Is Queiroz failing?

[St_Mark]

^^^ Incompetence one after another, the sad part is that these guys all get the luxury of screwing things up, yet getting away at ease and in such style!

No one is ever held responsible for their wrongdoings and irresponsibility. This country is run by clowns, therefore the entire country looks like a zoo for outsiders!

That has not been confirmed. That news was denied.
IOC provided fund for that and currently 76 players from Tehran Province and 76 from different province are in training cam( they were till ( Friday ) They suppose to be trimmed to 36.
( From Provinces group i recall record numbers of Foulad players invited, all 21 years including reserves !)

I will check this later tonight if i get chance and will have separate Thread in GF for this.

ماجدی

: در خبرآمده بود که تیم ملی زیر15 سال المپیک نوجوانان را از دست داده است اما اصلا چنین اتفاقی نیفتاده و تیم ملی زیر15 سال المپیک را از دست نداده است.

30 بازیکن تیم ملی نوجوانان زیر15 سال جمعه معرفی می شوند
اردوی استعدادیابی تیم ملی نوجوانان زیر15 سال که قرار است به مسابقات المپیک آسیایی چین اعزام شوند، روز چهارمش را در زمین شماره دو آکادمی ملی فوتبال آغاز کرده است.
تیم ملی زیر15 سال از اوایل هفته استعدادیابی اش را زیر نظر علی طهماسب زاده به عنوان سرمربی و کورس آقازاده دستیار و محمدرضا گل محمدی مربی دروازه بانها آغاز کرده است.
در روز اول استعدادیابی این تیم 77 بازیکن از استان تهران استعدادیابی شدند و در روزهای استعدادیابی از 75 بازیکن در سه گروه 25 نفری از سراسر کشور، در دستور کار قرار گرفت که امروز گروه پایانی استعدادیابی می شود.
حمید منوچهری سرپرست این تیم در گفت و گو با سایت رسمی فدراسیون فوتبال از انتخاب 30 بازیکن از بین 152 بازیکن خبر داد و گفت: 152 بازیکن استعدادیابی شدند که کادرفنی روز جمعه 30 بازیکن نهایی را برای تیم ملی انتخاب خواهد کرد و این تیم کارش را با بازیکنان منتخب برای آماده سازی حضور در رقابتهای المپیک نوجوانان چین آغاز خواهد کرد

[Doctor DOOM]

From Queiroz interview:

وی افزود*: من به تیم ملی آمدم تا سطح بازیکنان را بالا ببرم. کفاشیان من را به ایران آورد تا بتوانم سطح بازیکنان را افزایش بدهم. خواهش می*کنم این پیغام را به همه برسانید.



کی*روش در مورد دعوت از بازیکنان جوان گفت: تعدادی بازیکنان جوان به اردو دعوت می*کنیم همانطور که در گذشته این کار را کردیم. یعقوب کریمی، محسن مسلمان، آرش افشین، رضا حقیقی، احساس حاج*صفی، کریم انصاری*فرد را به اردو دعوت می*کنیم.




Well, he directly states that Part A is his job and he was hired to do that.

He also acknowledges that he would "invite" youth to the camp, partly implying Part B.

So, we are clear that he understands both parts as part of his job to reach his "goal", qualifying Iran to WC.

And, so far he has failed to achieve both these parts, while his ultimate goal is still within the reach.

Let's see if in his remaining group games he can deliver, given the league will be closed early for him, and he would have the camp for long enough to achieve part a and part b to reach his ultimate goal.

well, 40% of the games are still to be played and he's started talking about "play offs"!!
that ought to tell us how much self belief, confidence and faith he has!!!!!!

[Doctor DOOM]

I would like to say that he has done a few good thugs such as bringing Gucci, Dejagah, Davari, etc.



and our results have not been horrible except for the home match vs uzbakistan (which was a refereeing mistake to rule out nouri's goal) and the lobnan match which was simply ridiculous and we seemed to play with no tactics, most people would say that the home match against qatar was a failure but I would argue that every team has such matches and underperforms from time to time

1- I'm so sorry mate, but have I missed the statements released by these players saying they joined TM "because of CQ"?
if so, I would be very grateful if you could provide a link, picture, ... anything of it.
many many thanks


2- my friend, if out of a grand total of 5 games, 2 were horrid (some would even include the draw with qatar at azadi. it's still an "under-performance" as you correctly put it, no matter how we look at it), then ... by most standards, it hasnt been even an average turn-out or proforma

and if we bring in the factor of "quality of performance", then we can add the tashkent game also .... which makes 4 out of 5 (even if we decide to turn a blind eye to the many MANY chances south koreans had in azadi that by luck did not transform into goals for them)

[Mansoor]

A+ to Carlos for this Qatar match. Iran simply won the chess match Carlos played very well. I give all the credit to Carlos for this one:

- Perhaps, the most dangerous opponent for Iran in this match was the ref with the dark history Qatar has had in the past.

Carlos took him out very well with his calculated moves.

I think the ref was more concerned about proving Carlos wrong than being or not being fair! It was obvious throughout the match that he could feel the pressure he is under, and is being watched closely.

Carlos not only criticized the ref, but also belittled Singapore's role in world's football. As in "Singapore is no position in world football and the ref should not be selected from such country".

Well, Bashir proved Carlos wrong ...... Of course to Carlos' benefit ..... very smart ....

- He knew Qatar is coming to win this match, and he doesn't have to face the same old circus show we often see from most of Arab countries during such critical matches.

He actually switched the role and gave them their own medicine. Chose four monsters (!) to defend, and put two in front of them, 5 of which played in same club, to close both the wings, and forming a square wall in the middle.

It was obvious within 5 min that Iran is going to have a solid day defensively.

- He knew Qataries would eventually get frustrated with such defensive wall and push more forward with less discipline defensively.

He gave them a good mix of salad to take advantage of it. Shojaei in left with ball control, Heidari in right with deep fast runs, Jabbari and Gucci in middle w/ dangerous through pass and runs.

No wonder he chose not to sub any one. EVERYBODY played to his plan very well and he stayed with it to the end when the sub was more for wasting time than changing tactics.

- He trusted the success GN had, and chose to go with his players.

Credit to GN that has made impact in IPL just about every year, and now has given great support to TM with his team and conditioned players. Contrary to what Jose did to most of Carlos previous players from Perspolis.

And credit to Carlos to capitalize on Esteghlal's great form. Particularly in such a short time to change the line up in order to adjust to such idea. And indeed it paid off.

Carlos's success curve has made a turn upward, and I certainly hope continues to move in that direction for the next two matches.

[Doctor DOOM]

I wouldnt give A+, but certainly A- seems fair to me.

points of contention for me:
1- too defensive formation. I say this because imagine if that accidental ricochet hadnt happened (which fed RGN). What then? 0-0 wouldnt have helped us
The only way I can justify us using such a defensive formation and selection is maybe for the final game where all we'd need is a DRAW at seoul. That way, I'd set a counter-attacking team heavy at the back with plenty of muscle and running, and a couple of quick attacking front players (like RGN and rezaei/khalatbari). But that's for a different day, another team and another occasion. certainly not against this depleted qatar.


2- shojaei - pick any one of the 3: A) starting with him, B) failure to sub him after the first half, C) actually keeping him for the entire game

why?
shojaei's performance (including his 2 positive moves) was at best very average. And my usual point is if this 90 minutes chance was given to someone else, we may have seen a far better performance or output. so we basically wasted 90 minutes on a very average (at best) display!


but his eliminating the ref impact earns him most of the points for me. That is what I expect from a seasoned int'l coach as I had expressed this weeks ago. without this, I'd have given him at simple B or a 7.5


Now lets put things in relative terms. The opponent was qatar, not germany. Not even korea or a tier 1 asian team. That too a depleted qatar without a couple of their most influential players.
Keeping this in mind and I'd say if CQ had tweaked his formation and selection a tiny bit (and perhaps an early substitution) , I am pretty sure we could have shown much better quality performance as well as a healthier margin on the score board.

[Doctor DOOM]

More work and strategizing for CQ:

come the final day and should we need the assistance of qataris to keep a tight team and maybe shave off a point from uzbeks (like a low margin win over lebanon), then we ought to remind them how we helped them qualify over the bahrain who scored 10 goals to get ahead of qatar in the previous round.
This can be done by CQ. maybe not openly and directly as it wouldnt be fitting. but in an indirect manner by bringing issues and key words like "national pride, fitting performance for the WC 2022 host and justification for the honor of hosting, ... ". especially the hosting of '22 must be focused on in several interviews.

this way, CQ puts the onus of fairplay on them and focuses more attention of their eventual display and how resistant they look against uzbeks.


I expected CQ to do this on the issue of refereeing prior to our recent game, which FORCED the ref to call it down the middle and with the extra spotlights on him, he had no choice but to refrain from calling too many onesided decisions.
This is a tactic many pro coaches use all over the world. And seeing as CQ isnt shy of using it on the refs, I dont see why he shd stop here and not use it against qataris too.

[Mansoor]

Merci Peyman jaan.

On the subject of "if" (the ball was not reflected for RGN), to be fair we have to consider all such ifs and I have Iran winning that match 4-2 on the ifs, counting only the 100% situations:

If Shojaei's FK had gone in few inches different, the goalie could have not saved it, and if not, as it happened and "the after" corner kick, then if Gucci's header was aimed on the ground first, it would have gone in.

Same with Shojaei's trap in the box, if he had his body a bit to the right after the trap, he would have either got the PK or scored, or even the defender might have forced the ball in.

Same goes for Gucci's one on one, if he had done the same thing he did with the goal he scored, and would tap the ball in quickly to his right rather than moving with it to the left.

And of course, Qater's hitting the cross, and last minutes header on corner kick that Ahmadi handed to Qataris players in the box. Then, with all the "obvious ifs", we would have had 4-2 Iran.

This is not counting other series of events, such as Shojaei's fake on corner kick and bringing the ball in to the box. If someone was there around penalty marker, it would have been another Nekunam to Korea score.

And that first if about Shojaei's FK actually tells us about facts of football. If the FK would have gone in, then Gucci's header would have not been even there to count, as the FK resulted the corner kick and series of events, leading to that header.

In fact, if it wasn't for bunch of Lebanon-Iran match ifs, we could have qualified in next match w/o even being worried about Korea match.

The fact is, football is series of events, and moments dictates the outcome of the game (in most games). Such moments can change the whole structure of game plan, subs, results of next matches effecting the standing and so on.

And that is why you often find coaches to be "too" cautious or conservative, as their livelihood and jobs depends on these "moments" and "ifs" w/ them only standing outside the field and have absolutely no power to have "direct" and physical presence inside the field to influence their own future.

I heard some after match comments from the fans about "what if" Qatar's cross bar shot had gone in, and how it would have effected the match, but in reality, these "ifs" are great for sake of argument and can be used to favor one opinion or the other.

In real football though, it is the series of events and such ifs that shapes the outcome of the game in every aspect from results to game plans and subs and many micro events. And that's what makes football the most exciting and interesting sport in the world.

---

[St_Mark]

A+ to Carlos for this Qatar match. Iran simply won the chess match Carlos played very well. I give all the credit to Carlos for this one:
- Perhaps, the most dangerous opponent for Iran in this match was the ref with the dark history Qatar has had in the past.
Carlos took him out very well with his calculated moves.
I think the ref was more concerned about proving Carlos wrong than being or not being fair! It was obvious throughout the match that he could feel the pressure he is under, and is being watched closely.
Carlos not only criticized the ref, but also belittled Singapore's role in world's football. As in "Singapore is no position in world football and the ref should not be selected from such country".
Well, Bashir proved Carlos wrong ...... Of course to Carlos' benefit ..... very smart ....
- He knew Qatar is coming to win this match, and he doesn't have to face the same old circus show we often see from most of Arab countries during such critical matches.
He actually switched the role and gave them their own medicine. Chose four monsters (!) to defend, and put two in front of them, 5 of which played in same club, to close both the wings, and forming a square wall in the middle.
It was obvious within 5 min that Iran is going to have a solid day defensively.
- He knew Qataries would eventually get frustrated with such defensive wall and push more forward with less discipline defensively.
He gave them a good mix of salad to take advantage of it. Shojaei in left with ball control, Heidari in right with deep fast runs, Jabbari and Gucci in middle w/ dangerous through pass and runs.
No wonder he chose not to sub any one. EVERYBODY played to his plan very well and he stayed with it to the end when the sub was more for wasting time than changing tactics.
- He trusted the success GN had, and chose to go with his players.
Credit to GN that has made impact in IPL just about every year, and now has given great support to TM with his team and conditioned players. Contrary to what Jose did to most of Carlos previous players from Perspolis.
And credit to Carlos to capitalize on Esteghlal's great form. Particularly in such a short time to change the line up in order to adjust to such idea. And indeed it paid off.
Carlos's success curve has made a turn upward, and I certainly hope continues to move in that direction for the next two matches.

[Mansoor]

On the subject of "too defensive", I am with you Peyman jaan on this, and would "have" rather see more offensive formation such as 4-4-2, with dynamic and more offensive players such as Mosalman in there.

But when it comes to my preference and opinion vs someone like Carlos, I have to trust his judgment over mine on game plan selection that actually worked.

I am not sure what would have happened if we had forced ourselves more offensively in the game, get scored on with "fragile" defense and goalie we have, and then face same old "arab games" to the end.

It is interesting to note that each match we have had our guards up, first Uzbek match and Korea match and now this Qatar match, we have come out with our "only" victories of our group matches. Each time we have gone in to dictate the game offensively, we have lost (to Uzbek in Azadi and Lebanon) or have tied (Qatar in Azadi)!

Of course part of that has to do with Carlos' selection of players and formation, and tactics, but hey we are still with the same coach and we have to accept that is what we are going to get with his approach.

Everybody has a system that may work for him, and seems like with "Carlos system", the Qatar's match game plan and tactics WORKED!

----

[Mansoor]

On subject of Shojaei Peyman jaan, I believe most football teams, in particular Iranian teams that are not capable of fast passing game like our exceptional recent U22 team, must have at least one player that is capable of holding to the ball with his technique to control the match offensively and push the defenders back.

Pure my opinion, and Shojaei discussion can go either way because it is a matter of opinion.

That is why he was kept in the game to the end, because what he did to get on your nerve was actually part of Carlos plan (!), and they both stayed with that game plan to the end, simply because that game plan in whole was working to get the result Iran desperately needed in this match with her back to the wall.

Again this goes back to the risky business coaches are in, and how series of events, often unfortunate events (!), dictates the future of a coach and his career.

The fact is he could careless about entertaining you and me, and wants to reach his goal, qualifying us to WC (any way he can).

----

On the subject of putting pressure on Qatar for Uzbek match, I think that is a brilliant idea and should be passed to Carlos to be used in his press conference some how.

[Mansoor]

Dear:
I agree with your points, credit to all players and coaches.
Base on past conduct I did not think CQ team will win, and I am so happy about very important victory. This victory changes landscape and can give new direction to TM.

Beside points that you listed I think one significant factor was what appeared to be change of attitude and policy by CQ . It seems to me for whatever reasons he took his assignment more serious at last. May be hard to tell and never be able to tell for sure the effect of Vingada on TM against Qatar , but fact remain CQ invited his friend and season coach to help and it seems was positive move. It appeared to be good distraction on both ends. If nothing else helped CQ personally. Judging from the way left stands after the game, sharing their joys, whomever’s idea was , it worked.

Very good point. I missed that one.

And 100% agree with you on Carlos' focus. I have been getting the same vibes from him, both at the time he seemed frustrated and losing motivation few months ago, and how focused he has been recently.

[Mr.Good]

I disagree about the formation being defensive. Having 4 big and tall defenders does no mean that the formation is defensive. At moments we were playing 4-1-4-1. Before we score the goal we had 1 player in the box, 4 behind the box with nekounam behind them and add to that Pejman or Beikzadeh. Thats plenty ofensive in my view. This formation was balanced enough IMHO. But thats not all, our formation was also changing to 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1 and 4-2-4 at times and it was a pleasant surprise to see this much technical discipline in our team and that can come only with European coaches.
After we scored the goal, we did not retract and we were putting pressure on Qatar in their field. At few moments on Qatar Goal Kicks I saw 4-2-4 formation, with 4 players inside the Qatari half.

People also tend to not see the amount of work that Shojaei, and Ando have in the defensive phase of the game and how much pressure they put on the other team.

[Doctor DOOM]

Merci Peyman jaan.

On the subject of "if" (the ball was not reflected for RGN), to be fair we have to consider all such ifs and I have Iran winning that match 4-2 on the ifs, counting only the 100% situations:

If Shojaei's FK had gone in few inches different, the goalie could have not saved it, and if not, as it happened and "the after" corner kick, then if Gucci's header was aimed on the ground first, it would have gone in.

Same with Shojaei's trap in the box, if he had his body a bit to the right after the trap, he would have either got the PK or scored, or even the defender might have forced the ball in.

Same goes for Gucci's one on one, if he had done the same thing he did with the goal he scored, and would tap the ball in quickly to his right rather than moving with it to the left.

And of course, Qater's hitting the cross, and last minutes header on corner kick that Ahmadi handed to Qataris players in the box. Then, with all the "obvious ifs", we would have had 4-2 Iran.

This is not counting other series of events, such as Shojaei's fake on corner kick and bringing the ball in to the box. If someone was there around penalty marker, it would have been another Nekunam to Korea score.

And that first if about Shojaei's FK actually tells us about facts of football. If the FK would have gone in, then Gucci's header would have not been even there to count, as the FK resulted the corner kick and series of events, leading to that header.

In fact, if it wasn't for bunch of Lebanon-Iran match ifs, we could have qualified in next match w/o even being worried about Korea match.

The fact is, football is series of events, and moments dictates the outcome of the game (in most games). Such moments can change the whole structure of game plan, subs, results of next matches effecting the standing and so on.

And that is why you often find coaches to be "too" cautious or conservative, as their livelihood and jobs depends on these "moments" and "ifs" w/ them only standing outside the field and have absolutely no power to have "direct" and physical presence inside the field to influence their own future.

I heard some after match comments from the fans about "what if" Qatar's cross bar shot had gone in, and how it would have effected the match, but in reality, these "ifs" are great for sake of argument and can be used to favor one opinion or the other.

In real football though, it is the series of events and such ifs that shapes the outcome of the game in every aspect from results to game plans and subs and many micro events. And that's what makes football the most exciting and interesting sport in the world.

---

I agree that there is little use of delving into all the "if"s and "but"s (as they say, "if pigs could fly ..."). That's why we must base our observations on reality of what actually happens.
(however it doesnt hurt to include the if and but situations to know how the team creates or moves or to find certain patterns or tactics. irrespective of whether a goal is scored or not)

but as you said, the fact of the matter is that we won the game based on an accident. whether it sits well with us or not, that is how we got the precious 3 points. This doesnt downgrade the team's performance or anything. But serves as a reminder that we must be able to PROACTIVELY create chances and win games, rather than wait for accidents and lucky ricochets (much to the chagrine of CQ's die hard fans).
in other words, if I were a lebanese, instead of pumping my chest about the draw, I'd be scared shitless seeing how the koreans hit the post several times, the ball getting cleared off the line, the keeper making incredible and impossible saves countless times, ... . But some fans see the score board and forget the horrors they faced in the game (slightly similar to what some iranian fans fool themselves about our two wins in tashkent and iran against korea!)





one use of reviewing all the 'ifs' and 'buts' is to find weaknesses and strengths of a player or a team or tactics, ... .

for example the way shojaei squandered that golden chance in front of the goal, it serves to remind all his proponents that if they rationalize his starting spot by "but he plays in la liga" (!!!!), then by the same rationale, one must expect far better reaction and turn out from a la liga player. in other words, you cant have all the privileges without the responsibilities. So this is certainly worth noting and discussing.

or the same thing with the qatar hittng our post. we must review this to find how they got through the defense and get 1 on 1 with ahmadi and how to make sure it doesnt happen again.

[Doctor DOOM]

It is interesting to note that each match we have had our guards up, first Uzbek match and Korea match and now this Qatar match, we have come out with our "only" victories of our group matches. Each time we have gone in to dictate the game offensively, we have lost (to Uzbek in Azadi and Lebanon) or have tied (Qatar in Azadi)!

Of course part of that has to do with Carlos' selection of players and formation, and tactics, but hey we are still with the same coach and we have to accept that is what we are going to get with his approach.

Everybody has a system that may work for him, and seems like with "Carlos system", the Qatar's match game plan and tactics WORKED!

----

absolutely. merely having the guards up in tashkent, for example, was not the reason we came out with 3 points. not only they scored a legitimate goal on us, they were all over our team for most of the game and we simply got lucky. so that means we cant rationalize it by "guard up = win"
more or less the same thing against koreans where we got lucky a couple of their shots went wide and a couple more were handled by rahmati. so that's hardly about having our guards up, than getting lucky the koreans didnt bring their shooting boots to tehran

and definitely the tactics, formation and selection have DIRECT impact on a team's performance and fortunes.
if we waste a spot on a striker with dysmal strike rate we are knowingly reducing our chances of a good display and a win.
if we fail to replace a low performing player (no matter how big the name or rep), we are knowingly reducing our chances of a win.
if we continue to stick to a certain formation that doesnt coincide with the needs of a game (eg; a defensive one for a must win game, or vice versa), then we are directly influencing the outcome (barring accidents and luck, of course)

[Doctor DOOM]

On subject of Shojaei Peyman jaan, I believe most football teams, in particular Iranian teams that are not capable of fast passing game like our exceptional recent U22 team, must have at least one player that is capable of holding to the ball with his technique to control the match offensively and push the defenders back.

Pure my opinion, and Shojaei discussion can go either way because it is a matter of opinion.

That is why he was kept in the game to the end, because what he did to get on your nerve was actually part of Carlos plan (!), and they both stayed with that game plan to the end, simply because that game plan in whole was working to get the result Iran desperately needed in this match with her back to the wall.

come on mate, we can hardly say his loss of ball, bad or poor passes, turn overs, bad tackles and most importantly, the penalty were "part of CQ's plan". and if THAT was indeed CQ's plan, then I must say there's something seriously wrong with his planning process.

neither can anyone claim all those came as a surprise. since he has been doing pretty much the same for more than a year (since his return from injury). his weaknesses and liabilities have been discussed in the past year since his return. and I still dont see any palpable improvement in any of those!

slowing down the game and holding onto the ball is good ... AS LONG AS IT SERVES THE TACTIC.
but when your team is moving up and needs to inject pace into the transition, then that holding onto the ball or slowing down actually HURTS the directive and objective of the team.
that's why I said certain players have certain uses for certain situations. (just like everything else in life. you cant have your soup with a fork, nor cut your stake with a spoon). similarly, until shojaei learns how to defend (merely running isnt going to cut it at NATIONAL TEAM LEVEL. you gotta make it count) or tackle without fouling or worse, getting cards and giving penalties, and until he learns to use pace and applies it to his dribbling skills, his uses will be (shd be) limited to very specific situations such as when we are leading a game and we need to kill off the pace of the game or hold the ball in the opponents' half or draw fouls to kill off time, ... .

but seeing what he is capable of AT THE MOMENT (not talking in general terms, nor am I referring to years gone by. NOW & PRESENT), he isnt the type of player a coach shd start a game with. Unless the objective of a game for us is to kill off the game from the get go. which is an absurd situation unless we're playing spain or brazil and want to restrict their trouncing/thrashing us to single digits.