We still lack consistency, says India coach Marijne

NEWDELHI: Asia Cup title under his belt, India coach Sjoerd Marijne still feels consistency is something which his wards need to work on to bridge the gap with the top teams.

“I am really happy because it was my first tournament as India men’s team coach. We really played good hockey. I really feel happy for the players and the Indian hockey fans for the good start,” Marijne said after striking gold on his maiden assignment as India coach.

However consistency is the key, believes Marijne. “We still lack consistency which was evident in the final against Malaysia. We should have scored more goals in the final but our levels dropped too low in the final quarter and it allowed Malaysia to make a comeback.

“We really played very good attacking hockey and scored some beautiful field goals, but we were not consistent,” he added.

Eight-time Olympic champions India dished out beautiful one-touch, attacking hockey, a style reminiscent of their glorious past and it resulted in 21 fantastic field goals in the tournament. And Marijne, who took over the team just last month after the sudden ouster of the legendary Roelant Oltmans, feels India can be a lethal force against any opposition if they can carry on with the same style of play in the upcoming tournaments.

“I am a big fan of ‘give and go’ hockey because as you saw in the Asia Cup, it created plenty of scoring options for us. This style of hockey is really difficult to defend especially with the amount of speed one can generate,” he explained.

Marijne also praised Manpreet’s leadership skills.

“Manpreet leadership was exceptional. In the last 7 minutes in the final quarter, he took the responsibility on himself to keep defence together in marking the Malaysians. That’s exactly what I wanted from the players.”

The coach admitted that as the top-ranked team in the tournament, returning without the title would have been disastrous.