FIH Men's Pro League

[ssp]

Managed to watch the game today.

Agree with Safron Lenin's analysis. Very tight 1st half, where we had a couple of close shaves but in Q3 and Q4, we were good. The commentators felt we would struggle with tiredness because of such a short break after yesterday's match v. Netherlands. It turned out to the opposite!

Good to see Simranjeet back in the team. Let's hope he stays fit. I thought Hardik and Vivek were excellent. As were both keepers.

That decision by the on field umpires to over rule the video umpire was crazy. We lost our referral despite winning the appeal! 1st time this has happened in my recollection. But what do we expect from the umpiring?

Argentina were physical but nowhere near as bad as GB, who get away pushing Asian players or even sitting on them.

[Saffron Lenin]

Managed to watch the game today.

Agree with Safron Lenin's analysis. Very tight 1st half, where we had a couple of close shaves but in Q3 and Q4, we were good. The commentators felt we would struggle with tiredness because of such a short break after yesterday's match v. Netherlands. It turned out to the opposite!

Good to see Simranjeet back in the team. Let's hope he stays fit. I thought Hardik and Vivek were excellent. As were both keepers.

That decision by the on field umpires to over rule the video umpire was crazy. We lost our referral despite winning the appeal! 1st time this has happened in my recollection. But what do we expect from the umpiring?

Argentina were physical but nowhere near as bad as GB, who get away pushing Asian players or even sitting on them.

What are the rules on "physical" play? How can anyone say that it is good physical play or bad indiscipline play?

[Saffron Lenin]

Netherlands vs Australia : 16 minutes in the game and australia scored 4 goals without conceding anyone. They are at fire.

[ssp]

We lost to Netherlands B team twice but beat Argentina in both matches.

Post by ssp » Sat May 27, 2023 7:54 pm

Once I saw the selection for this round of Pro League matches, I was fearing we would suffer 6 defeats against the Belgians, GB and Holland. So no surprises so far. I suppose losing only 2-1 and 4-2 is a bit better than expected.

Well, we surpassed my expectations by winning once v Belgium and getting a draw v GB.

Why are we not doing better? Well, so far it looks like Craig Fulton is too defensive. Maybe with a bit more time he'll do some things differently and improve on this. The biggest issue in my opinion is the selection. Why don't we try 3-4 players per tournament? Not asking for wholesale changes, but planned easing out of the weaklings.

[Atithee]

^^Again, same as what the Indian cricket team needs too.

[arjun2761]

We lost to Netherlands B team twice but beat Argentina in both matches.

Post by ssp » Sat May 27, 2023 7:54 pm

Once I saw the selection for this round of Pro League matches, I was fearing we would suffer 6 defeats against the Belgians, GB and Holland. So no surprises so far. I suppose losing only 2-1 and 4-2 is a bit better than expected.

Well, we surpassed my expectations by winning once v Belgium and getting a draw v GB.

Why are we not doing better? Well, so far it looks like Craig Fulton is too defensive. Maybe with a bit more time he'll do some things differently and improve on this. The biggest issue in my opinion is the selection. Why don't we try 3-4 players per tournament? Not asking for wholesale changes, but planned easing out of the weaklings.

My understanding is that the FIH Pro League was started essentially to add structure to a system of friendlies which countries used to play with each other. In soccer, the Nations League in Europe and North/Central America was created for the same reason. That is, it is essentially a development league. It seems many of the other countries are using it that way, while India is trying to win the matches at all costs rather than using a more development focused approach.

[srini]

We may be topping the league now, but it may not remain so until end. GB, Spain and Netherlands have lot of matches while all our matches are over.

[Sin Hombre]

^^Again, same as what the Indian cricket team needs too.

Comparisons to cricket are a disservice to hockey.

We are the strongest we have been in 4 or 5 decades. We won a bronze at the Olympics and at the last FIH league, and will almost certainly finish in the top 4 in this edition. At worst, we are the 5th or 6th best team in the world. This is good and a massive improvement.

[Atithee]

I don’t see any disservice. There wasn’t a connection intended—I merely pointed that both teams need to get rid of some “experienced” players. And, India may at worst be fifth or sixth best in cricket too. It’s entirely a different matter that many more countries play serious hockey.

[ssp]

I watched Netherlands beat Australia 5-2 with a completely new squad (save 3-4 regulars). They also beat us twice. They looked very good. This shows their depth of talent, which is a result of the best domestic hockey infrastructure in the world. I know they lost 7-2 to Australia in their previous meeting but overall they have gained a lot from this Pro League campaign. They now have lots more choices for the 2024 Olympics. Germany too have been blooding in a lot of new players.

We have definitely missed a trick by going back to the same old failures. Crazy planning. I'd rather win a medal at the olympics or World cup instead of 2nd or 3rd in the Pro league and we need to be planning 3-4 years ahead to achieve this. The same selection nonsense exists in the cricket team.

[prasen9]

^^Again, same as what the Indian cricket team needs too.

Comparisons to cricket are a disservice to hockey.

We are the strongest we have been in 4 or 5 decades. We won a bronze at the Olympics and at the last FIH league, and will almost certainly finish in the top 4 in this edition. At worst, we are the 5th or 6th best team in the world. This is good and a massive improvement.

Actually, we have been consistently in the top 2 in test cricket, top 4 in ODIs and top-4-6 in T20Is. I'd actually put more probability that we will make the WC semis in cricket in ODIs say than the hockey team making the semis in the Olympics.

[rajitghosh]

Standards in cricket have fallen. The only good teams left now are Australia and England. So by default India gets into top-3 in all formats. Occassionally when New Zealand rises India falls to 4. West Indies is a shadow of those great teams. Sri Lanka has fallen from the days of Sanga, Murali, Jayawardhene etc as has Pakistan from the days of Wasim, Waqar, Inzy. South Africa has also seen better days. So we pride ourselves with the fact that we are top 4 in a depleted field whereas in the days of Sachin, Sourav, Dravid, Kumble their opponents were literally giants (case in point- Ambrose).

[sameerph]

Actually, we have been consistently in the top 2 in test cricket, top 4 in ODIs and top-4-6 in T20Is. I'd actually put more probability that we will make the WC semis in cricket in ODIs say than the hockey team making the semis in the Olympics.

Of course, we have been only to 1 SF at world cups/olympics since last 20 years which was of course last olympics. But, making SF in Hockey world cup/olympics is tougher due to larger pool of nations being competitive.

[Sin Hombre]

Actually, we have been consistently in the top 2 in test cricket, top 4 in ODIs and top-4-6 in T20Is. I'd actually put more probability that we will make the WC semis in cricket in ODIs say than the hockey team making the semis in the Olympics.

Cricket has 3 competitive teams. Even with that, we have won zero ICC trophies in a decade.

Way more than 3 countries have including multiple times. Our cricket performance under Kohli/Rohit has been an embarrassment.

[Saffron Lenin]

'We will continue to work on our defence': India Hockey captain Harmanpreet Singh

"Craig brings a lot of positivity into the team and he is very clear in his thoughts and expectations on how we must play as a team. In these matches, the focus was more on executing a disciplined structure in our game, with emphasis on defending well," he added.

The Indian team is currently on a break, and they will start preparing for the much-awaited Asian Champions Trophy Chennai 2023 once the training camp resumes.

https://www.indiablooms.com/sports-deta ... singh.html