Iran-Syria Post Match Comments

[KasraKhan]

A few points I would like to bring up:

1) Enayati. He failed once again. He has gotten golden oppurtunity after golden oppurtunity and he can not capitilize. He was invisble on the pitch today, he touched the ball 2-3 times, and he missed a great chance late in the 2nd half.

2) Nikbakht. How many times does this guy have to dissappoint until GN finally realizes he is NOT the man for the job?

3) Madanchi. What a DISGRACEFUL slide tackle from behind. It was a 100% red in my eyes, he got lucky the ref only gave him a yellow card. And I dont know why Sadeghi got a red, he didnt do anything, poor guy.

4) Majidi. Just Like Enayati, he failed again. Especially after diving in the box and ruining a great chance, and missing that open goal after getting by the goalie.

5) I thought Nekounam was great today. He has returned to his old from and it is obivous that the trainings with Osasuna have brought out the best in him. The way he changes the field with one pass is great, I love it.

6) It seems that Andaranik is playing out of posititon? Everytime I saw him he was running down the right wing chasing a long ball, it seemed like he was playing in Kia's position or something.

7) I like this defense. It looks way better than before. Nosrati and Rezaei were both great today.

[Ali Chicago]

Congradulation for the vicotory and qualification

Congradulation on our victory and I hope this victory and a decent perfromance in Korea gives back the lost confidence (specially to our fans). We are not great, but in Asia we are very good. Please next time no posting of 3-1 loss in Seoul or what if we losse to Syria.

If our nation is great in Asian soccer at least, we need to act like we are great. That means a certain level of self confidence. This lost self confidence was what killed us in WC as well.

I am not going into the technical issues right now. Syria team today wasn't at the level to really exuede any pressure on us. Just loved to watch the body language of our boys. From begining it was postive and confidennt and as more of the game went on. Self confidence was built up.
After the second goal every one was so calm and in charge. They did "Kherse Vasat" couple of times the Syrian player and Enayati got super fancy to the point of trying to slide the ball in middle of three Syrian players in their box in second half. I am not saying it was good, but I am happy to see the self confidence (to the point of ****yness) is coming back to TM.

I post a second one with tactical stuff later.

Once again congradulation for the qualification. I hope GN wont' use the first team for the Taiwan's game and give playing time to the other players.

[Doctor DOOM]

my take:

1- Niki shd give up football altogether, and try "dodge ball".
the guy, excpet one shot, had absolutely nothing positive, and had the most number of turn-overs and wrong passes in the stadium.
horrible, shameful display.


2- Nosrati was one of the best players , and this is not becoz of the goal he scored. becoz he was placed in the CORRECT position ( attention all branko appologists ) , in center of defense line.
he had a great game.
he truely belongs to that position at TM.

3- Nekounam had yet another great game.
lively, fighting and very active game.


4- teymoorian was a total disaster, not becoz he is a bad player.
but becoz he was used in the wrong position.
there were times I shouted "dont pass to him" becoz I knew he wouldnt be able to do anything worthwhile in the right mid position.( shades of pre-WC wrong positioning )

he is a destructive player who specializes in spoiling and intercepting the opposition.
he is incapable of constructive game, and yesterdayt proved it.
maybe he'll learn at Bolton.
but until then, I'd rather see him either on the bench ( with neounam ruling the center of the pitch ) or next to nekounam if we play strong teams, as def mid.

4- fekri wasnt so bad.
so I dont see why some ppl target him. maybe they have ulterior motives.
I dont know.


5- dear Mr. GN, what is wrong with Mani'ee that you prefer niki or madanchi to him?
he could do wonders for us at the left side.


6- the trend of improvement continued at TM.
ever so slowly, but palpable.
so, so far GN gets my cautous vote.
but he needs major help, if he's to conitnue.

[yashar_fasihnia]

i watched only the second half and was pleased with almost all the players except mr. wanna be inzaghi.

but anywayz, i dont think this was such a difficult game to comment on because more or less, everything was obvious.

i just wanna comment on enayati and how he pleasantly surprised me.
Im not a big fan of him specially when it comes to partnering him up with hashemian. my personal choice would be akbarpour because he is the best "second striker" who can best complement & complete hashemian upfront but thats another story.

enayati unlike the previous games today played selflessly, ran quite a lot, made some good 1-2 passes and through passes, showed some good vision, changed sides when necessary and proved quite effective in TM offense in my opinion.
This was something i didnt expect from him and am pleasantly surprised about. I hope for the sake of himself and TM, he will continue this trend of his.

did anybody else notice this about him??
Remember, i am only talking about the second half of the match.

[Doctor DOOM]

very good point on enayati, yashar jan.

I agree completely on his self-less display.
he ran a lot, tired the defenders, created space for others, assisted in a few chances, ... .

yet, some ppl put him down, just becoz he didnt score a goal !
not fair according to me.


however, there is another side to this issue.
the matter of the lack of a creative mid or a playmaker.
and with this lack, we shd not expect our strikers to fair very well, as they dont recieve enough opportunities from the midfield to cause harm.
strikers NEED creative mids to make openings and chances for them.


yes, I know karimi played full 90 min's.
but he wasnt what we expect him to be, and in many scattered periods of the game, he didnt serve as a playmaker.
so the team suffered in this major department.

I think someone like shoja'ee or mobaali , coming in for the INEFFECTUAL teymoorian, would have done wonders for the team and its creativity.
GN ought to get off his stubborn horse on many issues, one such issue is Shoaj'ee.
he deserves to be in the tean, even if as a sub.

to me, this TM needs two more players: shoja'ee & Mani'ee

[maij]

I was quite pleased with the performance but the most pleasing aspect that attracted me was the overall game plan. Offensive, but not over enthusiastic and no all-out-attack strategy that could have exposed the defense line with the quick Syrian counter-attackers.

I thought that was a decent plan , full marks to GN ( although I still think we need a more experienced coach up there).

The other bright side was Karimi's performance. It was his best far for a long time. I hope he keeps and improves on this.

Nekounam....Ah...what can be said about this great player that have not been said before......Excellent....really a star in his own right.

Enayati...the sooner this man leaves the team the better for everyone....He is becoming a burden , excess weight and a member of extremely useless club!

Majidi....I think by now we all know why Branko did not invite him. I still respect Majidi as a truly talented striker at club level , but in international arena as a TM player , he just does not have the quality as time after time he failed to deliver.... That theatrical dive in the Syrian box was quite cheap though........Grow up , man.

Mahdavikia ...after his very poor performance vs. Korea , this was pretty fine performance.


Teymoorian , I thought he had a decent game myself , but don't let MR hear that he was terrible , coz he thinks he was the MVP !

Defense ...great today but still uncertain at times.....expect the unexpected from them...

Saying all that..... Remember that Syria is a second or third tier Asian side.....We need to perform against the best in Asia soon, we need to build up on this performance and still improve on it

[Hajagha]

Overall the formation was quite good and the ability for each player was considered, however we didn't step up in our ability and expectation. Now, the left side is as active as the right side, of course both sides can not finish what they have started, the right side bcz of Teymourian inability and lack of creativity with combination of Kia. The left side bcz of lack of sharpness of Nikki to combine with Karimi. My sugeestion is keep the squad and work on them rather than shovel big time, of course we can always bench a few of them to make them motivated.

The only problem with this formation is locking Nekonam too deep into our turf. One more thing, in some time of the game we had four left footers in the game while Branko stated we have no one in Iran.

The formation was again the same thing we started in Korea:

3-3-2-2

Maybe in Korea's game we had close to 3-3-2-1-1.

No one was above normal and no one was too below normal, the whole team didn't have a perfect day, a average game with the average result. The only thing I should say was the performance of Mirzapour who I was very pleased to see him confident and motivated. I still force him to overcome his lack of ability of shooting or bench him.

I may bench Teyourian and bring a more creative player for such a position, however I can't deny he is very good in destruction duties. Why not a shift from Ka'abi to Kia, Kia to Teymourian? We can test this. I liked to see Shojaei though in that position.

Nikki becomes better and better every game, still too far from my expectation, but it seems we found our missing link in the left side who can perform defensively and offensively on the line.

The MVP was Kia with no doubt.

Cheers,

[Paradigm]

to me, this TM needs two more players: shoja'ee & Mani'ee

I agree 200%. I also really like to see these two invited !!!!

As for Mirza, I think he woke up after recieving that penalty from C. Ronaldo.

[perspolees]

aside from being weak physically, and in light of slight improvement in ou defense I think main problem for team Iran is inability to build up and attack to achieve.
Look at our goals for the past 20 tm games..see how many defenders have scored and how many from set plays! Team Iran sucks at a collective attack to achieve plan...has been so for a long time now...

[KasraKhan]

Majidi....I think by now we all know why Branko did not invite him. I still respect Majidi as a truly talented striker at club level , but in international arena as a TM player , he just does not have the quality as time after time he failed to deliver.... That theatrical dive in the Syrian box was quite cheap though........Grow up , man

But why is that Maij jan? I agree that Majidi is pretty good at club level, but when it comes to TM, he is plain garbage. But why? How can a player be good at club level but not good at TM? Its confusing

[Doctor DOOM]

lads, lets not forget the team had a strenuous journey from Iran to korea ( extreme east of asia ) and then to iran , to syria ( almost extreme west of asia ) , plus two heavy games , one against asia's very best ( korea ) , all in a matter of 5-6 days.

dont expect them to be like robots.


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hanji jan, I fail to see exactly what you saw from niki to even praise the sod.... other than one shot , which wasnt even on target.

[Hajagha]

hanji jan, I fail to see exactly what you saw from niki to even praise the sod.... other than one shot , which wasnt even on target.

What I saw:

1, He has received passes almost as number as Karimi and Kia, meaning his positioning and path of movement were beneficial for the team. This can be compared to the Branko's era when we had almost no left side at all.

2, Defensively he was always the biggest major player in the left side in front of the opponent ball holder, check the games and see he is always there to defend and in most parts he was successful. This can be compared to Kia where he failed to show the same mentality and performance as Nikki. In the right side we see Teimourian being more active than Karimi defensively leaving the bigger portion of the task for Nikki to handle. I don’t mind this as Karimi’s energy can be spared for offensive duties.

3, He had 2 shots behind the penalty box, a dangerous header and a few deadly passes as scoring opportunity, again show his positioning, and physical/technical ability to be a major advantage for the team. This can be compared to Nekonam who has almost the same impact but sharper, that's why we see Nekonam with two goals in his pocket but Nikki came back flat (and unlucky that the other players didn't score on his passes, otherwise we may had him like Kia with two assists). It doesn't mean he is not a TM material, it means he needs to improve.

I don't mind he will be changed with Maniee to make both of them motivated, however I don't think Maniee has the defensive ability of Nikki, but as I said always, no one should be treated differently, why not checking out?

Cheers,

[Ali Chicago]

Originally Posted by Doctor DOOM
to me, this TM needs two more players: shoja'ee & Mani'ee

I agree 200%. I also really like to see these two invited !!!!
As for Mirza, I think he woke up after recieving that penalty from C. Ronaldo.

I like to see these two guys as well. Having said them, I don't think it is normal to expect to see them as starters. In organized soccer unless one is superstar, person comes in, get 15-20 minutes as sub and then if he can earn his spot, he will be promoted to starter position.

I hope GN wont' use legioners in the Taiwan game and plays likes of Shojaii, Manii, Ooladi (invite him as well) against thos Taiwani's team.
If he does that, I really respect him.

It will be a risk to play younger guys but I think it is a calculatd risk. We should use this opportunity to build up the team. What happens if Kia, Hashemian or X or Y get injured (if we only play these guys)? It will be a big risk specially for GN, just think about this scenario, Syria pulls a miracle and beat Korea in Seoul ( I know fat chance yet possible), and our younger guys (due to inexperience chock againt Taiwan in their home field. Then we have to beat Korea in Tehran.

Still, I think it will be nice and shows GN vision and seeing further than his own benefits, if he plays with the second team against Taiwan and knowing him based on his past, he will. So, barrign an unforseen situation, I think Shojaii, Manii, Shakouri, Kazemain and Mobali will see action against Taiwan.

[Doctor DOOM]

Ali jan, your wish may yet come true.

I, too, would love to see a younger bunch of guys , motivated to get into the first team & impress, against taiwan.

and knowing how GN has acted ( with a slight eye towards branko's screw ups like not allwoing anyone into his favorite circle of selection, never really trying out fresh faces, sticking to the same line up no matter how piss poor the opposition, ... ) , I think we can safely bet that GN will try some or all those names.
and more power to him.

this keeps the competition alive in the team ( attention branko apologists ) and also maintains the level of motivation among those OUTSIDE the main team.

[TheAli]

-Javad was great
-Mahdavikia was fantastic
-Nosrati was excellent
-Hashemian was ok

-Enayati and Majidi are both not TM material --> GN has to replace these two poor guys with Borhani and Samereh!

-Karimi was nothing special. Badbakht dota ham laayi khord (courtesy of being famous, rich, and lazy)...I think he is where he wanted to be. He has no more ambition no more challenge loving and no mor energy left in him!
-Teymourian is definitly our of position
-Badbakht (NikbakhT) is not TM material anymore --> Surely Mobali can be used in his position or Mani'ee which is the best Iran has in that post right now can replace this guy.

However, please do not forget that this is Syria we are playing against. This is not Ostoralia-noo :-)