Things learned from Iran vs Croatia [Discuss Here]

[BehzadB]

I don't see why there is such a big fuss about Kaebi. So he had one bad game, mind you, his partner and engine on that right, a certian Kia, was not present. With that being said, I still don't think he did THAT badly. Defensively, yes, long balls go over his head. That is not exactly his fault given his height.

Faraz jan it's not a fuss. Watch the game again if you have to. Kaabi will be a weak link. He is too short and the long balls from the opposite side will be coming in bunches in Germany. I bet on that. It was so obvious today.

Nosrati on the Left can not stop anyone from crossing the ball. on the opposite side, there are a lot of greens between kaabi and the outline. Mexico, Portugal and Angola will use that to their advantage. Kaabi is too short and I know that's not his fault, but we are not talking about fault here. This is TM. Not Team Kaabi. Nosrati should be on that side. he is a much better right defender than he is a left defender. He is much better in the Center spot, but Branko will not bench Gol. So the only other option to gain HEIGHT is to get Kaabi off the field and put Nosrati there.

[faraz]

Well, I wish I could watch the game again. I certainly don't believe he played as bad as some people make it. On the flip side, he certainly did not play well.

[TM-Fan]

What a joke.

It really is a joke. If Iran fails in the world cup, our Daei Joon Napoleone is going to be one of the happiest Iranians in the world.

Not that I think he does not like Iran, he loves it as much as a patriot, but he is dreaming of a situation where he can prove that the British troop have actually been after him during the past year.

[KasraKhan]

Regarding the Daei/Branko issue

Branko isnt stupid, he is worried about his interests first. He has eyes, He is a professional coach, he knows that Daei is crap, but he still starts him and plays him all the time.

Its not Branko's fault guys, its obivous there is something going on behind the scenes.

[khabalood]

Regarding the Daei/Branko issue
Branko isnt stupid, he is worried about his interests first. He has eyes, He is a professional coach, he knows that Daei is crap, but he still starts him and plays him all the time.
Its not Branko's fault guys, its obivous there is something going on behind the scenes.

thats such bull, unless of course you have proof.

Fact is Daei is still a better finisher than Borhani and has a very good recent results to back it up. One bad game does not and should not mean he loses his spot. When Borhan stasrts showing consistent results better than Daei then is the time for him to be the starter.

[Makaveli]

finally khabalood says something that makes sense

[Nokhodi]

I thought it was a good game.
The defense made mistakes which we'll see less of once they get more practice in. Also it seemed they had forgotten that the defenses job is to clear the ball. I don't like Ali Asghari style play, but sometimes when the opponent is real close and the ball is in a dangerous position, you kick the ball as far as possible, instead of trying a cute little pass.
Kaabi was good in my opinion. They can minimize the weakness in height that he has by just positioning him wider on crosses from the opponent.
Teymourian was a joy to watch. He made it look effortless. He was strong, made good tackles and good passes.
The midfield for the most part did well to win the ball but would lose it a second later, this will probably improve as TM practices more.
The attackers and midfield need to shoot more, which is why Daei depsite his overall poor game had a moment of good play with the shot he took in the 1st half.
Hashemians hustle and strenght is amazing. He is determined and I love that. Perfect for our group matches.
Borhani's speed and refusal to give up the ball was great. If he plays well in the Bosnia match, there should be serious thought given to him starting in place of Daei (and I'm a fan of Daei).
Also Mahdavikia is so vital to the team, he adds pace and probably creats a good 50% of our offensive chances. I hope he will be in top form for the World Cup.
More later.

[khabalood]

finally khabalood says something that makes sense

just because you can't comprehend the intricate ideas which are found in the majority of my posts doesn't mean they don't make sense.

[Hadi]

The Good:
Andranik Teymorian

The Bad:
Nosrati (when defending): The biggest Sooti in our defense.
Nekonam. As expected, he is in his decline and players like Teymorian play waaaaay better than him. He is slow, loses the ball alot and his passing isnt what it used to be.

The Ugly:
Ali Daie (Hashemian will play better if he isnt there)
This guy is an embarrasment to our team. His football finished in 2002 and he is still continuing.

Imagine Iran playing with this lineup:

------Hashemian-----Karimi-------
--Zandi------Mobali--------Mahdavikia
------------Teymorian--------------
--Nosrati--Rezaie---Golmo----Kabi--
--------------Mirzapor---------------

[yashar_fasihnia]

2- nosrati, despite his assist, didnt deserve to start.
when he is a defender, you must first evaluate him in his defensive duties.and in that , he was frightfully bad.

yet u kept bashing branko and sattar zare. maybe its high time u realize zare's worth?

or u still wanna treat zare differently from nosrati and only judge nosrati's defensive work, not zare's?

[yashar_fasihnia]

1)First and foremost, its the results that decide which team should get the 3 points, not the performance. Many people are complaining about iran's performance (which wasnt the best we have seen from TM true) and say results are not important, but i bet u if we were in croatia's place and a weaker team like lets say bosnia or the same macedonia team in iran's place, the same people would start breaking the walls on branko's head! ofcourse, i wont be surprised to see this reaction of such fans, and i think most people wont be either because of their biased judgements!

2)considering that we were playing against a strong world side who has a chance of even winning the worldcup, on their own turf, against their main 11 (well only simunic was missing), with their own biased refrees, under extreme environmental conditions, after a long time of playing together in a friendly, with ALL OUR LEGIONNARIES either recovering from injury or slightly injured, and our main attack engine missing, IT WAS A VERY GOOD RESULT!

3)we are not the only team with problems, even worldcup contenders have problems, major ones, like goal keeping and defensive!

4)our biggest problem is fitness and stamina, if we can increase our fitness and stamina, our players can more collectively yet efficiently take part in attack, counter attack, defense, "COUNTER DEFENSE", pressurizng the opponent, etc. One reason we coudlnt see so many passes in our midfield which ultimatley made us lose control of the midfield was this fitness and stamina. our players couldnt make themselves available to each other to make short passes, hence many times, they had to rely on individual skills or long passes to maintain possession which ofcourse failed at times.

on the otherhand, u could see more croatians than iranians, both in attack and in defense, which again, shows the amount they ran on the field to help their team in offense and defense.

5)sohrab bakhtiarizade can settle many of our defensive probolems with his calm yet solid and experienced defensive attitude. needless to say he has a good physqiue, is an intelligent player and has a very good nose for scoring goals. maybe he can play as an LB for us, to make sure our left flank concentrates on defense while our right, on offense.

Infact, with this plan, yahya, rahman and sohrab can turn into a dynamic yet temprorary 3 back system in times of counter attacks or when kaabi has moved forward to help the offense.

6)teymourian is another player who should be tested and prepared for the worldcup in these last 1 or 2 friendlies. considering he is one of our first candidates for substitution (tahts if he doesnt start), he needs to be mentally and physically prepared and experienced at the same time.\

7)mirzapour has improved a lot, u could see the hardworl branko and the 2 GK coaches have putin in restoring confidence and trust in him, directly in mirzapour's eyes. his intelligence on the other hand, was never impressive, and will never be. we just have to hope his experience will cover it up for him!

8)shojaei and borhani showed they too deserve another chance, maybe one half against bosnia, to make sure they are ready incase of emergency as well.
Also talebloo can play 1 half to make sure, we have 1 immediate subsitute in each department of the field.

9)Nosrati can not handle pressure at all, specially in LB. atleast in second half, he played better when he moved more towards the center and madanchi played more on the line. I HOPE NOW PEOPLE REALIZE SATTAR ZARE's WORTH!
rezai and yahya made a lot of mistakes as well, but i think they will do better in the next 2 friendlies and be prepared for the worldcup. nekounam was disappointing too, he tried excess dribbling which he aint good at, and he didnt try any long shots which he is good at. he seemed very quite and wasnt his usualy dominant self who controles the midfield and organizes the teams offense and defense. hopefully, this was because of his lack of practice and will improve in the next 2 friendlies.

10)kaabi was quite good in offense, he was the only reason our right flank seemed a bit active. at one instant, the croatian player, was it babic or tudor, dont remember, tackled kaabi's kneed after he made a brilliant run and could have ATLEAST got a yellow if not a red, if it was a real game. im talking about the scence were kaabi fell on his face on the ground.
his height was the major problem in defense but like nokhodi said, that can be solved if he moves more towards the sides. besides, kaabi is primarily there for offensive purposes.
and nosrati was equally weak in defense, the croatians had dozens of attack from his side because they knew he is error prone, but if they wanted to attack from kaabi's side, they would go for crosses.

11)Overall, a good and more importantly EXPECTABLE performance by team considering the circumstances, and im sure we will improve in our npext few friendlies and be more prepared and focused in the worldcup

[KasraKhan]

thats such bull, unless of course you have proof.
Fact is Daei is still a better finisher than Borhani and has a very good recent results to back it up. One bad game does not and should not mean he loses his spot. When Borhan stasrts showing consistent results better than Daei then is the time for him to be the starter.

First, I didnt say Borhani should start.

2nd, agaisnt power-houses like Mexico and Portugal, we will be defending most of the game. We have to rely on counter-attacks. Daei is useless in these types of games, as he is VERY slow. We COULD use a fast, speedy, pesky striker like Borhani to mix it up a little bit. Maybe even as sub depending on the result.

[Doctor DOOM]

no martin, it is ppl like you who wont allow development and betterment of football, becoz you preach stagnation !

you are happy with whatever mediocrity you have and go on supressing expectations.

you are the ppl who will back a failed experiment based on some justification that serves stagnation.

and the sadder part is that some ppl follow this stasis and stagnation!

========================

now to the game:

it was indeed ali-asghari style of football all the way.
( I take back all that I said about parvin's ali asghari style. branko' sseems to be even worse ! )

nullifying TM's strongest line ( on paper at least ) , midfield by using lobs sent from defense to strikers is just proof enough of this.

did anyone see any semblance of teamwork?
anyone?

if this was not ali asghari, what is ?

==================

yashar jan, that is becoz when we know it is zandi who is in front of him, zareh will be the only player on the left side to take care of both offense and defense.
so he will have both duties.

this is not to say I am happy with nosrati's offensive game . far from it.

some may say he "assisted" the goal.
the way I saw it, that was an futile attempt in shotting for the goal, which fortunately found its way to karimi.

secondly, nosrati is not exactly known for his ball control, and when we have midfielders better than him, then he has no business to be in that place.
( yes, I know some will say he aided the goal. but in principle, he shdnt have been there )

so both nosrati and zareh pretty much fail in offense ( excpet heading by nosrati ), and both are weak in defense.
now, when we have players like sadeghi who time and again sit on the bench while these two f**k up ball after ball, then you cant blame me for questioning mental capability of branko.


on zareh:
he could be used as an out-n-out defender IF we have a good left winger who STAYS ON THE LEFT and takes care of the job.
zandi?
not in a million years.
madanchi? I dont know.
Mani'ee would have been a good option.

[morti]

no martin, it is ppl like you who wont allow development and betterment of football, becoz you preach stagnation !
you are happy with whatever mediocrity you have and go on supressing expectations.
you are the ppl who will back a failed experiment based on some justification that serves stagnation.
and the sadder part is that some ppl follow this stasis and stagnation!
========================
now to the game:
it was indeed ali-asghari style of football all the way.
( I take back all that I said about parvin's ali asghari style. branko' sseems to be even worse ! )
nullifying TM's strongest line ( on paper at least ) , midfield by using lobs sent from defense to strikers is just proof enough of this.
did anyone see any semblance of teamwork?
anyone?
if this was not ali asghari, what is ?
==================
yashar jan, that is becoz when we know it is zandi who is in front of him, zareh will be the only player on the left side to take care of both offense and defense.
so he will have both duties.
this is not to say I am happy with nosrati's offensive game . far from it.
some may say he "assisted" the goal.
the way I saw it, that was an futile attempt in shotting for the goal, which fortunately found its way to karimi.
secondly, nosrati is not exactly known for his ball control, and when we have midfielders better than him, then he has no business to be in that place.
( yes, I know some will say he aided the goal. but in principle, he shdnt have been there )
so both nosrati and zareh pretty much fail in offense ( excpet heading by nosrati ), and both are weak in defense.
now, when we have players like sadeghi who time and again sit on the bench while these two f**k up ball after ball, then you cant blame me for questioning mental capability of branko.
on zareh:
he could be used as an out-n-out defender IF we have a good left winger who STAYS ON THE LEFT and takes care of the job.
zandi?
not in a million years.
madanchi? I dont know.
Mani'ee would have been a good option.

bazam i agree 100 %, exactly what ive been saying

[BehzadB]

2)considering that we were playing against a strong world side who has a chance of even winning the worldcup, on their own turf,

This croatia team that I saw yesterday, did not look like a team that has any chance of wining anything at the WC.

They might win the WC, but they did not show up against Iran.