Iran - kuwait

[Doctor DOOM]

FIRST HALF :

a few points to ponder.

1- kuwait's 1st goal :
as usual hajsafi falls behind and was nowhere to be seen.
the DM's also failed to mark their man and allowed the kuwaiti to come in without any trouble and score the goal with ample time. both ando and pejman were mere spectators !!

2- what a miss by Iman! he shd have scored that ball, but hurried through his shot and put too much force in it!!
very disappointing shot

3- Ando could have got his 2nd yellow and the ref could have sent him off!
he shd be more careful.

4- Kuwait's 2nd goal :
an epic pass by Omranzadeh! My god, what a bad pass.
although Rahmati may have been a yard or two too in front of the goal line, but one must admit the shot was a great one nonetheless.

5- .... and we continue to torture our forwards by leaving them alone up front and expecting them to become freaking magicians !!!
till when are we going to stick to this crappy formation?


kuwait is not a strong team and their performance/quality is nothing that warrants this core-line.
but we played a very VERY poor half



SECOND HALF TO COME LATER

[Martin-Reza]

Well summed up apart from point 5, which is no big deal in my eyes.

Overall Hajsafi showed one of the most embarassing performances ever since Ostadasadi retired. Every second ball contact was a turnover. He can't dribble, can't pass, can't cross, can't defend, misjudges long balls, fails to come back in time (as you mentioned on first goal, which caused Zanidpour to defend and Hosseini going out to the wing, missing in center) and he can't even stop the damn ball! About 5 or 6 times he let the ball slip out of bounds. An amazement that he wasn't subbed out still in first half but instead even played 90 minutes.

Not only you are right about Teymourian deserving a second yellow for many stupid fouls, actually for me his first yellow should already have been a straight red instead. We can thank to overall poor referee in that case.

Omranzadeh, what shall I say. Aghily might suck, but nevertheless there is no better option. And we can bring up names of alternatives for hours. Each of them would be an epic failure.

Overall I think we deservingly lost. Kuwait easily could have scored more than two goals while we basically had four chances.

Mobali again was poor. When his setpieces are not successful (which we can't expect to be successful in every game from any player), he is not much of a help upfront. But his challenger Mohammad Nouri had no contribution either, just one stupid turnover.

Still we again showed we are able to score almost every game, even if we suck. Our main problem is keeping a clean sheet, which was why we didn't qualify for WC (8 games, one clean sheet, while 7 times at least scoring a goal!). We have improved in this aspect, but we need further improvement and we are dependent on the only 3 acceptable central defenders we have, Hosseini, Aghily and Nosrati.

And our defensive problems surely won't be solved by lining up a second striker.

[Doctor DOOM]

SECOND HALF-

1- Correct sub picks. Near the end of the 1st half I’d have said Meydavoudi needs to come in for Mobaali to increase our attacking options. And I agree with this pick.
I guess Omranzadeh also may have lost his confidence. So this one too, was a good one. Omran’s bad pass left him totally indefensible.

2- So far, after 65 minutes, I must say the WHOLE team was extremely poor and we cant pick anyone who was better or worse than the other. EVERYONE was poor.

3- But could this be the effects of impending brazil game? Why shd that game make them lose focus or drive?

4- This Kuwait team is so poor, they’ll get raped in asia cup. But even against this crappy team, we are unable to string some passes together or show even a semblance of strategy!!

5- Till minute 60, we’ve had 14 crosses into the Kuwait box (against kuwait’s 4) but what for? When we abandon our single forward up front (no matter how skillful he may be), why expect this lone man to have any impact on these crosses?

6- Speaking of crosses, I am sure the Kuwaiti coach had watched our games in WAFF and knows we are basically relying on crosses and our aerial abilities to score. And he, rightfully, picked tall defenders for his defense, who could deflect and handle any aerial battles. This was the perfect antidote to ghotbi’s uni-dimensional tactic and we saw how well they protected their goal from all aerial balls.

Shows how a coach shd analyze and read the opponents’ game.

It also shows how incompetent ghotbi is for not coming up with a PLAN-B or second strategy to get a goal.

7- Really ridiculous but highly hilarious grass rolling display by the arabs. I was laughing at every silly attempt to kill the game. It was just too funny how these arabs behave. Nevertheless, quite expected.

Bottomline: I think justice was done.
Not only Kuwait played a less flawed game than us, which meant we deserved to win the trophy LESS than them, but on the whole, I think ghotbi, given how he has managed the team (quite poorly, if you ask me) in this tournament as well as in the past year, he definitely did NOT deserve to win a trophy, so he could again hide behind that cup to justify his abysmal contributions to the quality of TM.

If he had won this trophy, he’d have turned it into Osman’s shirt and gone to town with it to suppress any voice or mention of how his team has no character, no tactics, no teamwork and quite frankly, quite poor.

[Doctor DOOM]

Well summed up apart from point 5, which is no big deal in my eyes.

Overall Hajsafi showed one of the most embarassing performances ever since Ostadasadi retired. Every second ball contact was a turnover. He can't dribble, can't pass, can't cross, can't defend, misjudges long balls, fails to come back in time (as you mentioned on first goal, which caused Zanidpour to defend and Hosseini going out to the wing, missing in center) and he can't even stop the damn ball! About 5 or 6 times he let the ball slip out of bounds. An amazement that he wasn't subbed out still in first half but instead even played 90 minutes.

Not only you are right about Teymourian deserving a second yellow for many stupid fouls, actually for me his first yellow should already have been a straight red instead. We can thank to overall poor referee in that case.

Omranzadeh, what shall I say. Aghily might suck, but nevertheless there is no better option. And we can bring up names of alternatives for hours. Each of them would be an epic failure.

Overall I think we deservingly lost. Kuwait easily could have scored more than two goals while we basically had four chances.

Mobali again was poor. When his setpieces are not successful (which we can't expect to be successful in every game from any player), he is not much of a help upfront. But his challenger Mohammad Nouri had no contribution either, just one stupid turnover.

Still we again showed we are able to score almost every game, even if we suck. Our main problem is keeping a clean sheet, which was why we didn't qualify for WC (8 games, one clean sheet, while 7 times at least scoring a goal!). We have improved in this aspect, but we need further improvement and we are dependent on the only 3 acceptable central defenders we have, Hosseini, Aghily and Nosrati.

And our defensive problems surely won't be solved by lining up a second striker.

1- on hajsafi:
while I totally agree he had a very poor game, and I am 1000% in agreement that he shd not be used as LB, I must say he is a good, exciting player if used properly in the right post.
he certainly CAN dribble and cross and shoot. but if used as left midfield rather than LB.


2- I feel really bad for poor ostad asadi, who has become the butt of jokes for everyone as the example of a bad defender.
I dont think he was a Nesta, but by God he wasnt that bad and we've had FAR WORSE defenders in TM. afshin peyrovani was quite pathetic, but never recieved this much of abuse, only becoz he had hordes of red fans who'd immediately come to his defense (although he didnt deserve such defense on most occasions)
poor ostad is the example becoz we allowed everyone to make fun of him. most probably becoz he wasnt a red or blue player for ppl to come to his defense when ridiculed. or maybe it is his looks.
I remember poor ostad had a big heart and quite courageous, if not technically superb.


3- Omranzadeh's catastrophic mistake makes him indefensible at the moment. and I can imagine how low he must be in confidence.
but this proves the need for us finding good, reliable alternatives for our main players, and giving these alt's time to settle. otherwise, we'd have such a scenario on our hands.


4- our defensive problems are becoz of bad system and bad teachings (example: how our def-mids fail to mark a man, be they nekounam , nouri or ando or rahmati or shoubi. and usually those marks either score goals or create danger. now if this happens this often, it is the COACH's duty to DRILL THIS INTO HIS DEF-MIDS all the time and especially before games)
we could flood the back line and still make the same mistakes.
so adding more def-mids does NOT solve this problem. in fact it creates more confusion ( taarof bazi betwen who shd cover whom and which one shd be where)

however, adding another striker, CAN and WILL help our pathetic situation up front, especially when we see game after game our strikers are taken out of the game by opponent defenders, ... so much that we keep subbing them, as if it is the individual player who's failed!!

watch all those crosses and see why having just one man up front NEVER helps us. we basically play the game with 10 men!!!!

[Martin-Reza]

While wondering how you could come from a great first post to such a disappoiting reply from my point of view, I must I now again support Ali Karimi's return, as apart from Shojaei we have no good option as OM/secon striker in the 4-2-3-1...

Maybe Zandi or Jabbari, but I'd still go with Karimi for this AC.

[Doctor DOOM]

ok, lets attack the issue of the lone striker this way then:

do you think gholami or meydavoudi, or oladi, or rezaei or ansarifard or .... are extremely poor forwards, individually?

[Nokhodi]

I just don't get the point of so many defensive midfielders once again, against an opponent like the Kuwait B team, particularly when the DMs don't even do their job well!!!

[Martin-Reza]

ok, lets attack the issue of the lone striker this way then:

do you think gholami or meydavoudi, or oladi, or rezaei or ansarifard or .... are extremely poor forwards, individually?

No, they are average strikers and I think they are doing their job well, as in the four WAFF games for instance our strikers scored in every single game. I don't think we have any problems upfront, we have problems in the back. We scored in all 4 games, but we only kept a clean sheet once.

[Doctor DOOM]

^ First of all, you know as well as anyone else that you're not being honest when you say "you think they're doing their job well". you know it and I know that you know it too.

secondly, if they're doing their job "well", why are they constantly being subbed? afterall, who changes a player who's doing well?

lets not count 2-3 goals against second and third rate asian teams' RESERVES as evidence that our strikers are scoring goals. We shd be tearing these little teams apart.


you brought up the above 3 points just becoz you dont like to admit the single forward formation is FAILING OUR FORWARDS AND GOAL SCORING.


those players I mentioned are good forwards and I believe quite talented. but they fail to have an impact becoz of something. and that something is becoz the system is failing them. becoz they are abandoned in a zone with nobody else to share the duties AS WELL AS DIVIDE THE OPPONENT DEFENDERS.
the system abandons them among 2-3 defenders who control our forwards so well they become ineffectual and non-existent, which obviously forces the stupid coach to change his man (instead of the system).

yes, I know for you the priority is to defend your beliefs and in this case, your favorite formation.
but I'm afraid the writing's on the wall and there's no escaping it.

IN IRAN AND GIVEN OUR PLAYERS, THE SINGLE FORWARD FORMATION DOES NOT WORK.

[Martin-Reza]

^ Yes, it works so bad that you can't even remember the last match in which we didn't score a goal. Man, we are scoring against virtually every team, may it be Korea, Mali, China, Saudi, Bosnia, Macedonia or whoever else. Scoring goals is not nearly a problem for Iran. There is no need to weaken an already weak defense in order to improve a well working offense.

It's funny that you see scoring against so-called weak teams a bigger problem than actually conceding goals from them in actually every game.

[Doctor DOOM]

^ you see, when you try to deflect the question, you may end up in a bigger soup.

I didnt say we dont score (although we shd be ROUTING these crappy reserve teams). I said our strikers dont score as much as they shd. and it's not only about scoring. it's about their impact on the game.

I am talking about the reason our forwards usually fail to have an impact on the game and you bring in "score-lines" which includes DEFENDERS' goals too.
you see ... I'm not easily distracted


******************

speaking of defenders, I think after this game Omranzadeh has pretty much shot his chance of being the alternative to our CD.

I think after zob ahan's games, it is a very good idea to bring in the in-form, dynamic mohamad Hosseini for our right back, and then, push Nosrati into the central defense - either as first option or sub for either jalal or hadi .

and for f**ks sake, bring back ashjari to LB.
even a mentally retarded blind man would have noticed the likes of hajsafi or beikzadeh or zandi or ... are simply unsuitable for LB by now.

aghaye seyed-e emperatoor-e azim , put aside all your childish insecurities and personal sh*t and re-invite ashjari (and I'd say Mohamadpour of zob ahan as sub)

[toofan]

didnt see the game, you guys in F+ could be trusted to give me a players rating

cheers

[Doctor DOOM]

heh. you want player rating?
let me make it simple and easy:

rahmati - 6 out of 10
the rest of the team - 3
ghotbi - 2 (only for bringing in oladi and meydavoudi)

[Babak agha]

Not even related to football: Best defense is offense

Johan Cruijff: Football is simple, you only need to score one goal more than your opponent to win.

WC 2010: the weakest line in the Dutch formation was their defense, and all the football analysts and coaches were afraid that this Achilles heel would prevent Holland to advance.

But what happened? Because of the good offensive line of the Dutch team the poor defensive line wasn't even noticeable and didn't prevent them to reach the finals.

To stay with the Dutch example, the main thing people pointed out as the weak tactical decision by the Dutch coach was the fact that he was using a 4-2-3-1 formation without a real Center Forward. And that's why all the goals score by the Dutch side came from midfielders/wingers (except for one lucky rebound goal by Huntelaar).

The biggest criticism of Van Marwijk is that he, like Ghotbi, uses two defensive midfielders and same players game in game out, even against weak sides. Just like Ghotbi.

So to start rounding it up:

1. unless you've got a Drogba (or in our case Daei) forward you shouldn't even think about the 4-2-3-1 system. Even the top strikers in the world (Anelka, Henry, Torres, Rooney, etc. etc.) do not perform well when they play in that system. You either need a though Holding center forward or you have to have to exceptional wingers like Robben, Ronaldo, Ribbery (in their top form) AND an very offensive minded attacking midfielder/CA like Azizi, young Karimi, Sneijder.

2. You shouldn't focus (too much) on defense and neglect offense just to play your favorite (text book) formation or be a yellow belly. Unless you're Italian, but then again, like Cruijff said: Italians can't win a game...but you can loose the game to them.

ps: Regarding the "scoring" in every game lately: how many of them was by a striker (10%? and I'm rounding up here)? how many of them was due to tactical planning and team work (so no lucky long distance shots and free kicks, etc)?

pss: Can you make a clip consisting of 5 goals scored by our forwards which you can show to someone as an example of how a striker should function within a team?

psss: MR jan I think it's way over due for you to start thinking (I saying thinking here and not doing as I do not expect hell to freeze over anytime soon :P ) about adjusting your views about 4-2-3-1 formation, especially in case of Iran, till we find a forward who fits that position. We can't score more than one or two goals against teams Daei, Aziz, Karimi, Bagheri, etc. etc. used to score on left and right. And even those couple of incidental/lucky goals we score these days are mostly scored by defenders and defensive midfielders of TM.

The best and most renowned coaches, players and football experts are question marking the (mis)use of this formation. So maybe you and Ghotbi might to rethink one or two things

[Babak agha]

A 4-2-3-1 with Khalatbari and Rezaei on the wings might work though.., However I'm not so sure who our lone attacker should be. Ansarifard has failed to prove that he could be the one, Meydavoudi isn't able to do the job either. Same goes for Oladi, who isn't a reliable holder of the ball, who can play the game with his back towards the goal. And that's the big issue for us, we don't have any player who can preform with his back against the goal, a target man. And that's is precisely what is needed when you're playing 4-2-3-1.