Indian Express:Jalebi fails to hit sweet spot

Directionless dribbling inside D costing India at the Hockey World League Finals, feels new strategic coach Roger van Gent.

Roger van Gent has been in India for three weeks. But the national team’s newly appointed strategy coach needed just two evenings to understand the schizophrenic nature of the team.

Against Germany last Saturday, India was everything he hoped it would be — smart, intelligent and quick. Although they had just a draw to show for all their efforts, India’s constant high pressing and aggressive approach ‘surprised’ the Olympic champions. It was a kind of performance that earned them praise. But the applause came with caution.

On Monday, India proved why their success in one match was met with a guarded, rather cynical, approach.
Gent winced in despair every time India’s wasteful forwards reached the Holland’s half with some slick passing, but then indulged in some directionless dribbling, giving enough time for the defenders to retreat and kill the move. In domestic circles, they call it the jalebi style of play. Of course, Gent does not understand the term yet. The Dutchman, nevertheless, identifies that as one of the main problems that has plagued several Indian teams.
India has never had a strategic coach before. But even though the position in the coaching set-up is a new one, the problems he will have to address have existed for decades. Among them, the key is the jalebi style, the reason why India has an abysmal field goal conversion rate.

“My first observation was that Indian players have their heads down while moving forward. If you are entering the ‘D’ but don’t have the vision, then it’s of no use. They don’t know who’s ahead of them and if their teammates are in a better position. Hence, they run in circles, trying to find a pass. But by then, it’s too late,” says Gent, the first assistant to chief coach Roelant Oltmans.

The solution, he says, is to keep your head up while moving forward, which will help the player in making a better decision. The ‘unlearning’ process is the toughest, admits Gent. However, he insists it’s a must if India harbour ambitions of beating the world’s top teams.

These are interesting times for Indian hockey. Gent and Oltmans are at the helm of affairs at a time when India are placed highest in international rankings in last 10 years. Not so long ago, the team was languishing outside the top 10. But stability in the playing group, hosting marquee events which helped in earning ranking points and a decent run internationally have propelled the team to sixth place.

Targeting top five

But the upward march is now expected to hit a roadblock unless India produce good results consistently against the top five teams. “We are playing against the top five now and that’s always difficult. Better teams expose your weaknesses. If you play against teams that are not so good, you think ‘I am good and I can do it.’ But now you think, ‘oh I have to improve this and that.’ So the players are now confronting things they need to improve and that is always a difficult process,” Gent says.

The focus of the overall group has shifted to finer details. Captain Sardar Singh says Gent’s major contribution in the short span is that he has made the players aware of the importance of positional play. “It’s a constant improvement period for us. We have reached a certain level and our main opponents now are the top five teams. To get good results against them, we have to focus on minute aspects of the game. Being mentally alert and aware is important but it’s also crucial that we stick to our positions,” Sardar says.

Route to success

Most field goals in international hockey now follow a pattern. A hard, low cross is whipped from the wings or the centre of the field inside the ‘D’. There are men waiting on the penalty spot or near the goal-posts to deflect the ball in and in most cases, they are successful. There’s little dribbling and very few long runs. “That’s one strategy which has been very successful. And we have been practising that a lot. The success rate isn’t as good as we have expected because we tend to overcook the final pass,” Sardar says.

Gent’s training sessions have also made the team realise that the devil lies in detail. While they are learning the high press strategy, inability to earn penalty corners and extremely poor field goal conversion rate are a couple of issues that have pegged them back. Gent feels the common solution to these problems is to keep the head up while entering the ‘D’.

That, however, is not the way Indian players have learnt their hockey. There are glimpses of improvement. But the jalebi always leaves the team and its fan with a bitter aftertaste.

Jalebiwallahs

Indian players have the uncanny habit of entering the opponent’s half with a swift attack but then tend to fluff the opportunity. Not sure when, and how, to release the final pass, the players hold on to the ball for few extra seconds, giving defenders time to retreat and halt their march. Instead, they go round and round without actually doing much, as they try to dribble past opponents. This style has been dubbed as ‘jalebi’ hockey in domestic circles. India’s strategic coach Roger van Gent says the only way to overcome this is that the player should keep his head up while entering the ‘D’ so he can spot his teammate and make a better decision while passing.

India to face Britain in QF

Britain held on to a 3-3 draw against a spirited Belgium to top Pool A and set-up a quarterfinal date with hosts India. Belgium came back after going a goal down thrice and went all out late in the fourth quarter in search of the winning goal but Britain just about managed to hang on for a draw. In another Pool A match, Australia thumped Canada 6-0

Results (Pool A): Australia 6 (Daniel Beale 4, 60, Jeremy Hayward 11, Dylan Wotherspoon 13, Matthew Dawson 15, Kieran Govers 57) bt Canada 0; Britain 3 (Phil Roper 7, Alastair Brogdon 28, Alan Forsyth 40) drew with Belgium 3 (Thomas Briels 13, Tanguy Cousins 38, Tom Boon 42)
Quarterfinal line-up: Wednesday: 6:30pm Holland vs Canada; 8:30pm Australia vs Germany
Thursday: 6:30pm Britain vs India; 8:30pm Argentina vs Belgium
(Matches live on Star Sports 1 & HD1)