FIH Pro League 2024-25: Predictable India exposed and punished

The Indian senior national men’s hockey team ended 2024 on a high.

The euphoria of the Olympic bronze medal at Paris was carried through to a flawless and victorious Men’s Asian Champions Trophy 2024 campaign at Hulunbuir, China.

The Hockey India League followed thereafter and played out to the galleries to heighten the celebrations. In a nutshell, Indian men’s hockey was on a high and the mood was upbeat.

Fast-forward to June and India are struggling to conjure up a win in the European leg of the FIH Pro League 2024-25.

After enduring three losses on the trot, the players, quite literally are scratching their heads in search of answers.

Defensive lapses

After their latest loss on Wednesday night to Argentina, Hardik Singh brought up the topic of defense in his post-match interview.

“After scoring, we should be strong in defense,” he said.

He was of course referring to the side squandering the momentum by allowing Argentina to pump in a fourth barely seconds after Abhishek had scored to draw the scores level at three-all.

The South Americans pounced on India’s defensive frailties at every given opportunity.

The usually reliable Amit Rohidas was guilty, not once, but twice, of erring in defense against Argentina – lapses that resulted in goals. Thereafter, it was all an uphill battle for India.

Conceding under pressure

In their opening fixture against The Netherlands, India took the lead only to allow the opposition to equalize and thereafter, crumbled to a 1-2 defeat courtesy a late goal from Van Dam, who incidentally scored a brace on the night.

In their second game against the same opposition, India was guilty of conceding late in the fourth quarter to hand the hosts a 3-2 victory.

On the contrary, in the game against Argentina, India conceded each of the four goals in the opening minutes of every quarter.

It was almost as if the realization of having to hold steady at the death translated to a lackadaisical approach in the opening minutes of every quarter. Such was the trend that the commentators called the pattern 'bizarre'.

If that wasn’t worrisome enough, India appeared to switch off after scoring a goal, thereby allowing Argentina to counter with aggression to draw level. And this was precisely the point that Hardik Singh was alluding after the debacle on Wednesday night.

Radical changes needed

The pattern of play for India has been predictable in the three-games so far – aerial balls to make inroads into the opposition’s final-third along the flanks. And once there, hard low balls towards the goal or quick short passes along the goal line, all with the intent of earning the coveted penalty corner – which, Harmanpreet Singh converts, more often than not.

As a counter mechanism to this ploy, The Netherlands and Argentina both employed a high-press to arrest India’s momentum in the final third. This, when done effectively, nullifies penalty-corner opportunities.

Also, once India make their way into the opposition’s half along the flanks, zonal defending comes into effect and a two-on-one defensive scenario begins to unfold, which clearly makes circle penetration a challenge for India.

India were unable to enforce penetrations against Argentina, who employed this tactic to great effect.

At the end of the day, all that the tough-as-nails Jarmanpreet Singh could do was to drill in balls into the opposition’s box from the right flank and hope that it makes it way past the defensive lines and then finds an Indian stick.

With India trailing 1-2 at the half-way mark in the game against Argentina, coach Craig Fulton looked more than just a tad bit bewildered.

"We need to make sure we understand what they're doing and work around that to get some goals," was his response when quizzed by the broadcasters.

And that is a fair reflection of the squad right now - puzzled and on the back foot.

Simply put, the opposition has the measure of India at the moment on this European leg of the FIH Pro League. And it is time now - before its too late - for India to start finding solutions.