IRAN - Madagascar

[Doctor DOOM]

FIRST HALF –

Nothing much to brag about. A very mediocre performance. And I cant even bring the excuse of “let them get coordinated”, coz the bulk of the line up has been playing with each others for years now and even the defense has been in one club! So that excuse is out.

They seem to be playing a 4-3-3 formation, with karimi way too deep, which is why we didn’t see much playmaking by him. Next to him are Pejman Nouri who is another defensive player with only Bao a few paces in front of them. But Bao, while a decent player, isn’t exactly known for his playmaking which compels us to ask why Hadadifar is sitting out and why Mobaali was dropped. Well, I think we all got our answer and got an idea of what to expect if we don’t use these two and play karimi too deep.

For years (after he came back from Bayern) I have been impressed by karimi’s ability to win the ball back in 1 on 1’s. this, at that time, was a new side of him and he has shown to be very adept in this. Today’s high rate of re-possessions by him underlines this.

Dropping Reza Nowroozi for Hadi nowroozi??? … well, need I say anything more. Lets hope we got our answer on this issue too.
I hope CQ keeps the Ansarifard-Oladi duo up front a bit longer. I think this pair shows a lot of potential and it is worth investing on.


among the positives, I must say Hajsafi is doing well going forward. But he was always good at that. his weakness has been his defending under pressure. but this opponent is not going to test him and we need to check him out against more decent opposition.


another positive is the movement of the team (the front 4-5 players at least, with Heidari & hajsafi adding to them). they seem to move quicker and find spaces better. I hope this trend continues and we see this become a habit for our players. it was promising so far.



overall, an unsatisfactory first half.


***********************\
SECOND HALF -


This half also didn’t offer much in terms of quality and in fact as it wore on, the quality got lower and lower. A very alarming matter as we were playing the world’s 138th team (what's even more tragic is they are missing some of their main team players who play in france!!!)
If we were showing this level of performance against a top 30 team, I wouldn’t have minded it. But 138th? That’s abysmal. Especially when we allowed this many freekicks right in front of our box and actually allowed a few dangerous moments and chances at our goal! now, that's scary


Another issue was the number of chances our forwards and midfielders got and they wasted it in most immature, amateurish manner!

Ansarifard was the big surprise of the game for me. Not only did he waste so many great chances he got (2-3 of them were literally 1 on 1’s which he scoffed terribly) but also he didn’t do well as a part of the team, be it when he tried to defend or come back and receive balls. I guess those who thought Reza Nowroozi didn’t deserve to be in the team got their answer.


I was seeing Pouladi play at LB for the first time and he, like hajsafi looked good going forward. But again, like hajsafi, he is more a midfielder so it isn’t a surprise to see him do well up front. It is when we see them defend at the back that leaves a lot to be desired. We shall see more on this as we play better teams.


a note on Karimi. I'll put it as bluntly and simply as possible. I am not convinced investing on him for the next 2 years is a good idea. I'm not saying he's a bad player or isnt committed. he is. but for the upcoming WCQ's (especially later stages) against asia's top teams, a 34-35 year old karimi isnt the answer. I dont know what's on CQ's mind and if he's called him to garner ppl's support for himself. but I, personally, am not convinced karimi will be a key figure in TM ... definitely not in a year's time.



Summary-
CQ’s first game wasn’t impressive at all. I put it down to initial jitters of an unfamiliar coach in unfamiliar surroundings and players. But even this game shd have given him (and us) plenty to think about and consider when picking the players for a game.

[maij]

As usual , an excellent analysis by the Doc.


My biggest disappointment by far was no one but Karim Ansaufard. This was incredibly a poor performance by him. How on earth he can miss these scoring chances is something that needs to be seriously addressed. I suddenly have this nightmare about another Arash Borhani in the making...I seriously hope I am wrong specially since Iran is not producing quality forwards on regular basis.

Ouladi is next on the list. Another person that fails to impress when he really needs to do so to get a regular place in the line up.

Ali Karimi. I really appreciate this man's effort to excel , but I suspect that his stamina, physique and skills is abandoning him. His defensive work was admirable to say the least , but committing fouls at dangerous areas was not too clever. I strongly agree that Queiroz should not rely on him as a starter, but keep him in the squad. We might need his odd flashes of brilliance at some stage.

It was a practice match against a very weak opposition, however , Team Melli failed to impress. I hope the coach has learned a few lessons. Unfortunately , there is nothing positive to report.

[Kaiser Amir]

Only saw the second half.
Technically, the game was an embaressment.
Madagascar was so weak, I can honestly say their level was close to a third division romanian club.

Having said that about our opponent, you can only GUESS what I think about our level.

And, again, to be 100% honest, if this display was made with Ghotbi or any other iranian coach on Team Melli's bench, I and 99% of the fans would have slashed and trashed the guy.

Since its Queiroz, I personally will let it slip.
Close my eyes, forget what I saw, move on.
Queiroz, however, has already used one of his "Get out of jail" cards...


And, to be clear!
The following excuses just don't cut it:

- This was Queiroz's first game.
Hell no! This was Queiroz's FOURTH GAME. Add this one to the three friendlies Team Melli played in Austria. A game is a game, be it against Metalist Kharkov or Madagascar.


- The players were tired after a demanding physical camp.
I ask those who use this excuse the following questions:

Did you guys see the physical condition of Madagascar players?!
Did they resemble to professional footballers?
I wonder how many days of training this Madagascar side had togheter before facing Iran?


But, as I said, let move on and lets try to justify this pathetic showing by saying:

A- This was a meaningless friendly and we'll see a totally different team against the Maldives.

B- Team Melli missed some important players (we were playing Madagascar though, for god's sake!): Nekounam, Khalatbari, Shojaei and Teymourian.

C- Carlos Queiroz needs more time.


This last argument is the most solid one.
Its still too early to give out the verdict on Quieroz.
We gave Ghotbi two years.
Lets wait six months before judging Queiroz.
For now, lets hope Team Melli will eliminate the Maldives, if Queiroz is to survive for six months.

The way things looked today, the Maldvies match will be no formality...

[Martin-Reza]

Players didn't look like they were at peak of their physical fitness. I guess summer break and the training camp playing a role here. Also Queiroz is obviously still experimenting, leaving Nekounam and Teymourian outside, playing Karimi at DM, Ansarifard at LW and giving Baou a chance.

Second haf was much better, at least at the beginning, I think mostly thanks to Hadadifar, who played very well.

Overall of course performance and result was disappointing. I expect improvement against Maledives already.

[Paradigm]

Now you guys may realize that Ghotbi was not doing such a bad job after all. His team defeated Angola and the mighty Russians with the same scoreline we defeated Madagascar today. Scroll down on

http://www.soccerway.com/matches/201...ascar/1114309/

To see results of the past several matches for the two teams.

I think CQ is better off with testing Pejman Montazeri as a defender, and keep R. Noroozi and Afshin as attackers.

[Doctor DOOM]

^ paradigm jan, ever the opportunist, sneaking some seriously undue credit to ghotbi in the middle of things, eh?
russia?
ghtbi against russia would have played 6 DM's with no striker 4-6-0 formation


lets not forget it will be quite a few DECADES before any TM coach can match ghotbi's 5-game losing streak or the kind of spinelss, mouse-like display vs. korea. quite a few decades, I assure you


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

thanks majid jan. I am with you on all your points, except, perhaps Oladi.
in fact i think Oladi did less poorly in those 50-60 minutes than ansarifard's 90+ minutes

I think (as is common with iranian players, especially the recent years) they took madagascar too lightly and werent serious at all. could it be the ranking? I dont care. but our players have shown to lose drive and ambition when playing smaller teams! and it has always caused us much regret in the end.

remember uae games in WCQ's?

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

to amir:
I think if this was CQ's 10th or 12th game, he would have recieved the same slashing and bashing.
my view is this is the starting problems faced by all new coaches, especially when they take the helm of amateurish sides like iran.

a year from now, a game like this would beget a very different post and thread. much of it dripping with blood, fire and brimstone .


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

I'd like to agree with martin on the experimentation and hope that was CQ's real intention
for all we know he wanted to give a few players one last chance before he struck them off the immediate list and needed to test them one more time (while keeping some of the more reliable picks fresh).
hadi nowroozi, bao and perhaps a couple of more players may have been in this infamous list

only time will tell.
I hope after maldives we get a crack at a couple of decent teams to really put the players and the coach to test.

[Doctor DOOM]

oh, I forgot the highlight of the game (for me):

KAFFASHIAN HAYA KON!!! SABZIFOROOSHI VA KON!!!

priceless

[Martin-Reza]

Interesting would be some quotes from Queiroz after the game. Some coaches really surprise me by praising the team after such games. I wonder what type of coach Queiroz is in that regard...

[St_Mark]

Interesting would be some quotes from Queiroz after the game. Some coaches really surprise me by praising the team after such games. I wonder what type of coach Queiroz is in that regard...

کروش: فرصت هاي متعدد گلزني را به راحتي از دست داديم
تهران- سرمربي تيم ملي فوتبال كشورمان گفت: ملي پوشان ايراني فرصت هاي گلزني خوبي را مقابل ماداگاسكار از دست دادند و اين امر باعث شد تا آنان تنها با يك گل بتوانند حريف را شكست دهند.

با بيان اينكه از عملكرد و نحوه بازي بازيكنان درنيمه دوم رضايت دارد،افزود: درنيمه دوم سرعت بازي افزايش يافت و ما توانستيم موقعيت هاي بهتري را بدست آورديم اما بي دقتي مانع از افزايش تعداد گل هاي تيم ملي در اين بازي شد.

وي افزود:ماداگاسكار امروز با تيم اصلي خود به تهران سفر كرده بود و با تمام قوا مقابل ما قرار گرفت.
كي روش درخصوص شباهت تيم هاي ماداگاسكار و مالديو نيز گفت: شباهت 2 تيم مالديو و مادگاسكار اين است كه بازيكنان هر دو تيم هم اكنون دركوران رقابت هاي داخلي قراردادشته و از آمادگي بدني خوبي برخوردارند.

وش با اشاره به اردوي تداركاتي تيم ملي در اتريش ادامه داد: واقعيت اين است كه سرعت تيم ايران در 3 ديدارتداركاتي در اتريش قابل قبول تر بود به طوريكه آنان بازي شاداب تري را مقابل حريفان به نمايش گذاشتند.


وي با بيان اين كه بازيكنان در هفته هاي اخير تمرينات پرفشاري را دنبال كردند، افزود: خسته بودن بازيكنان طبيعي است ملي پوشان در روز هاي اخير تمرينات پرفشاري را پشت سرگذاشته برهمين اساس امشب نتوانستند سرعت خوبي را مقابل ماداگاسكار داشته باشند.

وي درمورداعتراض مربيان ايراني درخصوص به خدمت گرفتن بازيكنانشان در شرايط پيش از آغاز رقابت هاي يازدهمين دوره رقايت هاي ليگ برتر نيز گفت: فدراسيون بين المللي فوتبال فيفا اين زمان را براي برگزاري ديدارهاي تداركاتي درنظر گرفته است و ما ناگزير به برگزاري اين ديدارها هستيم.

[Kaiser Amir]

^ paradigm jan, ever the opportunist, sneaking some seriously undue credit to ghotbi in the middle of things, eh?
russia?
ghtbi against russia would have played 6 DM's with no striker 4-6-0 formation


lets not forget it will be quite a few DECADES before any TM coach can match ghotbi's 5-game losing streak or the kind of spinelss, mouse-like display vs. korea. quite a few decades, I assure you

Crediting Ghotbi with the 1-0 win over Russia = DISGUSTING.
I felt like I wanted to throw up after reading that comment.
Moving on to less disgusting things...


Just to add something else to what I said earlier:

The biggest POSITIVE OUTCOME of this friendly, for me at least, was that it sure as hell LOWERED THE EXPECTATIONS from this team.

Today's humiliating performance, coupled with the shameful elimination of the Olympic team have convinced me that Iran has a 10%-20% chance of reaching the 2014 World Cup.

[Martin-Reza]

کروش: فرصت هاي متعدد گلزني را به راحتي از دست داديم
تهران- سرمربي تيم ملي فوتبال كشورمان گفت: ملي پوشان ايراني فرصت هاي گلزني خوبي را مقابل ماداگاسكار از دست دادند و اين امر باعث شد تا آنان تنها با يك گل بتوانند حريف را شكست دهند.

با بيان اينكه از عملكرد و نحوه بازي بازيكنان درنيمه دوم رضايت دارد،افزود: درنيمه دوم سرعت بازي افزايش يافت و ما توانستيم موقعيت هاي بهتري را بدست آورديم اما بي دقتي مانع از افزايش تعداد گل هاي تيم ملي در اين بازي شد.

وي افزود:ماداگاسكار امروز با تيم اصلي خود به تهران سفر كرده بود و با تمام قوا مقابل ما قرار گرفت.
كي روش درخصوص شباهت تيم هاي ماداگاسكار و مالديو نيز گفت: شباهت 2 تيم مالديو و مادگاسكار اين است كه بازيكنان هر دو تيم هم اكنون دركوران رقابت هاي داخلي قراردادشته و از آمادگي بدني خوبي برخوردارند.

وش با اشاره به اردوي تداركاتي تيم ملي در اتريش ادامه داد: واقعيت اين است كه سرعت تيم ايران در 3 ديدارتداركاتي در اتريش قابل قبول تر بود به طوريكه آنان بازي شاداب تري را مقابل حريفان به نمايش گذاشتند.


وي با بيان اين كه بازيكنان در هفته هاي اخير تمرينات پرفشاري را دنبال كردند، افزود: خسته بودن بازيكنان طبيعي است ملي پوشان در روز هاي اخير تمرينات پرفشاري را پشت سرگذاشته برهمين اساس امشب نتوانستند سرعت خوبي را مقابل ماداگاسكار داشته باشند.

وي درمورداعتراض مربيان ايراني درخصوص به خدمت گرفتن بازيكنانشان در شرايط پيش از آغاز رقابت هاي يازدهمين دوره رقايت هاي ليگ برتر نيز گفت: فدراسيون بين المللي فوتبال فيفا اين زمان را براي برگزاري ديدارهاي تداركاتي درنظر گرفته است و ما ناگزير به برگزاري اين ديدارها هستيم.

I agree that we didn't use our chances well enough. We hit the woodwork twice and had 2 more 100%ers, beside many half-chances, so it could have easily been a 4-0 or 5-0. I also agree we played much faster and better in second half.

Still I think he should have been more critical and not have praised Madagascar's team like that. This wasn't even their real first team, they were missing numerous legionairs.

[maij]

oh, I forgot the highlight of the game (for me):

KAFFASHIAN HAYA KON!!! SABZIFOROOSHI VA KON!!!

priceless

Indeed ...quite hilarious. I guess that we we can never accuse the Azadi fans for being boring They are a creative bunch , aren't they ? and Ali Kafashain is one hell of a poost kloft who is quite unique. His response would be a wide grin and his answer would be " I tried to get a license for Sabziforoushi , but the Tehran Municipality refused my request citing a health risk to the public !!"..yeah , he is so incompetent that he will sell contaminated Sabzi to the public. Of course , not by intention.

Only one of his kind is born every century....

On a side note.... I don't quite understand the chants of Ali Daei's name !!
I hope it was not against Queiroz ....... I doubt it....perhaps it was Daei vs. Kafashian ??!!

[Hajagha]

Again the same problem, our defensive mid's can ALMOST do their job, but no quality offensive mid and forward.

The only player impressed me again was Hadadi-far. This guy is a class.

Let's hope CQ can do some thing about it. I wanna see how he copes with karimi, Hadadifar, Nekonam, Noori and Ando at the same time while we have a player like ba'ao or Nourozi to play. To me, that's brutal.

Can we buy some Portuguese players too?


DD talks again about the droped players and want to blame it on that. It's like Reza Nourozi was the player of century and he could solve all our problem up there. Jigar, come down to earth. We don't have any quality players, Nourozi included. Don't make it dramatic movie. We need a player that no one can deny his spot in the line up. By calling Mobali and co., you don't solve the problem, you just put one more spin into the situation.

Cheers,

[BacheLot]

Players didn't look like they were at peak of their physical fitness. I guess summer break and the training camp playing a role here. Also Queiroz is obviously still experimenting, leaving Nekounam and Teymourian outside, playing Karimi at DM, Ansarifard at LW and giving Baou a chance.

Second haf was much better, at least at the beginning, I think mostly thanks to Hadadifar, who played very well.

Overall of course performance and result was disappointing. I expect improvement against Maledives already.

agree..! players seemed tired as hell from an intensive training and loooong, seemingly never ending season for the lads in the camp..!! Hadadifar was superb and Karimi looked much more dangerous pushing forward than playing a drop back DM..! His passing was marvelous and top class for most part..! Overall i thought he played admirable (Everyone needs to STOP measuring his current performance by comparing it to his prime..! Rate his value by comparing him his current teammates in TM and possible replacements in this team..! Do you honestly think we can yet afford to bench him in favor of a better option, be it another useless youngster..!!?? )

کروش: فرصت هاي متعدد گلزني را به راحتي از دست داديم
تهران- سرمربي تيم ملي فوتبال كشورمان گفت: ملي پوشان ايراني فرصت هاي گلزني خوبي را مقابل ماداگاسكار از دست دادند و اين امر باعث شد تا آنان تنها با يك گل بتوانند حريف را شكست دهند.

با بيان اينكه از عملكرد و نحوه بازي بازيكنان درنيمه دوم رضايت دارد،افزود: درنيمه دوم سرعت بازي افزايش يافت و ما توانستيم موقعيت هاي بهتري را بدست آورديم اما بي دقتي مانع از افزايش تعداد گل هاي تيم ملي در اين بازي شد.

وي افزود:ماداگاسكار امروز با تيم اصلي خود به تهران سفر كرده بود و با تمام قوا مقابل ما قرار گرفت.
كي روش درخصوص شباهت تيم هاي ماداگاسكار و مالديو نيز گفت: شباهت 2 تيم مالديو و مادگاسكار اين است كه بازيكنان هر دو تيم هم اكنون دركوران رقابت هاي داخلي قراردادشته و از آمادگي بدني خوبي برخوردارند.

وش با اشاره به اردوي تداركاتي تيم ملي در اتريش ادامه داد: واقعيت اين است كه سرعت تيم ايران در 3 ديدارتداركاتي در اتريش قابل قبول تر بود به طوريكه آنان بازي شاداب تري را مقابل حريفان به نمايش گذاشتند.


وي با بيان اين كه بازيكنان در هفته هاي اخير تمرينات پرفشاري را دنبال كردند، افزود: خسته بودن بازيكنان طبيعي است ملي پوشان در روز هاي اخير تمرينات پرفشاري را پشت سرگذاشته برهمين اساس امشب نتوانستند سرعت خوبي را مقابل ماداگاسكار داشته باشند.

وي درمورداعتراض مربيان ايراني درخصوص به خدمت گرفتن بازيكنانشان در شرايط پيش از آغاز رقابت هاي يازدهمين دوره رقايت هاي ليگ برتر نيز گفت: فدراسيون بين المللي فوتبال فيفا اين زمان را براي برگزاري ديدارهاي تداركاتي درنظر گرفته است و ما ناگزير به برگزاري اين ديدارها هستيم.

i dont care if this was their first or second team, this Madagascar team was a joke..! They were terrible..!
he is correct that we missed many golden chances that woulda made it a blow out if they went in, but what else is new ..??
TM players seemed very tired and the overly hot weather almost always causes such performances at every level of football..! probably thats why most european leagues take summers off..!!? its good that according to his assessment at least this was the worst performance of his team amongst the last 3-4 test matches..!!
He is in a precarious situation now..! ATM his team Need some R & R and at the same time more training matches to gel better as a team..!! and the Maldives game is coming up soon..!! I think he needs to stop over experimentation with his lineups and player selection for time being until we have advanced to the next stage..!

i just remind you of the early TM game under ghotbi,(some of those AC11 Qualifying games..!) Now those were some of the worst and most disgusting performances ive ever witnessed tm play..!! but we all saw how the team improved game by game after that..! so lets give this guy a few more games before we judge his effect ..!

oh, I forgot the highlight of the game (for me):

KAFFASHIAN HAYA KON!!! SABZIFOROOSHI VA KON!!!

priceless

yea man that was the best certainly the highlight..!! Fans need to continue such bashing until his bosses are forced to replace his dumb ass..!!

by the same token i thought the bigheyrati chants against Ansarifard was uncalled for and very classless..!!
He played very bad and missed a sitter but he has been in a funk for a while and was playing an unfamiliar position and i didnt particularly noticed him slacking off..!!?
Oladi hareefo daste kam kheyli gerefteh bood va kheyli shol moshol bazi kard but i the guy is a quality player that will blossom into a solid attacking option if hopefully given more chances ..!!
I think the Daie chants was just fans reminiscing his hay days where he would have surely put a goal or two passed such weak oppositions almost every time he played..!! or so called Gheyrati performances by him..!

[maij]

by the same token i thought the bigheyrati chants against Ansarifard was uncalled for and very classless..!!
He played very bad and missed a sitter but he has been in a funk for a while and was playing an unfamiliar position and i didnt particularly noticed him slacking off..!!?

Don't quote me on that but I think there was a motive behind Ansarifard's chants which had very little to do with him missing two very easy setters. They were PP fans who are upset about Ansarifard's U turn on joining PP and they made it known.

Oladi hareefo daste kam kheyli gerefteh bood va kheyli shol moshol bazi kard but i the guy is a quality player that will blossom into a solid attacking option if hopefully given more chances ..!!
I think the Daie chants was just fans reminiscing his hay days where he would have surely put a goal or two passed such weak oppositions almost every time he played..!! or so called Gheyrati performances by him..!

Well , I am glad that a few people (you and the Doc at least) see potential in Ouladi , because I really fail to see him being the answer for our inept and futile strikers. And by strikers I mean players who can actually score , rather than just a promise to score.

Anyway , I surely hope I am wrong with Ouladi.