Iran - Tunisia (Friendly - 8/15/12)

[Doctor DOOM]

Not much to write at the moment. only a few observations:

• An improvement over the recent messy, clueless performances. We looked better going forward, but were poor in defending (not merely defenders, but team defense). With combinations of Khalatbari-Dejagah working quite well with switching flanks constantly, confusing the defenders.

• Great to see our forwards scoring goals. Both our goals were pretty nice goals. I liked it very much.

• pretty good defensive work by hajsafi on occasions. Is he slowly becoming a defender? seeing how he's been used more and more in defese and less in midfield, I think the lad is slowly morphing into a defender.

• Didn’t see much of Nazari and cant really comment on him. Guess he needs more time to show what he’s capable of.

• would have loved to see RGN instead of that ballerina

Now, enough with pleasantries.

• What the hell is wrong with this lad, Ansarifard? Even girls would have some say in some of those tussles than this kid. He literally runs away from any situation where he has to mix things up with opponent defenders. Almost as if he’s running AWAY from balls!

60+ minutes of his girlie performance produced absolute ZERO (and one lousy, girlie tap on the ball). But his replacement, Ghazi needed only 2 minutes to make his mark with a lovely header.

I recommend sending Ansarifard to practice with Iran’s women team. Maybe he will slowly learn to hustle. Even at the level of women would be a great improvement for him.
Heife noon!

• In most instances the moment our players have the ball and they see an opponent approach them, the first thing they do is LOOK BEHIND (for a pass back)! Hardly anything forward and very little to their sides. That is way too defensive and unimaginative.

• Tunisia’s first goal was none other than Zareh’s fault who on the corner kick left his mark and didn’t bother to stick to him. And on the return ball, it was the same mark who tapped in the ball! This shows he is NOT defender material. I also heard coaches shouting at him about who is to be the last man (last defender). Another proof he isn’t a defender.

• Karimi's performance only underlines what some of us have been saying lately. We cant rely on him too much as his age advances, although he shows he has retained his skills ... while his body is slowly making him slower, fall one step behind or a second late. Time to seriously look for his alternatives. The sooner, the better

[Martin-Reza]

Good game, we were really better than Tunisia, who certainly are a very good side. We should have scored one or two more and won easily, but we were punished by very efficient Tunisians, who capitalized on the only two chances they had.

But that shows how important it is for us to regulary play against quality teams like Tunisia, other than the likes of Qatar and Bahrain they really are effective and dangerous and any mistake can be very costly.

I am very satisfied though, as the result is not so important in a friendly anyways. With such a performance in Lebanon we would certainly return with three points.

[Doctor DOOM]

^ absolutely. the tougher our test opponents, the more we can see and discover our weaknesses and more chances for us to get things corrected BEFORE official games.

stupid games against palestine, madagascar, mozambique, ... are PURE waste of time
the only situation I can think of that such lousy opponents could be of use is if the coach wants to test at least 5-6 NEW players. and by god we need to test at least 5-6 players for many spots (karimi's, CD's, forwards, ... ). and we have good enough players worth our investment: mosalman, sadeghiyan, ebrahimi, rezaei, lakk, fakhrodini, haghighi, ...

[Nokhodi]

From what I have seen, the penetrating runs (with pace) by Dejagah and Khalatbari were very dangerous and caused alot of chances for Iran.
Khalatbari takes too much time sometimes, but defenders are scared of him as he runs straight at them.
Ghazi is a beast. Its nice to have such a physical attacker.
Defense has alot of problems. I don't know why the marking was so bad. And as usual when TM plays good, they create many chances but lose or tie based on very efficient finishing by the opposing team. A very good test though.

[Martin-Reza]

^ I completely agree, except for defense. We allowed two chances yesterday with an experimental defense, little to complain about that.

@ doc: of course such games are wrth dozens of Mauretania games, but please don't forget against most of those teams we had to field a complete B team, with Hajsafi being the most experienced and famous player available. Would have made little sense to waste money on teams like Tunisia in that situation, not to talk about no full team being available outside the FIFA schedule anyways.

I think with Albania and Tunisia we are on a good way, the next two tests against Jordan and DPR Korea also make sense. I'm afraid it won't become any better than that, considering the political and sporting administrative circumstances.

[Doctor DOOM]

^ sorry mate, but I hesitate to call a team that brings nekounam, ando, karimi, rahmati, aghili, hosseini, heidari, ... (with at the most 1 or 2 new faces) a "B side" or experimental.

an experimental side would be one that has an AIM & OBJECTIVE, needs a specific direction. not some haphazard collection of youth and veterans just put together.
the aim and objective is very important.
for example, one major objective for CQ shd be to find worthy alternatives for the likes of our aging stars. meaning leave the likes of karimi, nekounam, ando, aghili, ... out and try younger, fresher players in their spots.
another objective shd be to see how rahmati's sub would behave and perform shd he get suspended or injured or not be available for a major game/tourney.
another one is to address the team's weaknesses, such as forwards' inability to score (thankfully this time both khalatbari and ghazi scored. but it isnt always the forwards scoring. most often it is the defenders!!!)

just putting a mixed bunch doesnt serve an experiment. it's more "raf'e takleef".


at the same time, I'm happy to say there are posts that we are doing quite well and have at least one worthy alternative in the team.
surprisingly (pleasantly enough) it is the LB with pooladi and hajsafi doing well (and we can always rely on mahini to fill in as he's shown he's very much capable to handle this spot too)
RB - both heidari and mahini are on par and both can turn out great games

CD - I also think hosseini's spot shd be ensured. for the other, we have aghili, montazeri and hopefully CQ can open his eyes and look beyond the two ss/pp and see we have two pretty capable defenders in sepahan: talebi & taamini.
we also have youngsters like khalilzad who shd be brought into the camp at least

if 4-3-3 is the preferred formation, then for the right flank, we are pretty insured with Dejagah as the main pick with either mahini/heidari doing spare time duties there.
for the left flank, khalatbari is at the moment at his bombastic best. But maybe Afshin can inject a little youth into the team.

for ME, Ghazi is the forgone conclusion for the striker's spot. I just cant figure out why CQ keeps wasting precious minutes on ansarifard. bench the lad already.

so this leaves the defensive mids (Ando seems the best choice. much more energetic and quick than nekounam. and given nekounam's age and recent form, if it were me, I'd choose ando over him) . I also think with hadadifard regaining his previous form, we'd do well. but the spot still needs more trials for the likes of haghighi and even mosalman

the other key spot is the playmaker. karimi is old and wont last till the WC. we dont want to waste time till last minute only to try a quick-fix by putting in an inexperienced lad there. we better start using sadeghiyan or rahmani or X or Y who can deliver the good CONSISTENTLY.

[zzgloo]

I agree with all said ..........Good Tunisian Team..

1- Dejagah may be forming to be the "Motor " of the team...as when he has the ball, people expect things !
2-There is something wrong with Nekonam...he may not be bad...but,he is no longer a " Force ".....has he already been " used up " in Europe ?
3-TM did play with better chamistry.....QC is not as defensive minded as he was accussed to be.

[Martin-Reza]

You must have misunderstood me. I was referring to the two friendliest against Mozambique and Mauretania this year, none of the veterans you mentioned played in any of these games, as no legionnaires and no players from Persepolis, Esteghlal or Sepahan were present. Instead a real B team was fielded.

And about Ghazi, don't put your hopes on a striker who in total only scored 16 goals in three seasons in IPL. I am also pleased about his recent TM performances and effectivity and he certainly earned himself the starting position for the next game, but it is very obvious in the long run the chances of him being a consistent goals corer are very slim.

@ zzgloo: Nekounam missed the complete preseason this time. I would be very much surprised if he reached top shape ahead of the winter break.

[Doctor DOOM]

^ I did reply to you on the matter of "IPL to TM" performance comparisons.

but to make it short, that same ghazi that you seem to lower in your support of ansarifard ha shown game after game that he makes 10 times the impact in far LESS amount of minutes he's given than that ballerina.

give up this personalization of issues (like calling omid ebrahimi "average" when you actually defend zareh!! ). life is tough and oft, unfair. our "favorite" stars sometimes fail us. no need to be dogmatic to put down anyone who is better than them.

[zzgloo]

@ zzgloo: Nekounam missed the complete preseason this time. I would be very much surprised if he reached top shape ahead of the winter break.

I assume..you mean, If he " did not " reach top shape,then you would be surprized .....and if that is the case, I certainly hope so...as he would make a good couple with Dejagah.

[maij]

I liked what I saw against Tunisia, perhaps not perfect but way better than the last few matches.

I think much have been said and exchanged about the players and the styles , but for me the highlight of this performance was Ashkan Dejageh. I can really see his value for the team. I can really see why Queiroz and Ghotbi before him , wanted this European based player in the team. If the others imitate his work rate , his runs , his vision , I think we have a winner.

I have not seen much of Omid Nazari and it is unfair to judge on his debut , but I do seriously hope that the likes of him get more playing time and exposure. Frankly speaking , Nekounam and ali Karimi are really pushing it to the limits as TM needs options to cover these players.

I like Maziyar Zare in central defender role despite one or two faults. That is a clever move by Queiroz which proves one of my own thoughts that coaches need more time to understand the capabilities of his players rather than depending on other;s opinions. IF Iran did not concede those two goals , I would have considered this as a master class by Queiroz...Still , it was not a bad performance at all , a breath of fresh air in fact.