Dont Blame the Indian Hockey Players - London 2012

There seems to be a lot of blaming going on - and the Indian Hockey team is bearing the brunt of it. It makes me angry when the pride of the players is being questioned. It was obvious to anyone that the players played from their gut and played their hearts out. They only looked dejected towards the end of the South Korean match and maybe some parts of the Belgium match. But that is understandable. When you are not winning things rapidly disintegrate and dejection sets in.

What clearly was lacking during the initial games was a stratagem. For example, the players seemed to believe that they could out flank and out- attack the Dutch in the first match. They carried on many pointless forays and seemed to be wasting a lot of energy, while the Dutch patiently played a mature game and set up well thought out attacks. The show clearly suggested 1000s of hours of careful planning and execution. The Indiam team seemed to be a bunch of talented hopefuls let loose on the field and each out to prove himself on the field. The things that were obviously missing to even a novice's eye were planning, thought, strategy, direction, preparation as a team, clear layout on how to score a goal, etc etc. I cant see how the players can be blamed for that! Inexperience showed and all class was hidden in the jumble of misguided efforts.

No, please put the blame where it lies. On the coach, management, team of decision makers. The players played with their hearts on their sleeves in difficult situations. And they lost to all good teams - not individual shows. Kudos to the players!