LAHORE, Nov 25: Pakistan hockey coach Shahnaz Sheikh Monday said the team lacked consistency, gave reasonable performances but not acceptable results.

“The team doesn’t perform consistently, gives reasonable performance but not reasonable results. It doesn’t know the difference between sense and common sense.

“The team accepts instructions for the sake of acceptance, not for implementation and performs poorly in 25 yard area,” he told a press conference.

Former Olympian replied in the affirmative, when asked if the team still had the same weak points despite being trained under him and others in the past.

However, he said the team was suffering from problems from a very long time and it would take time to remove them.

But he also had some positive points to say about the team when he said that the outfit had the will to regain lost glory and was still a threat for the oppositions.

“The team has the ability to stage a comeback and it’s a side which can entertain the crowd with attacking game,” he added.

Shahnaz said he had chalked out a strategy for future by keeping in mind the minus and plus points of the current team.

He said he didn’t believe in anything less than victory and would go for the gold medal in all the forthcoming competitions as it had been long time since Pakistan won a major title.

Shahnaz said any player who could deliver 100 per cent had the right to stay in the team.

“I don’t believe in age factor because a player with regular training  can keep himself fit for the game for a longer period,” he remarked.

Shahnaz, who was coach in 1998 and manager in 1999 before being sacked in 2000, did not agree that like Islahuddin, Hanif Khan and Tahir Zaman he was also a tested and rejected official.

He said in his last tenure, the team was improving gradually and had played three finals of international tournaments. “Had I been allowed to carry on until 2000 Sydney Olympics, the team could have achieved better results,” Shahnaz claimed.

Shahnaz admitted being a technocrat chief selector, Akhtar Rasool, would be enjoying more say in the selection process unlike his predecessors Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali and Col S.K. Tressler.

But he added that difference of opinion would be healthy for building a strong outfit.

He considered the selection committee an essential part of the PHF until a full-time coach had not been hired. He said that coaches in Pakistan had to rejoin their respective departments after being sacked.

He further explained that the PHF president Gen Muhammad Aziz Khan had instructed the selection committee to give maximum time to the training camps.

However, the selection committee had  been playing a formal role and on various occasions, even the chief selector failed to watch the probables at the trials.

Shahnaz remarked that he had been appointed until 2004 Athens Olympics, but added PHF could remove him by reviewing his performance after an year.

He said he was considering to hire the services of psychologist for the team.

The training camp for the Greens, having seniors national players who would be included for the domestic league, will be organized at the National Hockey Stadium from Dec 8.

The league involving Greens, Whites and Juniors is being held from Dec 20 to 27 to prepare strong national teams for the upcoming events.

Assistant coach Tahir Zaman, who has been demoted after back-to-back defeats earlier this year, said he felt easy working under Shahnaz and hoped the team would click under the new management.

Tahir said former manager Col Zafar Ali Khan’s old age and remaining out of touch with the game for a long time had affected the team because of which it did not fare well.

Zafar resigned as manager after team returned empty-handed from Asian Games in Busan for the first time in the history of hockey.