India chief coach Rajinder Singh has all along refused to single out anyone for blame for the team's dismal showing in the Champions Trophy hockey tournament, which concluded in Amstelveen, near Amsterdam, on Sunday.
But after India lost the bronze medal match to Pakistan and ended fourth in the tournament for the second year running, the coach slammed his forwards.
"It [the bronze medal playoff against Pakistan] was a neck-and-neck fight," Singh told rediff.com on telephone from Amsterdam. "We had so many chances, but our forwards let us down. They just failed to score. In international tournaments like this, you can't do that."
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Singh was also critical about the inability of the forwards to force penalty corners. "They were not sure of themselves," said the coach, who used to be a penalty corner specialist in his playing days. "I am worried about that."
He admitted that the team missed midfielders Baljit Singh Saini and Ignace Tirkey, who had to sit out today because of injuries sustained in the last match against Pakistan.
"Both are good players; we missed them in midfield," he said.
But, overall, he felt the team did not perform to its potential. "I am even worried about the midfield," he said. "We have to improve our man-to-man marking. When we come back we will have to work hard on these areas before the Asia Cup.
"We could have finished second or third, but we made mistakes at crucial moments."
Rajinder Singh added, however, that there were some positives from the tournament as well. "[Goalkeeper] Devesh Chauhan did very well," he said. "Then some of our junior boys [he refused to name anyone] did very well. So, there were also some good points."
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He had a word of praise for the Pakistanis, saying, "They played well today, particularly the defence. After losing the other day, their players knew whom to mark and did their jobs well."
