expected.

In mitigation, we can point to the weather and the unpredictable turf, but we must factor in that Australia were without Dwyer & Abbott. Germany had their best team, but as I mentioned in an earlier post, both these teams could have moved up another level when the serious matches start.

We seem unable to cope with Australia's tactics. They press very high up the pitch and create turn overs almost every time from any free hit. We can't handle this and our defenders are not skilled at holding the ball or passing it on safely to a midfielder or an attacker. The result is continuous possession for the Aussies, which means wave after wave of attacks, and the inevitable panic in our D. The Germans handled this superbly. They were strong in possession, even when surrounded by 3 Aussies and either got a foul or passed back and switched across to the other flank and then launched a swift attack which often saw their brilliant forwards creating openings. They did this through out the match and unbelievably, the Aussies looked tired!

So where are we in comparison:
1. We do not have strong players in all positions. Our defenders are way behind in ability compared to German back 3.
2. We commit too many unforced errors. Passes are under hit or trapping is sloppy.
3. Our skill levels are NOT good enough. We have some players who are brilliant, but a fair few can not keep possession when surrounded by 2-3 opposition players. Several times our players were dispossessed embarrassingly.
4. We need discipline when defending. 7-8 players need to drop back and close out spaces in our midfield and especially in our D. Some of this may come down to fitness, but a lot maybe due to ball watching and laziness.
5. We have no other tactic, apart from hard crosses from the flanks and try and get deflections. We need to mix this up.

Positives:
1. Fewer yellow and green cards
2. Sunil, Sardar, Sreejesh and to a lesser extent, Kothajit, Mandeep and Ignace showed good form
3. We didn't concede the usual number of PCs and won a fair few against GB at least.

[prasen9]

4. We need discipline when defending. 7-8 players need to drop back and close out spaces in our midfield and especially in our D. Some of this may come down to fitness, but a lot maybe due to ball watching and laziness.

I often wonder why we do not do this. If the players are not fit enough to come down, then play 7-8 in the defense consistently and go up in swift counter-attacks. At least at the beginning of the game against top teams like Australia, etc. Now, if you fall behind by a couple of goals, then perhaps you need to change strategy. But, we need to have a base defensive strategy because we do not have 11 good and fit players.

[arjun2761]

I thought this is what Brasa did with some success. India did beat GB in the CWG before unravelling in the final against the Aussies.

[trojan]

Australia v India
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 9bq3vO0Tto

[ssp]

trojan: Thanks for the link

We seem unable to cope with Australia's tactics. They press very high up the pitch and create turn overs almost every time from any free hit. We can't handle this and our defenders are not skilled at holding the ball or passing it on safely to a midfielder or an attacker.

Having watched the highlights, my earlier post seems to have been right. See how many turnovers Australia created by surrounding our defenders? Ignace was caught out a few times against GB too. I don't think he is the answer to our defensive woes. Ragunath and Sandeep are just passengers. Never win a tackle and can't pass the ball out of defence. Even if we play one of them, we are still handicapped badly. Tushar also had a poor tournament. He couldn't do anything right. Uthappa has to be a better bet. We have much better options (Roshan Minz, Bharat Chikkara or Lalit Upadhyay), but the HI idiots won't pick them because of the WSH.

[ssp]

Here is the expected glossing over of the poor show.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/spor ... 081563.cms

I expected the excuse about the blue turf, but still we looked poor against GB. I didn't think we would be able to handle the Aussies or the Germans, but against GB, I wanted to see better performances. We were pretty poor in both matches.

Shows how low our players' expectations are nowadays, when we feel 'satisfied' with 4 straight losses!