BHUBANESWAR: Once last January, Ric Charlesworth called up Graham Reid to try and talk him into applying for the post of chief coach of the national team.
“Look,” Charlesworth had told him then, “I know they (India) are looking for someone. I think it’s really good timing for you but also for India. You are a good match with the Indian mentality.”
The famed ‘Indian mentality’ vis-a-vis hockey is simple – attack. But that ethos had not been in play under the last few coaches. Defensive solidity and structure gained precedence while trying to remain faithful to the much-vaunted Indian DNA. But it was ‘attack’ only in name. Even when they attacked, there was no real purpose to many of the forward moves. Coaches asked the team to recycle possession in midfield if there were no clear forward passes in play.
The Australian has changed this kind of thinking, there is now more emphasis on moving the ball forward quickly. The no of forward passes, coupled with lightning-quick transitions in the middle-third of the turf, enabled by the high press, against the Netherlands on Saturday and Sunday was directly linked to that change in thinking.
“We do more forward passes,” Rupinderpal Singh said on Sunday. “Under earlier coaches, we were asked to do sideways or backwards passing if there wasn’t a clear route to the opposition goal. We would only play attacking, forward passes if there was a clear way for us (to move forward).”
This is also part of a bigger plan that includes his charges playing quicker passes, especially around the opposition ‘D’. He wants quicker interchange of passing — he calls it ‘playing through traffic’ — which could result in more penalty corners for them.
He explained the logic after the Netherlands match on Sunday. “It’s an ability to beat players in small places using 3D-type skills. It helps because you can win a corner from virtually nothing. When you have such a world-class corner battery, you can score a goal from nothing. I think all of us are getting better at it.”
The World No 5, however, have some way to go before they reach Argentina’s level ‘who are probably the best at this,’ Reid added.
Even though it’s early days, the off-season camp, where the players spent a lot of time concentrating on basics, as well as moving the ball quickly in the opposition ‘D’, reaped dividends.
The transitions were faster, there were not many mis-traps, the passing was simple but crisp and there were goals from penalty corners. Now comes the harder part. Getting the team to play like this in every match.