Uae - IRAN ( return ) game

[Doctor DOOM]

I just watched the game and I must say apart from the result, we saw another extremely POOR game from TM ! EXTREMELY poor !

The game saw the same old problems of formation and selection. And the ONLY highlight of the game was the fact that we scored early on. Coz god knows if we hadn’t scored by the first 30-35 minutes, we would have found it extremely hard to score after that given the rising stress and emotion among the players.

I don’t see much to discuss except a few points.

The first half :
As expected, with a single forward , our lone striker saw next to nothing of any balls and wasn’t fed becoz he was always outnumbered HEAVILY by the defenders. This, btw, continued in the second half so I’m not going to include this in the second half remarks. I will never hold anything against these pitiable players becoz if they don’t score it is the direct result of not being fed any balls in the game, which goes back to ….


The second half:
1- I am fed up with seeing this moronic tactic that has NEVER worked for us and didn’t work today also, … true to form.
Constant LOBBING of balls from defense to the lone forward.
What are we expecting from this?
What are we trying to achieve?
Is that a tactic?
I cant find a word that describes the level of moronic stupidity of this!
We lob. He is single among 3 defenders and we expect him to somehow defy laws of nature, laws of gravity, laws of physics and maths and … hell, REALITY and beat those 3 single handedly and score ?
Is that our tactic, Mr. Daei?
We saw how YOU were incapable of doing anything off such tactics while you were suffering under Branko with this moronic formation. And that was YOU, a player with sh*t-load of experience, massive physique, great heading ability and very good upper body strength.
YOU couldn’t do jack with such tactics. Now, how on earth do you expect lesser mortals like khalili or enayati or meydavoodi or samereh or .. to do anything ?
Absurd !

2- And a part of it is becoz most of our midfield didn’t play as midfield in this game.
Zandi, apart from his goal and 2-3 early attempts, ran out of gas by half time. He was invisible until he was subbed, in the second.
We waited too late for his subbing.
I’m not going to even “count” sadeghi as a player on the pitch ( read bellow for why ).
Shojaei was fluctuating like a pendulum, so he wasn’t going to be reliable either.
All we had was the newcomer, Rezaei, who impressed once again. ( I like this guy …. A lot. With more coordination and work, he could easily fit into TM )
And finally, our final midfielder, Nekunam was playing WAAAYYYY too deep into this formation to be of any use in build ups.
No wonder the defenders gave up on this midfield and just lobbed and lobbed. And when their lobbing failed, the did the natural thing under such circumstances: lobbed again !!!

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Players:

1- Zareh
As expected and was fore-warned, our left side, with zareh operating there, was the promised Autobahn for the uae players.
as we say in Iran: Be heech kas “na” nagoft !
players passed him
dribbled him
outpaced him
maneuvered him
rounded him,
outran him
…… etc ! you name it, they did it to him !
and the guy had no answers or counters to all these. His FIRST real tackle or interception came in minutes 58-60 !!!! and then, he had ONE more interception and that’s it. his grand total of defensive scores reads 2 tackles ….. in 96 minutes of a game !
TWO !!!!
if that’s not PATHETIC , then I don’t know what is!!

And his “daste gol”s don’t even stop there. His passing ( except one cross in the first half ) was ABYSMAL ! Horrendous passing. Almost 80% of his passes ended up with the uae players !

Now, I ask you. Why was he there?
From the way he defended, we cant say he was there to defend.
From the way he passed also, we cant say he was an attacking element.
So I ask WHY THE HELL WAS HE THERE ANYWAY.
No need to act surprised either. His form at TM has ALWAYS been this pathetic. So you cant even say ; “well his past form justifies his being there” either !

He was a HUGE ZERO in the game.
( not that it shd surprise anyone by now )

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2- Shojaei
The guy is a question mark to me.
In one moment he is capable of doing the most brilliant thing like his pass at an ansurd angle with the outside of his foot. Then , the next moment he shoots all my hopes of him with totally brain-dead and mindless dribbling !
His fluctuating display was one of the hardest to understand during the whole game. He was a pendulum swinging between extremely brilliant to incredibly idiotic !

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3- Sadeghi
Was he playing?
Can anyone please watch the WHOLE 96 minutes of this game and truly put aside any bias and tell me except one interception near the end, if we were playing with 10 men we would have seen anything different ?
The guy was the most ineffectual and impotent entity, next to the corner flag on the left side !
Why was he played?
Ok. Lets give that to the coach.
Why wasn’t he subbed ?
When Daei subs Hajsafi ( who wasn’t doing a fraction as horribly as sadeghi. Not even a fraction ) within 30 minutes of the first half of our game in Tehran, why shd he not get this guys out after the half? After the 60th minute? After 75th minute?

I tell you we could have easily been playing with 10 men and we wouldn’t have seen anything different in the WHOLE game !

He was another ZERO in the game.

Any “sane: person would be extremely surprised to see either of sadeghi or zareh in our next line up.
We might as well play with 9 men.

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

finally, I must finish with : I’m very relieved to have finally tasted victory and relieved a mountain of pressure off us and TM and Iran as a whole.
But this display with as poor as the last one ( with only a number change on the score board ).
With this kind of performance, we will be crushed in the second round.

While we are on top of the group, I must say so far Daei has not won my vote for the coaching job in the next round.
( not that what I say or my vote matter. But I’m sure it is shared by many MANY ppl )



Also, let me add this, in favor of uae team.
I think they deserve to advance from this group. They have been playing better football in recent times and even today, they could have easily drawn the game ( or even won, if they had a better striker . taller or more accurate )
I just wonder when they can play like this, why do they resort to unsportsman-like acts and behavior !!!

[khabalood]

While we are on top of the group, I must say so far Daei has not won my vote for the coaching job in the next round.
( not that what I say or my vote matter. But I’m sure it is shared by many MANY ppl )

Doctor jaan, in an interview with taj on abu dhabi sports after the game it was revealed that Ali Daei has a three year contract as head coach. Even more absurd when asked if Daei would be fired if his poor run with the team continued, or they failed to qualify to the next round, taj answer no.

On an unrelated note, my prediction that Zandi is the player to do the scoring for us was absolutely correct. http://www.persianfootball.com/forum...ad.php?t=59768 post 10 proves that. In regards to Zandi, the poor guy has every reason to "run out of gas" when he is simply out working the rest of the team and playing in an environment/temperature he is not use to. I think it would be a good idea to play Zandi in his natural position of central attacking midfield, if not give him a chance as a striker. He was played as a left winger which meant he was very far away from the box. In essence he had to continuously move far up the field and return back. Considering his play in and around the box was far superior to his play outside, he should remain in this area, so as to best help the team.

[Doctor DOOM]

1- I wouldnt mind him playing as the offensive mid, behind the striker(s) .

but as a striker? he's too slow. we have far better players for that role than him. ba yek "goal" bahar nemisheh, bro.


2- I agree on him and some others playing slow and fatigued.
the humidity and heat does sap ur energy.
zandi has to get back in shape. otherwise, I'm afraid any other coach would leave him out too.
but I assume he was brought in for his set pieces.
which is very puzzling, coz it was shojaei taking the corners again and again, and with not good degree of accuracy, mind you.
go figure !


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a quick trip to the general forum provided much amusement.
it's AMAZING how the score-line suddenly justifies and transforms matters !

I dont know how many will share my sentiments at this point and close to the game, especially when the game was such a major break through from sh*t-load of stress.

but lets be frank.
if I have to compare, I'd say we played EVEN MORE POORLY than the azadi game.
look at the wayward passes, turn overs, mind-numbing lobs, ... typical "bezan ziresh" football of 2 decade ago, .... etc.
by god, we didnt play this poorly in azadi.
look. we can name many factors leading to this poor display, like heat, humidity, away game environment, and most important of all, the unbearable STRESS of what was in balance. all that may explain the poor quality. but that still doesnt change the reality that this was one really poor display.

but the score-line has suddenly made ppl praise all & sundry !
I, too am extremely happy with the result and the 3 points. that was pretty much a make-or-break game for us. but the quality in display was absolutely pathetic.
we showed MORE weaknesses and many of them, MORE PRONOUNCED than the azadi game or even the kuwait game.
the only difference is one brilliant pass and chip.
( was it off-side btw? they showed it 4-5 times and everytime they showed the above view, it looked off-side slightly. but who cares? let us benefit from the wrong calls once every 10 times that go against us. nooshe joonemoon )

I love this picture, though:




talk about off-loading a mountain of stress !

[zzgloo]

Payman jaan......Every thing you said, I secound,and agree.......
Although, 50% of sorry state that our TM is in, is not Ali Daei's fault...but we will be embbarreses badly on the secound round ( If we qualify,and if we keep Daei )

1-daei's face : Did any body notice daei's face in the openning of the game..as he was extremly nervouse,and scared......., what kind of massage is that for players,,,,,,and at the end,he said to supporters, we played excelently...and what kind of massage is that ?

2-Mid-field and sadeghi,....eveybody noticed our shortcomeings in the midfield, through out the game, specialy from Sadeghi......it was clear as the day light.....why did he not change anything ? specialy in the middle?...and when he did, it may have been too late.

3-TM, was not prepared,was nervouse, players kept loseing the ball at rediculuse magnitued,..and no apparant strategy......I wonder, how worse , even I could have done with TM ?

4-Aghili, rezai,and Shojaee...and hossaini and hajsafi, seem to have become fix for new TM. ( which is good )

5- Once again, our " GHAYRAT " bailed us, and IFF,and daei,out...

...................

Aside from bad coaching.....TM players keep loseing faith in thier coach...and that is addidtional negative....

[The-Red]

ya poor game....indications of daie recognizing some of his mistakes from saturday and trying to fix them,,credit to him for that, but overall, the team's play was poor, no real plan to go forward, defenders were playing "bekesh ziresh"...all that said, we needed this win and no matter how it was achieved, we should appreciate it...i just hope those in power see that this team is not going anywhere, yet alone the world cup.

[Doctor DOOM]

Armin jan, I dont know how much of these changes were "forced" and how much was willingly done.

for example, Ando was suspended for the game ( 2 yellows ) and that's why we didnt see him in the pitch despite his VERY POOR form in recent games.
so I wonder had he been available, would daei still keep him out?
not too sure.

and as expected and foreseen, instead of correcting the immediate and urgent need of the team in goal scoring, daei brought in an ineffectual and useless player for another ( ando ) : sadeghi.
so should we credit him with this change also ?
I dont know.

zareh's horrible performance , also, was foreseen in monday's game and I did say expect a lot of traffic and attack from his side in uae.
so if there was any need for change in strategy, it shd have included this zone also. was anything done for it?
NO.


however, I will give credit for one issue:
we needed a playmaker in the MIDDLE of the field, and not on one side. and bringing shojaei to the center did have its positives, as we saw.
so this credit shd go to Daei, for certain.

[Martin-Reza]

Zare did great in the past two matches.

Anyway, we played bad, but currently I don't care how we get the points, poor Daei never had the chance to build his team. We will need to build a stronger team for next stage.

[Doctor DOOM]

^ ok buddy.
zareh did great !

( I did a quick dictionary check, in case I had the meaning of "great" wrong and came up with:
GREAT :
- wonderful; first-rate; very good
- notable; remarkable; exceptionally outstanding
.... just in case I got the words wrong )

I guess we have to be happy if he doesnt score an own goal, or maybe take out a gun and shoot a couple of ppl, or if he didnt wear his shorts over his head, or ... .

coz "FOOTBALL"-wise, he was a ZERO.

[The-Red]

ya I am not so sure about zareh doing great...it wasn't his worst performance, as we have all seen worse from him, but he was below average I thought,,,anyways, DD jan, ya some of them were forced, but I like the exclusion of enayati and starting khalili...despite what some might think, I thought khalili did ok and ran a lot...put some necessary pressure on the defenders....also, I liked the fact that daie started zandi unlike the game on monday, ...but I coundn't agree more on sadeghi...for a whole 40 min or so in the 2nd half I forgot he was on the team,,,,untill I saw a glimpse of him somewhere on the field...I guess he was doing something there,,,couldn't tell what

I also thought the subs were good, but came LATE...the humid conditions I thought should have really made daie make the subs earlier than the 75ht min which I think was our first sub..!!! at least three of the players were dead tired by then, and we were lucky we were playing UAE and not a more dangerous team....any first class asian team would have tared us apart so bad yesterday with a performance like that....but of course we also raise our game against better teams...

as i said and as MR and a few others mentioned, a win is a win in conditions like this where a team is so desparate in need of 3 points and after being at sleep for 2 years at NT level, we need to make it out of this group and give ourselves time built something....even tho I doubt with an inexperienced coach and such a irresponsible IFF, there is really a chance to go to WC...I have personally brought my expectations down for 2010 and looking forward to 2014 and maybe a better IFF and coaches/a few more talented players, and we will be in Brazil.

[Mr.Good]

I don't know what kind of a game some of the people here saw, but in my opinion, TM showed a game plan and tactical variety that was perfect for this game.

First of all let me point that the weather on that day was unusually hot and humid even for Al-Ain standard, If people here don't know the difference between AlAin and Dubai Let me tell you that AlAin is dry but hotter compared to Dubai and that is one of the reasons UAE federation had the game there. But that day was very humid combined with the usual high temperature of AlAin. but guess what, at the end of the game TM showed less fatigue than UAE team. How TM slowed the game was brilliant. TM secured their turf and let the UAE team do the running which made them out of breath toward the end of second half.

Its true that Sadeghi came instead of Teymorian, but TM did not start with 4-2-3-1. I don't know why people here don't like Sadeghi, maybe because he came from Saipa with Ali Daei, but Sadeghi is a very versatile player. He is a good central midfielder, very well built, very good defensive qualities, very good positioning, and decent passing abilities. TM played with 4-4-2 diamond. Nekounam was the sole DM. Zandi LM, Sadeghi RM, and Shojaei AM.
khalili was the striker and Rezaei was everywhere upfront (I like this guy, he hustles well and has good eye for the goal).
look at the goal we scored and see how Khalili and Rezaei opened up UAE defense with their movement to make space for Zandi to dash upfront. Of course Shojaei's pass was brilliant also.

later towards the end of first half and ate the beginning of the second half TM played with classical 4-4-2 with two DM (Nekounam and Sadeghi), Zandi on the left and Shojaei on the right) only after Nikbakht and HajSafi came in the second half that we played 4-2-3-1.

Everybody knows that our CB's are slow. Therefore, we could not risk playing pressing game in the midfield with the Emaraties. They have fast strickers and that would be suicide. The weather was also not very good for a pressing game. our players don't have the stamina for that given the heat and humidity. Then the best option was to sit back and slow down the game. every time Shojaei was getting the ball, at the beginning of the game he was dribbling and passing, bu then towards the end of first half and second half he was stopping the ball and wasting the time. that was TM tactic and I think that was the best for that situation. TM also played on counter attacks and had some very good chances to score second goal but they were wasted as every saw.

[Hadi]

This performance was EXACTLY like the firs leg.

Only difference was that UAE had more possession and looked more dangerous.

[khabalood]

1- I wouldnt mind him playing as the offensive mid, behind the striker(s) .

but as a striker? he's too slow. we have far better players for that role than him. ba yek "goal" bahar nemisheh, bro.

I'm not quite convinced. Zandi is definitely not speedy but he is not slow either. I'm sure you remember Daei's last years and he was still effective despite his lack of speed. Zandi much like Daei has a strong and accurate shot, can control the ball well and is intelligent in and around the box. In addition, he also has the build for the cf position, and is good at penalties, and free kicks. I don't think Zandi is a natural finisher, but none of our other cf are either. With his characteristics he fits all the requirements of a cf.

In our recent history we have no cf who is far better than Daei. Enayati, and Khalili are ineffective in their position. Either messing up 100% goal chances or becoming invisible in game. For some reason neither has the ability to work the defense in order to open themselves up for a pass or set themselves up in a superior scoring chance. Granted delivery has not been great from their supporting cast but they are not able to create or finish opportunities either. Neither are very smart players either. Enayati's offside numbers, and Khalili becoming blinkered in front of goal is a testament to that.

For his part Zandi has been a positive influence in the games he has played in recent history. He did well in the Asia cup and carried the offense for parts of the last game. Based on this I would not hesitate to play him behind the strikers, and I would definitely test him as a cf as soon as possible, which would probably be the game against Egypt.

[Doctor DOOM]

Armin, this season, I am very excited about a bunch of players from our league.
players like khalili, hajsafi, rezaei and meydavoodi.

notice they are all attacking players with quite a performance behind them in the season.

trust me, if khaili is PAIRED UP with another supporting striker ( my choie, meydavoodi ), he will shine at TM.
he is getting an unfair deal , being forced to play alone , among a crowd of defenders.

a khalili-meydavoodi pair will have A LOT on offer for TM.
pace, technical skill, heading ability, shooting, ...

and if we add the two hajsafi & rezaei , joining them and feeding them crosses and balls from left & right, we could have a very POTENT strike force at TM.

if only ......

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Mrgood,
I am sure sadeghi is a good player and has indeed played some nice games for saipa.
but having played good games for your club months ago, does not mean you deserve to be in TODAY's TM.
his form, AT PRESENT is way below par.
it has been at saipa's recent ACL games as well. so it's nothing new.

and besides, he is NO playmaker either ( in saipa it is sharifinasab ).

believe me, him being from saipa has absolutely no co-relation to my criticism. if you are fair you'd agree he was the most impotent and ineffectual player in the whole game.
and given his recent form, it was no surprise.

mind you, the formation looked somewhat between 4-1-4-1 and 4-2-3-1. but with sadeghi and zandi's roles looking rather vague.
but it definitely , at no point in time had TWO strikers.


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

khabalood, there might be something there.

the case can be made based on the parallels you drew with last years of daei.
but then again, wasnt daei criticized for not being able to score, no matter how much of supportive role he played at TM ?

also, zandi's physique is as good as daei's , to be put in the role of a holding striker? he is tall enough and I agree , has good shooting and passing. he is very intelligent as well.
but somehow we all expect strikers to be nimble and quick on their feet. and zandi isnt all that nimble.

but certainly worth a try in some test game.
definitely more sensible than playing him as the left defender

[Ali Chicago]

Wasnt' any game to really analyze or anything? Guess after watching all the Euro 2008 games and USA Argentina game earlier today maybe my expectations are unrealistic. Besides the result team played for most part even worst than Tehran (except the last 15 minutes).

The only positive things was the new faces getting their spot in the TM. Wish GN was brave enough to do it during his reign.

One thing worth mentioning was Gholamreza Rezai. This guy will get contract offer very soon from Europe or at least from UAE clubs. This guy is amazing. He is a complete player both offensive and defenseive. The only thing remainded to be seen is if he is consistant or not (remember Badamaki when he came to PP initially?
Also Nekonam was very good in clearing the balls in the 18 yard. Shojai was amazing as well. If I wanted to choose three players while respecting all of our players they would have been
1- Rezai by far
2-Shojai
3 Nekoonam (since expectation is higher from him, but still good to see he is getting into match fitness condition).
Lots and lots of problem, but why waste time and energy, they are the same over and over again.

Congrats to Mr. Daie and TM and thanks to all the work the player did for the name of Iran.

Bacheha Motshakareem.

[Hajagha]

I don't know what kind of a game some of the people here saw, but in my opinion, TM showed a game plan and tactical variety that was perfect for this game.
First of all let me point that the weather on that day was unusually hot and humid even for Al-Ain standard, If people here don't know the difference between AlAin and Dubai Let me tell you that AlAin is dry but hotter compared to Dubai and that is one of the reasons UAE federation had the game there. But that day was very humid combined with the usual high temperature of AlAin. but guess what, at the end of the game TM showed less fatigue than UAE team. How TM slowed the game was brilliant. TM secured their turf and let the UAE team do the running which made them out of breath toward the end of second half.
Its true that Sadeghi came instead of Teymorian, but TM did not start with 4-2-3-1. I don't know why people here don't like Sadeghi, maybe because he came from Saipa with Ali Daei, but Sadeghi is a very versatile player. He is a good central midfielder, very well built, very good defensive qualities, very good positioning, and decent passing abilities. TM played with 4-4-2 diamond. Nekounam was the sole DM. Zandi LM, Sadeghi RM, and Shojaei AM.
khalili was the striker and Rezaei was everywhere upfront (I like this guy, he hustles well and has good eye for the goal).
look at the goal we scored and see how Khalili and Rezaei opened up UAE defense with their movement to make space for Zandi to dash upfront. Of course Shojaei's pass was brilliant also.
later towards the end of first half and ate the beginning of the second half TM played with classical 4-4-2 with two DM (Nekounam and Sadeghi), Zandi on the left and Shojaei on the right) only after Nikbakht and HajSafi came in the second half that we played 4-2-3-1.
Everybody knows that our CB's are slow. Therefore, we could not risk playing pressing game in the midfield with the Emaraties. They have fast strickers and that would be suicide. The weather was also not very good for a pressing game. our players don't have the stamina for that given the heat and humidity. Then the best option was to sit back and slow down the game. every time Shojaei was getting the ball, at the beginning of the game he was dribbling and passing, bu then towards the end of first half and second half he was stopping the ball and wasting the time. that was TM tactic and I think that was the best for that situation. TM also played on counter attacks and had some very good chances to score second goal but they were wasted as every saw.

Second here. Very good analysis. Specially "I don't know what kind of a game some of the people here saw,...". I realy wonder too.

Adding that our sub's were very well thought. This team played with heart and brain.

Job well done.