Observations and player rankings Iran - Costa Rica

[Iranyar Rezatank]

First some observation.
1- we are too dependent on Karimi and other legionairs
2- Jabbari is not good enough without Teymourian, but teymourian plays fairly well without Jabbari
3- We need a left foot winger deffender, madanchi could be a Kabi in the left, in that case it is batter that Zandi does not get subbed out.


Normal grades

Mirzapour: 6 / Roudbarian: 5
Golmo: 7
Nosrati: 6
Kaebi: 7
Zare: 4 / Alavi: 4
Nekounam: 4
Teymurian: 7 / Navidkia: 5
Zandi: 6 / Madanchi: 6
Karimi: 9 / Jabbari: 4
Hashemian: 8
Daei: 7
Kazemian ?

[Haf3z]

I would grade Zandi 6 and Madanchi 7, Nosrati 7, Hashemian 9 and Zare 6.

Zare did a fair job offensively .

[50Toman]

Mirzapour: 6 / Roudbarian: 6
Golmo: 7
Nosrati: 5.5
Kaebi: 7
Zare: 5 / Alavi: 5
Nekounam: 6
Teymurian: 6 / Navidkia: 5
Zandi: 7 / Madanchi: 6.5
Karimi: 8 / Jabbari: 6
Hashemian: 8.5
Daei: 6.5

[Montreal]

I posted this on the other forum too:

A few obvious observations on my part: 1- Although TM have proven time and again that they are capable of splitting a defence with good short passes and confrontational play, otherwise great players like Nekounam and Jabbari persist in taking useless shots. We should definitely refrain from taking too many long shots; otherwise we’ll end up looking like Costa Rica.
2- I’m not sure I agree with most people here on this forum. I think Daei has improved quite a bit since ACQ. I believe he was more involved in this game, than against Chinese Taipei, but in general, I still don’t think he can hold on for much longer than 60 minutes. He fulfills his second responsibility of marking some of the players on set piece situations quite well, but it was clear that during the last 30 minutes of the match Daei experienced some difficulty moving into the other half, and that could slow the team down if they’re actually waiting on Daei to deliver a cross (because of his height and heading abilities).
3- TM should try to maintain it’s strong pace even after scoring three times, they shouldn’t feel as though they lack the incentive to defend or maintain possession only moments after they score. The players try to defend conservatively but their shoulder charges are just too clumsy or they can’t keep up and they trip the opponent instead.
4- I probably don’t need to add this but one of our main problems as demonstrated again today, is definitely overdependence on some key players.
On a positive note, many of you criticize Branko because of his defensive tactics. I actually see it as TM setting the pace of the game. If you remember, Costa Rica was running all over the place at the beginning of the match. Branko uses that one predictable scheme, right back or midfield passes back to the central defender and/or whatever the variation, the ball is directed towards center, right flank or left, with an abrupt shift in speed one or two players carry the ball into the opponent’s field and create some really good opportunities.

[princeofpersia1]

Although i haven't seen the game yet , i was disappointed at the Goal Scorers.

Karimi - legionaire

Hashemian - legionaire

Daei - Past legionaire and constant goal scorer.

I want to see some IPL talent scoring these goals , it is the only way other than the WC that they can boast there talent onto the world stage.

[Iranyar Rezatank]

Although i haven't seen the game yet , i was disappointed at the Goal Scorers.
Karimi - legionaire
Hashemian - legionaire
Daei - Past legionaire and constant goal scorer.
I want to see some IPL talent scoring these goals , it is the only way other than the WC that they can boast there talent onto the world stage.

Branko tried Xatibi in the last game but was not helpful. I think that there is a big gap between the legionaires and IPL. TM should work especially on IPL strikers in the trainings

[faraz]

Positives

-we had parts of pure genius from our team (the segment where Mirzapour started the play, zandi and Karimi combined as someone let the ball go through his legs and to Zareh who had continued his run down the left). It ended in a very good scoring chance for Daei who almost connected with the header. It was truly fluid in the first half

-We have to thank our graces for Magath. I have never been so pleased with Karimi in my life. He was quick, fit, ready, wise, and defensively perfect. Magath has turned our star into a world class player.

- We owned Costa Rica with our A-team. Even without Mehdi and Rezaei, we tore Costa Rica's defence apart from minue 1

- Zareh played a decent game. He had good touches on the ball here or there, and generally executed the left better than I had thought possible

- Branko seemed to have told Hashemian to make runs down the left in an effort to increase the effectiveness of our left-side - and it did happen. Hashemian was a menace down that left, and made very good runs.

- Kaabi is a gem. No other words for it. He uses his speed well, and it seems as if his passing has become more precise. He only needs to improve his ability to cross the ball - most of his balls into the box never reach their targets.

- Although Zandi's positioning has not improved (he's still seeping into the middle), he had an okay game, and a great shot. He seems more in-tact with Karimi and Hashemian.

- Madanchi is a workhorse. He's energetic and makes things happen. I like him, but sometimes, he's a little too much. He seems too young and somewhat immature on the playing field. Yet, I am sure with enough time, he could develop into exactly what we need on our left side, even if that means benching Zandi. I don't believe this will happen for the WC, but later on, it may be a possibility at the very least.

Negatives

- Personally, I would like to think Kazemian is more effective than Teymourian, who saw very little of the ball down that right. Kazemian should have been given a little more time. He seems eager and ready.

- The use of Daei, Hashemian, Nekounam, Kaebi, Zareh for the full 90 minutes is questionable. If these players ever went down to injury for one reason or another during these friendlies, there would be no one else to blame but Branko himself. There are alternatives that have YET to be really tested (Amirabadi, Rajabzadeh, Kazemian, Akbarpour, and the list goes on)

- Navidkia is simply not good enough at this moment. Even Branko himself voiced his disatisfaction - something that he should have foreseen. His dive in the penalty box was embarassing to say the least, especially in a friendly match. Can someone say, M...O...B...you know the rest.

- Nosrati at times makes embarassing mistakes and he can't properly clear the ball with his left foot, which is absolutely horrifying. He cleared a ball ON THE GROUND straight into the middle of the park near our own net. Thank god Costa Rica's players did not make anything of it

- I wonder if Branko could answer this question: What is the point of giving a player 7 minutes at the end of a game? I mean, what exactly could Kazemian do in those 7 minutes to impress Branko? This is one thing that I truly do not understand and just can not come to grips with. Can someone explain this to me?

-Both Mirza and Roudbarian had bad games. And this worries me. Only a couple of balls came across our goal, and Mirzapour managed to screw it up. If our decision making in net is this bad, Mexico and Portugal will be whipping in balls left and right. As for Roudbarian, I blame the header on him. He had slow reflexes, and seemed to be positioned much more to one side than he should have been. I do not see him as being good enough for TM.

- Nekounam...what has happend to you? Our old Nekounam is completely gone. We are left with a Nekounam who can barely pass the ball correctly. He seemed to be weighting his passes all wrong - they were either too short, too long, too high, too low - I am not at all impressed by his play recently.

Conclusion:

- good first half, bad second half - as is expected. There is a certain quality and movement that comes along with Karimi. He is our go-to man, and without him, we lose 70% of our offensive contributions. I am so happy that Karimi is Iranian, because without him, we'd be in some serious trouble. His presence is a confidence booster, as was this game.

I look forward to watching future games and seeing how our team develops, especially our young guns (Jabbari, Mobali, Kazemian, and so forth).

My Player Ratings (Kicker Style):

Mirzapour: 4/ Roudbarian: 4,5
Golmo: 3
Nosrati: 4
Kaebi: 2,5
Zare: 3 / Alavi: 3,5
Nekounam: 4,5
Teymurian: Not visible! / Navidkia: 5,5
Zandi: 3 / Madanchi: 3,5
Karimi: 1,5 / Jabbari: Not truly visible either
Hashemian: 2
Daei: 3,5
Kazemian: Did not play long enough

[Iranyar Rezatank]

Great Analysis Faraz. I only think Teymurian did a fair job. He just made space for Kabi by run inthe way of deffenders. He played today how you say counterdeffensive. His job was different today (was not an attacking winger and he did this job well.
I havent seen enough from Kazemian today so I cannot judge him.

[khabalood]

I'm tired today so I will only leave a few breif comments.

Talebloo is the only goaltender who can save the world cup for us. I emphasize save us from assured defeat if anyone else starts.

TM when playing an aggressive game on the field can dominate teams. When playing defensive/passive it is tm that gets dominated.

Daei and Hashemian seemed to be able to read each others game better and it shows in their chemistry

Karimi, Kaebi had great games

Nosrati still has not convinced me of anything

Amirabadi deserved to get a chance and was denied.

Madanchi should be in the wc selection and definately a strong sub for wc

I now believe that Daei should start in the wc against mexico. He should be subbed whenever his gameplay falters.

[Doctor DOOM]

Before I begin, let me announce I just received ( last thursday ) my degree in “space rocket science-ology”, therefore I am licensed to remark on a game of football from now on.

I’ll just run through some observations for the latest TM game . I hope many of these don’t need much explanations or … :

I’ll start with the positives first :

1- VH and Daei scoring for Iran after a long time.( and I mean against a half-decent team. taiwan and .. not included )

2- TM scoring 3 goals in one match … and not against a piss-poor team.

3- Karimi shows he has indeed become a more complete player under Magath at Bayern. Bless him.

4- defeating an arrogant Costarican team who didn’t take this game seriously. Whether beating korea was the source of this arrogant or …. .

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

Negatives:

1- first of all, this was Costarica’s B team, with only 4 main players, and quite a few main players missing. Plus they took this game so casually that they didn’t even bother to bring in the required NUMBER of players even. Apparently, they had only 5 players on their bench !!!

now, how we are unable to defend a 3-0 lead against such a weak team, at home, in front of 1000’s of our cheering fans, shd be questioned.

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2- even more “laj baazi” by branko.
And in so many areas. More wrong positioning of players who , by now, even the Angolan coach would agree, don’t belong to these positions !!!
….. and yet ….. !!

Laj baazi #1 - most apparent : ZAREH playing on the left …. Hell, even starting !!
( I hope we all saw his game , and there’s no need for me to go over how horrible and sub-par it was )

just a little nugget on zareh, though.
In first half, the only time he attempted to cross with his right foot, which meant he had to stop running, then switch the ball from his left to his right foot, and ONLY THEN he was able to cross, he did send a good cross to daei, who headed back to karimi, who headed close to the bar.

What does this tell us?
Clearly Zareh is more comfortable with his right foot. Now, why do we insist on shoving him down the left side, where he is simply unable to perform, and plays horribly ? it’s beyond logic and sense.

Laj baazi #2 – Teymoorian on the right wing !!
A defensive mid , as Kia’s replacement?
( MORE laj baazi: especially whn we DID have the closest player to Kia’s game on the bench : Kazemian !!! )
no wonder he was almost invisible !
makes no sense.

Laj baazi #3 – Navidkia playing while we have others like Rajabzadeh on the bench ( I wont even mention Mobaali , even though he deserves to play even more than these two )
How much worse shd Navidkia play for branko to admit this is NOT the old Navidkia ?
Was he even watching the game?

Laj baazi #4 – Mirza’s sub.
While Talebloo has proven to be in top form in the league and all experts and football personalities vouch for this, we see Roudbarian come in for Mirza !
Baba …. Lets first make sure our second choice is tested enough, then we’ll move to the third choice keeper !

Laj baazi #5 –Zandi.
The ever missing “supposed” left winger !
The players who is NEVER where he shd be.
Time and again we saw the only players on the left side were the ever-uncomfortable and awkward Zareh, and VH. With NO midfielder to connect this defender to the striker !
And this has happened for the 10th time and game ….. yet no addressing this grave situation.

It is clear instead of an attempt to correct TM’s defects, our coach is more bothered about “proving his choices and previous words right” ….. which game after game is proven to be wrong !!


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3- persistence of our defects and problems , with NO attempt at solving them.

From LB position, which we , again, saw absolutely no attempt to solve it. Even while we did have Sadeghi who hasn’t even been tested in the past few times he’s been called to the TM camp !
Not ONCE !!!

To Left wing , which is our worst hit area, and longest standing problem … with absolutely no attempt to address it.
Again and again we see a player who just gets up and leaves his post and sticks to the center !! ……… leaving our left side an OPEN corridor for the opponents, weakening our offense and defense !!
But again and again, we see the same miserable selection and arrangement !

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4- TM is a team EXTREMELY dependant on one or two individuals, with NO teamwork whatsoever.

Take Karimi out of any branko team and the team is rendered utterly unable to do anything positive !
No wonder everyone says branko’s team “roo kakol-e karimi micharkheh, va bass” !!!
And that karimi has been the MAIN “savior” of branko and his seat as Iran’s coach !!
Remember AC2004?

Take him out, and the team has absolutely NO TACTICS !

This team is NO TEAM.
It’s just a bunch of individuals who wait and wait till one or two of them sparkle !

5 YEARS !!!!!!!!!!!

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5- we did NOT have ANY width !
nothing on the left. And hardly anything on the right !
No wing play.
No wing strategies!

Why?
Coz we didn’t have the right players installed for the right and left midfield. ( refer to points 3 and lajbaazi #2 )

No wonder we didn’t do jack sh*t from the sides, and everything was done BY ONE or two individuals , from the CENTER !

In fact, the only thing we did throughout was to send long lobs, deep from our half into opponents’ half ( usually done by our defenders) , effectively taking out TM’s and Iran’s strongest belt, the midfield !
Lob after lob after lob after …. ! ( maybe branko is a Cher fan. But that aint gonna help our football at the WC )

A team with no width is a CLEAR example of a DEFECTIVE team.
And tha coach who doesnt care about it , ............
( you be the judge of this one )

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6- all those who “boasted” about TM’s possession football and felan and bisaar …. ( Conveniently, omitting to acknowldge all those were against WEAK teams that sat deep into their own half and wanted to defend , of course ) here was a rude awakening.

A B side of a helf decent team that didn’t want to defend with 10 men and actually pressed from the midline.
And VOILA !
Our possession football, foot/dood shod , raft be hava !!
Where was this “possession football” that many touted as branko’s gift to TM ?

The cause for nightmares is that the REAL Mexicans and Portuguese , and even Angolans, WILL come at us EVEN HARDER and press us EVEN HARDER !
Worth pondering on as a wake up call.

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7- Yahya’s too loose and casual play kept on causing the team trouble.
From horrible back passing, to ridiculously trying a “ye pa do pa” INSIDE our 18 , with 2-3 opponents lurking around !!
Wonder whose job is it to run such things by him !!

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8- Horrible set pieces.
For a team “trying” to do something ( I sincerely hope this is the intention) at the WC, ignoring such CRUCIAL and VITAL aspects of the game is plain and simple CRIMINAL.

Especially for a team that will have VERY FEW chances to hurt the Mexicans and Portuguese. And having Karimi and Kaabi means we may get a few set pieces. Which in turn, means we OUGHT TO be absolutely and 10000% THOROUGH on this aspect and tactic of utilizing our “set pieces” to the fullest !

Quite disturbing and sad !

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9- ……….

And there are MORE problems.
Coz all this was after the FIRST HALF ( more or less) !!!!

Yes. Some ppl will break into a dance and may snap their fingers, seeing the “NUMBERS” 3-2 on the score-board.

But what matters is HOW we PLAYED our football.
And true to form, this was just a CONTINUATION of more defect-ridden performance by a team full of chronic and long-standing problems.
With a coach who, instead of correcting these problems, is more bothered about “proving his previous words & selections right” !!

In the end, it is the Iranian fans who are losing.

I speak for myself. And I have to say, inspite of us qualifying for the World Cup, and the prospect of match ups like Iran-Mexico or Iran-Portugal in a couple of months, I am not as excited as I should be, just like many, MANY other fans ! ( I was twice as excited with Zob Ahan playing at Asian Club Championships a couple of years ago !! )

And this excitement is killed by a set of people and situations that have bled us dry !
Diminishing attendance at Azadi is a clear signal and testimony to this fact.
And this is sad and unforgivable.

Any other year, with any other circumstances, Iran going to the WC would see Iranian fans tearing themselves up months before the game.

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btw, here's a pile of crap , good only for laughs !!

talk about "DENIAL" of the first order !!!

http://isna.ir/Main/NewsView.aspx?ID=News-677380&Lang=P

(for those who cant read farsi, here are the GEMs
branko:
" we were missing 5-6 of our main players too" !!!!??????????????????????????
" Zareh played an excellent game" !!!!!!!!!?????????????? )

missing TM players : kia , rezaei, ronaldinho, zidane, Henry and ammeh ghamar-ovic 'e branko !!
the bugger is lying through his teeth ..... and yet some of us are tearing our behinds for this fellow !!

[Dr.shark]

Well one again we have had our (A) team play a weak (b) team of another "c" team country yet when we put in ous so called subs we lost.
I think we should have use this game just to see what our (b) team could do we should have left our (a) team out of this game. it would have been nice to see Oladi, mobali and the rest in this game.
and why are they not trying out Taleblou? what is Bran*** problem did he find taleblou so bad in his last game that he did not let him on in this game??
and thanks to Branko Zandi again is injurd as we saw them putting ice on his foot.
If we think by beating a weak (b) team of a "c" football team [ Costa rica ] that we can have our way with strong (a) teams of "a" football teams such as mexico and Portugal then some thing is worng with our heads.
we need to fire Branko a.s.a.p even if we have to bring MK back at this point it would be better then having Branko who has lost it.

[Iranyar Rezatank]

Doctor doom jan. Half of the Costa Rican starters were only missing in the first half, but in the second half they came in, while Iran played with B team. It was like first half Iran A Costa Rica B and second half Iran B Costa Rica A

[Hajagha]

1, Our left side problem has been solved, Zare is decent player and can perform what Ka'abi does in the right.

2, Karimi's duty is too much and he won't be effective in the second half if the coach asks him to run the whole field, solution? Take out one of the forwards and add a center midfield to help.

3, Zandi vs Madanchi, I rather Madanchi for the left wing, however Zandi could be added as the center mid as suggested in the item 2.

3, Neigher Mirzapour nor Roudbarian are good enough.

4, Golmohamadi is the key player for us in both defensive duties and ball distribution while the midfields are under pressure.

5, Ka'abi is down, maybe it's because of broken nose, or he is not effective without Kia.

6, Jabari showed he is a good and decent sub for the team. Alavi also specially he is able to perform in two position.

7, Nosrati is good enough, he is not spectacular but he is trustable, specially as a sub.

8, Karimi/Hashemian becomes a better combination every day.

9, Zandi is melting to the team much better now.

10, Daei in his best day won't be better even than an average player any more, time to hang the boots "Captain".

11, Good job Branko, good sub's too.

Cheers

[Hadi]

I was in the stadium for the match. I should say I wasnt too impressed at all.

But wathcng them upclose, I am certain TMs sole problem is Daie. In the first half he only gave 2 correct passes and all other touches by him were disasterous and the whole stadium was laughing at him. He pushes Hahsmeian ( who has to be upfront and in the middle) to the sides so he cant do what he is supposed to and he does excessive dribbling and crossing. He also sometimes gets back to midfields and makes Zandi and Karimi lose the space they had.

The whole team is a bit SHELAKHTE. They are not organized and they do not move well. Thats why we sometimes see lots of space unmarked and sometimes we see 2-3 players in 2 meters of space.

Zare was OK defensively and he also penetrated well but he CANT cross with his left foot so I dont want to see him again there (but I am afraid we will see it)

Kabi did very well. I was pleased with him. Nosrati has NO BALL CONTROL. He didnt make a big mistake this time but thee way he controls, passes and runs shows he has o skill in controling the ball.

Ali Karimi and Zandi made some errors and thats only due to the lack of preperations. I wish we had more games so these guys could coordinate with the team more.

Now to Branko. I was glad to see the subdin the second half. But why did Navidkia came instead of Kazemian???? Why didnt Daie get subbed??? Or even Hashemian???

Let me tell you this. I DO NOT BELIEVE BRANKO IS AN HONEST WORKING MAN AS LONG AS DAIE PLAYS IN TM AND DOESNT GET SUBBED EVEN IN MATCHES LIKE THIS!

Grades (kicker)
---------------------------------------------
Mirzapor-3-Didnt make Any mistakes but he was so nervous. When the Esteghlal stand chanted againts him, his whole body was shaking from nerve. Now imagine him in the WC
Zare-3.5
Golmohamadi-3.5
Nosrati-3.5
Kabi-3
Zandi-3
Nekonam-3-Again, he os not playing as well as he used to
Karimi-2
Teymorian-3.5-His first serious TM cap. He did well and will gain more confidence
Daie-4
Hashemian-2.5

Navidkia-5-He shouldnt even be listed in the 50 players. Unfortunately he should miss the 2006 WC. He is not even ready for IPL
ALavi-3.5
Jabbari-3-Again needs more experience and confidence in TM but this guy has some skills and he is a very smart player.
Roudbarian-4-I think he was a bit at fault in the second goal.
Madanchi-3.5. Some good runs, lack of finishing on 2 occasions.

[50Toman]

Guys, watch this vid, molkara describes the situation perfectly!

http://rapidshare.de/files/14471683/daeiplay.avi.html