Sport

‘I’m disappointed we didn’t..’: Men’s hockey coach slams players

August 8, 2022
Bharat Times

Angry Indian men’s hockey coach Graham Reid attacks his wards for their disastrous performance In Commonwealth Games 2022 in the final, saying they lack the energy and application needed to topple the mighty Australia. In one of their worst performances in recent times, India suffered an embarrassing 0-7 defeat at the hands of the defending champions to be content with the silver medal. Australia blew away India with their whirlwind pace and relentless attacks, increasing their dominance in the CWG stage, claiming their seventh straight gold.

Reid said after the match, ‘There is such a thing called energy and I don’t think we had that today. “It can happen sometimes when you play Australia. But I’m disappointed that we didn’t play well at all. We let ourselves down and didn’t do the things we talked about. It’s disappointing. Is.”

Thus, India lost to Australia for the third time in the CWG final after New Delhi 2010 and Glasgow 2014.

The thumping defeat was reminiscent of India’s 1-7 loss by the world number one team in their pool match at the Tokyo Olympics last year, and Reid said perhaps they were intimidated by the atmosphere. The margin would have been worse if it had not been for veteran goalkeeper PR Sreejesh.

“Today we couldn’t take the pressure off the ball, that’s what we needed to do. We talk about getting to the front of the day,” Reid said. “There will always be pressure at the big level. It never goes away, who knows what the history is, it’s hard to assess. I told him the most important thing is to do our best and the result will see for itself. As That I said we have a lot of work to do.”

Reid, himself an Australian, knows what it takes to beat his country in a big match. “In the end, it boils down to winning a one-on-one fight and we didn’t win that today. If you want to win a final, that’s what you have to do. You have to win every single fight.”

Manpreet’s injury blow

The Aussies fought hard from the start, but India hardly enjoyed possession, which was compounded by the injury of skipper Manpreet Singh. Manpreet had a clash with Aran Zalevski in the second quarter and was in “pain” as he spoke to the media, clutching his left shoulder.

“I’m going in for an X-ray, but it’s painful and feels like a fracture,” he said. However, he said that Australia is not invincible.

“I wouldn’t say they are an invincible team. They have an XI, we have an XI too. It is the one who seizes the opportunity to win the match.” But we made a few mistakes and accepted easy possession today. have done. We need to work on that. If we do our best, we can beat them.”

After failing to perform to his potential on Monday, the skipper vowed to make a strong comeback against Australia in the future. “We need to put more pressure on the Aussies in the upcoming tournaments. We will watch these matches and we will come back strong.

“We didn’t have an A-game today and we kept giving silly goals. We have a lot to learn. Not getting a PC is one of the areas we have to work on, distribute the ball well in the midfield,” he said. ,” They said.

Difficult to swallow for Sreejesh

Goalkeeper Sreejesh said it is difficult for him to miss out on a Commonwealth Games gold medal for the second time in his career. “We didn’t win the silver, we lost the gold. It’s disappointing, but in a tournament like the Commonwealth Games, reaching the final is a great thing. This is my second time as the senior (in the team) to lose the final (2014) After) so it is quite difficult but it will be a big lesson for the youth.”