TM vs Palestine , what's new?

[maij]

Team Melli did not have much difficulty in beating Palestine 3-0 on Thursday. Despite the ususl ridiculing of the teams by Iranian fans, this Palestine team has been playing together for just over 3 years and they are much more familiar with each other and have a much better understanding between themselves that the newly formed Team Melli that played against them. As always , there were good and bad points in that match. My take on it.

• The free flowing passing games was truly satisfying and beautiful to watch.
• Palestine was a good example of a team that just sits there with 9 defenders inviting you to break them. With 3 goals scored , Team Melli succeeded to deal with such defensive strategy.
• Gholareza Rezaei is a brilliant ball player, if he continues like this , he will be even bigger than Daei himself. Strentgh , tanacity , accuracy and skill all in one.
• Ebrahim Sadeghi was MVP of the match. His vision , passing , assist , defending was at its best. He needs to duplicate this brilliant performance with the full team.
• I am becoming a fan of Gholamnejd. I see a lot of potential in this young man.
• Team Melli defense , after many years, is just about perfect even with the second team.
• Mohammad Nouri..wow , I almost forgot how a good player he was with Sepahan. He certainly deserves a shot at the main squad.

Bad vibes

• Rahmati's dismissal is a warning..... You can't do this in the crucial matches.
• Milad Meidavoudi is running out of time. He is threatening to become another Rasoul Khatibi. He was very disspointing and missed a glorious chance to score.
• Mohd Parvin is overwieght and seems to be lost. Granted , it was his first cap , but he did not show any indication that he is an International class material.

[shayan20]

Thanks for this maij.
It's surely great to see our TM playing such beautiful football and free flowing as you said. I also agree that we shouldn't, as fans, underestimate these teams, as we've experienced in the past, even these teams have caused us headaches, so beating this team comfortably gives me hope for future.

I agree on Rezaei, the guy is brilliant, He's been the savior of the team for couple of matches now. I personally see him as the promising star that will take us through to the world cup. i just hope he can keep his form.
Also agree with TM defense. It's been brilliant having Aghili and bengar in the team. These two make me feel as the defense is secure.

[Ali Chicago]

Thanks for sharing your evaluation. It is good to hear from someone mature like you with a very good overall football knowledge says good things are happening at the team melli playing style (as you inidicated). I have'nt seen the game yet (intend to watch it over the weekend).

One thing that I couldn't quite digest was that you said Palestine was sitting back and defending with 9 players, but later you said our defense was almost perfect. If our defense wasn't under a lot of pressure to begin with, how can we say that they were good, bad, average or whatever? Would you mind to elaborate on this point.

[maij]

Thanks for sharing your evaluation. It is good to hear from someone mature like you with a very good overall football knowledge says good things are happening at the team melli playing style (as you inidicated). I have'nt seen the game yet (intend to watch it over the weekend).

One thing that I couldn't quite digest was that you said Palestine was sitting back and defending with 9 players, but later you said our defense was almost perfect. If our defense wasn't under a lot of pressure to begin with, how can we say that they were good, bad, average or whatever? Would you mind to elaborate on this point.

Thanks for your kind words.

I don't recall saying that Palestine was good , bad or average. I merely said that this team has been together for almost 3 years, Same faces and same tactics and whatever goes with being a unit for a longish time.

Our defenders were quite good whenever there was offensive moves by the opposition , but their participation in the attacks was quite admirable. It is better if you watch the game so you can see for yourself the amount of work that the defenders put in this match.

[Ali Chicago]

.....[*]Palestine was a good example of a team that just sits there with 9 defenders inviting you to break them. With 3 goals scored , Team Melli succeeded to deal with such defensive strategy.
......[*]Team Melli defense , after many years, is just about perfect even with the second team.

Maybe I didn't ask the question properly. You never said Palestine played well or bad or anything. In particular I was, I was refering to these two comments agha majid. To me if Palestinie was sitting back and was only counter attacking, it is hard to really evaluate how good or bad our defense was. Do you see my point?

[maij]

Perhaps , this could answer your question

10-Jan-08 Fri Qatar 0-0
30-Jan-08 Fri Costa Rica 0-0
06-Feb-08 WCQ Syria 0-0
22-Mar-08 Fri Bahrain 0-1
26-Mar-08 WCQ Kuwait 2-2
25-May-08 Fri Zambia 3-2
02-Jun-08 WCQ UAE 0-0
07-Jun-08 WCQ UAE 1-0
14-Jun-08 WCQ Syria 2-0
22-Jun-08 WCQ Kuwait 2-0
07-Aug-08 WAFF Palestine 3-0

[Ali Chicago]

Perhaps , this could answer your question

10-Jan-08 Fri Qatar 0-0
30-Jan-08 Fri Costa Rica 0-0
06-Feb-08 WCQ Syria 0-0
22-Mar-08 Fri Bahrain 0-1
26-Mar-08 WCQ Kuwait 2-2
25-May-08 Fri Zambia 3-2
02-Jun-08 WCQ UAE 0-0
07-Jun-08 WCQ UAE 1-0
14-Jun-08 WCQ Syria 2-0
22-Jun-08 WCQ Kuwait 2-0
07-Aug-08 WAFF Palestine 3-0

I see, you are talking about the trend. Since your post was about Iran Palestine game, I limited the defense performance based on that one game. Thanks for the explanation.

[zzgloo]

Asian Class of Football

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

1 st, class: japan, Australia,Iran,South Korea,Saudies.

2 nd class : Bahrain,Uzbacks,China,Iraq,Qatar.

3 rd Class : Kuwait,UAE,Jordan,Syria,North Korea.

4 th Class : Thailand, Oman,Indonesia,Turkemanistan,tajikestan.

5 th class : Indonesia,Malesia,Viatnam,Lebanon,Taiwan.

6 th Class : Palestain, pakistan,India,Gergisestan,Laos.

7 th class : Afganistan,Cambodia,Nepal,Seri lanka,Bangaladesh.

8 th Class : Maldovi,etc,etc....

................................
The weakest Continent in Football ,is Asia....and Palestain offers a very low class of football.......
We can not achive anything ,and we can not conclude anything by playing them....................., The " Steel Azin " can offer much better a test than the Palestinians.

[maij]

I see, you are talking about the trend. Since your post was about Iran Palestine game, I limited the defense performance based on that one game. Thanks for the explanation.

Yes Ali Agha , I am talking about the trend.

The defense , seems to do a good job overall. The last few years , I would have been nervous if TM was 2 goals ahead with 5 minutes left, but lately I feel much more confident about the back players.

Of course , it is always a dangerous assumption to be over-confident as cracks may appear when least expected , but the boyz seem to make it tighter and tighter at the back.

[The-Red]

there are a few players who certainly don't have a spot on the TM and don't think the should be invited...Parvin is one of them, gholamnejad (the guy on the wing if I didn't say his name correctly) also played a week game I thought. Sadeghi still didn't make his case to me for a starter...reazi was brilliant as maij said and the third goal scorer showed so much ball and what a goal to score...I think players like Mobali, Kazemian and even Madanchi can definately replace some of these guys who certainly underperform.

[BehzadB]

It's very hard to grade TM (as a team) when playing against a team like Palestine.. these poor guys were just worried about not losing by double digits.. if it weren't for the lack of a goal getter, we could have scored that many.

I don't know, but I wouldn't call Iran's passing game "free flowing" nor " beautiful", when the other team is so poor..

Rezaie has been a good surprise and now he seems ready for the big games.. plug in the key players back into the line up and let's see what Kia, Nekou, Rezai, hash, Karimi combo can do...

Parvin on TM seems like a bad call to me.

[Doctor DOOM]

majid jan,
1- I dont see any point taking palestine as any kind of measuring stick to evaluate our football. sorry mate. but it just doesnt sit well. no matter how many years they've been playing. in a country with no league, that doesnt amount to much, I'm afraid.

2- I agree that Rezaei is quite a find and he is solidifying his position as one of the strikers in TM, no matter who the coach is.

3- as for your choice of MVP, I'm afraid 3 or 4 nice passes, that too against the 172nd ranked team in the world ? that doesnt amount to much, again.

funnily sadeghi, in daei's team, is one player we can find dozens of other players who play like him, and a dozen who play even better.
I'd take the very same Rahmati over sadeghi ANY DAY.

4- on LB post, which I observed and was interested in, I must say although shiri didnt have an optimal game, but by god he was clearly better than zareh.


5- the set pieces:
twice I saw the team attempt a move where a runner fakes a shot while jumping over the ball and runs round the wall to receive the pass.
they attempted it twice and it didnt get us much. But the good thing is now we know maybe daei has indeed acknowledged our weakness in them and is doing something about it.
and that is a positive.

but on another instance, I saw something that bothered me.
there was this free kick where the team didnt have an idea what to do with. and we could hear clearly daei's instructions, saying "you stand this side. you jump over the ball. you take the kick "!!!
in the middle of a game?
shdnt these be worked out during training?
when I saw this during daei's first game as TM coach, I excused a part of it as being new .
but after this many games ( official and friendly ) and camps & tour, we cant use the same excuse anymore.
such rudimentary things ought to be worked out in practice, so we arent embarrassed in front of the world by on the spot & step-by-step orders in such kicks!

we ought to know X and Y and Z are our free kick takers.
X and Y take the right side. Z takes the left side. and so on.

now, it's a different matter daei doesnt believe in having specialists in free kicks, which forces the players to stand around and "wait for step-by-step orders" from the sidelines !!!!!


6- gholamnejad was no great shakes either.
I mean what he did, I'm sure kaabi can do 3 times better. same with PP's Zarehi. and perhaps a couple of others.


7- I agree on meydavoodi.
he'd better do something quickly, maybe in the next 1-2 games. otherwise ....

8- cant rate the defense coz palestine was simply not able to push them far enough frequently enough.


9- I'll give the benefit of doubt to parvin this time. but what I saw in the game is something that more than a dozen others in IPL can easily emulate. I hope he finds his foot soon and shows his true potential.


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


the only saipa players who, in my opinion, deserve another chance at TM are zeneyedpoor ( very energetic and seeing how weak we are on the left, he's sure worth a little more investment ) & rahmati ( who is a more useful player than sadeghi, who fades into the grass for periods. even in this game where he had 3-4 nice passes )

to me, gholamnejad is clearly inferior to kaabi.
and even zarehi has shown pretty solid games in PP's games last season to be a contender.
and amirabadi may have a few things to say about gholamnejad's constant call ups to TM , as well

sadeghi? as I said, there are dozens who can do as well and some , better than what he has been doing at TM. all are left out. why?


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

the point is when we see so many average ( and some, below average ) performances and players, you cant blame ppl asking about players who are clearly superior performers that are left out .... due to ..... ( call it whatever you may ).

[Martin-Reza]

I totally agree with your analysis Majeed jan, on every single point.

We really have huge competition in central OM now: Zandi, Jabbari, Shojaei and Nouri. Of course some of them can be utilized in different positions as well, but still those four are already too many. Karimi must be in top shape against this competition, in my eyes this is too much for Mobali. Both are lucky Navidkia's health is keeping him away from football.

[maij]

I totally agree with your analysis Majeed jan, on every single point.

We really have huge competition in central OM now: Zandi, Jabbari, Shojaei and Nouri. Of course some of them can be utilized in different positions as well, but still those four are already too many. Karimi must be in top shape against this competition, in my eyes this is too much for Mobali. Both are lucky Navidkia's health is keeping him away from football.

With the abundance of talent in the midfield , I should think the old guard need to keep their wit and skills up to the highest standard if they need a place in the team.

I liked Sadeghi's work rate in this match and if he continues like this , I am pretty confident that he will be a good option as a starter.

The center forward is still an enigma for me (..and perhaps for Daei as well). Jalal Rafkhahei is quite young but he joined the elite club of players who has scored on his debut and that always leaves a good impression. He scored a stunner but I am not sure how he will perform given the full time. Meydavoudi is bothering me immensely. Hashemian is touch and go , Khalili is injured, Tahmasbi is already out of the squad,.... There are not many options left.

OH...yes , Enayati and Khatibi....but that is being quite desperate.

[Martin-Reza]

Nope, really not many striking options. With the talent in midfield we have I recommend a 4-6-0 .

But seriously, Rezaei is a second striker, for the nokeh hamleh position upfront, in Khalili's absence, I only see Hashemian and, sorry, Nikbakht.

Meydavoudi, as you said, is not living up to the expectations. Additionally I also rather see him as supporting or counter striker, not as target forward.

Rafkhaei, well, the elite club also includes Faraz Fatemi if I remember correctly (Bosnia & Herzegovina, 2001?) and Badamaki, so this says little. Apart from the goal, he couldn't convince, but if he keeps on playing average games but scoring, I'd welcome our new Daei.

Sadeghi indeed was very impressive. I wonder what else he needs to do in order to impress his critics. Of course the opposition was weak, but regardless of that you could see his overview and accuracy of passing which was very convincing. Not to talk about him being an allrounder. He played as rightwinger and he did a decent job as sole DM after Rahmati's sending off.

A final word on Parvin, I personally am writing him off already. He showed the same Kavianpour-Ravankhah-Mobali thing I dislike...keeping the ball too long repeatedly.