alhilal - ZOB AHAN (return leg)

[Doctor DOOM]

FIRST HALF:

1- FANTASTIC defensive set up, well organized that allowed nothing to alhilal till half an hour after the start.

surprisingly, kheiri has filled up the hole in front of the CD's so well that shd be a lesson to Nekounam who has weaknesses in this area.

the two CD's are doing a great job taking care of all aerial and ground balls. yes, they are a bit more compact. but what else is expected playing in one of asia's most attacking teams? well done, I say

2- First alhilal chance (and their single most dangerous) came after half an hour and after that a couple of other chances which weren’t really dangerous as either gordan was covering the frame well and the defenders didn’t leave much of a space or time for those chances to be that serious.

3- However, we had 3 really good chances, especially hadadi’s freekick and khalatbari’s counter. A little luck would have seen us leading the half.

4- I don’t know what happened when Gordan and our coaching staff were complaining to the ref and the 4th official. Anyone knows?

5- Zob’s near perfect game plan, well coordination and fantastic teamwork is the hallmark of this half. They didn’t get hurried, didn’t act immaturely or the usual irani “deimi” football.

Kudos to EZ for his marvelous preparation and build of such a team

6- If the Saudis don’t score by minutes 60-70, they will open up their defense even more which shd suit castro and khalatbari’s style.

So I don’t think the game is done yet

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

SECOND HALF:

- The Goal: magnificent job by castro for his persistence and the beautiful turn to score. But we shdnt forget the fantastic work done by Ghazi and Kheiri for doing a superb job of regaining the ball and helping the offensive counter that led to the goal.

- Absolutely marvelous display of what “covering your mate” in a game. Players did this like the best of Italians. Just superb.

- Nothing else can be added except the WHOLE team was M.O.M. in my opinion.

- I must really commend on the cool and for-most-parts, calm defending of our lads who didnt hoof it up every time they saw a glimpse of the ball . all against an al-hilal that brought all they could, all their romanian radio, swedish television and brazilian internet and other forms of communication.

- the only sad point is I think hadadifard got his 2nd yellow and he will miss the finals !!!

[Nokhodi]

The counter-attacking was very effectively done. It was quick, always to the point and the players were well positioned.
The basics were very visibly implemented in the game. You could see triangles forming every time Zob Ahan got the ball.
Zob won around 80-90% of the balls in the air and paced themselves perfectly when defending.
Just perfectly done. Haven't seen an Iranian football team (national or club) dominate a good opponent tactically like this in maybe 10-12 years.
Reminded me of Ivic and how he taught TM to play.

[toofan]

they were absolutley fantastic tonight.

I loved the fact that they covered each other well, and i didnt see any nervousness
in any of our players.

Good positioning (without the ball) was the key in this match.congrats to all iranians.

[Hajagha]

Aside from ZobAhan superior performance, I am very surprised by positive post of DD.

This is the first post of such. I can't remember he posted a 100% positive analysis.

Good job,

BTW, I am with you all the way on that.

Cheers

[Amin_]

Agreed with everything you said.

On this:

4- I don’t know what happened when Gordan and our coaching staff were complaining to the ref and the 4th official. Anyone knows?

I think they were shining laser lights into Gordan's eyes.

[Doctor DOOM]

Aside from ZobAhan superior performance, I am very surprised by positive post of DD.
This is the first post of such. I can't remember he posted a 100% positive analysis.
Good job,
BTW, I am with you all the way on that.
Cheers

har har.

but seriously, I call it as I see it.
if there's something negative, I mention it. same with positive things.
also, it's not as if there wasnt any incidents that need to be worked on. it's just that they were few and far in between that I am sure with a little more focus and concentration by the players, they can rectify them.

now, it's not my fault if ghotbi's teams dont have as many positives and are jampacked with negatives and warning signs and disturbing issues.
dont shoot the messenger.

[Hajagha]

now, it's not my fault if ghotbi's teams ...

Come on, I have known you from Ciro's time.

[zzgloo]

They play well mostly because they have a good looking uniform !!
Thats my analysis !!

[Paradigm]

Darn, missing Hadadifard for the final match is a true eyesore.

Any analysis on the Korean side that will feature against Zob?

[Doctor DOOM]

^ havent seen much of them, but they are a typical eastern club, packed with pace and highly organized.

but the good news (if it is correct) is they seem to have 3 of their players suspended (a foreigner and 2 korean). so that could work for us.

the other things is they conceded 4 goals away from home in 8-0er land (lost 4-3), so their defense is not exactly solid. in fact they have something like 13 goals conceded against 21 scored (GD of +8)

while zob's is 5 conceded and 13 (or 14) scored (GD +8). so while zob's defensive set up works pretty well for them, the koreans do leak some goals. something to look forward to.


I agree, losing hadadifard is bad. but I guess EZ can use rajabzadeh in his place to feed castro and khalatbari.
against the pacey koreans, it may be wise to play a patient game, using our passing and individual skills and technique and bid our time to sting. and rajabzadeh CAN do that for us. (at the same time, kheiri must be told to avoid getting excited and attempt to go all the way by himself as he did twice today. often times a simple pass is 10 times more effective than 6 dribbles)

one thing EZ has proven is that he has built a team that plays SENSIBLE (cant stress enough on this) football. patient enough to not resort to hasty, hurried lobs or bezan ziresh, even if they are behind (case in point, their return leg to korea, where they scored their goal at minute 80). they maintain their composure and just stick to their game plan (very much the philosophy of barcelona). and that is one of the major factors in their success.


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

Come on, I have known you from Ciro's time.

and Ciro's reluctance to use substitution is something that many ppl still complain about.

I dont think I have to go over the branko of post-AC04 and pre-WC06. But I was full of praise for him PRE-AC04, especially during the busan games.

and the more recent events are too fresh to forget the many mistakes, shortcomings, wrongs and generally issues that led to our failures.

[Paradigm]

Where were the referees / match officials from today? They seemed pretty fair which is not often to be expected when the Saudi teams play on home soil. I was pleasantly surprised.

What thing I noticed that Zob needs to work on, is they need to make more shots on target. Most of what they had today (specially those initiated by M. Ghazi) were mostly off from the wood work.

[Martin-Reza]

Isn't it astonishing that suddenly a team playing a 4-2-3-1 system, taking little risks, defending deep and ends up playing with 10 men defending and only Khalatbari upfront against 10 men is praised by someone demanding gutsyness and bashing other coaches with more offensive approaches as "wimps"?

Now I personally have no problem with Ebrahimzadeh's successful tactics, but I would have expected people sticking to their general views. Or does the end simply justify the means?

Ref was Irmatov from Uzbekistan btw, he was a World Cup referee too.

[Doctor DOOM]

Isn't it astonishing that suddenly a team playing a 4-2-3-1 system, taking little risks, defending deep and ends up playing with 10 men defending and only Khalatbari upfront against 10 men is praised by someone demanding gutsyness and bashing other coaches with more offensive approaches as "wimps"?
Now I personally have no problem with Ebrahimzadeh's successful tactics, but I would have expected people sticking to their general views. Or does the end simply justify the means?
Ref was Irmatov from Uzbekistan btw, he was a World Cup referee too.

What’s even MORE astonishing is how some of us leave out plenty of talking points with regards to why others don’t like 4-2-3-1 at TM, and just make a sweeping, general statement, conveniently leaving out major differences such as:

1- Hadadifard was hardly used as a def-mid, and was given a more free role (seen all over the pitch), while along with rajabzadeh was involved in playmaking. (not that I would have minded having 2 def-mids in there. read point 3)

2- Zob’s defense was solid enough to be dependable (big difference from TM’s swiss cheese of a defense. another talking point that is obviously omitted here)

3- Alhilal was the stronger team, playing at home (yet another issue that is discussed in those discussions/debates you conveniently left out)

4- They didn’t play the gutless, spineless game we see from your favorite coaches. If you forgot, zob-ahan started quite brightly and played a sensible offensive game and during the whole game, zob ahan had the more dangerous chances than alhilal (hadadifard’s freekick and khalatbari’s shot that if taken a bit earlier or stronger, we’d have seen a bigger margin.

They constantly threatened the home team with numerous forays into their half. At times, displaying very good possession football INSIDE alhilal’s half (yet another difference. but who’s counting?)

5- And oh … did I forget to mention the most glaring difference: EZ’s system was more similar to 4-1-4-1 (or even 4-3-3 at times ) than your 4-2-3-1
----- kheiri -------
Hdadifard ---- ghazi
Castro ---- rajabzadeh
----khalatbari ------

All in all, this was definitely nowhere near the usual gutless, spineless football you defend.

- The kind that passes the ball between its keeper and its 3-4 defenders that makes up 80% of its possession!

- The kind that shows no tactics or strategy in going forward. only bezan ziresh, deimi football.

- The kind that despite having 2 or 3 def-mids, has massive holes all over its 1/3rd that is usually used to hurt us.

- The kind that uses this gutless/spineless system even against pisspoor teams many many ranks lower than us.

- The kind that does this ^ even at HOME vs crappy teams

- the kind that sometimes has not even a single natural forward in its line up!!!

- the kind that even after falling behind, doesnt reduce its defensive elements to add to its offensive ones!!!

- The kind ….. etc etc etc (you can fill a book with the differences)


de, akhe baradar-e man, everything has its own use, its own situation and its own specific elements and ingredients, ... .

Nice try. Better luck next time.

[Ali Chicago]

I haven't seen any of the recent games except 50 mins of the SS-PP game. So thanks for keeping me somewhat up to date.

P.S. Glad to See DD happy!!!!! Kidding Aziz, just teasing ya.
P.P.S. Good to see an Iranian coach (given enough time (couple of years of coaching Zob)) getting better and better.

Go Zob Ahan.

[Ali Chicago]

Just imagine Zob wins AFC and playing Inter Millan likes of Willy Eshnider and Micon while we watch (pretty exciting). Love to see Rajabzadeh gives a nutmeg (Layee) to Willy Eshnider.