Iran-Indonesia, Sept. 2nd, 2011

[Hajagha]

Once again it was a proven fact to me that our best 5-6 players in the country are all defensive mid. You see Ando being good, because he is good, it doesn't mean Hadadifar wasn't or P.Nouri wasn't competent to not be even in the team.

Second, CQ is a qualified coach by choosing Pooladi over Hajsafi. Pooladi showed what the performance of a left D should be. Great run on the line with a decent crossing ability. He only has to work on his defensive duties more. He is much better LD than Hajsafi.

Karimi and Majidi combo looked pretty impressive too me. They created a couple of good chances for themselves by understanding each other. Overall, Majidi showed that he is the best striker we have had in the last 6-7 years. he has every component a striker needs to have. Too bad, we will lose him pretty soon due to his age. Karimi turned to be a great midfielder with perfect vision. The one knows how and when uses his technique.

Rezai and Khalatbari were far from impressive by their persisting on driving the ball forward without a decent plan. Too bad Ando/P.Nouri should sit out and these ones start. Yap, again our best players are DM. I would give a chance to Afshin and Ansarifard next match and sit these two on the bench.

They should have learned from Mahini how to cross the ball. Head's up and see where our player is. We had one decent cross/back pass from outside and that was a goal. I don't know why they cross it too close to the keeper?

Aghili showed that we need to think about replacement and should do it pretty soon.

Once in a blue moon, I liked what I saw from Heidari. He was simply good. Great runs and active. He wasn't touching the ball too many times like what he does in the league.

Nekonam showed his worth being the team captain, however he is still far from our General in the center and what we know about him. I expect more from him. He is our true only international level player.

Hosseini showed decent game, however was not under pressure too much.

CQ getting to know the players more often. Great Sub's by him. He know when to do what. Except Minute 30 to 50 (right before our first goal), this was the best performance I have seen from TM for a long long time, still, far far away to be convincing. They had a game plan. If Rezaei and Khalatbari were a bit better, we could have crush this team. Too bad, these two were not what they should be. Too many bad crucial key passes.

Cheers,

[maij]

Not impressed by Majidi at all , and that is not because of lack of trying. I though he was sticking out like a sore thumb being in everyone's way.

Karimi on the other hand , had a good solid game. I really liked what I saw of him , he is one determined player at old age. Even his defensive work was a delight to watch.

I really think the the most vulnerable of the lines is the defense. Aghili and Hosseini , the faithfulls , can fall like a house of cards. They are simply NOT GOOD enough. Against a defensive team like Indonesia and even the minnows Maldives before that , they showed how shaky they are.

For God sake, Mr Queiroz , you are paid in Millions and you are supposed to be the best coach that touched down in this land , can't you tell this guy Aghili to stop sending mile high aimless balls to nobody and stick with modern passing...Is that too much to ask ?

Unfortunately , we still lack quality forwards. Thanks God that our midfielders and defenders even , score the goals and finish the job.


Nekounam finishing was truly clinical and professional and I really like to see more goals like the one that Ando scored...a real beauty.


Kudos to CQ for using Hajsafy in his natural midfield position

[Hajagha]

Thanks majid jan.

Well, obviously we have a different view on Majidi's performance. I think he didn't receive even one decent ball to show his worth, however, he did every thing right.

I agree with you on D though. I don't know if we have better ones or it's a good idea to change them at this stage. I would go with them at this stage and bring more people to test on friendlies.

Cheers,

[Hadi]

just get this Aghili out of the team ffs.

and before you guys get excited, remember we were playing a third rate Asian side at home and we could only score two goals from spot kicks, both of which any decent defense would have jumped and defended but the short Indonesians could not.

[Doctor DOOM]

I wrote and wrote on the game and tried to post it and it all got lost as the board suddenly got inaccessible. Quite frustrating. So I’ll try to remember what I wrote.

1- Rezaei: aside from his 2 attempts to hit the stadium clock in the first 7-8 minutes of the game, I didn’t see ANYTHING from him. But that was to be expected as he hasn’t been in form and we all shd have seen it.


2- Which brings me to his and the general selection of the 30 man squad. it seems Rezaei on the sole privilege of being a Persepolis player was qualification and justification enough to be included in the squad and even in the starting line up!!!! (take this as great sarcasm). which is more than what we can say for the IPL’s top scorer who is unfortunate enough (!!) to be outside the 2-3 most popular teams in Iran … therefore not qualified!!!!


Which makes one assume there were IRANIAN hands involved in the selection (wasn’t CQ away for his vacation? And isn’t it true that he hadn’t watched enough IPL games to form an idea on who is good or not good, or what use is each player. Hence I strongly think his Iranian assistants (with the typical Iranian prejudices and favoritisms) had a heavy hand in the selection. Rezaei’s poor poor performance is testament to this. The guy just faded into the green grass after the first 10 minutes until CQ reached the right conclusion to take him out.


3- Majidi: He was very active (different from productive) as a forward in the 1st half and it was nice to see him tussle and mix it up with the defenders. But he too faded in the 2nd half. I presume it was his age. So, I’m not too convinced by him. (In contrast, Karimi kept his performance at acceptable levels throughout the game. So here’s a case of two extremely popular selections with contrasting outcomes. Point to ponder on.


4- And while we’re on the subject, it was quite disheartening and shameful to see our lads fail to benefit from our height advantage when almost all the balls were headed off by the shorter Indonesians! Simply disgraceful.

5- Crosses: In the 1st half, almost all our crosses were on the 6 yard line, too close to the keeper to pick them off! And for more than 45 minutes it didn’t occur to any of our players to cross a bit outside this zone! Says a lot about their intelligence!
But by 2nd half things got more acceptable and we saw better crosses and a few headers won by our taller players (two headed goals resulted from this).


6- Subbing: These were some of most worrying subbings I have seen; taking out two forwards and replacing them with two defensive minded players, therefore leaving a SINGLE aging forward, who’s btw faded from the game … after a SINGLE GOAL LEAD, AT HOME, AGAINST A THIRD TIER ASIAN TEAM?? Absolutely unacceptable.
and as Hadi said, 2 goals were off spot kicks and a more decent opponent (or a slightly taller one) may have fared better. Therefore, I fear what would happen and how CQ would sub players when we face teams like korea or japan or aussies!

and if the argument is both hajsafi and heidari were pushed up as R and L mids to provide crosses, then my question is to WHOM? majidi had already faded and was inconsequential. so WHO exactly was the target forward for these ppl to cross to? especially if it is going to be a single forward, then it better be one fantastic and extremely mobile and productive forward. Majidi was certainly not that.
No wonder we dont see many goals scored by our forwards.


Then, to complete this, we brought in another defensive player!!! …. AND WE WERE STILL LEADING BY A SOLITARY GOAL!! not acceptable.


7- To say Pouladi is better than Hajsafi … or to even try to assess the performance of ANY of our defensive players in this game is simply an exercise in futility and waste of time. When the opponent lacks the strength to attack and put our defense under any pressure, it makes no sense to say X performed better in defense than Y.
I reckon in the next game against Qatar, we’d be in a better position to assess our defenders’ quality and performance, and hence compare with other alternatives.


Bottomline: the team in general performed better than the past 2-3 games (vs. Madagascar and Maldives). But its overall quality still leaves a lot to be desired. 4 games on and CQ has yet to convince. Hopefully with a few more games and more IPL weeks (if HE observes and selects players from now on), we’ll get better.

[maij]

Thanks majid jan.

Well, obviously we have a different view on Majidi's performance. I think he didn't receive even one decent ball to show his worth, however, he did every thing right.

I agree with you on D though. I don't know if we have better ones or it's a good idea to change them at this stage. I would go with them at this stage and bring more people to test on friendlies.

Cheers,

Reza jan . I am not faulting Majidi per se. The poor guy tried , huffed and puffed and I like to borrow Pryman's words here "He was Active , but not really Productive". Of course , the main reason for that is the poor or non existence service, first and then ; he was like an alien between the other players. Whatever the case , the end result was Majidi's performance was seriously lacking.

I really do not think Majidi is adding value to the team and I have been one of his greatest supporters since UAE days. To me , we are much better off with Norouzi (Reza, that is ) , Afshin , Ansarifard , Daghighi , Gholami and some true well built striker with above average heading ability.

As for the D , I accept the fate of Team Melli based on the current defense and do a lot of namazz va Doaa, in the process.

Frankly , the alternatives are as bad if not even worse, Only Nosrati would be a viable one although he has his odd comical moments , but at least he is experienced. I can't imagine Omranzadeh filling that spot..OH God...who ever thought of this guy for Team Melli ? Again I am inclined to agree with Peyman on the fact that this selection was done by an Iranian who has to be politically correct and pick a few players from Sorkhabi.....!!!

[toofan]

i didnt like the hajsafi and mahini subs to be honest but it clearly worked and
added some momentum to the game, so CQ got that one right.

i want to see if this was a one-off or its genuinly works if done again.

ando was a must as haddadifar got injured.

next game:

Majidi for rezayi, ansarifard in.

afshin for khalatbari/majidi after 65 mins depending on results.

ando in. LB player is doing his job, lets keep him for a while.

[zzgloo]

It is too soon to form a general opinion......or judge.As TM is in early stages of " jelling ",and understanding of what CQ wants to do,as well as chemistry among players.......TM will be at full speed,by the next round of qualifications.
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Nevertheless........
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1-Player selection was good, ( considering what was available).
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2-The opponant did not require a very suffisticated game plan.....as a game plan based on some couple of crosses and out jump heading them ,would have done the Job.......but,unfortunatly ,our tall forward , Ansarifard,was on the bench.
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3-Other than Karimi, the midfield did not play well, and never fed the offensive line properply,specialy from the middle, Majidi ,khalatbari & Rezai were never got in sink with the midfield .....( Hadadifard was lost ,and Nekonam ,other than his goals that are independenet of his overall performance, was confused ).Idealy speaking, the midfield's job, aside from getting the ball to the forwards, is to create opportunity for them,and by thier timely passes, give the forwards a signal as of the immidiate plan of action, and a hint as what to do with the ball,and where to go, and not just sending the ball to where the forwards are......and that was never done..except by karimi.
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4-Aghili's departure from being team mate of Hossaini in the club,has damaged thier chemistry.
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5-The future arrival of Ansarifard,and attracting the defenders main focus to himself as the head of forwards, should free Majidi to do his " Thing " !
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6-With The arrival of a fresh " Pulladi " on left....has CQ finaly found what previouse coaches so misrebly failed ? is the era of patch work on the left back over ?.......It is a positive development.
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7- A win , mainly,based on set piece goals,is indicative of lack of chamistry.
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Everybody,including the coaching staff, are just beggining to know each other.....it took three years for Branko to come up with " The Right Stuff "....
therefore.....So far so good !

[Hajagha]

Thank you guys for the input.

Reading many post-game discussion and analysis inside and outside the forum, I wonder if every one talk about the same game?

I read comments from "Karimi being man of the match" to "ridiculous performance" and that was in articles not a reply in a forum. Same for Pooladi, Majidi, Hadadifar and Nekonam. It just reminded me about Agha Majid's post "Where do you draw the line with professional coaches?"

http://www.persianfootball.com/forum...ad.php?t=97441

If you have not read it, read it please. I did answer to his question by "evaluating the evaluator". I am convinced that I was right on that.

Cheers,

[zzgloo]

"evaluating the evaluator".

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Or ........Evaluating the evaluation !
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Haji Jaan......either way.....there can never be a total concences....That is why, most sport broadcasting firms, hire , experinced analysts,and previouse players.....and even among those, the one who's evaluation is accepted by most gets to keep his Job......
Many, viewers, have presumptions, and look at the game with preconcived notions......many,judge only by few instances of the game that get stuck in thier heads.......some have Micro analysis, some have Macro analysis....
Some just, flat do not know what the hell is going on....some compare with the highest forms possible, some judge with reletivity........so on and so forth.......
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The Evaluation..after all speaks for itself, no matter where it is coming from....and the one more accepted, usualy is the one closer to the truth.