The match ended and a few quick points.
1) First and foremost, good result and thank God we came out with the full 3 points.
2) MVP of the match was Rahmati. How many times did he save us? 5 times at least.
3) Khatibi as usual, was nothing and missed good goal scoring opportunities.
4) For the first time I can remember, Zareh actually played a good game. He was good coming forward. He had a few good crosses and had a nice shot. Acceptable defensively as well.
5) I thought both Shojaei and Nekounam played sub-par. Shojaei needs to learn how to shoot the ball. He had a few shots but his shots are very weak and roll to the goalie. He had a few like this for Osasuna as well. He simply isnt the goal-getter that a player like Ali Karimi is. Shojaei is COMPLETELY a set-up man who gets assists.
Nekounam's form is starting to worry me. He's had adequate time to recover from his major surgery but he still doesnt look on form. He gave the ball up a few times which he rarely does and he is slow to cover on defense. He did not have the commanding prescence in midfield he usually does for a few matches now.
6) I thought Daei was weak this game. First and foremost, he made his subs very late. We were obviously very tired in the 2nd half, but Daei's first substitution didnt come until the 80th minute!!! I though to myself is Daei pulling a Miroslav Blazevic and not using any subs at all? Our players were physically tired, and Daei's subs came after Korea scored. He should have subbed at half for Khatibi or at least in the 60th minute bring in Zandi.
After we scored the 2nd goal, the Korean pressure escalated immensely. Daei did not respond to this at all. He could have brought in M. Zareh as a 2nd defensive mid at that time to releieve some of the pressure, but he didnt do anything, and not surprisingly, Korea scored. Did Korea's goal come as a shock to anybody? It was obivous they were going to score. They had pressure on our goal. Daei didnt do anything to relieve this pressure. He didnt change the formation to add more help defensively, he didnt make any subs, nothing.
7) Aghili is very shakey on the defensive line and I have been saying this for a long time now. This will come back to haunt us in bigger matches. Korea's goal came off his poor marking. He almost handed Korea a goal in the 1st half with a blunder but Kaebi saved the goal with a last ditch tackle. He also had 3-4 un-necessary fouls that gave Korea free kicks in good position.
8) Nikbakht would've been useful this game. I read it in a post that Doctor Doom wrote before the match, and while I was watching the match, it really struck me that I agree completely and the Doc brings up a good point. We saw that the Khatibi-Rezaei combination didnt work too well. We needed tall strikers vs N.Korea who were good in the air and physical. Thats precisely why Seyed Salehi was invited. Nikbakht is better than Seyed Salehi in my eyes, and has plenty of international expereince as well as being tall, physical, and would've gave the Koreans a lot of trouble up front. Good target man, and thats what our football needs, a target forward playing alongside a support striker like Rezaei
9) This win was a pretty lucky win in my book. TM played an ok first half, but 2nd half was pretty bad. N. Korea had a better half in the 2nd half and had more shots and goal scoring chances that if they converted we'd be sharing points in Azadi.
1) First and foremost, good result and thank God we came out with the full 3 points.
2) MVP of the match was Rahmati. How many times did he save us? 5 times at least.
3) Khatibi as usual, was nothing and missed good goal scoring opportunities.
4) For the first time I can remember, Zareh actually played a good game. He was good coming forward. He had a few good crosses and had a nice shot. Acceptable defensively as well.
5) I thought both Shojaei and Nekounam played sub-par. Shojaei needs to learn how to shoot the ball. He had a few shots but his shots are very weak and roll to the goalie. He had a few like this for Osasuna as well. He simply isnt the goal-getter that a player like Ali Karimi is. Shojaei is COMPLETELY a set-up man who gets assists.
Nekounam's form is starting to worry me. He's had adequate time to recover from his major surgery but he still doesnt look on form. He gave the ball up a few times which he rarely does and he is slow to cover on defense. He did not have the commanding prescence in midfield he usually does for a few matches now.
6) I thought Daei was weak this game. First and foremost, he made his subs very late. We were obviously very tired in the 2nd half, but Daei's first substitution didnt come until the 80th minute!!! I though to myself is Daei pulling a Miroslav Blazevic and not using any subs at all? Our players were physically tired, and Daei's subs came after Korea scored. He should have subbed at half for Khatibi or at least in the 60th minute bring in Zandi.
After we scored the 2nd goal, the Korean pressure escalated immensely. Daei did not respond to this at all. He could have brought in M. Zareh as a 2nd defensive mid at that time to releieve some of the pressure, but he didnt do anything, and not surprisingly, Korea scored. Did Korea's goal come as a shock to anybody? It was obivous they were going to score. They had pressure on our goal. Daei didnt do anything to relieve this pressure. He didnt change the formation to add more help defensively, he didnt make any subs, nothing.
7) Aghili is very shakey on the defensive line and I have been saying this for a long time now. This will come back to haunt us in bigger matches. Korea's goal came off his poor marking. He almost handed Korea a goal in the 1st half with a blunder but Kaebi saved the goal with a last ditch tackle. He also had 3-4 un-necessary fouls that gave Korea free kicks in good position.
8) Nikbakht would've been useful this game. I read it in a post that Doctor Doom wrote before the match, and while I was watching the match, it really struck me that I agree completely and the Doc brings up a good point. We saw that the Khatibi-Rezaei combination didnt work too well. We needed tall strikers vs N.Korea who were good in the air and physical. Thats precisely why Seyed Salehi was invited. Nikbakht is better than Seyed Salehi in my eyes, and has plenty of international expereince as well as being tall, physical, and would've gave the Koreans a lot of trouble up front. Good target man, and thats what our football needs, a target forward playing alongside a support striker like Rezaei
9) This win was a pretty lucky win in my book. TM played an ok first half, but 2nd half was pretty bad. N. Korea had a better half in the 2nd half and had more shots and goal scoring chances that if they converted we'd be sharing points in Azadi.
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