I dont think Zandi should start in the WC

[yashar_fasihnia]

Your concern can be mentioned to the players to not come forward at the same time. As easy as that. After all, they are intelligent human, not robot.
Your formation does not have the balance needed in the left. This line up force Nekonam to stay back for the whole time which is not in favor of the team, besides, Zare becomes a full left defender and Nikki a full left mid, it's like we sacrifice one player when only one of them should be able to fulfill both duties.
I totally agree on Golo for DM too. He is intelligent, technical, precise passes, cool headed and deadly scoring ability.
Cheers,

about telling nikki and kaabi not to go up at the same time, yes, branko can tell them that but will they really listen to this? i mean, first of all they are attack minded, both of them, and on top of that, with so much of tension and pressure on them, dont u think some things will slip out of their mind like first checking if the other player (kaabi or nikki) are in front or not, then decided to go up in front or not? these things require practice and coordination, i dont think its as easy as it sounds even though they are humans not robots. infact, it would be better to be robots because u could easily program them that these are the conditions, these are the expectations!

about my formation, i get wat u mean, ur trying to say that zare and nikki can both do the same job so why should the 2 of them do it? well, in my eyes, zare can be very good defensive wise however, his offensive work isnt really the best. besides, with kaabi as our RB, having zare behind to support rezai and yahya in defense can be needed while nikki takes part in the attack from the left all by himself supported by zandi on the side and nekounam from behind. Thats why i said i dont mind seeing bakhtiarizadeh if zare is not fit. in this way, our defense wont be that vulnerable, and our attack can be pretty effective as well, from both left and right and TM can have a dynamic formation which can change from a 4 defender system in normal conditions to a 3 defender system incase kaabi decides to go forward!
nekounam has to stay back more than before true, but i dont mind paying that price for having hashemian, karimi,zandi, nikki, kia and occasionally kaabi attacking at the same time.

anywayz, this is just my opinion. maybe i should try it on play station or something and see how it works out although its not the best way to find out the mistakes

[Doctor DOOM]

1)

yes, there are exceptions, but u temme, how would u know if a player can be a success or not without trying him out!

--------------
2)

sadeghi .............. and is inexperienced and uncoordinated in TM!

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3)
azize man, ajab giri dadiha, navidkia showing signs of progress, ....




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4)

im not saying playing teymourian was good or not, im saying when branko played teymourian ( a player who can be compared to zandi style wise) was played in RB, ................

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5)

and wat do u mean zareh-zandi combo when was that? i guess in the recent TM games since zandi joined TM, he and zare have been incharge of irans left side!

very short and sweet:
1) plz ask the very same question from branko, and his fan club.

I think it is a very valid question and must be asked when a player is called up, then sits on the bench , then is struck off !
Especially when TM has been having difficulty in his position !!


And you are sticking to the one-off and rare example of playing a player out of position getting results ( I did answer u on kaabi ).
But you gotta admit, normally and in 90% of times, it WILL NOT result in anything positive.

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2) hmm….. wonder why !


maybe becoz despite our LB position never finding any good personel which satisfies the needs, he ( and a few others like him ) was ( were ) never tried at TM …. To gain some int’l experience and gel with TM !!
( refer to my answer #1 , above for more)

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3)
hmm …. Let me see.
Which one is more advantageous to the team?

x showing signs of progress
or
y maintaining his top form in 2 full seasons?

hmmm….. “tough decision” !!!

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4) hehehe …, I must repeat.

Making a very poor decision and playing a player so out of position that makes our crummy left side, the better side !!!
Excellent point in favor of branko, eh ?

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5) read it again.
By “when” , I refer to all those times that zandi was “supposed” to have been on the left wing, and was absent !!!

A little sense of humor and reading between the lines goes a long way.



============================

I understand ur concern of both RB and LB pushing forward, leaving gaps on the side.
this exists at TM.
and it shd NOT .

becoz if these 2 push forward, a normal cohesive team will stay cohesive, and you'd see the central defenders also maintain the connection with the midfield.

A) at TM, due to branko's ultra-defensive tactics ( fat load of good it has done, as we still concede stupid, silly goals , even against half-arse teams !!! ) keeps the central backs rooted to near our 18 , thus increasing the gap between mids and def, ... resulting in large spaces created on the flanks, which will ( and have been) used time and again !!!

B) also in a normal team, coaches normally insist on calling their IN FORM players, not those who used to be good 2 years back .
so ur concern over this defense is becoz we dont have a sprightly, quick yahya or rezai or nosrati or ... as center backs who would cover any runner using these spaces ( mentioned above ) !!

can bagheri do this?
I dont know.

can sohrab do this?
I dont know.

now, for the answer, plz scroll up, and see my answer #1 in this post.

thank you

[Doctor DOOM]

Nikki played left defense in EsEs before Ciro comes to Iran.
If you know about transforming player from one position to another position, then why you are against it?
The new diamond system nowadays gives the right and left back more duties. They should cover the whole side lines offensively and defensively. The right and left midfielder should be able to play as center and line as well (which is very hard in my opinion), for example, our right mid, Kia is not a good center mid, that's why he lost his spot in Hamburg. Our left mid, Zandi, is not a good winger. I think if we adjust a more offensive minded defender and bring one more defensive mid (Teymourian) into squad, we will have a balance team, look bellow:
Ka'abi---Golo---Rezaei---Nikki
----Teymourian--Javad---
---Kia---Karimi---Zandi---
------Hashemian---------
In here, whenever we miss one of side defenders in counter attack by the opponent, we have one of two defensive mid who stays back to cover the gap.
For the record, Bakhtiari-zadeh can be replaced by Teymourian too.

[yashar_fasihnia]

dont have a sprightly, quick yahya or rezai or nosrati or ... as center backs who would cover any runner using these spaces ( mentioned above ) !!
can bagheri do this?
I dont know.
can sohrab do this?
I dont know.
now, for the answer, plz scroll up, and see my answer #1 in this post.
thank you

Before i begin, let me say that this will be my last post to u doctor jan regarding this matter and about this topic in this thread. it was nice exchaning ideas but because we seem to be going in a vicious circle and neither of us is ready to accept the other's arguments, i think its enough. we have repeated our arguments around ten times now, and if we continue, we can go on forever.

1)many players started their career in one position, then changed it when they moved to anothre club and even changed it a third or fourth time when they moved to a national team. as long as we dont have good players for LB position, branko is forced to use only the certain availbable players! remember, branko didnt choose zare now, he chose him more than 2 years back, in asiancup 2004 the first time i think, now u wanna temme that time sepeher heydari,sadeghi and jalal akbari played well in their teams in that post? did their team even play with a 4 back system that time? branko chose zare, and decided to invest on him, by giving him more play time and experience. now only have the others biggen to rise, and suddenly branko should bench an experienced coordinated player for a new inexperienced young player just because he has been on form?
again, i repeat, just because u think that zare wasnt good enough doesnt mean its true. zare was good defensively, and thats wat mattered becaues offense was mostly taken care of by zare. ur opnion is subjective, just like mine, not a fact!

2)refer to answer 1 above as well

3)like i said, why do u think like a computer, are 0 and 1 the only 2 digits u know? there are so many other factors BESDIES BEING ON FORM. does y have the potential x has? i dont think so! and i know u dont think so too! but x is progressing, he deserves a chance, to use the available time to get back his form, and if he does, u and me both know x will be more useful to TM than y! so why not give x a chance, if he doesnt use it, he will be striked off just like every other out of form player!

4)u had a better solution? u seriously think we are brazil that if ronaldinho gets injured, juninho can come instead of him huh? we dont have any godo sub for kia, noone even close to him! so wat do u expect? if only branko understood football like u did! better, if only u were the coach! u would know who should play where!

5)zandi needs time to adapt to a lot of things, his position and his duties being one of them. kam kam dare ja miyofteo behtar bazi mikoneo vazaefesho behtar anjam mide!

================================================== ==


again i said, a player being (or not being) infrom isnt the only reason why he should or shouldnt be invited otherwise, every month we will be having different players in TM camp with no international experience and coordination. this includes guys like sepehri, montazeri and akbari! when choosing players, u have to consider many options like experience, usefulness to the team, candidates and competitors for this post, versatility, body strenght, physqiue, maturity, character, consistency, being in form, and other stuff. now no player can be found with all these features, so a smart person like branko will sit and compare each players plus points and minus points, and deduce his conclusions! ur conclusions, might differ as may mine, and thats because we all have different values and perspectives. but this doesnt mean ours is better than branko's!

and incase u wanna say consistency, let me remind u navidkia was one of the most if not the most consistent player in TM when he was on top form. like i said, navidkia can be one of TM's best utilities and branko's best cards. the only thing he is lacking right now is peak form which he has shown he is achieving it as well, so branko has every right to give him the chance to improve on this weak point of his and if he succeeds, he can be one of branko's best cards! otherwise, striked off the list, just like kameli, alavi and nikbakht (before)! nothing wrong in that!

Thanx again for ur time and energy doctor, i enjoyed it. hope to catch ya around later in other threads and about other topics! and make sure u dont lose that sense of humour of urs(and ur sarcasm & extreme case examples )

[Areh]

Zandi is not even TM material IMO. He is SO SLOW, even daei can probably run faster than him. When kaiserlautern doesn't give him a single minute, what does that mean? He's not good enough period.

[Martin-Reza]

Zandi is not even TM material IMO. He is SO SLOW, even daei can probably run faster than him. When kaiserlautern doesn't give him a single minute, what does that mean? He's not good enough period.

I believe in F+ we should get the facts straight, saying things like "playing no single minute" is not appropriate.

The guy played 19 times this season, and missed a couple of matches due to injury (eg. the last three ones). Last season he played 26 times (most of the caps before the coach was changed) and had 6 goals and 7 assists and Kaiserslautern wasn't even close the relegation spot. Before that he was best goalscoring midfielder of second Bundesliga, and that in a crappy team.

He's indeed not fast, but speed is one of 100 aspects which are important in football.

[Areh]

speed is one of the MOST important factors in football. Just think of it, when a good defender is considered one that can run fast and sprint and chase the opponents forwards, imagine how important speed is for a midfielder, who has to run the entire field back and forth and participate in both offense and defense. Good defenders are ones that are speedy, like Nekonam, i don't know why some people say he's slow HE'S NOT. In the SS-Pas game, Nekonam was sprinting down the line really fastfor a counter-attack close to minute 90 of the game!! And Nekonam is a DM unlike an offensive minded midfielder who should be fast.

[yashar_fasihnia]

speed is one of the MOST important factors in football. Just think of it, when a good defender is considered one that can run fast and sprint and chase the opponents forwards, imagine how important speed is for a midfielder, who has to run the entire field back and forth and participate in both offense and defense. Good defenders are ones that are speedy, like Nekonam, i don't know why some people say he's slow HE'S NOT. In the SS-Pas game, Nekonam was sprinting down the line really fastfor a counter-attack close to minute 90 of the game!! And Nekonam is a DM unlike an offensive minded midfielder who should be fast.

speed is an important factor but it also depends on the position of a player, the formation used, his teammates abilites and also the requirements a coach wants from him.

zandi is not a winger to run up and down, nikbakht is like that. so is madanchi.
in our formation which branko plays, kaabi and zare need to run up and down a lot and they do, not the left midfield (zandi). kia is an exceptional case, dont compare zandi with kia.

besides, speed is just one important factor. there are other important factors like quick judgements, one touch passing, vision, shot power, passing abilities, professionalism all of which zandi has while nikbakht, maneei and madanchi lack some of them!

so even if zandi is not as fast as nikbakht and madanchi, he has his other plus points which contribute more than just speed to the team!

[Martin-Reza]

speed is one of the MOST important factors in football. Just think of it, when a good defender is considered one that can run fast and sprint and chase the opponents forwards, imagine how important speed is for a midfielder, who has to run the entire field back and forth and participate in both offense and defense. Good defenders are ones that are speedy, like Nekonam, i don't know why some people say he's slow HE'S NOT. In the SS-Pas game, Nekonam was sprinting down the line really fastfor a counter-attack close to minute 90 of the game!! And Nekonam is a DM unlike an offensive minded midfielder who should be fast.

That's simply not true, you're overestimating speed. There are plenty of good slow defenders, midfielders and strikers. Of course speed can't hurt, but slower players can make the deficit up with other attributes.

[zereshk-ali]

I don`t think the problem is Zandi, who for me is one of our most important players and most tactically astute player. I think the problem on the left lies in not having found a regular left back of sufficient quality so far.

It is not necessary to play a team with two out and out wing players and I like the fact that Zandi drifts inside - it should allow an overlapping run from the left back...a position we need to find a quality alternative for.

Not having an option of a pass to a supporting player leaves his options limited and makes his game more predictible, but if we drop Zandi it would certainly leave our passing and control of ball possession far worse off.

[khabalood]

perhaps the easier answer would be to field the team in such a formation:

-----------Karimi
Madanchi---------Mahdavikia
-----------Zandi

Now I am a fan of Nekounam, but I think he has lost his top form which he had in the AC. Zandi has experience in the dm position and prefers the cm. The obvious solution is to move him to the dm role which would not only allow him to stay in the center but also would allow him to combine with Madanchi also a left footed player, witht he optional interchanging with Karimi on the field when necessary this trio could be deadly.

I really wish Branko would test this out against Croatia, but I know the chances of seeing this are less than seeing a pig fly.

[zereshk-ali]

perhaps the easier answer would be to field the team in such a formation:

-----------Karimi
Madanchi---------Mahdavikia
-----------Zandi

Now I am a fan of Nekounam, but I think he has lost his top form which he had in the AC. Zandi has experience in the dm position and prefers the cm. The obvious solution is to move him to the dm role which would not only allow him to stay in the center but also would allow him to combine with Madanchi also a left footed player, witht he optional interchanging with Karimi on the field when necessary this trio could be deadly.

I really wish Branko would test this out against Croatia, but I know the chances of seeing this are less than seeing a pig fly.

Sorry, but I would not be comfortable with Zandi in a defensive holding role at all...particularly with no one apart from Karimi alongside him...he would eitehr be swamped on his own with an advanced Karimi not helping out or it would restrict Karimi`s influence further up the pitch.

The only way I can see him being adopted into a defensive central midfield role is by having Zandi, Nekounam and Karimi as a three in central midfield with Karimi the more advanced, supporting a lone striker. However that would mean either having to play with a back three and wing backs (maybe switching Kaebi to the left), or the 4-2-3-1 that we have been playing all along, with perhaps Hash up front and Madanchi, Karimi and Mahdavikia pushing up to support him.


Option 1:

3-5-2

-----------Hashemian--Daei------------
---------------Karimi--------------
-----------Zandi----Nekounam----------
Kaebi-------------------------Mahdavikia
--------Sohrab---Golmo----Rezaei--------


Option 2:

4-2-3-1

-----------Hashemian---------
Madanchi-----Karimi-----Mahdavikia
------Zandi----Nekounam----------
Zareh---Golmo----Rezaei----Kaebi


Whatever formation we do play though, I strongly believe Karimi needs to be given more license to roam further up the pitch - he is nowhere near as effective when restricted by his defensive responsibilities in the midfield four.

[khabalood]

Sorry, but I would not be comfortable with Zandi in a defensive holding role at all...particularly with no one apart from Karimi alongside him...he would eitehr be swamped on his own with an advanced Karimi not helping out or it would restrict Karimi`s influence further up the pitch.
The only way I can see him being adopted into a defensive central midfield role is by having Zandi, Nekounam and Karimi as a three in central midfield with Karimi the more advanced, supporting a lone striker. However that would mean either having to play with a back three and wing backs (maybe switching Kaebi to the left), or the 4-2-3-1 that we have been playing all along, with perhaps Hash up front and Madanchi, Karimi and Mahdavikia pushing up to support him.
Option 1:
3-5-2
-----------Hashemian--Daei------------
---------------Karimi--------------
-----------Zandi----Nekounam----------
Kaebi-------------------------Mahdavikia
--------Sohrab---Golmo----Rezaei--------
Option 2:
4-2-3-1
-----------Hashemian---------
Madanchi-----Karimi-----Mahdavikia
------Zandi----Nekounam----------
Zareh---Golmo----Rezaei----Kaebi
Whatever formation we do play though, I strongly believe Karimi needs to be given more license to roam further up the pitch - he is nowhere near as effective when restricted by his defensive responsibilities in the midfield four.

how would you know if he could handle defensive responsiblities or not taking into consideration branko never gave him a chance in that position. Also neither kaebi or zareh can play lb.

[zereshk-ali]

how would you know if he could handle defensive responsiblities or not taking into consideration branko never gave him a chance in that position. Also neither kaebi or zareh can play lb.

yeah, but khabalood jan, if that is your criteria for deciding suitable positions then why not give Fereydoon a spell up front - how can you argue against it when Branko hasn`t given him the chance yet.

he is an attacking, left footed central midfield playmaker - I would be very surprised if he could be transformed into a defensive midfielder capable of competing at the world cup. I could be wrong....

I doubt that Brazil are considering Kaka in the defensive midfield holding role for instance.

as for the lb position - can you name an Iranian player (besides of course me) who can or is a better option than either of them?

[khabalood]

yeah, but khabalood jan, if that is your criteria for deciding suitable positions then why not give Fereydoon a spell up front - how can you argue against it when Branko hasn`t given him the chance yet.
he is an attacking, left footed central midfield playmaker - I would be very surprised if he could be transformed into a defensive midfielder capable of competing at the world cup. I could be wrong....
I doubt that Brazil are considering Kaka in the defensive midfield holding role for instance.
as for the lb position - can you name an Iranian player (besides of course me) who can or is a better option than either of them?

ali jaan, Zandi has experience at the club level as a defensive midfielder. Moreover, from his play on tm, he has already proven that he his a good distributor of the ball. As well he exhibits a strong tackle and aggressiveness for the ball. This is what I have seen from him. As well do not forget he is coming off a bundesliga season whereas our current starter in the position has been playing in the UAE.

That said i wouldn't mind trying Zandi in cf position either

As for the lb position I remember amirabadi doing well it that position with the one sole chance he was given.

And regarding Brazil, they have so much depth that there is no need to play a player in anything but their prefered position.