The defenders are not rectifying their mistakes and are conceding shocking goals due to poor man marking.
The defenders are not rectifying their mistakes and are conceding shocking goals due to poor man marking.
The Indians are still not comfortable with the 3-3-3-1 system adopted by Jose Brasa and only 40 per cent of the boys have been in action and that is too taxing for the team. I feel the 4-4-2 system would have been better for our boys.
Basically the system (3-3-3-1) is worrying for me as the Indians are not used to it. Spain have been playing this system for nearly 20 years and as it is a defensive system, the onus should be on not conceding goals. India have played in this system only for seven months.
If you look at Spain, despite their loss to Australia they have not conceded too many goals. Under the system, the players have to be composed so that they can stick to their task. The forwards have to be composed even to convert half chances; the same (need to be composed) applies to the midfield and the defence.
The work load on the upfront was too big a task and there was too much running for the players so much so they played only 60 per cent of the field thereby missing scoring chances.
The Indian left was a total non-entity and they depended too much on Rajpal Singh on the right. The ball control, switching and transferring were not fluent. Except for Gurbaj Singh, who played outstandingly, none of the other midfielders played well.
Vikram Pillay likes to play free hockey, but he was not able to do so. Despite the return of Shivendra Singh, the Indian forward line was banking too much on Rajpal.
In all four matches, India have conceded goals in a short span and that puts additional pressure on the team. At this level of the game, it is common for teams to go down by a goal, get the equaliser and get back into the game.
India, however, found themselves in deep arrears and that made the situation difficult. The Indians had the upper hand in the first 20 minutes of the game, but the strong England defence withstood the onslaught. The first goal by England shattered India. Overall, the team appeared to lack planning and direction. The continuing weak defence is surely a big cause for concern as the entire team depends on a good defence mechanism to carry forward.
—Vasudevan Baskaran, Captain's corner
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