Disastrous! What else can I say after this humiliating last-place finish by our hockey team. This humiliation will rankle all of us as long as we live.

Whoever was saying that India would be in the last-four was either far away from reality or pulling up a fast one. Frankly, I never expected them to be in the last four… I thought they would be in the top eight. But never in my wildest dreams I expected them to perform this bad.

The thumping wins in the Olympic qualifiers gave everyone an impression that Indian hockey was back with a bang. Oppositions like France were expected to be rolled over… And the impressionables went to town celebrating India’s return to Olympics!

London has proved how far we are lagging behind teams like Germany, Australia and the Netherlands. We were expected to beat South Korea, Belgium and South Africa. But these days we cannot even beat them! What a pity.

There was no clarity of thought and I think Michael Nobbs should get the stick for that. Here’s a coach who thought of transforming India into a champion outfit like Australia, but ended up taking us to the gallows.

Unnecessarily he tinkered with the goalkeeper’s position. He should have either gone for captain Bharat Chetri or Sreejesh. This rotation was very disturbing. Also, when a captain doesn’t get a start, it shows how poorly we have planned our things.

He is trying to save his skin by telling the media, that too in the middle of a tournament like the Olympics, how his players under-performed. I find this a stupid thing to do. Why should you go public with what’s happening in the dressing room?

Tactically also Nobbs did not bring anything new on board. Accent was too much on attack and that left gaping holes in the midfield and defence. And when you have poor defenders like Sandeep Singh, VR Raghunath and Ignace Tirkey, disaster is always waiting to happen. We conceded 21 goals and it shows how poorly we performed at the back.

Talking about the players’ performance, barring Sardara Singh, everyone flopped. Lot of players looked lethargic. Heads will definitely roll after this debacle. I think it’s end of the road for players like Tushar Khandekar and Tirkey... I expected Gurbaaz Singh to perform well, but he too faltered. The frontliners were so poor throughout that we managed to score just eight goals! What can you do when your forwards miss chances?

We should now forget about 2016 Rio Games… Even if we qualify, we should not hope much from our hockey team. The target should be the 2020 Games and then take one step at a time. If you want reach the fourth floor, you cannot skip the first three floors.

A long-term plan is the need of the hour. Whoever is the coach should be at the helm for a minimum four years. And Indian coaches should be allowed to exchange notes with the foreign ones regularly. Unless we buck up fast, our hockey will continue to remain in the abyss.