Is Queiroz failing?

[Mansoor]

Is Queiroz failing?

Queiroz was hired to qualify Iran to world cup and beyond. That was his job definition.

But he has two tasks embedded in his job definition as well:

a) He has to get the players reach the ceiling of their potential, and perhaps a bit above. That is what a “great coach” should do regardless, or else he would remain among “other available options”.

b) Facing the transition state in our national team and with aging star players, he has to bring in youth into the team to compensate or else he would face slow but experienced team that would only go so far in a competition.

Now, the question remains: Is Queiroz failing to achieve the two critical factors above to reach his goal?

Iran has failed to impress in first two match of final qualifying round for world cup, one of which at home against Qatar that has no place in international football. That is a fact.

IFF has also failed to adjust with scheduling. For such not-so-professional environment, too many teams and too many games had left the national team with tired legs and injured players for these two matches. Even international players, returning from their end of the season, were either too old to stay fresh for post season competition or recovering from injury. That is also a fact.

With exception of couple of sparks here and there, Iran under Queiroz is yet to play “extra ordinary”. That is also a fact.

And the most important factor of all, the presence of youth to replace the old is not there yet.

If Queiroz fails to inject enough youth and do not bring up the level of play above “what we have already seen”, then he would fail his goal.

If IFF does not adjust quickly to the obvious problem of scheduling, Queiroz will also fail regardless.

A bit of good news for Queiroz? Perspolis has acquired most of Queiroz men and will have a lighter schedule not participating in ACL. Yet better, they will “hopefully” have an international coach to train half of Queiroz squad during the next season. This “may” help Queiroz in a long run.

[Martin-Reza]

I don't think he's failing. His job definition only is a successful World Cup campaign, and neither of the two targets implied by your are necessarily part of that, although often they are enablers of success in such a situation.

Basically all that Queiroz needs to do is collecting 1-3 points more than Daei & Ghotbi from a very similar setting for the first part of his job, qualification, and that is what he was hired for.

Four points out of the first to games are pretty much what was needed, so he's neither over- nor underperforming yet and it's much too early to objectively judge his impact.

All we are left is analyzing bits here and there, and we have loads of Nostradamuses around who have little else to do but yelling out how little talent we have, how bad our tactics are etc.

[Doctor DOOM]

is he failing? well, define "fail".
is it in a general, all-encompassing term or can it be in some tasks among all his tasks? sort of like a student failing his finals and not advancing to the next level ... or a student failing in a couple of mid-term exams, while doing ok in the rest, keeping in mind there is a final exam in the future too.
which one?
I think he has failed in a few departments while showing success in some.

I'd give him a pass in:
1- behaving professionally and teaching our vatani coaches a thing or two
2- discipline (but someone with his resume and name will automatically receive such respect from players and IFF anyway)
3- good training ideas and injections into the management of a team and generally our football
4- overall squad selection (although it could be better)



But I wont give him a pass on the following:
1- starting line up selections
2- formation (too defensive)
3- avoiding big test games that usually help teams discover their deficiencies
4- inability to impact the game DURING the game


notice all his passes are within a director, over-all manager and advisor capacity. and his failings (imo) are when we expect him to act as a HEAD COACH with all the details. nitty gritty of a game on his shoulders.



at the same time, I found this clip that tells a lot:
http://footballitarin.com/video_page.php?id=1987
for days and more CQ has been saying and demanding the fans to respond to his call and demands and come, fill the stadium ... basically deliver on their end of the bargain, so CQ can deliver on his end. he kept saying fans shd fill azadi up or otherwise ... .
and you know what? they did. after many many years we saw full capacity crowd at azadi. they delivered their part of the bargain.
the question is did CQ?

[Kaiser Amir]

In my opinion, whats definitely failing is Iran's football system.

I know.
Its been failing for years, but now, its getting even worse.

One of the main reasons for that?
The money that is being spent for all the wrong reasons.

The salaries that are being paid to players who are yet to prove ANYTHING at international stage are killing the motivation of this bunch to move to Europe, work harder and improve.

OK!
I agree that the current crop of footballers is NOT as good as it used to be during the 1996 - 2006 era.
But, we aren't encouraging them to get better either.

We are inviting them to stay in Iran, under bad coaching, earn sh*t load of money and go downhill since full pockets with no hard work = no progress.


Back to Queiroz, Mansoor is fully right when he says:

He has to get the players reach the ceiling of their potential, and perhaps a bit above. That is what a “great coach” should do regardless, or else he would remain among “other available options”.

Unfortunatly, while the current players aren't exactly setting the world on fire with their talent, Queiroz himself is no Mourinho either.

Yes.
He is better than 90% of the coaches who have seen in Team Melli in the past 16 years.
But, personally, I rate him below Blazevic and Ivankovic.

Which brings me to the following point:

A coach with an impressive CV might not always adapt to a new working envoirement.

Ivankovic had a much more talented squad than Queiroz, but he got the maximum out of them by adapting to iranian football.

Queiroz hasn't done that.
And thats why he always nags, nags and nags some more.

I'm sorry, but someone should remind him of this:

Mr. Queiroz, you're getting a huge amount of money to work in Asia EXACTLY because of the short comings you're facing.

And, believe me, the incompetence in Iran football also exists in the UAE, Qatar or Saudi Arabia.
I know that for a fact from the romanian coaches who are working in the region.


To cut a long story short:

We have a failing footballing system.
A shortage of talent.
And a coach who hasn't been able to get the maximum out of his squad after a year in charge.

So, to answer Mansoor:

Its not only Queiroz that is failing.
There are a number of factors.
They are ALL failing.
And, as a result, Team Melli is failing.

If it wasn't for a HUGE AMOUNT of luck, we could have had just ONE POINT after our first two matches.

People like to calm themselves by looking at the standings right now.
Well, I can't do that because I can't forget how dreadful we played in the opening two games.

We either improve drastically in 3 months (hard to believe!) or we can kiss qualification goodbye.

[persianallstars]

the only reason, why 100,000 filled the Azadi Stadium, was the missing TV broadcast!

[K. Nader]

Personally, the major 'sub-topic' which exists in this thread revolves around the following statement by Mansoor:

He has to get the players reach the ceiling of their potential, and perhaps a bit above. That is what a “great coach” should do regardless, or else he would remain among “other available options”.

Another post I'll want to address is an excellent one by Kaiser Amir:

The salaries that are being paid to players who are yet to prove ANYTHING at international stage are killing the motivation of this bunch to move to Europe, work harder and improve.

Now, if we look at Carlos Queiroz's history as a head coach, we'll see that his strongest attributes are to discover and develop youth players (notably Portugal's 'Golden Generation'). Another example includes his tenure as the head coach of Real Madrid during which he wanted to sign Pepe (then valued at 2 million euros). Real Madrid's President refused to do so at the time and ended up buying the same player for 30 million euros a few seasons later!

Anyway, as Mansoor mentioned, the least CQ can do is to get the maximum potential out of his selected players but we have to look at these players in depth. The majority of these players are at least 27 years old and are unlikely to learn anything new or get better as they get older. This is where Kaiser Amir's post kicks in. We have players such as Jabbari, Heydari, M. Nouri, Zare, and others who are playing in Iran's biggest teams and are being payed the largest salaries but rarely play or behave as professionals should (just look at the way the likes of Karimi and Jabbari interact with their coaches). It's not enough to call up Jabbari and Nouri because they can occasionally deliver excellent passes or Heydari who can deliver a good cross every 20 attempts.

In the cases of such players, their comfortable financial situations coupled with the lack of discipline in the IPL system allows them to underperform often and yet remain content. In these situations, how can you take such inconsistent and misbehaving players and expect them to play at a level which they neither desire nor are able to replicate in the domestic league. Considering that most of these players are considered to be in their 'prime' in terms of age, it's unlikely that ANY of them will ever make a move to Europe within their careers. At best, they'll cash in some money by playing in the UAE/Qatar at some point in their careers.

Now lets look at a few players who hae been able to leave their mark in Team Melli during the past little while: Mahini, Pouladi, Dejagah, and Ghazi. Aside from Ghazi, who is already 27 years old, the other 3 are 24-25 years old and still have long careers ahead of them. Above that, none of the three IPL-based players are in Persepolis or Esteghlal (or at least they weren't until next season). Someone like Mahini may not be the next Mahdavikia but he has been discovered by CQ and has progressively maximized on his potential to earn a starting position. The same can be said about Pouladi who has lately remedied our LB problem, and Ghazi who is very imposing CF.

I won't go into Dejagah too much given his different background. In this regard, CQ has thus far managed to bring in and maximize on the potentials of 3 players (4 if we count Dejagah). In addition, the likes of Pouladi, Dejagah, and Mahini are long term investments that can be used beyond the 2014 World Cup. Aside from Dejagah (whose already in Europe), a successful showing by Mahini and Pouladi can see them make the move to Europe at the age of 26.

The only 'exception' within this whole scenario is Ansarifard who seems to have taken a liking to his rise to fame in Iran. While Pouladi and Mahini did not have nearly the same amount of popularity when they were called up the national team, they have performed much better than Ansarifard. Ansarifard, who is supposedly our rising star, is still in Iran at the age of 22 and may be there longer given that he is being 'courted' by Esteghlal and Persepolis. On the opposite end of the spectrum, 23 year old Shinji Kagawa has left the Bundesliga champions to develop further in Manchester United. Unless Ansarifard can do some self discovery and mature quickly, he'll soon join the long list of wasted talents.

Personally, if I were CQ, I would forget 60-70% of the current squad and start fresh. Players like Omid Nazari may play in the 2nd division of Sweden but he is at an age where he can still developed and reach higher heights. On top of that, he may have the drive and determination which would push him to excel where our 'big-name' Iranian stars no longer can't. Following November, we'll need to wait until JUNE 2013 for the World Cup qualifiers to resume, giving CQ the necessary time to work with the likes of Afshin, Mosalman, Sadeghian, R. Haghighi, Khalilzadeh, and etc. We should try to make use of what we have during the 3 WCQ matches during the autumn but optimize on the next WAFF tournament in December to get these players used to international football.

Ultimately, the onus is on CQ to make such changes but that would first require him to do what nobody has dared to do in our football - drop the big names. Currently, we're on track to qualify for the World Cup but the majority of selected players will be embarrassed once they get there. What's worse is that if we can't get CQ to build a new young team NOW, we'll probably have to rely on a crappy domestic coach to do it LATER.

[Doctor DOOM]

^ great post nader jan.

I agree with so many parts of it. especially the reference to players' complacency and the need to freshen up the squad.

I agree with the need to rest a few mainstay players like nekounam, ando, karimi, rahmati, ... and giving a chance to their alternatives and fresh youngsters (you mentioned some of them). this takes care of three things: remove complacency among the older, established members, allow the youngsters to gain precious int'l experience and we may find better options for posts that today may seem locked-in by older players.
some of this can be done in between today and the sept game. and it can be picked up again after the nov game.


WCQ 4.4: (Sep. 11 2013): Lebanon - Iran


WCQ 4.5: (Oct. 16 2013): Iran - Korea Rep.


WCQ 4.6: (Nov. 14 2013): Iran - Uzbekistan


WCQ 4.7: (Mar. 26 2013): (Bye)

WCQ 4.8: (June 04 2013): Qatar - Iran
WCQ 4.9: (June 11 2013): Iran - Lebanon
WCQ 4.10:(June 18 2013): Korea Rep. – Iran



But a reliable test of these ideas can bear fruit only if we meet with GOOD, DECENT teams that push us and expose our weaknesses.
If we continue hiding under the bed from good teams and picking only teams ranked in lower 100's and closer to 200's then we wont know how these guys would fare against the likes of korea or qatar or uzbekistan. what are the chances of this happening, guys? how many of you think we'll meet with good, tough opponents?

[Mansoor]

great reads from both sides. Thanks for the input.

If I see it fit, I'll put some feedback myself but for now please post your perspective in big picture. We are not concerned about 1 point or two points here and there, or who gets what but the overall performance of Queiroz and where he is heading, given the obstacles he is facing.

One little thing though. There was live broadcast in Iran. That was not the reason for show of 100k. I watched a few min of it in Shabake3 via GLWIZ myself before it was blocked for US.

[Paradigm]

Iran has not played one decent friendly since CQ took over. That is the main reason the team has not improved much. We can spend infinite amount of time writing poetry here analyzing each issue on Iranian soccer but if they don't go through some hard tests, they will never get above the Asian level. This is like someone trying to go up against a 2000-rated chess player, but prepares by facing off 1500s opponents.

[Doctor DOOM]

^ 1500-rated? more like 400-rated ones, if you know what I mean (palestine, madagascar, mozambique, ... etc !!!)


But to address Mansoor's query, well, I dont know.
sure, I can say I hope he will be more courageous and gutsy in the future. But he has been with us for about a year already. so the excuse of him not knowing Iranian players/football doesnt hold water!

I can say I hope his formation and starting line ups (two key issues that have been the center of our gripe with him in these 2 games) will improve with the return of ghazi, nowrouzi, dejagah, RGN perhaps, .... etc. . But again, his past record speaks volumes about how conservative and cautious he is.

I can say I hope to see a visible tactic and game plan from the lads that will convincingly win a game for us. But that was seen in only ONE freak game where not only it was a grudge match and our players were super-extra motivated, but also the red card in the 3rd minute greatly threw the opponents (bahrain) off their game and the entire game they were reeling from this blow, never recovering their composure.
you put aside that freak result (6-0) and all CQ has is a bunch of weak, unconvincing performances rife with bad line ups and lately, bad formations.

I'd like to say we're still on track with 4 points from one away and one home game, and that we can recover and gather points in our upcoming games. But seeing the schedule I'd be a fool who would guarantee that since we have to TRAVEL to lebanon and CQ's attitude of "draw away and win at home" doesnt really inspire me ... even against the lowly lebanon. then it is meeting south korea and I just cant guarantee the 3 points. hell, if we play like this and they play like their past 2 games, I cant even guarantee the single point!!! then we have the uzbeks who will come for revenge and this time, with ALL their suspended and injured players. and finally it is the hellish 3 rapid-fire game with TWO away games to qatar and korea.


I'm afraid many ppl, CQ included, failed to recognize the desperate importance of getting the three points from the qatar game in azadi. I always thought he'd have the sense to go for the jugular and get the 3 points which would make the rest of the campaign much easier for us from then on (hence my thread on the easy route). But apparently it never struck our int'l coach's brain how important the 3 points were!
his ultra-defensive and clueless performance against Uzbeks' HALF-team shd have been the first clue that he hasnt thought of this (what koreans and japanese plan to get maxmum points EARLY ON IN THE CAMPAIGN)!!!


but there's no need to push the panic button yet.
hopefully the players will be fit and ready and THEY would at least recognize the importance of WINNING at lebanon to keep ahead of both qatar and uzbeks. and with a draw or two between qatar-uzbekistan ... who knows? maybe the road wouldnt be as bumpy.

[St_Mark]

He failed expectation so far. Its not in his contract he would argue, nor is a guarantee to the World Cup but that was expected of him by most fans and officials.

He failed to secure 3 points of important home game against not so strong opponent. TM under his direction during last 3 games has been anything but impressive.
Fans expected of him improvement in quality and results and so far he has offered no such obvious improvement .
For past few TM head coaches Games versus S. Korean has been measuring stick.
Just before Asian game i said the same about GN that if he failed to win over Korean , he has failed his mission and has to leave ( Iran lost in PK ) , That will apply to Queiroz too.
If he can't win Qatar ( failed ) and Korea at home and no visible quality improvement then he has been a wrong choice.

[maij]

[Doctor DOOM]

I know countries go to foreign sources to hire trainers, assistant, coaches, ... even masseurs and psychologists. I say why cant we hire a foreign general football administrator for IFF, either as an advisor or an authority to oversee all matters concerning running the sports of football with the ultimate aim of strengthening the national teams (all ages), programming, league, ... on a MACRO level? of if the entire football structure of a nation is too much and too wide, why not a general authority overseeing all national teams? this is playing to CQ's strengths and our lacks.

if CQ could be this person, then we wont expect the MICRO part of conducting a team for a football match. let that be run by a coach whose responsibilities are limited to running one team only: TM

[Paradigm]

Team Melli guys should play chess on a usual basis. It will help the tactical organization of the squad as far as the mind is concerned.

[Hadi]

i am pretty sure playing chess has no impact on how good one plays football