Hockey coach Craig Fulton goes for all-rounders in Paris squad

Tribune News Service

Indervir Grewal

Chandigarh, June 26

Craig Fulton’s team selection for the Paris Olympics has sprung no real surprises. Even with all his experimentation over the last few months, Fulton’s vision for the team — and the players he wanted to fulfil that goal — was pretty evident.

There was a bit of mystery surrounding some of Fulton’s decisions earlier this year — like when he used Manpreet Singh, who has played in the central midfield his whole career.

However, in the team’s recent Pro League games in Europe, Fulton cut down on drastic experimentation and a sense of normalcy returned to India’s tactical approach, shedding light on the South African’s vision. “Our focus has been on building a cohesive team that can adapt to different playing styles and situations, and I believe we have achieved that,” Fulton said today.

India midfielder Jarmanpreet Singh said last month that Fulton “makes us play different structures and styles”. “We change according to the situation during a match but it is also about using different strategies against different teams,” Jarmanpreet said.

Intent on bringing fluidity into India’s playing style, Fulton has shown a preference for all-rounders who can fulfil multiple roles while playing across different lines.

In the latest Pro League matches, it was common for players to rotate between positions as the rolling substitutions came into play.

Central midfielders such as Manpreet and Hardik Singh were seen man-marking or in the sweeper’s role in deep defence. When India had possession, Manpreet and Hardik altered between playmakers from the back, linkmen in the midfield and driving forwards further up the field.

Then there are Gurjant and Shamsher, who apart from being used as defensive midfielders, playmaking forwards and goal poachers were assigned man-marking duties in key defensive areas. That is probably why Rajkumar Pal has got the nod over a more one-dimensional Nilakanta Sharma in the midfield.

In Fulton’s defence-first approach, strikers have also had to retreat to man the flanks around the semi-circle. But he also prefers defenders with the skillset to attack. Sanjay is a case in point. Despite his inexperience — having played just 35 international games — the young defender has been included in the team, while drag-flicking option Jugraj Singh has missed out.

Sanjay was impressive on the overlap along the right flank, a role that Jarmanpreet has played to perfection over the last couple of years. Fulton’s position rotation gives the team more than one option in a particular role. The intention is to ensure that there is no performance drop when a particular player is substituted.

This is not a new concept — all-rounders are the driving force in the fast-paced modern game. India, though, have struggled to adapt with the times. Despite a few experiments over the years, India have found little success in developing all-rounders, mainly due to the limited tactical and technical capabilities of the players.

The current team is still a work in progress. Trying to play a more complex game means that the team is taking longer to adapt. There is still confusion about the changing roles, leading to mix-ups and lapses. Fulton would be confident about fine-tuning his team’s game in the final training camp before the Olympics.

More importantly, though, Fulton, who is known for his positivity, will need to work on the team’s mentality going into the biggest event in sports. More than the tactical issues, the varying levels in intensity during India’s Pro League games should be a greater worry for the coach. Being a predominantly counterattacking team, it is crucial for India to stay switched on while defending, be proactive with their press and win the 50-50 balls.

It was the lack of discipline and mental strength that led to India’s sharp decline from winning the Olympics medal to finishing ninth at the World Cup in less than two years’ time. Having worked with the team for over a year, Fulton would be hoping to see India’s never-say-die spirit, which got the team the Tokyo bronze, in Paris.

Olympics Squad

PR Sreejesh, Jarmanpreet Singh, Amit Rohidas, Harmanpreet Singh, Sumit, Sanjay, Rajkumar Pal, Shamsher Singh, Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Abhishek, Sukhjeet Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Mandeep Singh, Gurjant Singh

Reserve athletes: Nilakanta Sharma, Jugraj Singh, Krishan Bahadur Pathak

Fourth Games

Goalkeeper PR Sreejesh and midfielder Manpreet Singh are set for their fourth Olympics appearance while skipper Harmanpreet Singh is bracing up for his third Games. Jarmanpreet Singh, Sanjay, Rajkumar Pal, Abhishek and Sukhjeet Singh will make their Games debut.

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