Alright, let's hear it then

[faraz]

I'm going to take a little rest and sleep, and then think and type logically about what I just witnessed. It wasn't a complete disaster, but I honestly can't say I'm happy with a draw.

What'd you all think?

[Hadi]

I will also write a detailed evaluation later but my first impression is that I saw no improvements in TM. GN is still making mistakes in his lineup and again I feel that Iran might not win the cup with it's current situation.

[Under Lahaf]

-Hope he lets kazemian to start AT LEAST against malaysia. kazemian is a hungry player, and if he isn't rewarded he may end up very disappointed.

-superb play by the chinese in the first half, but as many teams couldn't keep up for 90 min even though the result might tell a different story

-clearly the gap between the teams in asia is narrowing, and this is a wake up call to all major teams in asia

-where was karimi? is he really becoming an extra burden for the team? i really hope he recovers from this! TM needs the karimi of 3 years ago

-enayati; why? why is he there? with such great players in TM why is he in the starting 11? i hope at least he scores against malysia, if not he might be better to change his career to TM masseuse. but the fact that karimi was pulled out gives me the hope that most likely next game will enayati's last chance to deliver (but why wasn't this game his last chance? why did he played for 90 min?)


-Zandi; once again he scored a great goal

-nekounam; gradually he is becoming another legend

- the fact that this team came back from 2 goals shows that this team is experienced enough to not lose its patience or get nervous. but giving 2 goals away to the chinese is very disappointing. we have always had a problem with our defence.

-GN thanks for taking karimi out, karimi must understand that he is just another player. but i am really getting worried about him, he said he'll score 2 goals and ended up like this? it's too much pressure on this guy and maybe even he is losing faith?

-today Hashemian was iran's best player. this guy did his best, and i hope he starts to score and i am confident he will.



we have everything but solid defense. we just end up giving too much space to our opponents in our own backyard. we got to remember that in this game we were playing china and the chinese decided to pull back [not that they could hold for 90 min anyways] but a shaky defense like this against our rivals [with them ending up leading the game] and we can kiss the gold goodbye.
Or imagine doing this against an arab team such as saudi arabia with their "nazok narenji" players who will end up rolling for the rest of the game, we were really lucky this wasn't bahrain or S. Arabia. The chinese were too proud to act like SOME arab teams and we got to thank them for playing football!....we got to close this open space, the opportunistic, stronger and faster teams will definitely use this space.


To end this in a positive note; the fact that we came back from 2 goals, with a team that didn't lose its patience shows that TM is getting quiet mature and knows that it can come back and turn the game & time to its own advantage.

[mkbf2]

Also just a brief not before i get some detail in: WTF happened to Karimi and him saying that he will score 2 goals in the match? Great job Zandi but please GN do something about defending the long ball!

[Doctor DOOM]

1- Second goal
very disappointed in roudi’s positioning and reaction to the second goal !
he shd have done far better and blocked the ball.

Although a part of the problem is that our left side allows a lot of runners to come in & do their stuff ! ( plz put a DEFENDER in LB. Not zandi )
And they make use of our constant bad positioning on the right. As they approach our left, the defense line shifts to the left and leaves a large gap immediately outside the 18 on the right, so any runner on that side is left unmarked. ( becoz our right mid always forgets to cover for the RB as the defender is dragged to the center !!!

This happened in this game, last game and many many other games !!!
This gap is always exploited by our opponents !!!



2- Gap on the sides
why sometimes we don’t keep 2 players next to the right & left poles in corners?
Sometimes we have one only !!
It’s very dangerous and can cost us.
Just as it did help us against Uzbeks, when hosseini scored becoz there was no player next to their far post.
If there was one, we’d never have scored that goal !


3- lack of a playmaker !
desperately NEED a playmaker.
We suffered in both games becoz we didn’t have a playmaker.
Especially with karimi under-performing or being maybe crowded by opponents’ players.
Need shojayi or mobaali to start moves from midfield.
Cant blame the forwards on not scoring, all that much, since the mids are not feeding them enough !
Boost the mid’s creativity and movement & we shd see better overall performance by the team.

I didn’t watch most of 2nd half so I wont comment till I see it. but I guess with inclusion of mobaali, the midfield got more energy and creativity ( also, based on what everyone says ).
We suffer becoz GN insists on playing neku & ando, again and again !!! using the slot for the playmaker for the second def mid.
Lets face it. granted, both neku or ando are good players and sometimes do feed the strikers. But that’s only sporadically and in-frequent!
Neither has the playmaking ability of karimi ( if he plays well ) or mobaali, or shojayi.
We cant rely on these two to create moves for the team becoz they aren’t that type of players.
GN shd SERIOUSLY think about the importance of a play-maker , so the team’s energy & effort is not wasted for long periods of the game. This could be one of the reasons we fall behind in the 1st halves too !

=============================

For malaysia game:

Give a chance to a few subs, also try out new formation.

Forwards:
Karimi – rajabzadeh as forwards. Rest VH and enayati, while you give confidence to karimi , and show trust in rajabzadeh.

midfield:
Play either shojaei or mobaali next to either neku or another def mid.
give karimi rest, if we dont play him as a striker.
also kazemian & madanchi shd have a good chance to start the game.


Defense:
make a final decision on zandi in LB.
If GN still wants to use him there, despite his weaknesses, then play him next to rahman against Malaysia, so he gets used to the role and rahman.
If not, which I’m hoping for, then rest him and play sadeghi or aghili to get some playing time, gain trust, and get used to rahman.

-----------------------

[Under Lahaf]

just a reminder, we need to get a better result against malaysia than china's result if we want to end up at the top of the group. we don't want to leave it to the Uzbek's. i don't mind giving more confidence to karimi and rest some players but we must make sure that we get a very good result as well.

[khabalood]

Rudbarian was totally useless. China's second goal could have been saved by just about anyone who had any athletic ability. Its time to give Talebloo a chance to show his true value on the big stage.

Hashemian was one of our worst players today. Again After having several opportunities he could not get more than one shot on goal. In addition he continues to get pushed to the wings by defensemen and shows no ability to beat his marker and get into the box for a scoring opportunity. Moreover, he does not pass to Enayati, leaving Enayati isolated and useless, since tm apparently decided not to pass to Enayati either. A phenomenon which is similar to the isolation Daei faced at the world cup. Hashemian is a failure as a cf and as a secondary striker as well since he does not pass to his cf Enayati.

Karimi was another useless player.

After a performance like that the aforementioned must be benched to send a message that more is needed from them.

The Teymourian/Nekounam duo fails to show any signs of improving tm. If we are to play two defensive midfielders one expect the defense to improve. It has not. In addition, this duo inhibits our offensive abilities. We should count our blessings that both will be ruled out of our next game. With any luck another of our midfielders will step up and put on a performance that will force the coaching staff to change their minds.

Mahdavikia is far to slow for a rw, and must be played in rb until his speed improves.

Enayati did alot of work today both offensively and defensively, unfortunately the team did not co-operate with him, and restricted their passing to Hashemian who wasted his opportunities.

Zandi and Hosseini were our best players today. Zandi should take all of our free kicks. Had he been allowed to instead of Mobali and Mahdavikia we may have won the game today.

[zzgloo]

Although a little late, but , it seems GN is getting closer to his ideal line-up...

Little by little, the contenders and pretenders seperate themselevs....

Roudbarian may be changed....it is not fair to talebloo....

Kazemian is getting closer to be fixed.

our substitutes are good, and secound halves have belonged to us....

Zandi,experince, is also forming, and may at the end,show itself as a genius project.his defens abilities are improveing,and his attck conterbutions,can not be done with any other left back.

Our yellow card players get to rest without being missed,on our next game.

Neko is takeing over.

We are not getting worse, we are getting better as it goes ahead.

[Paradigm]

Mirzapour would have stopped both Chinese goals. He may not be able to do nice goal kicks, but is a very good shot-stopper.

I agree with Dr. Doom and as I mentioned myself before, we need either Mobali or Shojaie on the field as the team's (extra?) playmaker.

I am glad this draw happened at this stage rather than in a semi-final match, since again things would have gone to PKs. Now reading the forum posts, it was clear many TM fans were very arrogant towards the Chinese.

This unprofessional kind of behvaior will almost always backfire. It motivates the opponents to do far better. In particular Karimi did not manage to get his "revenge".

The question is, when do we learn not to play having only revenge in mind, and not to assume easy wins?

[yashar_fasihnia]

first of all, ONCE AGAIN, MASHALLA JALAL HOSSEINI!
he and nosrati can form a good solid pair in defense.

second, zandi akhar zahre khodesho rikht. wat a brilliant shot!!! wat curve, wat power, wat a strike!
however, he was beaten a few times on the left side but so was kaabi and mahdavikia on the right back.

third, i think hashemian and even enayati really worked hard, although hashemian was more effective. hashemian specially in 4-3-3 is kinda alone in the heart of the defense of the opponents and mant times surrounded by 3 or more defenders since enayati and kazemian played far from him. yet he was able to have a good ball control and either pass it to his team mates or win freekicks (khabalood jan, i didnt notice him not passing to enayati).
considering we have good freekick takers, his hard work, his heading ability, his shooting ability, his stamina, his professionalism and experience, he is really irreplaceable in the team.

mahdavikia and nekounam were good too. teymourian as usual, effective in destructive work, not very good in offensive work. he has to concentrate more on his passes.

rahman rezai had a good game, im glad he has won his confidence back. if that header of his was in the goal, he would have forgotten that disasterous game against uzbeksitan.

i think roudbarian was no where near the roudbarian we saw against iraq in WAFF in these 2 games except for 1 save against the uzbeks, and i dont find this surprising because it took roudbarian 15 TM games to have 1 good game. he could not only save those 2 goals but also could cost us a 3rd goal when the chinese took a corner and the ball fell out of roudbarian's hands and the chinese player bicycle kicked it but it was deflected and cleared. talebloos performance against ghana wasnt any worse than roudbarians in these 2 matches. i think we should give talebloo a chance, considering the next game is against malaysia and hopefully the game in quarter finals as well.

mobali was very good today, mashalla! except for that freekick which i think he should have focused more before taking it. he hurried a bit in my opinion
kazemian didnt do much although he was quite active, but not very effective.

lastly, i wish we had won the game today. then our subs could play against malaysia and even a 1-0 victory over malaysia would make us 1st place. but now, we have to get a high margin victory which might cost some of us substitutes to remain gameless throughout the tournament.

----------------------------------------

sheytune behem mige bench karimi for the next game

[Hajagha]

A beautiful show by Chinese, which surprised every one including themselves, was the highlight of the first half. Of course, Iran was too much for them to swallow completely with two goals advantage.

Both teams played good and showed beautiful football, a good performance by both teams, none of the goals were from elementary mistakes in both sides, which is a good sign. I think this Chinese team can go far if they believe themselves.

I watched a good performance in Asia. I am happy.

[Ali Chicago]

What I saw was a chineese team that will not go far. They played soccer for 20 minutes adn I think it was because our boys for some reason playing as if they shit their pants. Iran owned 2/3 of the games. Chineese team as soon as we started to press, could not string 5 passes together. That is how I remember it. Granted, I couldn't sleep the whole night any I could have been fallen sleep during the game (joking).

Uzbakistan will give China a lot of trouble adn I won't be surprised if Irn -Uzb will promote from group C.

[Ali Chicago]

A beautiful show by Chinese, which surprised every one including themselves, was the highlight of the first half. Of course, Iran was too much for them to swallow completely with two goals advantage.
Both teams played good and showed beautiful football, a good performance by both teams, none of the goals were from elementary mistakes in both sides, which is a good sign. I think this Chinese team can go far if they believe themselves.
I watched a good performance in Asia. I am happy.

Haji joon China played Beautiful? It was our boys were sleep. The only thing chineese showed well, was they could challenge us in the air on our defense. Their forward won balls in the air against both Hooseini and Rezai.
GN has BALLS. Despite all the pressure on him for playing Kaabi he pulled him out. And Subbing Karimi, when he was ineffective. I know my hunch about his gutzyness was right.

Great subs. Kazemian wasn't in the game for the most part and I hope he realizes next time don't get so ****y so soon. As soon as our team started to play, everything clicked. Ando was back like Ando we saw in WC. Nekoo was like a Mistro conductor conducting attack.

Big story hopefully will be emergrence of Mobali. Let see if he can show consistancy.

Team needs to use aerial attack.

[pajamNL]

Short review IMO :

Most important of all; The coach, GN will eventually cost us! his line up, his tactics, TM's lack of coordination at corners in our own backyard, it scared me!

Then;

Enayati; obivous for the whole world except GN, why does he keep this guy in the line up?? I'm quite confident that we could have won if we didn't played 90min with Enayati on the field

Finishing; we miss a real killer upfront, everybody desperatly wanted Daei out, not that he should stay in, he was becoming way too old and slow, but as we can al witness now, Branko had no choice, Iran had no choice, their is no replacement upfront! We missed soooo many oppertunities!

Attacking through the middle: Why did we do that that often? Chinese had a very weak right side, but we kept using our right side in offense or through the middle!

Defense: We lack a leader, we mis Golmohammadi more than we realise, Rezaei isn't up to it after a season of dismal and we're gonna feel this in the upcoming game(-s)!

Midfield; our strongest part of the team, but the team tactics/plan don't fully use the power we have within the midfield, i will put 10.000 dollar on the table (if i had it ), that any other quality coach would benefit more from this great ability of our midfield!

Upfront: We only have Hashemian and we barely give players such as Shojaei, Borhani or Rajabzadeh a chance.

i stick to my opinion before AC started; Anything more than the 1/4 finals will be a huge achievement. NOt because we lack teh quality, but we lack a well organised, tactical smart coaching staff

[TM-Fan]

I was really impressed by Hosseini in both of the games. I cannot believe anyone can play this solid in his first few caps. He has a very bright future.

Karimi had a poor game and Enayati should not be in the starting lineup, let alone playing the whole 90 minutes.

Our legionnaires were clearly unmotivated in the first half, but I think we will improve once we are in the next round and the teams get stronger. We are not alone with this problem, look how teams like Australia and South Korea are struggling in the first round.