CHENNAI : During the 2021-22 Premier League season, Mikel Arteta came up with a different idea to tackle the challenge of playing Liverpool in front of the Kop. To get used to the wall of noise — chants of 'You Will Never Walk Alone' specifically — the Arsenal manager set up speakers on the sides of the pitch during a training session. This was designed to get the players used to the atmosphere (Anfield is generally considered as a very tough place to visit because of the din the crowd creates).
The Indian hockey team did a similar experiment ahead of the last batch of Pro League games in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela. "We did it for Pro League preparation at training obviously due to the packed and noisy crowds in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela," men's coach Craig Fulton told this daily on Thursday. While the South African didn't say if they would recreate this experiment before the Olympics, the next training block will be at SAI, Bengaluru. "We will be back in SAI Bengaluru for next training camp so no Stadium presence," he said. "Let's see what we will need."
But he had spoken about the prospect of more training sessions with amped up crowd noise via loudspeakers. "He was saying that he is thinking to bring in the noise and make more noise for us," Manpreet Singh said in an interview to this daily on Thursday. "(I don't know) when but he was planning to do it. We haven't spoken about it (after that). To be honest, his thinking is wild."
There is of course a connection between crowd noise and Indian hockey. Fulton had addressed that issue during an interaction with this daily during the Pro League in Rourkela last month. "If we had an empty Stadium and we played that game (he was referencing the Australia game where India lost 4-6 in Bhubaneswar in February), I think we would have had a different result," the South African had said. "In the sense of what happens to the players, what's expected of them, what is the next emotional decision they make because we are trying to play harder, faster. What happens to the expectations when we get into the opponent's half? It goes through the roof. That's why it's such a beautiful spectacle. But at the same time, if you are out of control in that space and another team works on that, how does it help you? Nothing to take away from the players and the passion of the fans."
A former Indian men's hockey coach too had done this (Harendra Singh had reportedly got the team used to it before the 2018 World Cup at home). There's no guarantee that such a system works. Arsenal, for example, were thrashed 4-0 at Liverpool a few days after this experiment. The men's team, if they plan to recreate it again, will hope for better results.
Meanwhile, the men's team will leave for Australia in 10 days' time.