World Cup and the bench

[gol_kuchik]

Of the 23 on TM roster, a tendency among our fan is to think of the non-starting
12 as "bench warmer". Our football tradition has been the main force behind this
way of thinking, although coach Branko's substitution decision has also re-enforced this.

Historically, lack of depth in the TM's roster has fueled this trend when the
bench was noticebly weaker than the starters. While clearly couple of our starters
are head and shoulder above the rest, fortunately the gap has diminished to
a great extent over the past few years.

We are at a point that almost all TM players can be replaced by none-starters with
good results. The most outstanding examples of these have been Daei's injury and
replacement with Borhani, as well as clean up of our back row (with Rahman
and Badavi) expulsion and Nosrati's redcard in WC qual games and Asian cup
respectively.

Players get injured, red carded or simply may be too fatigued from playing closely
scheduled matches at WC. All of which means, the team will be as good as how
the entire 23 players have prepared for WC and not just the starting 11.

With that in mind, it behooves coach Bronko to let our non-starters start in
some of the friendlies, and not just in the form of replacing six players concurrently
in the second half. What the first half of Costa Rica game showed, was that our
starters can put up a good show on short notice, but what if the pilars of the team
(heaven forbids) Mehdi or Ali get redcarded or can't play? Have the subs been
adaquately prepared for WC pressure?

FIFA is considering postponing the roster deadline to end of May or early June, and
while this may give coaches more time to select their final 23 roster, it also
means all those who are being considered must get a chance to adaquately prepare.

With that in mind, I hope coach Branko decides to let our bench players assume
starting position in upcoming friendlies to gain valuable experience.

Go Iran

[Kaveh Ahangar]

good post,

strength in depth of the squad will be vital to any possible successes in Germany. It may only be 3 games, but as you quite rightly assert there may well be injuries/suspensions. Hopefully this game with Ghana will go ahead, and to my knowledge the legionnaires probably won't be there it should be a good test.

The gap between our star and bench players has narrowed considerabely from say 8 years ago....however, it is evident from many games (think Costa Rica second half) that TM is totally different without just 4/5 key players on the field. I find this quite worrying and our lack of friendlies isn't helping the situation either, but hopefully with no injuries we'll be fine in Germany....after all, this is arguably the greatest Iranian football team to date

[gol_kuchik]

Thank you Sraosa,

If hopefully by Angola game the group is still open for us, we
would need fresh legs, as frankly even our legioners have not put in 90 minutes
during the season with one exception and our domestic players have had the luxury
of at least 6 days break between their games. Even Bayern with all the conditioning seemed
out of gas coming out of the match against Hamburg into AC. So we can
just imagine our domestic players situation after two high pressured back to back games.

[Mansoor]

Good read.

My guess is Branko is pre-occupied with the harmony of 11 starters and 3-4 subs than with the remainning. With only few chances to play friendly, he has no choice but utilize it to let starters + 3 or 4 subs to reach and maintain harmony more than others. So, he uses others for the later part of the game rather than starting them as you suggested. And I am sure with the hate campaign in it's full force, it has had effects on this issue as well (showing good result).

[gol_kuchik]

Mansoor Jan,

The hate campaign can only get fueled if he goes full force, like against
Macedonia and still come out empty handed. I think our fans are smart
enough to know the distinction between experiemental friendly, and a
friendly to get results. Also after Costa Rica game, the pressure should
have subsided to a great deal.

If the game is started with bench players, he can always say that I was
giving young players a chance which would be true too, if we get bad
results. But it would give them much needed experience.

There will be less pressure on legioners as they are maxed out with the Eruopean schedule. It will also keep our opponents guessing as well.

[The-Red]

well said.

[Mansoor]

Mansoor Jan,
The hate campaign can only get fueled if he goes full force, like against
Macedonia and still come out empty handed. I think our fans are smart
enough to know the distinction between experiemental friendly, and a
friendly to get results.

Do they GK jaan? Do you remember the hoopla after QPR? How about Japan match? No, I don't think we understand the difference between the two. Nevertheless, I didn't list that as the main reason. The main reason was stated and I also said this issue has effect in it too.

[gol_kuchik]

With injury to 3 of our best players even before WC, I believe the issue of
our bench players becomes even more important. Time is passing and no
plans in the horizon for preparing these players. Having friendlies with
African or even a team like Esteghlal which magically has very few TM
players seems to be an easy way of gaining experience for our players.

I remember an interview with Mehdi a few weeks back where he essentially
said he is concerned about getting results similar to Saudis in WC.

Preps do matter or most of the world class teams won't be spending so much
time and energy on it. We realize some of this is beyound IFF, but then
a lot of it is in their hands too. We will have noone but our lack of foresight
and planning to blame for performing poorly at the WC, the one place a positive
view of our nation can be shown to the rest of the world with very little overhead.

[perspolees]

Branko has single handedly killed the spirit of competition among our players. This has been his biggest mistake.

[BehzadB]

Branko has single handedly killed the spirit of competition among our players. This has been his biggest mistake.

I agree 10000000%.
that has been his biggest mistake

[zzgloo]

Another agenda for Branko should be to keep,or return players to good and maximum shape....
Players such as kabei,and nikbakht,and zandi,need personal attention,while our injured players,need supper rehabilitation programs....as well as mirzapour, who could use abedzadeh as personal coach.

[Doctor DOOM]

Another agenda for Branko should be to keep,or return players to good and maximum shape....
Players such as kabei,and nikbakht,and zandi,need personal attention,while our injured players,need supper rehabilitation programs....as well as mirzapour, who could use abedzadeh as personal coach.

true zz jan,

and branko has shown how "wonderful & masterful" he is in rehabiliating and remotivating a player back in to form, with so many players such as :

rahmati,
bayatinia ( his striker at busan )
kameli
badavi
........etc.

but that's not to say it is entirely his duty, as the players and their club coaches also shd shoulder the responsibility.

but what I want to point at is the "double standards" :
while nosrati, zareh, mirza, navidkia, daei, zandi, ..... recieve such backing and trust, even at their worst forms, this was NOT DONE in cases of many other players, such as kazemian, mobaali, enayati, khatibi, talebloo, sadeghi, .... who never got even a fraction of the "leeway" the former set enjoyed !

not one person has come up with an explanation of this double standard and hypocricy !
not one !

coz if they can grace us with the answer, they might as well explain why there is general lack of interest and motivation INSIDE and OUTSIDE of TM.

the players inside, knowing they'll be the ones making the trip, see no need to push themselves, work hard and exert themselves, as they already are guaranteed ( zareh, mirza, zandi, ..... )

the players outside also, see no need to do so , as they know they are NOT going to get invited , no matter how brilliantly they perform in the league, and all they'll get is a token call up to a camp, just to be strick off when it is game time or if they are extremely lucky, get a few minutes here and there - which btw is an ocean of difference with the laxity and leeway some other players enjoy under branko, no matter how many times they screw up- ( sadeghi, enayati, khatibi, ... ) !!!!!!!!!

( note : how many times have we seen guys like enayati or fazli or ... say "what's the use of becoming the league's top scorer? what do we get anyway?" ???? )

brilliant team management !
bravo.

[zzgloo]

There is one possibility,DD Jan, That could explain Branko's insistance on some players......and that possibility,could be ,him believing,only certain players can play his system !

[Doctor DOOM]

There is one possibility,DD Jan, That could explain Branko's insistance on some players......and that possibility,could be ,him believing,only certain players can play his system !

"his system".
ok.

then if we are to accept his "system" is adopted so well by only a handful of players ( hence justifying his insistence on them only ), then we must see this handful of players play in these positions perfectly ( which leaves no room for ppl to doubt the selection, system, tactics, .... ) .

am I right ?

then I'd like to know is zandi, for an example, playing so well in sis system, that we must accept in form stars like Mani'ee not getting a call up?

does he?

if the answer is no, then there is contradiction.
if it is "yes", then I'd like to see someone explain how come zandi goes on absconding from the left wing, and leaves it totally empty ( free for the opponents to attack us ) with only an out-of-position defender , zareh, to tend to the whole of our left wing ?

which brings us to the second example:
zareh.
is he fitting into this "system" so well ?
then can anyone explain his mistakes again and again in each game?

what about nosrati on the left , then?

and these are just a few examples .


or maybe it is his "system" that requires NO LEFT WINGER, and a half-arse left side defender ?
some tactics, eh ?



it is either this, or that branko is just too laj-baaz, insecure and stubborn to admit to wrong selection of players, and at the cost of TM, he persists with the wrong choices , so he doesnt have to admit to the mistakes !!

excellent personality to lead us at WC !!!

[zzgloo]

DD jan, lets see if we can look at this in a positive way ...
The defence, although not perfect, has a good chamistry,and players there have melted with eachother, and although,left side is not like the right side, but atleast,it is in sink with the middle,and know eachother.....The defensive players,are experinced,worked with eachother,and beside left side,they have good and experinced backups!.....I do not think,that is also the case,in all world cup teams !!......I personaly,do not see anybody to come at this point and make that defence better,unless we do a risky move.
Our halfback,are also solid, kia,neko,zandi...with backups,badavi,alavi,niki,(possibly,taimorian,moba li,kazemian,etc.)
Offense,whatels,can IRAN TM do.....Hashemian,karimi,daei,Borhani...?
our team,with all questions, have played with each other more than most teams...and that is good........And any other geniouse coach would not have been able to come in now,and have any drasticly different team !,only except,offering less chemistry.