Players that DO NOT belong in TM....

[BehzadB]

players that do not belong to TM, OK, here are a few, but the list can change (it usually grows )


1. NIKI
2. Fekri
3. Majidi
4. Kaabi
5. Khatibi
6. Akbar Pour
7. Rajab Zadeh
8. Kazemi (although as a reserve body, I don't mind him)

(there are some players on the list that I have never seen play, so can't say)

I would not have a problem with someone like Kaabi or khatibi being on the team (as bench warmers) but I can not for the life of me undrestand what the hell niki is doing there.

[faraz]

4. Kaabi

explain to me this choice????

in my opinion, not including kaebi is absurd...on what basis should we discard of the brightest prospect in our football who plays a position where it is very difficult to be stellar?

[BehzadB]

explain to me this choice????

in my opinion, not including kaebi is absurd...on what basis should we discard of the brightest prospect in our football who plays a position where it is very difficult to be stellar?

Faraz jaan, It's qutie simple (as it usually is with me )

Kaabi has already shown us the best he will ever be in his football life, and it wasn't much. He may do 'this' and 'that' in Asia , but he's no world player.


he is simply too SMALL for any World class football position, but specially for a defender. The only reason he made a name for himself is because he was really fast. That's not enough in football.

he could still make a half decent football career for himself, but he has to move from the back spot to a front md/forward who runs like a little marmoolak, to score or create scoring chances.

He can NOT be a defender and be successfull in fooball at a high level. He is too SMALL. He couldn't hold his spot in Foolad. And when he was used by foolad coach , he was often up front. as they say, he is not a defense man in football. (but yet he was our right defender in the WC! Bravo Branko).

so even if you are gonna use this little man, use him in ofense where he can use his speed to run between players. Like AZIZI. Why would you put an azizi like player (less skillful, much faster) in right defensive spot when you have a Shakouri or 10 others like shakouri in IPL? With Kaabi whenever an opponant crosses the ball, you know you are one man down.

and I can not forgive Branko/staff for wasting a world class experience for another plyer that had far more chance than Kaabi to become a backbone man for the right side. Like Kia did in 1998. Kaabi never had a chance against any wc player. All he did was foul them and give up corners and outs. And that was his best. He will never be anything better than that. Remember how he made his biggest noise? When he crossed the ball for karimi's header against Korea AC04. (his contribution in ofense).

there have been a lot of plyaers like kaabi who made a name for themselves and shined for a while but they were not IT for TM. players such as Mansourian, Majidi, niki, khatibi, enayatee, and many many more from the past to present. They are not IT for TM for their own reasons, but Kaabi's is for his size (mostly) and the position that Branko was so persistant in using him.

I think GN is absolutly right for not playing Kaabi and instead playing this new kid. This new kid, Shakouri. I tell you, I am sure I have seen him play for Pas a few times but never really noticed him. He did not have a great game against syria either, but I saw enough from him to say he has more of a chance to become a TM right defender than kaabi does. He is tall, agile, "roo pa" and jumps great. He could have had a couple of goals in that game, right off his head. Imagine what a good coach can do with him? Kaabi was already worked on for years by an educated wc coach and that's what he showed in the WC. So that's the reason(s) that I don't think much of Kaabi as a pro football player.

Sorry about the long respond. Such short question, shouldn't take such long answer.

[faraz]

Behzad Jan,

actually, i enjoyed the long reply to be honest

but i don't necessarily agree with it.

many world class fullbacks are small and speedy with high levels of technique. the obvious examples are roberto carlos, lizarazu, even ashley cole is short, not to mention philip lahm, etc.,

in the world cup, i thought he did great defensively, even with headers, as well as the ever so difficult task of keeping an eye on players like figo and ronaldo who compete with the very best 100% of the time in their club teams. kaebi, i thought, for the most part, did extremely well in the WC. there was ONE instance where he had a harsh foul (if i were the ref, a red card would've been given out) on Figo...besides that, he did quite well.

what kaebi lacks in size, he makes up for in skill, speed, agility, determination and a general love for the game. even arsenal at some point wanted to recruit him, and numerous european clubs (by Kaebi's own word) wanted his services but he refused (stupid of him to do so by the way).


another point i wanted to make about your post was that in your reply you stated that kaebi had reached his maximum?

how so?

the kid is only 20?...he has the best footballing years FIVE years away. you know what he can become in 5 years?

now, with shakouri, i haven't seen him in Pas - not even a SINGLE match. I saw him against syria and thought he was absolutely dreadful. Maybe it was just the day and i need more time to judge his performances, but against Syria, i counted him as a Syrian.

thanks for your reply behzad jan

[BehzadB]

faraz jaan, I merely stated my opinion about Kaabi. and of course time will tell.

No english or any other european team ever wanted him. he was just talking crap like niki and majidi used to. Spain, Italy, this that. No sir. None of those leagues were interested. What happened, England wanted him and Arsenal wanted him but he wanted foolad instead? Or foolad wasn't willing to part ways with him? No. Nobody realy, ever wanted him. His own team benched him. Where is he now anywyas? any big contracts waiting for him anywhere?

I am surprised that you even mention roberto carlos (only one of his leggs is the size of kaabi) and Lizarazu (who is about 3 sizes bigger than kaabi), but even if they were same size as kaabi, those two players have shown us what they can do and they are not even on the same planet as kaabi. besides, I never said little guys can't play football. Maradona was short too. I met him once, I know how short he was. but he was bulky, and strong, and he was maradona. Azizi was short too. So when I talk about size , Kaabi is just too tiney and when I look at the position that he has been playing for us, then he just becomes a huge disadvantage. he is a mismatch against almost any player, because he has no streangth. Sure he has speed, and he is brave and has heart and that's why he has gotten as far as he has and I give him credit for that, but that's as far as I go with him. It was a mistake to have him at the WC when he was being let go by his own club.

I am sorry, I don't konw what you saw from kaabi at the WC. The only thing he did worthy to remember was kicking Figo in the face.

I ask my self, What gives kaabi's physical attributes any defensive qualities? In my book, A defender looks like Rezaie, Nosrati, Khakpour, jalal Hosseini, golmamad, Taghipour, Moharami, zolfaghar nasab, masihnia, etc. Not a little toothpick.

[Ali Chicago]

Why People are so Big on Zandi?

This guy doesn't have a team and no team picked him in Bundesliga. He hasn't earned his spot in Lautern which I think dropped to Bundesliga one for the past two years. During the Branko years, he got a chance to make a name for himself, and at that time he was able to play mostly fix in Kaisers Lautern. But that was past.

He is a good player and all but come on please don't make a god out of him,
One other thing I don't like about him was the fact that whenever he played left mid, he tended to slide toward the middle and eats up Karimi's spot. On top of that that created a big hole in our left mid and poor Nosrati most of the time got the blame for being the hole. I remember someone even posted a few pictures on this forum about how he slided to the center. I am not sure was it Sohail or Mansour (Speaking of devil where is Mansour?). Whereever you are hope u doing fine. Anyhow back to the topic. In this turly yours opinion, he (Zandi)mostly is a pretty boy like David Beckham. If girls were giggling about him, I could kind of undrestand, but what is the big deal about bringing him up again and again.

[faraz]

No english or any other european team ever wanted him. he was just talking crap like niki and majidi used to. Spain, Italy, this that. No sir. None of those leagues were interested. What happened, England wanted him and Arsenal wanted him but he wanted foolad instead? Or foolad wasn't willing to part ways with him? No. Nobody realy, ever wanted him. His own team benched him. Where is he now anywyas? any big contracts waiting for him anywhere?

as for the first part of the paragraph above, neither you nor I can really say if what he's saying is the truth or not, and with Niki, there were OFFICIAL documents (posted here at PFDC as well), talking about Niki's transfer, which never did actually take place, true. now, with kaebi, i really believe 110% he had offers, both after and before the WC.

Behzad Jan, no player can make the "best fifa young players" list and not be up to standard. i am sure clubs took notice right then and there.

as for the questions at the end of the paragraph, i can't answer any of them...lol...all I can do is judge from what i've seen in TM and those performances, as i am not too up to date on the happenings in the IPL.

I am surprised that you even mention roberto carlos (only one of his leggs is the size of kaabi) and Lizarazu (who is about 3 sizes bigger than kaabi), but even if they were same size as kaabi, those two players have shown us what they can do and they are not even on the same planet as kaabi. besides, I never said little guys can't play football. Maradona was short too. I met him once, I know how short he was. but he was bulky, and strong, and he was maradona. Azizi was short too. So when I talk about size , Kaabi is just too tiney and when I look at the position that he has been playing for us, then he just becomes a huge disadvantage.

you mention the legs of carlos...they are huge...but in your previous post, you stated HEIGHT as a disadvantage in terms of crossing the ball. now obviously, carlos is stronger than kaebi, as is lizarazu, but all 3 have the "major disadvantage" you were talking about.

he is a mismatch against almost any player, because he has no streangth.
I am sorry, I don't konw what you saw from kaabi at the WC. The only thing he did worthy to remember was kicking Figo in the face.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g93fAPpvnPc

how many times did this happen in the WC? this is just one example of kaebi's strength, patience, timing and heart.

I ask my self, What gives kaabi's physical attributes any defensive qualities? In my book, A defender looks like Rezaie, Nosrati, Khakpour, jalal Hosseini, golmamad, Taghipour, Moharami, zolfaghar nasab, masihnia, etc. Not a little toothpick.

my friend, you're thinking about the past...fullbacks are no longer big and physical, they are even normally small and quick, and not even physically imposing but AGGRESSIVE (you don't have to be big to be aggressive).

but anyways, i guess we should agree to disagree

[faraz]

...
...
...

Mansoor did post those pics yes,

I do believe Zandi is better than any one of our playmakers right now (minus Karimi) and should definitely be chosen as part of the team. He didn't have a club (or didn't play) before the WC either, and i thought he was pretty decent in the WC - he looked hungry and prepared.

we need a SMART playmaker, not one who dribbles the ball left and right and takes ages to make a pass...i love Zandi's style and his presence is missed...especially when out of form players are forced to take the playmaker's role

[Doctor DOOM]

I think kaabi DID have some offers ( at least offers for testing and trials ) ... but either he was too money-minded or had stupid advisors who put the wrong priorities in his head.
I dont know.


on zandi:
I think he is a good player.
nothing really outstanding, but quite useful.... IF UESD IN THE RIGHT WAY.
I hope once he finds a club and gets into the regimen, he is called to the TM.

[Ali Chicago]

To clarify about Zandi

I didnt' mean he is poor or anything. He is a good player but him being able to salvage the team or our midfield I say no way in hell.
I think a national team coach better have a really good reason to pick a player (i.e. Zandi) as starting player, if the player can't secure the starting position in his own club. I would have relaxed this rule (if he was in Chelsi or Barcelona) but in Kaisers Lautern and not gettnig the starting job something is fishy.

As for Faraz's comment about him being a playmaker, I disagree, he is a good one touch player (basically a European school type of player and I appreicate that), but by no means he has the improvising and vision that a play maker needs. He doesn't have the ball control and dribbling skills or long rage passing either. I don't remember long passes on the money from him either (like couple of passes Nekonaam gave in Syria's game).
But time will show, I guess.

[Muradistan]

I understand what you mean, as him not being a playmaker, but I would take him over anyone else in that position, excluding Karimi. Nekounam is a one touch player, and he has relatively good long passes. But I would still consider Zandi's better. In TM he played LM, with Zareh as his LB, can you really judge him on that. If he was in Nekounams or even Teymourians position I think you would see how versatile he is. I only saw maybe 1-2 games with him in Kaiserslautern, a bit before he chose to play for Iran, and I could say he was their best midfielder, Englehart or Enlebert was #2, and that guy is or was on the German NT. His form now? I have no clue, but if he plays like he did in those days, TM would have a great playmaker.

[perspolees]

I would suggest giving some time to tm and its players and staff.
This perhaps is the lowest of all lows that our football has ever been.
test of time will tell...

[Martin-Reza]

I agree with the initial list of Kasra, however, I'm afraid since we need leftfooters and Maniei isn't any better, we need to keep Nikbakht. Maybe Yavarzadeh can help out one day...

Additionally I don't think Shojaei, Akbarpour and Oladi have what it takes to be a TM player. I have my doubts about Kazemi, Enayati and Sadeghi as well, but due to lack of alternatives, it's ok for me when they're still called up.

[khabalood]

IAdditionally I don't think Shojaei, Akbarpour and Oladi have what it takes to be a TM player.

Oladi is exactly what we need right now. A player who can win balls for us, has the ball control and strength to fight off markers and is able to finish against the standard of players in our immediate area. If we had him against syria I can gaurantee you we would have won. All this and he is young enough that if invested in properly, he would be paying dividends to our football for years to come.

He is loaded with talent and potential he just needs some guidance.

[Martin-Reza]

Oladi is exactly what we need right now. A player who can win balls for us, has the ball control and strength to fight off markers and is able to finish against the standard of players in our immediate area. If we had him against syria I can gaurantee you we would have won. All this and he is young enough that if invested in properly, he would be paying dividends to our football for years to come.
He is loaded with talent and potential he just needs some guidance.

I totally disagree. He has no killer instinct. His decision making let's him down in front of goal, I think he generally is too slow in the head on the pitch. I'm also not convinced by his shooting technique.

Nothing can make up for that for a striker unfortunately.

I really hope I am wrong, I'd love to see a new young great striker in TM.