Sreejesh blames switching to zonal marking for shaky defence

Bengaluru: A long-standing weakness of the Indian men’s hockey team has been the defence. Leaking goals right at the death when the game is on the balance or defenders losing their shape when opponents mount pressure on them during matches have often cost India dear.In the recently concluded World Cup in the Netherlands and Belgium, India conceded a whopping 19 goals in six matches to finish a disappointing eighth. In fact, since the start of the FIH Pro League in February, the defence has fallen apart way too often despite head coach Craig Fulton’s greater emphasis on it. In 16 matches, India have been able to register an abysmally poor four wins in regulation time, not because of their inability to score but primarily because of the extremely porous defence. One the losses include an 8-0 pasting at the hand of Argentina. Hockey India DG stripped of powers amid jersey row, eight charges levelledIndia complete junior Asia Cup hockey hat-trick; qualify for World CupFormer India goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, in an interaction with select media arranged by Sony Sports ahead of the all-important Asian Games beginning this Saturday, pinned the blame on India’s switch to zonal marking under Fulton and their failure to adapt to it as the reason behind the Achilles Heel flaring up badly again.”Before when we used to play, we used to go for more man-to-man marking. Everyone understands their roles really faster because, if you are not having anybody in your position, you just go and mark somebody who is free. So that was more transparent for the players to understand. It’s more easy for anybody to coordinate.” said Sreejesh.“But nowadays we are playing a system which is a different structure. Asking the defenders to do more zonal kind of marking requires more communication and understanding, because you may see 2-3 people in the same zone, and sometimes you get confused about whom I should go and whom I should be with. We just need to identify it because defence is the one area where we need a clear clarification about what they are doing and how they’re going to execute it.”Despite a torrid World Cup and a woeful season so far, Sreejesh tipped his former colleagues to successfully retain the gold and punch the direct ticket to the Los Angeles Olympics. “I think for the men’s team, Pakistan and Malaysia are going to be the toughest battles. India might get Pakistan again in the finals, and we are going to win it. And for the women’s team, definitely China and Japan. For the women’s team, we just need to kill the team which we are getting into the semifinals and the finals. The players are capable enough. You know, the way they played in the World Cup, finishing fifth was incredible. If they play with the same energy and intensity, I think they too can top the podium.”Note: Watch Asian Games 2026 live and exclusively on Sony Sports Network and Sony LIV

Source: Deccan Herald