Troubled Esteghlal: whats the solution?

[turbo]

2 defeats and 1 draw in 5 games...concieving 8 goals in 5 matches while in the past couple of yrs we had the best defensive line...a top keeper who makes so many mistakes now...a defender whos the other teams 12th man (lotfi)...semi injured players (jabbari)...single tacticness (navazi crossing and someone heading it in) no play making anywhere on the field...making too many mistakes in their own half...wrong passes...keeping the ball too long until they lose it...no worthy attackers...no team spirit...no gheirat for the team...

all these problems started when hejazi started coaching EsEs...given that marfavi had this squad last yr he wouldve defo won something...the team lacks spirit...there seems to be no team work around...they gotta learn they should pass the ball within 2 seconds of recieving it...theres literally no Baazi e bedoon e toop...all the players are waiting walking on the pitch leaving it too easy for the defenders to predict where the pass is going...theres no gheirat...while the team is losing everyone is so relaxed...i think i have more gheirat when i play 5-a-side for fun...the team shudnt give up so easily...while players like mansourian and ghorbani play gheirati and think of EsEs as their namoos others are so SHOL and MAAST...i think the solution is to fire hejazi at once and bring in someone like asghar sharafi in order to get the team-order in its place, need someone strong...marfavi is also shol (although i respect the guy very much) and GN is now too big headed for the job...all in all i think even if they bring a new coach it is all too late and my beloved EsEs wont be having a good season this yr...which is really sad...
any solutions that you think might save EsEs pls share.

[Salar]

I'll tell you what the real problem is, fans like you, who switch from supporting PP and start supporting SS, shame on you

[Paradigm]

2 defeats and 1 draw in 5 games...concieving 8 goals in 5 matches while in the past couple of yrs we had the best defensive line...a top keeper who makes so many mistakes now...a defender whos the other teams 12th man (lotfi)...semi injured players (jabbari)...single tacticness (navazi crossing and someone heading it in) no play making anywhere on the field...making too many mistakes in their own half...wrong passes...keeping the ball too long until they lose it...no worthy attackers...no team spirit...no gheirat for the team...
all these problems started when hejazi started coaching EsEs...given that marfavi had this squad last yr he wouldve defo won something...the team lacks spirit...there seems to be no team work around...they gotta learn they should pass the ball within 2 seconds of recieving it...theres literally no Baazi e bedoon e toop...all the players are waiting walking on the pitch leaving it too easy for the defenders to predict where the pass is going...theres no gheirat...while the team is losing everyone is so relaxed...i think i have more gheirat when i play 5-a-side for fun...the team shudnt give up so easily...while players like mansourian and ghorbani play gheirati and think of EsEs as their namoos others are so SHOL and MAAST...i think the solution is to fire hejazi at once and bring in someone like asghar sharafi in order to get the team-order in its place, need someone strong...marfavi is also shol (although i respect the guy very much) and GN is now too big headed for the job...all in all i think even if they bring a new coach it is all too late and my beloved EsEs wont be having a good season this yr...which is really sad...
any solutions that you think might save EsEs pls share.

Basic solution: Let them have GN back and give the TM job to someone else !!! It will work better for both Esteghlal and TM. Actually, since when Enayati and Nikbakht left, Esteghlal has been struggling a lot.

[KasraKhan]

Well i dont think everything can be blamed on Nasser khan. True that he has under-performed....but the new signings of Esteghlal have also been somewhat of a dissappointment.

Bayatnia has been invisible and hasnt scored 1 goal yet, or looked good in any match

Borhani is showing why has been ommited from TM roster and why he only scored 1 goal in UAE League. He needs 3 clear cut chances to score 1

Mainiei hasnt been bad, he actually has been the best performing new comer in my opinion

Lotfi? Garbage. He hasnt been same since his new surgery after Busan 2002 games.

Maybe this team is missing Ferki lol

[TM-Fan]

As a Persepolis fan, I got happy when Esteghlal hired Hejazi. He has been unable to find a job during the last few years for a reason.

[yashar_fasihnia]

Well i dont think everything can be blamed on Nasser khan. True that he has under-performed....but the new signings of Esteghlal have also been somewhat of a dissappointment.
Bayatnia has been invisible and hasnt scored 1 goal yet, or looked good in any match
Borhani is showing why has been ommited from TM roster and why he only scored 1 goal in UAE League. He needs 3 clear cut chances to score 1
Mainiei hasnt been bad, he actually has been the best performing new comer in my opinion
Lotfi? Garbage. He hasnt been same since his new surgery after Busan 2002 games.
Maybe this team is missing Ferki lol

i think montazeri has been our best new performer so far, along with pouladi but it doesnt really matter.
we have too many problems....

[BehzadB]

when you gather so many top players of other teams in one team , you better have an equally top coaching staff for them too.. it seems to me that SS has been stuck with the likes of Pourheidari, Hejazi and QN for too long...

[zzgloo]

As A devoted Esteghlal fan that I am.......we need to keep things in perspective.
1- This is a new team for Hejazi.............As marfavi had been with the team,and knew all details, but it should take some time for Hejazi,to settle in, and for players to believe in his style.
2-Hejazi,is not as good as Luca,or Daei,or Ghotbi.
3-esteghlal, at the end,will be in the top 4.
4-Hejazi,is a gentleman's coach,and is not much aggresive.....it will take time,for the players to get used to his style.
5-Esteghlal, like PP, needs to hire a forign coach.( Ghotbi is considered forign)

[purple_haze]

In addition to all the things mentioned so far I would like to add the upper management as well.
Actually I kinda predicted something like this after all the signings Fatollahzadeh made during the transfer market. I actually pointed this out in a thread back then.
I'm sure most people were impressed by the signings and it looked and still looks good on paper, but unfortunately for EsEs, Fatollahzadeh got too preoccupied in his own media games.

It's not only Hejazi to be blamed for living in the past, but also Fatollahzadeh who still thinks that the only opponent is PP and has most of his focus if not all on what PP is doing, who they have targeted and talked to and tries his best to top it. He had been provided with lot of financial aid from left and right this season and he went window shopping, buying glitter before necessity. He has so far acted more like a decorator than a manager. If the player signings are all Hejazi's request (which I highly doubt, because it mostly bares Fatollahzadeh's signature of the famous "bomb e khabari" and impressing with names) then the blame is on Hejazi for it, but I'm pretty sure he asked for some of the players and then Fatollahzadeh started his usual impress-shopping and Hejazi went along with it instead of demanding to fill the gaps, because this time around he sees his coaching appointment and another chance of being at helm in EsEs as a gift from Fatollahzadeh. He feels that he owes him his position and it's evident from his actions and comments even after being clearly undermined by his old friend in the media later on. He's simply become a weaker personality than before.

All this still doesn't justify some of Fatollahzade's actions afterwards, like him keeping completely silent in tough times instead of showing some support and spirit lifting moves, whereas he's all over the media talking big when things seem to go well and look good on the surface. Instead he goes and has meetings with GN and they suddenly become best buddies, which not only is hypocritical but also strongly undermines Hejazi's position and brings further confusion into the blue camp. Add to that his comment in the media about Hejazi and him being better suited as technical director.

I think both Hejazi and Fatollahzadeh should have put the interest of their team before their own Ta'arof and Rafighbazi to begin with.

Now about the actual players themselves I feel there are too many egos in the squad that have not been tamed yet. Montazeri is among the few who still shows the needed humbleness towards the team and works within the team.
Having based the main tactic of the team on passes for Borhani has only helped to increase his ego and narrow the teams options. Maniei has alway been an ego even from his PAS days and although he may seem to have been ok so far I still don't feel that he serves the team as a team player. Yousefi is more of a team player than him. Ravankhah showed some glimpses of promise but apparently all the attention got to his head and now refuses to pass to anyone.

[Ali Chicago]

I think it is a bit too early for raising the red flag. I only saw the first 20 minutes of the ESES saipa game, since i had to take a flight. So, I don't know how EsEs played. But for the first 15 minutes teh played well.

I saw the Saipa goals on the news and both goals were scored on hornendous individual mistakes. First one was an unforgiving mistake by Talebloo and second one lotfi.

Esteghlal has teh following problems, but maybe Mr. Hejazi still can get his act together.

Most of this goes back to the head coach of course. I give three four more weeks to see if Hejazi addresses these issues. If he doesn't by then, then it shows he isn't qualified to be the head coach.

Problems in the center of the defense for a flat four. Now all those people who blamed many coaches for playing 3-5-2 maybe realize how difficult and costly can be to playa flat four (with Iranian defenders who aren't trained in a flat four for years). Hejazi is experimenting with flat four while not having the tools for it (speedy well coordinated pair in the heart of the defnse).

Poor line up. As usual there are a lot of big names who have to sit on the bench (navazi) for example and it seems he is trying hard to find a way to let Navazi play. I was really surprised to see Amir Abadi on the bench.

Not using the subs in an optimal way. diversyfying EsEs's attack. Esteghlal right now is using the long balls behind the oppositions defnse to take advantage of Borhani's speeed. A good coach will see that easily and can counter that. I was surprised to see Ali Daei didn't counter that in EsEs Saipa game. For the 20 minute that I saw, it seemed Dai'e plan was a man to man (Hooseini on Borhani). The match up of Hooseini Borhani was a bad match up by Daie. Borhani easily was pulliing, Hooseini out of position all over the field. Had Hejazi been smarter he had Shafiei or Pooladi to peneterate from the center while Borhani was pulling Hooseini out of position to teh wings.

Not hiring a decent finisher. Borhani is such a hard working yet nervous guy upfront. He works hard by he ain't a finisher. Bayati Nia from all accounts is inconsistant. A mordeh khoor forward ( I hate to admit this, but some guy like Faraz Fatami for god sake) can solve EsEs not finishing upfront.

Ravankhah is slowing the game down quite a bit since runs with the ball. Look at Jabbari, he plays a large number of one or two touches (at least for Iranian standard). Hejazi needs to make sure Ravankhah does cheange to bench the guy.

Activate Esteghlal's left flank (Maneyee/Pooladi). Pooladi was much more active in participating in offense when he was playing center or right mid. Since he moved to left, after Yousefi's injury, Esteghlal's left is ineffective. Now we realize the value of Yousefi.

Take away the emotional pressure from players. Hejazi and players both are under a huge emotional pressure from fans. Esteghlal's management, can set up a set of press conferences and talk to fans and the media, rather than pretend everything is ok. This is a one of the general misgivings in our overall culture that rather don't talk about problems and eventually some demagouge uses those problems and rally the masses behind himself/herself.

I still dont' hit the panic button. Still beleive the team has a huge potential. With the addition of a finisher type forward (a good in form shafie or even Majidi) and a good centeral defender who is coordinated with Ghorbani a lot of our problems will be addressed. Time will show.

[The-Red]

some players seems to forget they are playing front of 60K fans and how much the fans care and expect....I just think some players are only good for smaller teams, can can't hanld the pressure of playing for top teams....

also, Hejazi doesn't seem to have what it takes to get this team together and lead them.

[Kasra.]

Yesterday vs. Saba we played a good game. We were unlucky towards some of the offside calls of the referee.. I really think that Borhani/Majidi can be our Enayati/Akbarpour of 2 seasons ago where we became champions.
We missed Jabbari and Pooladi. Those two players are the kind of players who can open the game. I'm believing that SanJan Orsevich or w/e his name is, is getting better and better, yesterday he played his best match so far, only he wanted a lil bit too much dribbling. Montazeri played a good match. Sadeghi was much calmer. And I think that the chemistry is starting to work.
Our biggest problem is that we miss a big leader on the centre line of the field. Someone like Ali Reza Mansourian. If he only was 2 years younger. I also believe that we should stop thinkin about the coach, and focus on our player's "roohiye". Some of our players are not able to handle the pressure. I hope that Hejazi and Hajilou can fix that problem.

BTW does anybody of you guys know what happened to Reza Hassanzadeh, our last year's defence coach (untill Theo de Jong came). I know that Hassanzadeh went to Milan for a month and he took part of the "coaching classes" of Inter Milan. I think we need him as our defense coach!!

[Ali Chicago]

Anyone knows why Jabbari and Pooladi didn't play yesterday? IRIB showed Jabbari who wasn't even dressed?

[Ali Chicago]

Just fisnished watching Saba EsEs game. There is a huge hole behind the EsEs forwards and its midfield line. Players specially midfield players slow the game down too much. It is beyond me why Maniyee and Ravankhah weren't subbed earlier!!!?? With all the respect to Nasser Khan, it seems he really not up to the par this season.
Lack of a play maker in the midfield is killing us. EsEs players seems to fail to stop the simplest balls. It seems players are too much under pressure. Somehow Nasser Khan should work on the emotional aspect of the players and get thier mojo high.

[yashar_fasihnia]

i watched only the first half but yea, i noticed that too.
i think the main reason is cos both our central midfielders (montazeri & sanjan) are defensive midfielders and so by nature they dont tend to move infront too much or rather, they spend more time near the defense line rather than their offense line.
so most of the time, there is was a gap between our midfield and offense line.

we needed atleast either pouladi or jabbari for that, but i dunno why none of them played.
mansourian could also do but he is too old and cant run much, so he really cant link the midfield to the offense all by himself.