Blame it on the players

The tragic finish of the India-Holland match must have given a sleepless night to many a hockey fan. Even I had a sleepless night, because it was really inexplicable the way India lost 3-4, from a winning position, to the defending champions.

So often I have seen this happening to the Indian team -- against Poland at Sydney, at the Busan Asian Games and then here at the Champions Trophy.

Whatever the system or strategy you plan, finally it is the result which matters most. And I think it is high time the players realise the importance of different stages in a 70-minute game. The sooner they realise the better it would be for Indian hockey, for this cannot go on and on.

I will squarely blame the players for this mishap. The scoreboard was showing the time left for the game and is it not the duty of the players to be alert in the last five minutes?

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Perhaps, the Indian players took victory for granted when they were leading 3-1 with just five minutes left for the final whistle. I, as a player and coach, cannot tolerate or sympathise on this issue.

Coming back to the strategy and plan of the game, I was disappointed with the way our midfield performed. The usually confident Viren Raquinha dispossessed the ball without any rhyme or reason. Ignace Tirkey was not at his best, Jugraj Singh left too big a space in the middle. And the two attacking Netherlands linkmen played havoc with our defence.

Kanwalpreet Singh was slow in recovering. Only Dilip Tirkey and Baljit Saini were consistent. Devesh Chauhan was at his best and if not for him, India would have been trailing by 0-2 in the first half.

The major mistake was the midfield never tried to carry the ball and no attempt was made to play ball possession. Only when Bimal Lakra was introduced to the midfield, it started functioning and the forwards started moving freely.

Though Pillay was heavily marked, I thought he was too withdrawn and Baljit Singh Dhillon was out of place many a time.

As a skipper, Pillay should have used his cool on the decision of the controversial third goal given to the Netherlands by the umpire. It was unwarranted and he was rightly shown the yellow card. This also affected the result of the match.

I can understand that the third goal could have upset the entire team. But the team should have concentrated on the remaining 34 seconds. Even if they would have drawn the game, it would have been a fair result.

I also think Rajinder Singh should have played Jugraj Singh in deep defence in place of Kanwalpreet as this would have helped him have an additional midfielder like Vikram Pillay. Maybe, he should think on this line in future games. Even in the foward line, in my opinion, Deepak Thakur should be playing in starting eleven.

But I will not take the credit away from the boys for playing well for the larger part of the match.

All the three goals India scored were impressive. The first goal by Jugraj, via a penalty-corner, saw him drag the ball two meters inside and put the ball on top of the net.

While the second goal by Deepak Thakur was commendable, it was the third which was a gem. Gagan Ajit Singh stole the ball from a Netherlands defender and rolled it to Deepak to do the rest.

It was imperative for India to start off a win but now it is useless to rue what has happened. I think the boys should take the positives from this defeat, regroup and carry on for the next matches ahead if they are to break the Champions Trophy jinx.