KUALA LUMPUR: Former national coach C. Paramalingam wants players who did not perform up to the mark in the recent World Hockey League semi-finals in Johor Baru to be dropped from the squad.
He said that new blood should be injected into the national team to replace players whose performances have become “stagnant and stale”.
“Some of them cannot cope with the pressure and it was obvious in the matches against Pakistan and Germany,” said Paramalingam, a former Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) coaching committee chairman.
“In the opening match against Pakistan, we had a 4-1 lead but defensive lapses resulted in us letting Pakistan off the hook and struggling to a 4-4 draw.
“The forwards did well to score four goals but the backline made the same old mistakes.
“We should had won that match and finished in the top two in the group ... and avoided playing against Germany in the quarter-finals.
“But the defence was again a big letdown against Germany as we conceded six goals in 18 minutes.
“The goalkeeping department also needs to be looked into seriously for letting in soft goals.”
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