FIH Series Finals | Lack of proper organisation problems for Indian defence, reckons William Xalxo

FIH Series Finals | Lack of proper organisation problems for Indian defence, reckons William Xalxo

no photo

|

Hockey India

Former India full-back William Xalxo has stated that the lack of proper organisation in the defence has affected India. Xalxo, a former Olympian, also stressed on the importance of giving longer runs to the foreign coaches for the Indian players to settle down properly under their guidance.

As a part of the preparations for the FIH Series Finals in Bhubaneswar, the Indian hockey team had travelled to Australia to play a two-match test series against the senior team apart from two games against the A team and one warm-up match against WA Thundersticks. The Manpreet Singh-led side lost both the games against the Kangaroos in Perth and had conceded a total of nine goals in two games.

Apart from the penalty corner conversions, a lapse in defence has been one of the major reasons for India’s lacklustre show off late. Prior to the Australia series, India lost the final game of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup tournament against South Korea in the shootout where the equaliser was scored by the Koreans in the dying moments of the match. Xalxo, who was a defender during his playing days, is of the opinion that the team has got some good defenders but they lack organisation which is affecting the team’s performance. 

“For the last few years, we have good defenders in the Indian team but they lack proper organisation. Something is lacking in the defence line and they are failing to tackle the opponents. The last line of the defence has more responsibility and lack of proper understanding between them doesn’t help the team’s cause,” Xalxo told SportsCafe.

The Indian team is the highest-ranked side at No. 5 in the eight-nation tournament with the next best team on the FIH rankings being South Africa at the 16th position. However, India will not take its games lightly during the tournament as the FIH Series Finals will be important for the Olympic qualifications. Xalxo also stressed on the same for the Indian side saying that the players will want to commit a lesser number of mistakes on the home turf.

“I will not say it will be easy for the Indian team. We as players, play with the same intensity in all the matches. Every match counts for India as a team and for the players as well as far as their individual performance is concerned. India will be playing on the home turf and there will be more pressure on the Indian team for that. Players will want to commit fewer mistakes on their home ground,” explained Xalxo who represented India in the 2004 Athens Olympics.

 © Hockey India | Twitter

The 18-member Indian squad for the tournament was announced on Tuesday and according to Xalxo, it is important to give opportunities to the players from the junior team for their smooth transition into the senior team. India has called Ramandeep Singh back into the team after the striker recovered from injury. 

“The Indian team is trying to rotate the players properly by giving more opportunities to the junior level players. That is important for India as we need to strengthen our bench strength for the major tournaments in the future. If there is an injury scare in a big tournament, we can bring in a youngster and that will not be a sudden inclusion or transition into the senior level for that youngster,” the 35-year-old opined.

Speaking about the experienced players in the team and the roles of the captains and the vice-captains, Xalxo said, “First of all, I want to congratulate Birendra Lakra (for being appointed as vice-captain for the FIH Series). The captain and the vice-captain both have major responsibilities in a game of hockey. Senior players with the experience of playing the game for a long period of time matter a lot for any team.”

After Harendra Singh’s exit from the Indian team after the World Cup, Graham Reid has taken the charge of the Indian men’s team and the FIH Series Finals will be the first major event for the Australian. The hockey experts and fans have seen the Indian team play under him only on a couple of occasions so far and Xalxo said that the Australians give more importance to perfection and the Indian team can grow if the foreign coaches are given a longer run.

“The natural hockey or the Indian style hockey should be there for the current Indian players and for the next generation as well. At the same time, Australians give more importance to perfection and their skill is different. We see most of the foreign coaches coming into the team management only for one or two years and they leave at a time when the team had just started to settle down. If they will be given a continuous run for 4-5 years then the team will develop further,” Xalxo signed off.

Get updates! Follow us on

Open all