What's going on in Daei's head ?

[Doctor DOOM]

No matter how I would like to support daei for some of the things he's trying to acheive at TM, like a quick, pacey game with one-touch passing, and ... but his call ups leave an after-taste that isnt exactly pleasant!

I somehow feel there are some .... not so k0sher parameters in his call ups here. I dont doubt many of the ppl he's called up are among the best we have on offer. But there are some names that makes one wonder just what was he thinking and what is the criteria for selection of X and dropping of Y.

I feel issues like "friendship" have come into play here. not only that, but also a niggling matter of "trying to prove something right that many thought wrong previously".

one name that comes to mind is Mirzapoor. the guy , at best, has had a mediocre season in the lower league. at best. what was the basis behind his call up? I know we have a dearth of reliable GK's , but we certainly have guys like talebloo & Homami ( if mohamadi is injured ) even Makani who have done better than mirza in the past season.
then, after vaezi's injury, neither of the above GK's are called up, and daei goes with saipa's Ahmadi !

same thing with nosrati's pick. while nosrati has slowly picked up his game in recent times, he isnt what he used to be a year or so ago! and when we have defenders playing better defense than him, like Zarei, omranzadeh, sadeghi, heidari, ... I question the "reason" for nosrati's pick.

now, the matter of "proving something right".
we see names like zareh who, at his career's very best was a mediocre RIGHT side defender/mid. when TM is missing so many names, seeing his name , especially when he's used in the post that time and time again has proven is wrong for him is another questionable matter.
even if some want to point at bargh-sepahan game where he did something note-worthy, we must admit, he was NOT playing as the LEFT back. he was playing his usual position, which is on the RIGHT side.
so calling him up and persisting on the failed idea of .... forces me to say Daei may be desperately trying to prove something that many saw was wrong, right!

is it about getting the old gang ( WC 06 ) together ? especially the gang that was much beleaguered for their poor performances ( nosrati, mirza, rahman, zareh, .. ) ?
or is it just coincidence?

becoz if that is coincidence, then I cant figure out the matter of mobaali's call up for the bahrain/kuwait games.
was that to merely tell ppl he is beyond those accusations and rumors they relate to him & mobaali? so calling him up was an effort to tell ppl otherwise? then I question why he wasnt used, even for a few minutes in either game? and if he wasnt tried in a game, on what basis was he dropped for these upcoming games?
I fear enayati's call up is another one such matter. that depends if we'll see enayati in any of the following games though. if we do see him, then perhaps my suspicions are wrong and I'll gladly admit I was wrong. if not, then it just underlines the theory that both mobaali's and enayati's ( 2 players with lots of rumors of them and daei ) call ups were to serve a different purpose and nothing to do with football !


is he being a surrogate for another villified previous coach to show he was right ? and that his ideas live on even today?
I'm referring to sadeghi's, mobaali's and kazemian's absence while they have had an excellent season .... against the very opponents TM is going to face and are our biggest rivals in this stage !


what is going on in Daei's head ?
what is he trying to do?

[purple_haze]

Man, there's something really fishy going on about the whole TM issue , the selections, the bans and dismissals and so forth.
Some names that you wouldn't think could get invited, specially considering the past, in fact do get invited to everyone's surprise, then they are mysteriously dropped due to different, strange reasons.
It's not one or two singled out issues, but a lot of them which incidentally is leading to a collective cleansing of players, among which some of the more experienced ones.
Either it's all some very odd coincidence or it's cleverly orchestrated.
I just can't help but to think of the movie "Godfather" somehow!

[zzgloo]

A like the invitation of Mirzapour......
Do not take me wrong, I know, the guy is not among the most intelegent players....I also know he has made bad decisions.......But !, And that is Big But ! ( Do n't be misunderstood )... """" He has extremely valueble experince ! """""
No one has ever doubted his talents.....and physics !!, only his occational " Antiques "....in fact other than those antiques he has perfomed excelently for TM.
When there are shortages at the position, It will not be fair to not have him atleast as the Third Keeper !

[Doctor DOOM]

bahram has a point on the matter of experience. but then again, many believe FORM shd take precedence over experience, me included.
you may have all the experience in the world, but if you are not in form, you are bound to perform sub-par.

I too, like mirza. but the fact is he hasnt been in top form and we do have GK's who have been performing better than him in the league.
( btw, anyone knows what's happened to sepahan's promising keeper, Mohamadi ? )

[Martin-Reza]

huh, deja vu

Branko times revisited here...

[maij]

Peyman Jan...

Like you , I have some questions about Daei selection and omission of players. The reasons could be anything from friendship , Khaye mali , Ta'arof , to tactical , current form and performance. Remember that Daei is working within a system which is by far anywhere near perfect.

The thing is , we really don't know what he has in his mind , what tactics he is going to use and why he insists on certain players. He should not publicly reveal any of it of course , because it is valuable information forthe opposing teams. But in the bigger picture , what is important is if he can take Team Melli to the World Cup.

But if we look at some of the selections, and I am only guessing , I think Daei is a bit concerned with lack of overall experience and would be much more happier with some old hands , despite his gallant attempts to include the youngsters, call it a balancing act.

Ironically , the minute a post is opened about Daei in good intention, you will have hordes of conspiracy theorists , with fishy tales and armed to teeth to attack him and his motives.....!!!!

What a sad state of mind.

[BehzadB]

too early to judge his selection.

I am not sure how many people are on the list but isn't there like 30 or 40 players on our list? plus the injury list, plus the "unavailable due to whatever" list?

when daie calls his final list, for the world cup Q second round games.. that's when he has picked his players..

these are all tryouts..

but for right now, I seriously doubt if he knows himself

[zzgloo]

Now if we want to guess what he is thinking !
This is just a guess....I think he likes bigger and taller.......
He invited mirzapour back....he does not like talebloo as he is kind of skinny, he did not want kabei at one time, he did not want Mobali.....but, he has invited all big guys from saipa and sepahan,and saba....!!

I also guess he is not too much fan of defensive game...and I doubt his defensive game plans be as strong as his offensive one.his defense during the Kuwait game was not much sufisticated......and his worm-up game with saipa was designed to score as much as possible!!

I like to know how he analyses the opponants games..and if he has Human Afazeli with him .......

The german conditioning coach should be up to par....and ardebil high altitude atmospher should be good for stamina...

All in all, I am expecting a physical offensive game against UAE.

[The-Red]

can someone tell me why we played saipa in ardebil? his player selection I actually approve for the most part and I don't see much of an issue with that...some of other stuff bother me and of course karimi's ban added to that and kafashian's unconditional support and weakness has added to the problem of handing one man full authority...
I know some of you guys don't like it when something is said about daie, but no, I am not a conspiracy theory guy, but like to know why some of the things happen the way they do now days in TM???maybe I am asking for too much

[gol_kuchik]

Sorry DD Jan, too close to the all important month of June. My approach at
this point (regardless of if it is Daei, GN or Branko) is to support the coach.

The only person I am not sure why he did not invited is Madanchi. Nevertheless
it is his team and given the short period of time he has, he needs 100% support.

[TM-Fan]

Sorry DD Jan, too close to the all important month of June. My approach at
this point (regardless of if it is Daei, GN or Branko) is to support the coach.

The only person I am not sure why he did not invited is Madanchi. Nevertheless
it is his team and given the short period of time he has, he needs 100% support.

Damet garm GK jan.

This kind of criticism before such important games is only destructive for the team. He will be our coach for the next four games. We should support him for now and save the judgments for the end of the round.

[maij]

Now if we want to guess what he is thinking !
This is just a guess....I think he likes bigger and taller.......
He invited mirzapour back....he does not like talebloo as he is kind of skinny, he did not want kabei at one time, he did not want Mobali.....but, he has invited all big guys from saipa and sepahan,and saba....!!

I also guess he is not too much fan of defensive game...and I doubt his defensive game plans be as strong as his offensive one.his defense during the Kuwait game was not much sufisticated......and his worm-up game with saipa was designed to score as much as possible!!

I like to know how he analyses the opponants games..and if he has Human Afazeli with him .......

The german conditioning coach should be up to par....and ardebil high altitude atmospher should be good for stamina...

All in all, I am expecting a physical offensive game against UAE.

Actually , I never thought about that point...Big players, and it could be very well what is Daei thinks of as an advantage against the opposition.

Remember that the Arabs are always talking about the height and the physical advantage of Iranian teams and have been helpless to counteract it except for some of their more fast players.

On the defensive point, I think no team can achieve anything unless they have a solid defense. No point of scoring three goals , if the defense concedes four.

[maij]

can someone tell me why we played saipa in ardebil? his player selection I actually approve for the most part and I don't see much of an issue with that...some of other stuff bother me and of course karimi's ban added to that and kafashian's unconditional support and weakness has added to the problem of handing one man full authority...
I know some of you guys don't like it when something is said about daie, but no, I am not a conspiracy theory guy, but like to know why some of the things happen the way they do now days in TM???maybe I am asking for too much

The game in Ardabil was ceremonial in the honor of the inauguration of "Ali Daei" stadium. Nothing too cynical about that and if I am not mistaken , this game was arranged before Daei was appointed as the head coach.

What is happening in Team Melli nowadays is not very different or controversial than the ones that has been happening in the last decade or so, but people seem to have short memories. In fact it is milder than Branko's days. I personally know of some horror stories , but let us not dig in the dirt, though.

The system in Iran is as such that these shortcomings and poor management is acceptable , for the rest who live beyond Iran and experienced the western system of management and behavior , it is certainly odd and beyond belief. How on earth IFF cannot arrange a simple hotel rooms booking for the players is really comical, banning Karimi for what he said is another sign of ridicule in this organization so was the last minute appointing of Daei , while they had ample time to look for their required Foreign coach.

I personally think Ali Daei has taken a big risk to work in this chaotic atmosphere and organization , but regardless, he is the head coach and his interest and success for Team Melli should also be our interest and aspiration as well.

[Doctor DOOM]

1- actually bahram has a good point on the matter of size. especially in defense. we know sepahan's defense is built around huge guys like bengar, aghili, aziz-zadeh who are some really big strong chaps. that makes sense.
in fact one thing that I have always had problem with barca is that they dont have enough tall & strong guys in their defense, hence they prove suspect in attacks.
so I agree that tall & strong works, especially if you want to implement a physicsal game against our rivals who arent as big or strong as us.

but that's an explanation for defense and def-mid. not for ALL posts.

as for others, I'd say FORM beats experience.

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

to answer armin jan, I'd say any semi serious exercise TM gets at this stage is good for them as they slowly start to gel and the players get to know each other's moves and can coordinate with each other.

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

now, to TM-fan & GK jan.
you see, that's where we cleave in the board.
I did mention in majid's thread and have said so in the past few years.
PERSONALLY, I dont see how what we post here affects a bunch of players and ppl in Iran.
so while I wont directly attack daei or X or Y, but I dont see anything worng with trying to see what's going on in his head when we see some strange move.
now, will that mean we wont support daei ? no. not at all.

[Doctor DOOM]

Without going over the goods and bads (player-wise) of the past 2 TM test games, since we have enough threads on these games, I'll just announce my utter surprise and amusement in seeing the 4 players that were struck off from TM roster:

Bigdeli
Asadi
Alavi
Asghari


now, here's the question:
Of the first 3 who werent even tested in any of the two games, and asghari, who came in for a while only , given their posts, I'd say

1- Bigdeli didnt deserve to be struck off, especially since we are a team that finds it hard to score goals.

2- Asadi also didnt deserve to be struck off, especially since zareh played so poorly at LB position and we know nosrati isnt going to be any better than zareh.

3- Alavi. I'm not very sure about this one, coz maybe there's hope that at least one of ando or nekunam would pull their socks up and perform.

4- Asghari, who was the ONLY ONE of the 4 who was tested, and I assume everyone agrees he did well to be among the final roster, again for the same reasons as Bigdeli's.

so without any half-serious testing of 3 players, they are struck off ( reminds ppl of someone else? ) and the other guy actually scored 2 goals in those minutes he was in !


all the while, we see names such as the following, remain in the final TM roster !!!!
1- zareh , who has indeed played and crumbled
2- nosrati, by whose own account isnt in form and is injured
3- maziar zareh, who is also injured

anyone cares to explain just WTF is going on in daei's head ?