Not afraid to use young players – Ricki

Nov 11, 2015 - 06:54:34 |
Ricki Herbert during today's press conference. (Photo: Ibrahim Faid)

Male’, MALDIVES – Maldives national team coach Ricki Herbert has said that he is not afraid to play young players against Hong Kong tomorrow and there are very good young players in the team.

“I am looking forward for a good game and you may see some different faces tomorrow and it’s all about consistency not about history. I have watched them played and trained them. The Maldives have very nice resorts but I came here not on a holiday and I am doing what I came here.” Ricki said in the pre match press conference held at National Stadium today.

Ricki also said that there are very young and talented players in the Maldives and he gave them the chance.

“I want to see players who want to play well and they are consistent and when I watched the league games there are few young players who are consistent. So I gave them the chance to show how good they are.” Former New Zealand coach Ricki said.

He also added that he wants to change the mentality of the players and it will take time to do that.

“We want to play good competitive games and when I watched the previous games Maldives played very defensively. But I want to change the mentality of the players. Lets not hold these players in the back and let them press the game.”

Ricki also added that Maldives is the highest ranked team in SAFF region now and it’s a big thing for the Maldives.

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Fan on Nov 11
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It is not that Maldives players are deliberately playing a defensive game. Against technically better sides, they have no choice but sit deep in their own half because they cant keep possession. When they get the ball with second or third pass they lose the possession again. When that is the situation they are in, how do you expect Maldives ever think of playing an attack-minded game. To create and launch a attack you need a midfield to work in tandem with the strikers. If that midfield is overworked as they are forced to chase the ball for most of the times where is the question of playing attacking games. They forced to play what they are handed out by the opposition. And if the opposition is technically better team like Hong Kong they are forced to play a defensive game.
footballmad on Nov 12
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I don't think Maldives are a technically inferior side when compared to HK. In the away game we were extremely unlucky to have lost key players early in the game due to injury. Yet still we were creating chances until the last minute. That was the away game and now we have our home game. Our players can outdo HK and I hope they come out of the game with big smiles! Most of all, I wish both teams an enjoyable match.
Amjad on Nov 12
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Exactly. I don't know why there are dislikes to your comment, its good to hear their view rather than the dislikes. Even if we keep 5 or 6 attacking players on the pitch, if we don't have possession, and cant make more than 3 consecutive passes, the attacking players will be forced to get back and sit behind the ball. ::: Most of the time our team will be in the stage of "building an attack" but they will loose the ball too quickly, and they have to start the process again. That makes us look defensive. I think this view is 85% correct, to all our matches played with stronger opponents.
Imma on Nov 13
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Obviously after last nights possession based style of football you have no knowledge ,team proved that they can play attacking minded football agains stronger teams from Asia at last a good coach.
ANti on Nov 12
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They are out of tournament, why should you be afraid. There is no point of playing this game so no pressure, no expectation. you can round up bunch kids from secondary schools and send then straight to pitch, it doesn't matter. this match is pointless.
Amjad on Nov 12
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Not exactly. Please have a look at the qualification format. Yes, now we won't qualify for world cup, but i should say who was stupid enough to have such a dream in the first place??!!! Anyway, we all are waiting to see us qualify to the Asian Cup. Even after this loss, we are at the moment the 5th best team (ranking of the 4th teams from all groups ), the 4 best team will go to the Asian Cup qualification. So that means if we can still win the remaining 2 matches we can still avoid the Asian Cup play off.
Imma on Nov 13
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You must be a crap supporter,no loyalty to your team and country.
agon on Nov 16
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ANTi- i fully agree with you. but it seems we have messi and gerrard playing for our side and we still could not win....SHOCKED!

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