Michael Nobbs has admitted that the Indian hockey team
needs to work on its defence ahead of February's Olympic qualifiers.
Speaking at the Sports Authority of India here, where the National camp
got underway on Monday, the coach felt the team hadn't had much time
between tournaments to iron out its troubles.
“The
defence was always a concern,” he said. “We've concentrated on attack a
lot because you win games by hitting goals. We've hit 17 and 29 goals in
the last two tournaments — more than any recent Indian side that I can
remember. We just haven't had the time to sit on the pitch and practise
drill after drill to fix up the defence. It's not a difficult problem to
fix. It's just a time issue.”
Nobbs also dismissed
concerns over the team's temperament, attributing the yellow card shown
to V.R. Raghunath in the final of the Champions Challenge — which he
claimed had contributed to the defeat — to defensive organization rather
than indiscipline.
“It tells us that we've got a
few problems in defence,” he said. “We're not as mobile as we should be;
we don't know our defensive patterns well. I don't think it's a
temperament thing. It's also because of the way we play – this is an
aggressive, attacking team that is not shy in coming forward.”
Nobbs
also refused to view the fracas involving Pakistan in the four-nation
tournament in Australia as a sign of any ill temper. “It would never
have happened if we'd had strong umpires. It's not a temperament issue;
India-Pakistan games are special.”
The three-week
camp will feature 48 players, 22 of whom had arrived by Monday. The rest
— with the exception of V.S. Vinay, Tushar Khandekar, and Rajpal Singh —
will join before Wednesday. The camp would also offer a look at junior
players — those that played in November's Sultan Johor Cup in Malaysia —
and some Seniors that had recently not been involved, Nobbs said.
The
camp will conclude on January 4, after which the team is expected to
play test matches against international sides in Delhi.
Keywords: Indian hockey, Michael Nobbs
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