Since the Four Nations Tournament in Barcelona late July and till their game against Japan on Friday night in the Asian Champions Trophy, India have scored 13 goals in six matches and conceded eight. Having come on board as head coach only in April, these are still early days for Craig Fulton, who is looking to change India’s style of play with more emphasis on defending than they are used to. To read too much into these numbers in the honeymoon period would be stretching it too far, but these games are also shelling some light into the slow progress that the team is making.
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For a team that is traditionally used to playing attacking game, Fulton’s tactics are the exact opposite. In football terms, it can only be compared to Ajax Amsterdam, the pioneers of Total Football bringing in Jose Mourinho. Having stuck to their attacking game under Graham Reid, who made the team press a lot harder than they usually do, which resulted in them often getting caught in the counter attacks, Fulton has been building the side from the back.
On Sunday, India are lined up to face Malaysia, a team that has brought their attacking game to the fore and is causing all sorts of problems to opponents. The fixture will undoubtedly be the most challenging for India as the Malaysian side look so slick on the field with their movements, which is bound to test the Indian defence.
Players of the Indian (white) and Japanese men’s hockey team in action during an Asian Champions Trophy 2023 match at Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium, in Chennai, Friday, Aug. 4, 2023. (PTI Photo)Irrespective of how far the forward line has penetrated into the opposition’s half, it is hard to see the backline step out of their box, preferring to be in right positions at all times. Yet, six weeks from the Hangzhou Asian Games India are showing the sort of headaches that they would like to address at the earliest rather than leave it too late.
Out of the 13 goals they have scored, only one goal has come via field goal. The rest have been through penalty corners, where their conversion rate was abysmal to say the least against Japan on Friday. Out of 14 penalty corners, they converted only one as India’s drag-flickers – Jugraj Singh, Varun Kumar and captain Harmanpreet Singh – were fended off by Japan’s tight defence. Although they had scored six of their seven against China via penalty corners on Thursday, it was hard to miss how India lacked the finishing touches in the circle.
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Although the midfielders overcame tight gaps and launched a wave of attacks that penetrated Japan midfielders, the forward line struggled to convert them. “We started the game really well, we just couldn’t find the connections in front of the goal in the first 15-20 minutes… It’s every coach’s concern if you are not converting your chances, whether PCs or field goals (but) nothing changes, it’s a tournament, one game at a time,” Fulton said.
With the score tied 1-1, and Japan’s defence showing no signs of cracking, India did all they could to win a penalty corner, which resulted in some collective sighs going across the ground. “It depends on the player what he decides to do and we back them in doing that. They have the license to shoot whenever they want to but if a player is winning a penalty corner, it is their choice,” Fulton said.
Players of the Indian (white) and Japanese men’s hockey team in action during an Asian Champions Trophy 2023 hockey match at Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium, in Chennai, Friday, Aug. 4, 2023. (PTI Photo)
Mid-fielder Nilakanta Sharma revealed that the team used the Four Nations tournament in Barcelona to get used to Fulton’s tactics, which they are yet to fully adapt to. “We had a good tournament in Spain. The European teams had prepared well and so did we. The upcoming Asian Games is a very important tournament for us. But our focus now is to approach this tournament game by game. Under Reid it was all about playing attacking hockey. But under Fulton, he believes in defending to win. Under Reid we used to play full press hockey but Fulton feels that if we press full then countering may be a problem for us,” Nilakanta said.
Nilakanta admitted that the change of tactics did cause a few issues, but with every passing game they are getting better. “So in Spain we were a bit confused. But as we played, we learnt and now every player has understood the style of play. So every player now has a dual role. I play as an attacking midfielder and I also switch to a defensive midfielder as and when needed and I can replace an attacking midfielder or a defensive midfielder as per the situation,” he said.
Coach Fulton says that the team is ‘one phase away from doing what we want to do’. “We want our players to shoot, that’s our number one objective and the players have the licence to do so. They then make the next best decision based on instinct and we back that.”
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