Iran-DPR Korea preview-How to break that defense?

[The-Red]

I realize the game is a month away but I am already interested in that game and looking forward to it...Forget the Saudi game. The hope is that Daie himself gained experience from the Saudi game and he will make the changes necessary for the next game considering the circumstances of now going from the underdog to being the favorites and all the benefits and disadvantages that comes with that....
NOW, we will have a tough task ahead and that is to to break down the very defensive minded DPR Korean team in Tehran and in the same time keep them away from our goal by preventing them from scoring through fast counter attacks, which we know how well they can get that done.
Every single article I have read about the DPR Korea since last year, it has been about how well and organized they are defensively and how well they transfer defense into counter attack in seconds.

My hope is to see:

-Invited players are called-up keeping in mind we have 2 games in 5 days
-Kia back in the lineup, and if not, someone like Kazemian can surely help us against quick asian teams.
-have a team mentality with a lot of patient and staying focus for 90+ minute
-Not fall into the pressure from the fans and playing at home as the favorites to win can easily transfer into rushing to score and mistake after mistake.
-better player selection as players like Zare-khatibi-gholamnejad seem to be replaceable. I am glad Kaabi is coming back
-work on set plays and free kicks as it can be our best way to get to Korea's goal.
-I am also hoping we have someone in China tomorrow watching the two Koreas play and bring some real pointers for our coaching staff.
Daie himself will be in Dubai watching UAE-KSA which is a smart move on his part.

[zzgloo]

I realize the game is a month away but I am already interested in that game and looking forward to it...Forget the Saudi game. The hope is that Daie himself gained experience from the Saudi game and he will make the changes necessary for the next game considering the circumstances of now going from the underdog to being the favorites and all the benefits and disadvantages that comes with that....
NOW, we will have a tough task ahead and that is to to break down the very defensive minded DPR Korean team in Tehran and in the same time keep them away from our goal by preventing them from scoring through fast counter attacks, which we know how well they can get that done.
Every single article I have read about the DPR Korea since last year, it has been about how well and organized they are defensively and how well they transfer defense into counter attack in seconds.
My hope is to see:
-Invited players are called-up keeping in mind we have 2 games in 5 days
-Kia back in the lineup, and if not, someone like Kazemian can surely help us against quick asian teams.
-have a team mentality with a lot of patient and staying focus for 90+ minute
-Not fall into the pressure from the fans and playing at home as the favorites to win can easily transfer into rushing to score and mistake after mistake.
-better player selection as players like Zare-khatibi-gholamnejad seem to be replaceable. I am glad Kaabi is coming back
-work on set plays and free kicks as it can be our best way to get to Korea's goal.
-I am also hoping we have someone in China tomorrow watching the two Koreas play and bring some real pointers for our coaching staff.
Daie himself will be in Dubai watching UAE-KSA which is a smart move on his part.

If you were the North Korean coach...and your super defensive,counter-attacking,plan worked very well against the UAE.........will you change your plan ??

So, we know exactly how they are going to play !...the key is : " EXACTLY " !
So, that in itself is an advantage to us....and we could use that knowledge into good use......

[The-Red]

If you were the North Korean coach...and your super defensive,counter-attacking,plan worked very well against the UAE.........will you change your plan ??
So, we know exactly how they are going to play !...the key is : " EXACTLY " !
So, that in itself is an advantage to us....and we could use that knowledge into good use......

as long as ke "jav geer" nashim and stick to the game plan...I often think against some teams is better to play away from home since you know they will open up and if you are the better team, you can then hit them, but playing against a team with 10 players in their box, has proven hard for us in the past, specially in Azadi.
Remember the game against Jordan in Tehran in 2004, Syria and UAE of 2007-08, Bahrain in 2001, Kuwait of '97..all winnable games on paper against very defensive teams and somehow we failed to break them down.

[zzgloo]

as long as ke "jav geer" nashim and stick to the game plan...I often think against some teams is better to play away from home since you know they will open up and if you are the better team, you can then hit them, but playing against a team with 10 players in their box, has proven hard for us in the past, specially in Azadi.
Remember the game against Jordan in Tehran in 2004, Syria and UAE of 2007-08, Bahrain in 2001, Kuwait of '97..all winnable games on paper against very defensive teams and somehow we failed to break them down.

The-Red e aziz..... I know the exact the delima you are talking about.......as it creates major frustrations...and demoralizes players.....
But, knowing in advance how they will play......and , paying attention to the game between two koreas....so to see what south koreans came up with !,could give us clues as how to deal with the north Koreans......
it seems , they like what they do, and it seems ,it is thier plan , to challenge other teams in stamina, and psycology !!
please, pay attention to how the North korean coach answered the media,before thier game against south Korea, regarding his game plans !......and my personal conclusion is to," not get into the same trap as UAE did " !

"""Asian Football site """

The UAE dominated for most of the game but they were running out of stamina in the second half. However, we are ready in terms of stamina and spirit. We are going to spend every last ounce of strength on Wednesday to fight for a win.”

Huh has called youngsters Seo Dong-hyeon and Shin Yong-rok into his squad, with the coach looking towards Suwon Bluewings striker Seo in particular to deliver the goals his team have been lacking.

DPR Korea coach Kim Jong-hun, meanwhile, refused to apologise for his team’s defensive style, stressing its importance in his team’s success so far.

“Our defensive tactics are not only aimed at preventing the opponents from moving forward,” he said, “but are also a good strategy that will help facilitate our attacking.”

[Doctor DOOM]

-Invited players are called-up keeping in mind we have 2 games in 5 days

-Kia back in the lineup, and if not, someone like Kazemian can surely help us against quick asian teams.

-have a team mentality with a lot of patient and staying focus for 90+ minute

-Not fall into the pressure from the fans and playing at home as the favorites to win can easily transfer into rushing to score and mistake after mistake.

-better player selection as players like Zare-khatibi-gholamnejad seem to be replaceable. I am glad Kaabi is coming back

-work on set plays and free kicks as it can be our best way to get to Korea's goal.

pretty much sums up what I'd like to see as well.
I may add sadeghi to the dispensable lot of players instead of gholamnejad ( who could be kaabi's back up ).

I'd also advocate long range shooting.

and the way to counter a quick, pacey team is by ball possession and dictating the pace of the game. play possession football and you're halfway there already.

[Hadi]

very good thread.

I watched the first half of Iran Saudi again thanks to Mansour's link and I have to say, I am more disappointed and worried than I was after the match ended. That was a terrible performance by our team.

[kaz]

With their "everybody behind the ball" tactic, it would be the ultimate match to let Karimi and Shojaei just dismantle them.

[Martin-Reza]

I think the keys will be our physical strength and setpieces.

[yashar_fasihnia]

I think the keys will be our physical strength and setpieces.

since we dont take any long range shots and arent exactly the fastest team in terms of ball distribution and transition, i guess wat u said is exactly what we will be relying on.

[Martin-Reza]

And I think it will work. If we don't open up stupidly and remain patient, our tall strong players sooner or later will score if they allow us to come close to their goal by defending deep often. We surely will be able to get many freekicks and corners and we have players who can deliver pinpoint crosses (Zandi, Jabbari, Shojaei), can score freekicks (Zandi, Jabbari, Nekounam) or are very good in the air (Aghili, Nekounam, Hosseini, Hashemian).

If they want to avoid that, they must either defender higher and overtake more initiative, which they can't, or hope that we are losing our cool when it's 0-0 for a while so they get more space for counter attacks.

They looked pretty strong over their right attacking side against UAE, since we don't have a good leftback available, this might be a problem.

[zzgloo]

If we take a good look at the video,that is currantly available..on our Goal against the Saudi's.......here is what we will notice :
we have one player kicking the corner === 1
another player close to him === 1
we have 6 players inside the box === 5
we had 2 just out side the box,as they joined Nekunam to congradulate him,immidiately after he scored === 2
, and we 1 players on the midfiled === 1
and, rahmati at our own Goal === 1
--------
total === 11
.................................................. ............................
had we not score the goal, and the ball was kicked back, by thier defender.it would have been a dangerouse counter attack against us,with only one man to beat!!!....specialy for a team, like North Korea,that has practiced ,such situations.

[Martin-Reza]

Their goalie sucks bigtime, he again was very shaky today.

[Doctor DOOM]

lets check some facts:
- koreans will most probably play a tight & compact defense
- koreans' average height also will be less than ours.
- we have VH, who can head the ball really well

hmmm..... what can a team do against such a team?
there's one word ( that obviously some members will not like to hear , but cannot escape it ) that comes to mind: WIDTH

1- when a team plays a tight defense, the first thing any coach does is try to spread that tight formation to create space for his mids and strikers. and only WIDE players manage to do that. players who can run along the sideline, round their mark, cut in or give cut-back passes and send crosses ... etc.

players who barge in towards the center of defense from midline will meet a multi-layered wall and even if they get to dribble the first player, the second or third will eventually get the ball.

2- having a not so tall defense line and a striker with good heading ability would prompt even the most amateurish person to think about CROSSES. We need crosses coming in from both sides.
the more, the better. which increases the chances of VH or any other forward or surging mid to win the ball and head in a goal. it's as simple as that. the more balls, the more chances to score.

both the above points mean only one thing:
we need WIDE players on both left and right, who can play along the sidelines,
who can cross the ball , especially on the run and sprints
who have good ball control
who shd cross the ball with the correct foot and not waste time ( allowing the fast koreans to regroup ) with changing feet to send a cross in

do we have such players at present TM roster ?
I can only think of madanchi & Hajsafi in the left midfield.

again, at the risk of irking the zealots, I must repeat we need players like Kia or Kazemian or .... to provide this much needed width to the team.

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

incidentally, we get an extra BONUS with either of Kia or Kazemian's inclusion:
SET PIECE skills. Both are good in set pieces and we ADD to our firepower.

coz set pieces are as important as any tactic when we play a compact and quick team bent on defending, but are shorter in height.

we MUST HAVE quite a few tactics for utilizing the set pieces.
we cant just ignore these essentials.

[zzgloo]

I did not see the game.....but,Thanks to martin reza,and armin,and tashakor.....as they broadcasted the game....and based on thier minute to minute observations, and individual takes on the game...here is what I gathered that may come handy in trying to find what to do with the North Koreans :

1-South Korea, had decieded to use the,low risk, non-commiting game plan.
2-South Korea, based its attacks mostly on its long shots from a distance.
3-south Korea, consiquestly lost its charactor.
4-North korea, also stayed true to its defensive plans...and also attacked by long shots.
5-Non.commitments,caused the game to be very boring.
6-once, the game became boring, North,started to attack.
7-But,South,by then had lost its football charactor, and was vulerenable.
8-North Koreans, although fast, but can not finish!

A= Too much attack is not good,as UAE found out !
B= Too conservative is not good either,as South Korea, lost its football charactor, and did not know what to do, and almost lost the game.
.................................................. ............................
North Korea, wants other teams, to play its own style...and takes the game to brink of 0-0,and boring tie...and once, the opponanats get frustrated, they make thier own moves !
..........................................
Tough Nut to Crack !!!
But, where there is a will, there is a way !!
.........................................
some suggestions :

1- Long shots are helpful.
2-never, forget the own back field,and be mindful of counter attacks.
3-high balls, and takeing advantage of our hights.
4-do not play too much into thier hands, and play your own game .
5-man to man,defensive assignement, for thier fast counter attacking man !
6-Be most active,in first 30 minutes....as any goal will take them out of thier system.
7-as payman suggested.....be mindful of side lines..and spread thier team apart !

[Ali Chicago]

I don't want to read the thread, since I taped the N. Korea, S. Korea game and dont' want to know anything before I watch the game myself.

I am going to say one thing and this probably will bring a whole roar of I am anti Daie and all that, but, I don't have high hopes as far as the offensive abilities of the TM that played against KSA.

Either Mr. Daie can make almost a miracle and improve our offense tremendously or he needs to invite new players. Our offense right now, is dribbling and peneteration by Shojai, Rezis' run and free corner kicks. No decent crosses for Hashemian, no running without the ball by our midfielder or forward (specially in width to create space), Shojai at times even slows down the team. Starting Jabbari might help, depends on his mental strength (being able to perform at that level, what Khatibi and Enayati both lack).