Bhaichung Bhutia on India’s over-reliance on Sunil Chhetri: the time he gets to his second retirement, he might have a head haemorrhage! | Football News
“ the time he (Sunil Chhetri) gets to his second retirement, he might have a head haemorrhage! (laughs) For the club, for the country, everybody is only trying to cross (the ball) to his head.”
Bhaichung Bhutia says this in jest. But underneath the laughter lies a growing concern over India’s ‘predictable’ line of attack and the over-reliance on the country’s highest-goalscorer, Chhetri, to keep on scoring; mostly from inaccurate crosses.
Dismayed after India’s goalless draw against 185th-ranked Bangladesh earlier this week, as well as the overall state of Indian football, Bhutia said ‘For the whole game, we lacked a lot of options in terms of attack’. “We were only relying on… it was a very predictable kind of attack, where you go past the wing and dribble, pass, cross, and expect Sunil to just head the ball and score,” he told The Indian Express.
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When asked why the current bunch of attackers can’t seem to create chances or score goals, Bhutia said the players now need to be ‘very, very smart’ because the defensive structures have evolved.
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“But those days, again, defending also not like today, right? Those days, your defenders were also not trained to defend in a line, in a shape. You also could score. Now, today’s football has become more of a complete system. It’s very important to really be very, very smart in terms of passes, runs, positioning. Because your defenders are all now trained to mark zonal or man, or position or shape,” Bhutia said.
He added: “It’s just not technical. It’s also about smart runs; the guy who’s going to release also should be smart enough with the timing of the pass. Look at the last match against Bangladesh.”
Bhutia said he wasn’t happy with Chhetri coming out from retirement — after India were unable to find the back of the net while he was away — but was even more disappointed that the talisman didn’t get much support.Story continues below this ad
“Not a single cross ( an Indian) from the wings landed between the goalkeeper and the defenders and you’re only depending on Sunil’s headers. the time he gets to his second retirement, he might have a head haemorrhage! (laughs) For the club, for the country, everybody is only trying to cross (the ball) to his head.”
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