Central defense

[Doctor DOOM]

I agree with Martin. I dont think changing one of the CD's ( if we find a viable alternative like rezaei or montazeri or asadi, ... ) will have such dire consequences.

If I remember correctly, rezaei and aghili have played together and know each other's game. hosseini and montazeri also have played together under simoez. so it's just a matter of coordinating them a bit.

and it's not as if the present two are highly coordinated anyway.
so it's not as if we stand to lose much if we change one of them

and it is clear in kasra's examples that other bigger teams also do tend to use different combos ... perhaps depending on the demands of the specific games or specific opponents.

[Kasra.]

and it is clear in kasra's examples that other bigger teams also do tend to use different combos ... perhaps depending on the demands of the specific games or specific opponents.

Just like we needed in the KSA game. Edit: I meant South Korea not KSA

Why keep using two big, slow defenders when the koreans are playing fast, ground football. They are not playing bekesh ziresh football like we do. But yet Ali Daei makes a mistake and everybody approves it

[Martin-Reza]

It's not about agreement and disagreement of an opinion, what I said is fact and I refered you the archive. You could see yourself.

Well, guess what, my "facts" are based on the same archive

[purple_haze]

^ I agree Rezaei didn't have a good day, still he was ok and I think he is a better defender than Aghili could ever be. And it also was well visible that he can build up the game with short passing.

I think he was pretty solid. He was marking Olerum most of the time and apart from one scene when he slipped before the interception, he didn't let anyone past him. IMHO he has gradually improved with each match.
I completely agree about his short passing, I didn't see any aimless long balls from him throughout the entire match. In fact he only sent 2 high balls, 1 diagonal 35m pass with his left foot which reached it's target perfectly and one clearance which was going to be a corner kick otherwise. Other than that he passed it on the ground calmly and pretty smart, engaging either Zare or Nouri most of the time.

[zzgloo]

The single most important reason for Ali Daei's failier , has been our Central defense.......It has been the " Pashneh e Ashil " !!

With the retirement of Golmohamadi, and Daei's insistant to deciplin the whole team by punishing only Rahman Rezaie...he had created two new faces, with very little experince, and not any authurity in our central defense.....

They had had no satisfactory performances in all previouse games....not even against weak teams....
Any team, draws positive energy from its solid central defense...but not TM...
During the game against saudi's , beside our central defense''s obviouse mistakes on both Goals....
There was an insident, in which Rahmati and Hossaini, and a saudi's forward were all close to one another close to our goal....yet, Hossaini did not act on the ball with any urgency , and the saudi's forward was very close to cause problem........This insident, as well as many others, are proofs, that Hossini is not a " take Charge " kind of central back, nor is Aghili...., in addition to thier inexperince, they hardly are any help to the other lines...and have contributed very little to the midfield or offensive lines with thier bad passes.......nor have they been any successful , like Golmohamadi and rahman were in scoring in our corners against any opponanats....
They both have niether the experince, nor muscle, nor talent, nor any strong charactor , to be presenting a solid wall TM has been accustom to !

[Doctor DOOM]

I agree our central def is not strong.
but that's half the problem.

the other half is the weakness of our def-mids who dont create a barrier strong enough in front of our defense .... NO MATTER HOW MANY DEF-MIDS WE USE.

perhaps with ando getting back to fitness, we can try him as def-mid.
dont ask me what to do with nekunam.

coz the way I see it, he's coming up short when I consider we need a playmaker also.

perhaps a coach, gutsy enough to bench neku for ando could bolster the middle of the park and especially in front of the box ( where neku's usually failed to secure ).
neku certainly cannot be used as our playmaker. so he'd have to use any of karimi, jabbari, mobaali.


he also cant be used on either left or right flanks. we know why, so lets not waste time on this.

therefore as high quality and in form nekunam is at the moment, his inability to defend works against him!! unless he really dedicates himself to the task of securing the middle of the park.




sorry guys, but the demands of the TEAM far outweighs the brilliance or popularity of a star.

[Martin-Reza]

Yeah, if you don't like the star, who is the best Asian midfielder and outstanding in La Liga btw. But others "stars" like Karimi, who are not team players like Nekounam, are not a problem.

Such a double standard is amazing.

And can we please get over the Mobali. The disappointment of the century.

Back on topic, our central defense is slow as hell, which makes it difficult to dominate games, becuae they can not defend far upfront, near the middle line well.

[Doctor DOOM]

dont degrade this to a childish argument.

you know perfectly well what the meaning of that post is. so dont come up with "u dont like nekunam" or stuff like that.
this if not general forum.

we've already discussed neku's shortcomings, in many threads & posts.
we also are aware of his tremendous talent.
we also shd have the guts to acknowledge at this miserable point ( no thanks to some ppl and their blind supporters ) we have NO CHOICE but to push for WINS ( Draws help nobody at this point )

put all that together and then come & comment



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and unfortunately, other players who have LESS talent than nekunam, but have the right specific characteristics for the required specific duties have to be given the preference.

if it wasnt about a team and if we werent facing down the barrel of the gun, I'd say nekunam is far more valuable player for any team than karimi.

but when we get down to specific situations like our present one, we HAVE TO be fair and get specific with our goals.




... or, there's a 3rd option.

we keep neku in and dont give a damn about him letting one or two goals in ... but MAKE SURE WE HAVE ENOUGH FIRE POWER to compensate for these lapses to ensure us the win.

you may end up conceding 3 goals, but u better make sure you have enough fire up front to score 4 or more.

[Martin-Reza]

Any other DM makes twice as many mistakes. Nekounam is a gem and irreplaceable for Iran. Even thinking about excluding the by far best player is like cheering for KSA and DPR.

[Doctor DOOM]

he IS a gem.
he IS a very talented player
he IS a valuable asset to any team
all that is correct.

but he is NOT God and he has weaknesses too ( like every other player ).

here's the issue; ... sadly, his one weakness is what we NEED to avoid at our present situation.

I've put it as simply as possible.
I dont want to fill up pages expounding and opening up each nuance or word in the above sentence.

[Martin-Reza]

But noone is better in that department anyway. As you often say, look at the alternatives. If we had Viera or Mascherano, I might even agree.

And Nekounam has numerous strength we desperately need in our situation.

But we will have to do without him in Pyongyang anyway. Let's pray Teymourian will be healthy and in shape.

[Kasra.]

Once again I will be lobbying for Montazeri. Chizi az Aghili kam nadare, but he has way more speed.

[zzgloo]

payman jaan.......while you may have a point there about DM...as one can say,our center defensee niether had help from DM,nor from corner backs.....as kabei has been too involved with offense,he was hardly any help for defense, nor was ashjari who does not know how to head the ball...nothing like how Nosrati used to help center defense................but, nevertheless those issues are side issues......
We " MUST " have a reliable centeral defense....and the good DM will be an iceing on the cake !!!!
The fact that our centeral defensive players " Are unable to have the first touch ", on crosses across our goal line...is by no means a fault of DM....
Some teams have so good a center defense, thier DM is free to join the OM.
There are four lines...
Goal keeping, Defense,Midfield,and offense........
The only line we can least afford to be weak, is Defense !......I do not know anything more foundemental in football.

[mehdy]

This is the main problem.

Nekounam is TM star

but

He is DMF,but his defensive skill is poor.
He can score many goals for us,but he cannot play as AMF or Striker.

We need good partner of him.

[Doctor DOOM]

I think the problem with the defense CAN be solved or at least diminished with a little more discipline and coordination.

I think there are 2 factors that have affected it badly.
1- one , as we've discussed here, is that they are denied of a shield in front of them through lack of dedication by our def-mids.

that first line of defense shd be highly active and disruptive to the opponents, so if at all the opponent gets through, they've been hindered and damaged a bit and are not at full force.

the solution: Nekunam or ando or X , whoever that is the designated def-mid shd be more active in interception and disruption ( something that ando used to excel at ) and really cause trouble for the opponent playmakers to pass with ease or allow them time to do their stuff.
you deny them the time and space, and half their passes will be blocked or dispossessed by our defenders.

I am sure the central defense is capable of dealing with THE REST.

-----------------
2- the second factor is Kaabi's absence in position and his usual failures to cover his mark and have any impact on the crosses ( probably due to his short stature ).
I've seen many times, hosseini gets pulled to the right ( very similar to what aghili was forced to do, for the missing/failing S. zareh on the left side ) to cover for missing kaabi or mark kaabi's mark.
that meant opening up a space between the 2 CB's which have been exploited by the opponents.

Solution: either kaabi learns to rush back to defense and gets more involved, or there is another option: haydari, who can do it just as well.

On the matter of crosses, I think haydari can help in this matter also. he is a bit taller than kaabi and as energetic as kaabi.


so, the solution is right in our hands. we just have to work on it a bit and get the players disciplined and dedicated.