Change in style behind more substance

After early confusion due to change in style of play, Harmanpreet & Co have learnt to adapt to coach Fulton's ideas.

India men's hockey rallied to beat Malaysia 4-3 in Asian Champions Trophy final | Ashwin Prasath

CHENNAI: During Craig Fulton's first full press conference as coach of the men's hockey side, he raised eyebrows when he effectively suggested he was going to recalibrate India's stylistic DNA. Traditionally, the country had been brought up on receiving the ball and going up the other end in search of goals as quickly as possible. They didn't tend to do much of ball retention. It was always a gung-ho brand of hockey, something that had reached its modern peak at the Tokyo Games when Graham Reid, the coach Fulton replaced, led the side to a bronze.

In essence, that bronze-medal winning game of 4-3 against Germany summed up Indian hockey. Vibes and not much else. When it clicked, it was hockey on steroids. When it didn't, it was a bit daft; amateur hour. In short, they managed to thrive in their own chaos.It's this chaos that Fulton wanted to stop. He wanted the side to control games. Be more commanding as well as more boring across 60 minutes. Be more like Belgium, in a way.

"I think philosophy wise, I would like to defend to win," Fulton had said in May. "I would like to have our defensive structures in place because that's the first step of attacking. If we try to play a counter-attacking style, it doesn't help if you can't defend, so you would never win the ball back to counter attack. At the same time what happens if you are 2-0 down? You can't sit in your own half and you have to make the game then. You're going to have to high press, you're going to have to put the opposition under pressure. We're going to need to do both. I'm a very forward, attacking coach. I like to score goals, but I also like to do a very solid defensive play."

Did he think he had the players at his disposal to carry out his ideology? "Yes, I think it will take a bit of time, but it's also making sure we are harnessing the DNA of the team, which is fast, it's skillful, it's connected, it's counter-attack, it's very strong on set pieces, fantastic penalty corner defence, good goalkeepers. It has all the ingredients. It's more a case of really being able to be composed enough to do it and execute. And especially you know the offence because we got some good strikers, but we need them to really fire and really connect well together. And based on a good solid defensive structure."

After the first three months of Fulton's reign, one of the biggest pluses is this — he may have come in with a grand message but he has got the most important currency needed to implement that message. Players' buy-in. Even though a few of them were confused to begin with, they are now fully behind the 48-year-old, who played a key backroom behind Belgium's rise years ago.

"Under Reid it was all about playing attacking hockey," Nilakanta Sharma, an all-action midfielder, tells this daily. "But under Fulton, he believes in 'defend to win' philosophy. Under Reid we used to play full press hockey but Fulton feels that if we press full, then 'ok counter it may be a problem for us'."

It's one of the tweaks Fulton has implemented with the backroom staff. India do not employ the full-court press anymore. Their press is more measured, a half-court one. In football terms, the World No 4 do not follow Jurgen Klopp's full-metal style. These days, they are more cautious, think about Jose Mourinho's peak Real Madrid teams. They retained attacking verve and flair but it didn't come at the cost of a flaky back door.  

Needless to say that such a radical shift in the DNA left a few players confused. "In Spain (four-nations), when we went we were a bit confused," Sharma says. But as we played, we have learnt and now every player has understood the style of play."

Speaking about his own contributions, Sharma now has to essay twin roles. "So every player now has a dual role. I play as an attacking midfielder and I also switch to a defensive midfielder as and when needed and I can replace an attacking midfielder or a defensive midfielder as per the situation."  

The changes include playing with two pivots to guard against conceding during transitions. Some of these changes were in the flesh during the Asian Champions Trophy in Chennai. Sure, you can question whether two pivots are needed against the likes of China and South Korea but it's about inculcating a system in place so that they are ready when the big sides — Australia have enjoyed significant success just because of transitions — come calling.

Hardik Singh, who has played as one of the two pivots in the middle, is intimate when asked about playing under Fulton. "My role has not changed too much," he says. "But we are receiving more tactical and strategic instructions before games now. The focus has been learning to recognise moments. When to press, when to drop, when to push forward."

Captain Harmanpreet Singh, who has come out from a funk, says full credit to the coach for conveying his ideas to the team within a short span of time. "When Reid was there, he was the best, now he [Fulton] is the best. Every coach has their own idea and their structures, and it's no different in this case. Full credit to the coach that he has communicated his ideas, and made the whole team believe in his structure in such a short period of time," he says.

At that opening press conference, Fulton's immediate goal was to make the team the best in Asia. He will have the chance to do that in Hangzhou in under two months' time. The medium-term challenge, though, is to showcase the ultimate end goal of this new strategy in Paris next July.