A year back, chaos reigned supreme in the case of the Indian men's hockey team.
Take the example of the 2023 FIH World Cup, specifically the crossover against New Zealand for a place in the quarterfinals. In Bhubaneswar that night, India took a 2-0 lead and looked comfortably set. This was them living up to what they were: a team defined by their attacking hockey and the scoring of goals doing just that. But this was also a team defined by conceding goals, especially late in the match. As the game progressed into the second-half, India's defence started crumbling in the chaotic, incessant pursuit of more goals. 2-0 became 3-1 and in the final quarter, it became 3-3. Towards the end, India had to hold on to force a penalty shootout: which they'd go on to lose, breaking hearts and their long unfulfilled World Cup dreams. One of the favourites was out even before the serious business began.
Nine months later, under a new coach, India played a very different brand of hockey in another high-pressure match. This was the final of the Hangzhou Asian Games, against Japan, for gold and a place in the Paris Olympics. It could've been another chaotic night against an opposition much like New Zealand, but India had absolute control throughout the match. They started slowly, calmly picked their moments to attack and eventually scored five goals to clinch the gold medal.
This is the story of that transformation. From chaos to control. From Graham Reid to Craig Fulton.
Why the change in style?
Now, it's not like the philosophy of chaos hadn't worked for the team. Under Graham Reid, they broke a major drought at the Olympics, winning bronze at Tokyo, and they did it by overwhelming their opponents with that direct, attacking style of hockey. That same style had gotten them good results in the Pro League as well -- it seemed this attacking hockey came naturally to the players.
That a new coach comes in with new ideas is not something out of the ordinary. Speaking to ESPN, even Fulton agrees that the Indian team didn't lack all that much before he took over, but what he wanted was balance in how they play.
"I've been coaching for a long time, and you've to realise what the strengths of the group are and the areas of improvement," he says. "You've got to manage what you're good at, and areas to improve, because if you're losing games by two goals and you don't work on improving that...how do you win? Some days, you score goals, and you win, other days you can't score, and you concede three goals to lose the game."
The conceding goals part is the key point here. For while India played a very attractive style under Reid, they seemed to be always vulnerable at the back. It's natural, of course: when a team is relentlessly going forward, it opens up spaces for the opposition to attack. Being such a fast sport, it's then really tough for players to fall back every time they lose the ball. And that means, top nations like Belgium, Australia, Germany, Netherlands can exploit this weakness quite easily. In fact, that's exactly what New Zealand, an underdog, did in that fateful World Cup match.
That match underlined the truth that India's tactic of outscoring opponents was not the way forward: especially not against top teams in big tournaments where pressure plays a big part. Fulton, who had been part of the hugely successful Belgium national team and other European clubs, wanted to bring in the one major aspect that had made those teams such winners - control. Specifically, he wanted to strengthen the team's defensive structures.
"Defend to attack", he calls it. Fulton elaborates: "You have different ways of winning the ball back, [like] the high press which is India's strength. But we also have to try a different way, by being more compact, which you've seen in the Pro League. We have done a bit of half court defending -- man-to-man and zonal. That brought us into the counter-attack stage where we won the ball -- it added a different dimension to the way we attack and organise ourselves."
Positive results, early, under the new method
A new system, though, is only as good as the results it brings. Fulton says it took time to implement certain changes, but once the players saw it was working, they went all in. In one of his first tournaments as a head coach, Fulton's team played this different style and achieved success.
"One of the best things that happened was we went to the Asian Champions Trophy and won there, playing in this new style," he says. "That was important. It was still difficult in the final (against Malaysia), when we went 3-1 down and won the game. At the end of the day, when it works, the guys get a lot of confidence," says Fulton.
India were defensively solid throughout the tournament but in the final, they needed their attacking strength after going down in the first half. In a big game, it's not always possible to have complete control, or stop the opposition from scoring. In such situations, India can rely on their attacking hockey. This is the balance Fulton wanted to implement when he first took charge.
The players have now completely taken to his methods. Gone are those days where India were extremely quick off the blocks. They are not slow per se, but the focus has been on keeping the ball and maintaining defensive shape. After the Asian Champions Trophy success, Fulton's India went to the Asian Games and won gold in Hangzhou. In the biggest match of his short reign as India coach, Fulton's philosophy shone through.
If you're a football fan, you'll get this - Fulton is a fan of the Jose Mourinho way. If done right, he insists, there are big benefits. India can play their quick attacking game because it has always been there in their DNA, but now they can also pick and choose those moments where they break out and exploit space.
"No disrespect to the low block," he says. "Sometimes, in phases, when a team is doing very well, it's something to keep your numbers close together and if you can turn them over from that, you have 70 yards of space. We can counter-attack," Fulton said after India's 1-0 win over Ireland at the Pro League.
The low block was very effective against the mighty Dutch in the recent Pro League matches. Both the games ended in a draw (1-1 and 2-2) in normal time. Netherlands came hard, but India didn't make it easy for them when they had the ball. It was an intense tactical battle over the two matches and India showed defensive resilience, while being effective with their chances.
Big setback #1: Australia
The recently concluded Australia tour proved to be stiffer challenge to Fulton's methods, the first real big setback under the new coach. India, who were using the tour as preparations for the Paris Games, lost all five matches in the series. The initial expectation was that India's newly adopted strategy will make it tougher for Australia to play their natural aggressive hockey and India could pull off a couple of positive results, but that wasn't exactly the case.
To be clear, India's defence did improve as the series progressed. The low block did make it difficult for Australia to score goals freely in the way they love to. The specific issue in the series, though, was the fact that India's attack failed to deliver. The counterattacking, so crucial to Fulton's style, didn't click because the attackers were not quick on the break and committed sloppy mistakes on the ball. The series provided a crucial learning for Fulton's team, showing the importance of actually executing their plan. While mistakes, errors and negative results don't matter much in a tour like this, India cannot afford to do the same at the upcoming Olympics.
The Olympic challenge
Playing a certain way is no guarantee for success or medals. For all the transformation in style, things could still go wrong and there could be no medal for the team at the Paris Games. The challenge at the Olympic level is daunting and Fulton knows that India need to step up in every department to have a shot at gold.
"Penalty corners are going to be big so will be penalty corner defence. India have all of those, India are competitive in all departments." Craig Fulton
As it is the case always, there are no easy groups in the Olympics with India set to play Belgium, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, and Ireland in Group B of their Paris campaign. The top four teams from each group qualify for the quarterfinals.
For Fulton, the grouping doesn't make much of a difference. "I wouldn't say one team has got the best goalkeeper over the other. I think all the teams are similar," he says. "You've got a few teams who have got strong penalty corner attacks and variations. And a lot of these games will come down to penalty corners. If you get three or four penalty corners and you're scoring one or two, it's going to make a big difference. Penalty corners are going to be big so will be penalty corner defence. India have all of those, India are competitive in all departments."
India have a world class midfielder in Hardik Singh. Captain Harmanpreet Singh is the one of the best dragflickers in the world right now. Equally important is the goalkeeper, where again India have one of the best shot-stoppers in the game -- PR Sreejesh. And when it comes to penalty corner defence, both Amit Rohidas and Manpreet Singh have been doing a solid job over many years as rushers.
This is an exciting squad - this a set of players who are considered world class with plenty of big tournament experience and a promising bunch of youngsters. Going to the final at the Olympics is never going to be easy and it's highly unlikely that they will win all the matches, that's why it's pertinent they need to click as a team in the right moments. Like how it happened at the previous Olympics, when they were thrashed by Australia 1-7 but still ended up with the bronze.
Right now India will look to perfect their style and iron out the flaws at the Pro League away games in May. The focus, though, is very much on Paris.