Subject: [U21] Attila

First of all, I am very pleased with the result, especially that our opponent did not score a goal. Looking at the group stats, we can see that Republica Dominika is a very high squad average value and India is 6th on this list.

We managed to score 2 goals and really - as KautukP wrote - we had a lot more shots on goal, more chances to score even more goals. But even with these, I am very satisfied. It helped us a bit that a player got a red card from opponent. But it didn’t depend on that, I think we would have won against 11 players as well.

Yes, as you write, we are in 4th place halfway through the series. It’s a good performance, maybe that’s the maximum that’s available in the end as well. It would have been a draw against Belgium and Norway to exceed the maximum :)

We got 50 points in the world rankings with this win. I want to advance the Team to 60th place next season, but it will be very difficult, currently 200 points behind Honduras.

The previous sentence said that I would like to continue to lead India U21 next season :)
(edited)

The previous sentence said that I would like to continue to lead India U21 next season :)

So far you are doing a really great job on all fronts right from the tactical front to the training management of players and thus we'll be delighted to have you continue as our coach in the next season as well. I'm sure others will concur with me :)
(edited)

Thank you for your kind words, I will continue to try to bring out the best from the Team. I am glad that you continue to support me.

I’m also already looking at who can play for the U21 team next season. Defenders, midfielders and strikers will continue to train well. I still see a problem with the goalkeepers because Lavanya doesn’t play full matches at his club. On the other hand, someone should also be found because a 19-year-old goalkeeper is coming from your youth academy soon. He really needs a seat at Coach GK.

Meyappan has been okayish in the junior league games but let's see if he gets a strong GK skill.

Next match is coming today: Magyarország U20 - India U21

I’ve been thinking about trying out a new tactic, but against such a strong opponent, this isn’t the time to experiment.

We are playing against one of the strongest U-teams today. Hungary is my country, their U21 team is the 5th strongest. Although we get so many advantages today that the opponent will have an age limit (20 years), they will still be significantly stronger. The best players play for us in the match because it is a great chance to get world ranking points.

I will be wondering how to manage to resist an opponent who is expected to attack with 3 strikers. If we had another strong defender, it would be possible to stand up with 5 defensive tactics. Unfortunately, we do not have the opportunity to do so now.

I hope we have some good attacks, it would be good to score a goal.

Squad
1 Harvinder Lavanya GK
2 Arijith Biswas DEF
3 Senthil Munusamy DEF
4 Arun Chiba DEF
5 Lanel Zev DEF
6 Murli Rochan MID
7 Hardip Anees MID
8 Tejas Satwant MID
9 Nikhil Nikhil MID
10 Sarabjith Suksma ATT
11 Dominic Sundaramoorthy ATT

12 Kashi Chohan GK
13 Ajayan Makarand DEF
14 Vijay Mehul DEF
15 Satish Gambhir MID
16 Tomba Shilpa ATT
Set pieces
Free kick: not specified
Penalty kick: Dominic Sundaramoorthy
Conditional orders
Min. Condition / Action
1' red card or no player
Murli Rochan on position 2
1' red card or no player
Murli Rochan on position 3
1' red card or no player
Murli Rochan on position 4
1' red card or no player
Murli Rochan on position 5
60' always
Vijay Mehul on position 2
70' always
Satish Gambhir on position 8
70' always
Tomba Shilpa on position 10

Looks good.

Our small team did a great job even today, they fought great with the stronger opponent. It was a little (not a little) annoying that we had to play -1 player in full 2nd half because of the red card. And so we managed to score and we were ahead for a short time.

Unfortunately, by the end of the match, the match engine had validated the difference between the two teams. At least so much so that there was no tie for the outcome. But I think it’s still a big success, even if we lost the match in the 90th minute. I hope we get some points on the world rankings for that.

Yes it should have been a draw but that's not at all a bad result against a top 10 team considering the fact that we were down to 10 men from 2nd half onwards and even though they were playing with their U20 team. But that pass from Satwant for the 1st goal was really good, Anees was trying something similar from the 1st half but their defenders weren't lettting Sunda get away. I think we still got extra points due to the low margin so now there's a considerable gap between us and Wales now.
The only issue now is that we won't have the services of Nikhil in the next game against Republica Dominicana but I think Gambhir is always there to take the place of any midfielder who gets red carded or injured.
On a side note, I hope it wasn't difficult trying to beat your home country ;)
(edited)

Another World Cup qualifier match is against Rep. Dominicana. I want to see the same game I managed to win 2 weeks ago, but you also need to know that their team is stronger based on the stats.

For the first time in our team, Raman Najeeb is given a chance (20 minutes), which is why Nikhil is unfortunately unable to play today due to his ban. Gambhir will be replaced by Nikhil in the starting line-up, who is an equally good player, unfortunately Gambhir's speed is a bit low.

The other posts will be played by a team that I think is well-used in previous matches. Of course, there can't be no expectation a draw today or another victory, but I am confident that we will be able to surprise again.

Squad
1 Harvinder Lavanya GK
2 Arijith Biswas DEF
3 Senthil Munusamy DEF
4 Arun Chiba DEF
5 Lanel Zev DEF
6 Murli Rochan MID
7 Hardip Anees MID
8 Tejas Satwant MID
9 Satish Gambhir MID
10 Sarabjith Suksma ATT
11 Dominic Sundaramoorthy ATT

12 Kashi Chohan GK
13 Ajayan Makarand DEF
14 Vijay Mehul DEF
15 Raman Najeeb MID
16 Tomba Shilpa ATT
Set pieces
Free kick: not specified
Penalty kick: Dominic Sundaramoorthy
Conditional orders
Min. Condition / Action
1' red card or no player
Murli Rochan on position 2
1' red card or no player
Murli Rochan on position 3
1' red card or no player
Murli Rochan on position 4
1' red card or no player
Murli Rochan on position 5
60' always
Vijay Mehul on position 2
70' always
Raman Najeeb on position 8
70' always
Tomba Shilpa on position 10

Oooops we did it again!

A great victory with playing 10 man from 18th minute. I'm very proud for our little but strong TEAM.

I think it's become a habit for us now to beat Republica Dominicana :P

Nice to see Najeeb getting a game, I think we need to slowly start considering our team for the next season as well so we can definitely rotate a few of our players as subs or something. Looks like Nikhil will get in for the next game but now Rochan will be unavailable which gives an opportunity for other players to raise their hand up as well, just like Najeeb got a game today. Surprised to see him getting an avg mark of 45 considering he never crossed 40 previously. Estrada from their team had a really good chance and I thought they would score but he took a long time to shoot and was eventually thwarted by Zev. Sums up their team as well, they have just scored once in the past 6 games which means their strikers are either below par or they are just playing with the wrong tactics. And of course, we also are using better tactics than them.

Yes a great result again. Especially with 10 men.
It just shows the importance of tactics.
Credit to Attila for slaying higher ranked teams almost every week.

Norge - India

The team is facing another difficult task. There was a lot of thinking about banning Murli Rochan. In the end, I decided that Suksma would take the place of Rochan. Suksma is trained as a defender anyway, but based on his striker qualities, he is the 2nd best striker, which is why he used to play forward so far.

Unfortunately, another hurdle is low stamina, which is very important in post 6 (Rochan’s post). Due to Suksma's weak stamina, he has to be replaced in the 2nd half, and Murugappa will take his place again only after a lot of thinking.

I will even wonder how Satwant will perform as a striker. Maybe another long shot like against Belgium? :)

I trust the team, but unfortunately today our defense will be visible again. I will be happy if we have some counterattacks.

Squad
1 Harvinder Lavanya GK
2 Arijith Biswas DEF
3 Senthil Munusamy DEF
4 Arun Chiba DEF
5 Lanel Zev DEF
6 Sarabjith Suksma DEF
7 Hardip Anees MID
8 Nikhil Nikhil MID
9 Satish Gambhir MID
10 Tejas Satwant ATT
11 Dominic Sundaramoorthy ATT

12 Kashi Chohan GK
13 Vijay Mehul DEF
14 Naushad Murugappa DEF
15 Raman Najeeb MID
16 Tomba Shilpa ATT
Set pieces
Free kick: not specified
Penalty kick: Dominic Sundaramoorthy
Conditional orders
Min. Condition / Action
1' red card or no player
Sarabjith Suksma on position 2
1' red card or no player
Sarabjith Suksma on position 3
1' red card or no player
Sarabjith Suksma on position 4
1' red card or no player
Sarabjith Suksma on position 5
60' always
Vijay Mehul on position 4
60' always
Naushad Murugappa on position 6
70' always
Tomba Shilpa on position 11

Makes sense.

Another great win, we seem to be on a roll! The best win for India U-21 since I joined the game. Lavanya's performance today reminded me of Chandramouli, he was just top notch today, it almost looked like the ball was sticking to his hands. This time, they had actually come well prepared and were over us throughout, the stats clearly reflect that in the play in half and the number of shots taken. But that fumble from Ulland cost them, Sundaramoorthy doing the honors for us. Ulland was pretty much their worst player throughout. 2 of their changes cost them the game I think, Ulland was not part of their squad that defeated us and the goalscorer Grollund came as a sub in this game. And even though their midfield of Liland, Ulvin and Kjeldsberg was really strong, their striker Sorby wasn't impressive and the other one Trengereid showed a lot of potential but for some reason was placed behind Sorby. So they made quite a few player selection and positional blunders even though this time they were very strong tactically. Loved the way Gambhir played, he was quick to release the ball on most occasions and Murugappa who got a game after a long time too did his job. Our defenders fumbled quite a lot but because of them being so close together, there was always someone to get the ball and clear it. Suksma wasn't too bad in his new position as well, nice innovative thinking there. I'm sure the Norway coach will be very frustrated with the way the game went ;)
Wow, we also will go to 3rd place in the group with this win!

Another great win, we seem to be on a roll! The best win for India U-21 since I joined the game. Lavanya's performance today reminded me of Chandramouli, he was just top notch today, it almost looked like the ball was sticking to his hands. This time, they had actually come well prepared and were over us throughout, the stats clearly reflect that in the play in half and the number of shots taken. But that fumble from Ulland cost them, Sundaramoorthy doing the honors for us. Ulland was pretty much their worst player throughout. 2 of their changes cost them the game I think, Ulland was not part of their squad that defeated us and the goalscorer Grollund came as a sub in this game. And even though their midfield of Liland, Ulvin and Kjeldsberg was really strong, their striker Sorby wasn't impressive and the other one Trengereid showed a lot of potential but for some reason was placed behind Sorby. So they made quite a few player selection and positional blunders even though this time they were very strong tactically. Loved the way Gambhir played, he was quick to release the ball on most occasions and Murugappa who got a game after a long time too did his job. Our defenders fumbled quite a lot but because of them being so close together, there was always someone to get the ball and clear it. Suksma wasn't too bad in his new position as well, nice innovative thinking there. I'm sure the Norway coach will be very frustrated with the way the game went ;)
Wow, we also will go to 3rd place in the group with this win!