Saturday, August 11, 2012

Let’s not make Michael Nobbs a scapegoat for India’s disastrous showing in Olympics!


Watching some of the top hockey teams like Australia, Netherlands, Germany play at the 2012 Olympics gives you a fair impression of the improvement areas Indian team needs to focus on. Michael Nobbs-coached Indian team adopted the Australian style of hockey, the merits of which were seen in all the games India played in the last six months going into the London Olympics. 

But with the Indian team delivering their worst-ever performance at hockey’s showpiece event, all the demerits of it are coming out of the closet and that too, in droves.

As a hockey fan first, and second as a sports journalist, I am saddened at the way the Indian team has cut such a frustrating figure at the Olympics. In fact, all the pre-tournament hopes pinned on India got a massive leg up when India fought hard against the Netherlands, especially in the second half after a forgettable first half before an ‘unfair’ penalty stroke denial in the dying minutes of the game robbed us of the opportunity to script a 3-3 draw. The only solace was that we lost narrowly (2-3) against one of the world’s top sides.

If we thought, the loose ends (we saw against Netherlands) would be tightened in the next game against New Zealand, we were in for a rude jolt. Save for an early goal by India through Sandeep Singh, the remainder of the game was witness to the shoddy sight of ball trapping/possession errors inside our own ‘D’ as well as in the midfield. 

Our defensive gaffes were just too many for our comfort so much so that every opposition team now fully realized that this Indian team can be taken apart because their defence has the propensity to consistently falter.

I was shocked to see someone as experienced as Ignace Tirkey (254 international caps) commit schoolboyish blunders in defence, and that too, with alarming regularity. Even Sandeep Singh was guilty of easily conceding possession. Vokkaliga Raghunath was also part of the guilty party but one must say that, he was the only one who showed some heart to offer some resistance.

Penalty conversion was tipped to be one of our improvement areas in recent times but it panned out to be a huge disappointment. Sandeep Singh was doing no good to his reputation (his defensive skills never convinces us) and struggled to blast home his penalty corners. 

Given Sandeep’s senior stature in the side, another talented drag-flicker Vokkaliga Raghunath was not getting enough opportunities to fire his PCs in. Maybe, Raghunath should be given a bigger role in taking penalty corners and lets face it; his defensive skills are far better than Sandeep and this would help India as the strapping defender can execute both skills with aplomb.

The fragility of the Indian defenders put our goalkeepers - Bharat Chetri and PR Sreejesh - under tremendous pressure throughout the tournament. In fact, it won't be a far-fetched exaggeration to suggest that the performance of our goal-tenders has been our lone silver lining.


Midfield is one key area which dictates the way the game tilts. India have been found wanting. Playmaker Sardara Singh dished out a mixed bag kind of performance. Although Sardara manned the midfield resiliently, he was also guilty of conceding possession as well as indulging in wrong passing. But take Sardara out, you start to realize that our midfield is almost non-existent without him.

Maybe the team management made a tactical bloomer by not inducting Kothaljit in the final 16 Olympic squad and picking him only as a standby.

The muted apprehension of the Indian forwards’ poor finishing reared its ugly head at London. The only significant change in the forwardline’s performance was that they created another liability for the team – not creating enough scoring chances coupled with their already established tag of being 'poor finishers'.

The trio of Shivendra Singh, SV Sunil and Tushar Khandekar  failed miserably to rise to the occasion. Shivendra was expected to spearhead the attack but instead turned out to be a passenger on the turf, doing little of note. 

SV Sunil captures the attention of all with his ‘Cheetah’ like runs but does very little beyond that. Tushar Khandekar shoned in patches but as a senior pro, he was expected to deliver much more than that. It’s difficult to see the international careers of the triumvirate spanning longer, especially Shivendra and Tushar.

Indian forwards were guilty of erring while spraying crosses from the flanks. On most occasions, it would seem as if crosses were drilled in just for the sake of it, with no Indian player present near the face of the opposition goal or even trying to anticipate to tap it home. 

Danish Mujtaba is another overrated player who messed it up in crucial times. In fact, most of these players committed errors, which either allowed the opposition to mount a counter-attack, resulting in goals or caught our backline napping.

Every major tourney disaster for the Indian hockey team is accompanied by the axing of a coach. For God’s sake, one hopes this is not the case this time around.

Michael Nobbs has been hired for a period of five years and he should be allowed to serve his coaching tenure so that he can sow the seeds that can transform India into a world-beater. 

Indian hockey can take heart from the way some of the Australians have transformed the fortunes of several international teams. Former Australian star forward Mark Hager, who took over as coach of the New Zealand's women's team in 2009, propelled them to a semifinal berth at the 2012 Olympics - the same Black Sticks who were languishing outside the top nine not so long ago.

Another former Australian Olympian Colin Batch has also turned around the fortunes of Belgium's men's hockey team. Batch has been highly credited for the manner in which the Red Lions finished fifth at the London Olympics after going into the mega event with a world ranking of 11.

Surely, it is time for Indian hockey to do some serious soul-searching and not look for scapegoats. Let’s make a beginning as Indian hockey cannot go any worse than this!

Photo: Courtesy: aasportsnews.com
















10 comments:

pro2200 said...

to be truthful its not fault of COACH at all
its our own players n our own attitude if u wont PASS the ball to the team mate its not gonn happen
the only thing coach was unable to teach our players was its a TEAM GAME not a TRACK event to run as fast as you can from others

Suhrid Barua said...

dude, thanks for your comments.........players got to be more accountable

anand said...

How a hockey team will perform in Olympics cannot be judged on the basis of Asiad or CWG or Sultan Azlan Shah cup or qualifying tournaments. In Asiad, European teams and Australia dont take part. In CWG, Germany, Netherlands and Spain do not take part.In Sultan Azlan Shah, second strings are sent by top hockey nations. In qualifying tournaments also, top nations do not take part. Better indicator of what can be expected from a team is its performance in Champions Trophy or World Cup. The media hyped up the chances of medal based on team's performance in CWG, Sultan Azlan Shah and qualifiers. Similarly Pakistanis fancied their chances in Olympics based on their gold medal in Asiad,2010. The 8th place of India and 12th place of Pakistan in 2010 World Cup were conveniently forgotten. Having said that, it was pathetic to see the team not putting their heart and soul. More than the results, what rankles is the manner in which they lost.The defenders looked intimidated by the big built Europeans and were reluctant to tackle them. Passes were not trapped by forwards cleanly in rival striking circle. Trappings and passings were pathetic. Wingers were not trying to take the ball towards the goal. They were content to make long crosses from sidelines which were intercepted by rival defenders. One wonders whether they thought this was a game of soccer where long aerial cross by wingers to the middle could be headed home. This does not work even in soccer. Some of these flaws were noted by even the past hockey greats and commented upon. More worrying than lack of skills is the lack of heart. When our boxers and wrestlers were showing big heart and taking blows, why the hockey players were reluctant? Did they undergo a session with our test cricketers who dont show big heart on difficult pitches? Sunil Gavaskar says, when you play for India, you have to take blows on the body in difficult pitches to preserve your wicket. This is where Sunny finds test cricketers today lacking. As Nobbs says, many of these chaps have to look to do something else in life. You are correct in saying that Nobbs does not deserve to be blamed. Take tough decisions. Dont give India colours to those who do not value it. Make no compromise on fitness, discipline, attitude and fighting spirit even if it means selecting somewhat less talented players.. Get tall and well-built chaps like MS Dhoni if need be for the team. Give to the team services of sports psychologists and motivators like Mike Horn whose services were availed by cricket world cup winning Indian team in 2011.

WIN THE CHAMPIONS TROPHY AT ALL EVENTS IN DECEMBER,2012 IN AUSTRALIA. Give team all support needed to qualify and perform at Champions Trophy and World Cups. Arrange motivational talk to them by Olympic medallists in other disciplines like Saina Nehwal, Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt, Mary Kom etc. Even see what can be learnt from like sports like soccer, ice hockey etc.The Australian cricket team learnt throwing the cricket ball from baseball coaches. One thing is sure-what strategies do not work in soccer where one can deal with the ball with any part of the body except hand will not work in hockey. Team need not waste time on such strategies.

BUT NO SENDING HOCKEY TEAM TO OLYMPICS TILL THEY WIN WORLD CUP OR CHAMPIONS TROPHY. GOVT SHOULD PUT ITS FOOT DOWN AND INSIST ON THIS.
My prescriptions may sound a tad harsh. But they are born out of one conviction"OUR DEFEATS WILL BE FORGOTTEN WHEN WE START WINNING AGAIN, BUT OUR FEATS OF GOLDS IN 6 OLYMPICS IN A ROW WILL NEVER BE REPLICATED AND WILL STAND THE TEST OF TIME".

anand said...

On another note, we had very bad experience with an Aussie coach Greg Chappel in cricket. Let us not tar every Aussie coach with the same brush. For every Greg Chappel, there is also a Mark Russel-the Aussie shooter who coached Rajyavradhan Rathore .Rathore won silver in Athens Olympics in 2004. Michael Nobbs is noways as arrogant as Chappel.He seems to be well-meaning. Let us persist with him as you say for five years.

santanu kumar das said...

Michael Nobbs deserves a full five-year term. It will be very pre-mature to judge his quality from the Olympics alone because there may be other factors for our dismal performance. The coach can only teach u the skills n tactics but it's the players who need to deliver. The only player who could impressed me was Sardara Singh as he was brilliant in the field in the first few matches before fading away. But it's not the end of the matter n let us hope that our hockey team will be able to perform well in the Champions Trophy.

Unknown said...

I would add only point here, India committed sin by making Ric to leave country, and bigger sin by not giving enough time to Brasa, now they should not repeat it.

And Team India should be sent to play, not f team Hockey India.

Suhrid Barua said...

anand: a big hug to you for your perspective of Indian hockey, keep the passion going
santanu: thoughts well put

manoj: u r spot-on, we need to give foreign coaches a fair run

Deblina said...

I am not an avid fan of Hockey but yes I did follow the Indian team through Olympics. I remember when we were not even sure if India was going to qualify for the London Olympics. They had to win all the 6 matches. To be honest I was quite pessimistic. But to my delight they won all the matches and qualified. At this point I was extremely proud of the team and had my hopes raised exponentially.
Again I thought the first match against Netherlands was very impressive and I got really optimistic of the team. But then it all fell down like a castle of cards.
Blaming the Coach alone for such a performance is not fair at all. The players clearly lacked enthusiasm and passion on the field. They seemed awkward and lethargic throughout the game. So the players are equally responsible for this performance in the Olympics.
It is very easy for our Indian Hockey Management to point a finger at a single person and put all the blame on him which is usually the Coach. A Coach is the easiest target for them and also to veil their own incapabilities. Also usually their solution is generally to axe the Coach. I hope that doesn't happen this time. I hope every person involved learns to take their responsibility and work towards it together.
On a positive note with the PHL I think hockey is getting more mileage in our Country. There is more renewed interest in the sport. So I hope with more support from the Hockey Federation of India we can build a strong Hockey team which will bring in many laurels for our Country in the future.
- Deblina Banerjee

Suhrid Barua said...

deblina: like u, we all were pained by India's meek surrender at the Olympics................thanks a ton 4 yr thoughts...have a grt day ahead

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