Borhani or Salehi?

[Martin-Reza]

Who should play against China tomorrow?

Or more generally asked, what's better, a striker getting loads of chances but wasting many, or a striker not wasting so many but not getting as many as the first?

I personally would be tempted to bench Borhani after he wasted chances for 2 games, on the other hand he at least was active and clever enough to get those chances. Salehi barely was involved in goalmouth action at all after coming on.

[yashar_fasihnia]

i think borhani rezai combo is more dangerous.
however, we should limit our aerial game, like in esteghlal, otherwise, we will keep losing possession.

i am not a fan of seyed salehi in general, but maybe someone like motavaselzadeh could be tried out...

[Hajagha]

If Borhani can overcome his inability of scoring, he is one the best forwards I have ever seen in Iran. He has every thing.

[St_Mark]

Who should play against China tomorrow?

Or more generally asked, what's better, a striker getting loads of chances but wasting many, or a striker not wasting so many but not getting as many as the first?

I personally would be tempted to bench Borhani after he wasted chances for 2 games, on the other hand he at least was active and clever enough to get those chances. Salehi barely was involved in goalmouth action at all after coming on.

Borhani
Rule is if MR is against someone , he probably is better than his choice

[shayan20]

Borhani's speed could be usefull against china but really what's the point if you know he's going to get chances but not score.
I would rather have Salehi who takes his chances more often and can be more useful as a target on crosses, corners and freekicks.

[Hadi]

Borhani by a mile..

Not only he is more experienced at international level, But Salehi is way overrated in Iran.

[Doctor DOOM]

I dont think borhani was that bad in the game.
I think he deserves another chance. however my belief is that any team needs two DIFFERENT kinds of forwards. If we are going to play rezaei, which I'm pretty sure is going to hapen, then we might as well pair him with a striker who adds another dimension ; aerial combat and heading ability.

borhani is very similar to rezaei. so it makes the attack very uni-dimensional.

[Hadi]

nothing wrong with that.

we have seen many teams use 2 speedy forwards.

You dont have to pair a quick foot with a big target man. Not necessarily...

[maij]

I really don't think that Seyed Salehi is anything special and I have been rarely impressed by his performance at least at club level. He is your average forward with moderate heading ability although I don't recall watching him score a header (..)

Borhani , on the other hand , has many positive attributes. His pace , stamina , scoring ability amongst other things. For one reason or another , he misses more goals than he scores ...but at least the odds on him to score is much higher than Salehi.

I would go for Borhani again....he will deliver one of these days.

[kaz]

I'll repost what I've said elsewhere:

"...I think it's dangerous to rely on Rezaei to score our goals, he's never been prolific and that isn't his game anyway.

Right now, there is no better Iranian forward than Borhani - inside or outside of Iran. That's something I didn't think I'd be saying ever - nevertheless, it is true and it is due to his hard work. I think our best formation right now could have both. Put Rezaei as our left-winger. He is fast, has great work-rate and can cross with his left foot. He'll also score/assist the occasional goal. Put Borhani up front with a Hashemian or like and it'd work out IMO."

[shayan20]

So Daei used Salehi instead of Borhani.
Seyed had some good touches and passes but he also missed some good chances and he scored from the spot.

[Martin-Reza]

If Borhani can overcome his inability of scoring, he is one the best forwards I have ever seen in Iran. He has every thing.

Interesting comment, for me the ability to score is almost everything a forward needs. All the rest are just instruments to achieve this main goal.

Anyway, Daei went for Salehi, we won and Salehi scored - from the penalty spot, but hands up who dares to swear Borhani would have scored from the spot as well

[Ali Chicago]

Neither, this is comparison of applese and oranges.

A good forward has to have at least some of these four elements:

1. Pace
2. Aerial abilities
3. Finishing
4. Make runs in order to create space for the offensive mids and the target forward.
5. Ball Handling (to beat its opponent and peneterate if there is a need)

Borhani has one and is weak on number 2 and 3, 5 . He is a fast paced, need space, supporting type forward. He makes space for a good target forward. He is the Khodad in the Khodad Ali Daie (before 2001 in shape Ali Daie I mean).


Sayed Salehi, to be honest IMO (whatever its worth) is not a target forward nor a supporting forward. He is very average in 2 and way below par in 1,3,4,5.

He is an average IPL level, that doesn't deserve even an invitation not to mention starting or playing. The fact that Daie uses him, really surpise me. I wish Daie at least used this opportunity to try someone like Amin Motevasel zadeh, Fardi Abedi, or a tall decent in the air forward (I even take Abbasfard) for that factor (aerial ability) over Sayed Salehi.

Borhani is a player like Gholamreza Rezai, both of them shouldn't be in the field at the same time, unless you play against a very slow defense and the tactic is to pull them forward and utilize the space behind them (which any decent oponent coach) easily understands it and counter it.

In summary, be ghoole Akhoondha "Gheeya Ma Al Fargh Ast".

[Doctor DOOM]

ali jan, those guys ( motevaselzadeh, abedi, abasfard, ... ) are in pretty much the same league as salehi. none of them have anything above him.
even rezaei isnt such great shakes. he has pace which distinguishes him from the rest .... except borhani perhaps.
but he hasnt been very successful against top asian sides. 90% of his goals have come against asian B and C sides. his shots are weak as we saw in these few games.

the issue is at the moment, there are no brilliant strikers in Iran !
all we have to do is sift through the average bunch and hope we pick the right few and hope they manage to get something done.

take any player from the top scorers list in the past 2 seasons. except khalili, who's injured now, everyone else is just ur run of the mill, average striker.


perhaps we ought to look at the U-19 team's strikers.

[Martin-Reza]

^ I have to agree. We have to do with what's there. Still I'd like to hear more about the general question. If you have a striker helping create loads of chances but wasting most of them (or rather all of them like Borhani last game), what should count more, the fact that he is wasting the opportunities or the fact that he is dangerous - because the chances don't all just "fall" to a striker, it's also a question of quality if you can get rid of your markers, are at the right place at the right time etc - but is this even worth anything if he barely converts?

I didn't see today's game so I don't know how many chances Salehi had, but I doubt he had 6 shots on goal like Borhani had against Ecuador.