Is CQ the right coach for our ASIA CUP campaign?

[Doctor DOOM]

First of all, let me thank CQ for leading our team to a game that will stay on our records and minds for years to come.
We thank him for organizing and preparing a team that really scared the crap out of a team no less than Argentina.
This game will be one among the few games in TM history which will be a bench mark for us, for years to come.



Now, to a totally different continent, totally different competition and totally different setting; ASIA CUP

As I said in another thread, we have to understand a game against a football giant (Argentina) in a World Cup requires certain strategies and preparations, as much as a certain type of coach. CQ was the perfect coach for such a game with his ultra defensive mindset overlaid with physicality. In other words, CQ is perfect when there is MASSIVE DISPARITY in terms of standards between the two teams.

But our world cup was not restricted to just one game against Argentina. And in our last game we needed something totally different. The situation was different, the opponent was different, the requisites were different too. Neither will our asia cup campaign, which will be against ASIAN

[Doctor DOOM]

And since we're talking about Asia cup and our future TM, let me also say I believe some of our older players need to hang up their boots and make way for the younger generation.
At least let us START the transition and slowly phase out some. Lets not reach a situation/place where we ARE FORCED to use an inexperienced player ... just because we didn't give the lad enough time to settle and gain experience.


A certain player who should IMMEDIATELY (like right this very instant) do so is shojaei. Enough is enough. Goodbye and good luck.
Wish you all the best. But don't ever darken the doors of TM with your shadow anymore.


Nekounam is another one who should start to phase out and allow his replacements enough time to settle in. Maybe not right away, if that doesn't sit well with him and his fans. But a gradual process of subbing out and trying of alternatives in our friendly and less difficult official games.

Same thing for Sadeghi. As much as he's been a great defender and defenders can go on till 33, 34 even. But at least lets not keep him as first choice. Khalilzadeh, Khanzadeh, ... need to be used more often with increasing frequency.


Ando, I feel, has a couple of more years left in him to stay at TM (as captain perhaps. I'd live to see him as the cap).


Heidari also could be a candidate for a gradual phasing out. If today's game was any indication, we see we need pace and energy down that side. And Heidari can't seem to provide that anymore.

[Doctor DOOM]

[Adesor Vafaseya]

My answer to the question is: Absolutely Yes!

what I have seen tactically from CQ (including the Bosnia game) was just marvellous. I have never seen TM or any team in Asia playing that kind of complexity in rotations as far as I can remember watching any TM game (or any Asian team for that matter). And by that I mean both the forward movement and also defensive movements.
The key for any coach to prepare a team, (no matter whether he opts for pressing, or tiki taka, or cattenccio) is to get the spaces and gaps between the 3 or 4 lines right. For the first time since Iran vs Yugoslavia in 98, I saw this happening in TM and not only just once or twice, but many times under CQ!

as far as Bosnia game is concerned, all players and the coaching staff reported the team was too tired and couldn't physically hold up.
When it comes to fitnes failures, its beyong national teams headcoach, who has only 2.5 weeks to prepare a team for a tournament. This falls within the league and club coaches.
In the game versus Bosnia, at least I could see early pressing by the DMs compared to the previous WC games, but when they lost the ball, they barely couldnt run back to close the gap between DMs and Defenders, this was obvious in all 3 goals we got scored. This gives me a hint that the team was indeed too tired.
If they werent, they could have won the balls earlier, and what was obvious was also when we moved forward (in bosnia game) all DMs pushed forward and switched the ball to the wings, this means the team was quiet offensively arranged!
So, I believe the technical staff when they say, we failed because the players were too tired.
For that I cannot blame the national team head-coach if the players are not physically challenged in domestic leagues.

But also looking at various items CQ introduced to our football, based on his last interview on "2014" special world cup programme of IRIB:
(full vid here http://footballitarin.com/video_page.php?id=11155 ).

- GPS zooms on every player to improve running km/h.
- for the first time IFF (on request of CQ) installed special cameras in IPL games to zoom on individual players, where coaches can simulatnously compare different players from different teams in their position versus one another, a s far as running methods, defending attitudes and their rotations during games are concerned.
- CQ insisted that each IPL game to be recorded and watched by all TM technical staff and statistics to be made thereafter.

the above are from his interview with Ferdowsipour in the link I posted.

so based on the above, I believe, if CQ goes and any other high class foreign coach, who may come to us, willl start discovering the problems of our football in few months, and will start everything from ZERO and bring us to the point CQ brought us after 3 years. (and we would have missed the Asian Cup title entirely on the way).
But if we keep CQ, at least the team can progress from the point he stopped and can provide progressive progress and take the team further to another level.

As far as Asian Cup is concerned, I also believe with CQ, we will be tactically the most tricky team in the entire Asian Cup, that alone is a big bonus in my books!
I have never seen any team in Asia that has ever played that much complexity in rotation an re-formation in the line up during a single game.
(for more technical details, I have written a long thread at the WC Sum Up here in F+). That will put us in pole position IMHO.


This is of course just my oppinion, I am in favour of keeping CQ very much. Time is too short, and I cannot imagine any top tier coach to do wonders in the next 6 months when he starts all over from zero.

[Doctor DOOM]

1- you mean ''LACK OF'' rotation, correct?
There was hardly any rotation. And if we go by the ''fatigue'' factor for the sub par performance vs. Bosnia, then this lack of rotation becomes even more pronounced.
You are correct to point at the midfield that didn't retract quick enough and didn't close down spaces fast enough. But you omit the coach's responsibility in this. Why? Isn't a coach's responsibility monitoring his players' output, and acting accordingly to the needs of the situation also? This points at a coach's ''GAME READING'' ability.
So it is unfair to point at one half of the equation (players tired) without talking about the more important half (coach's responsibility to react to fatigue of players).

A coach seeing off two massively tiring games in the span of 5 days would have rested a couple or few of his players and brought FRESH LEGS in, to compete.
CQ's mistake in undeniable.



If you bring ''rotation'' meaning ''switching of players and positions'' during the game, then there is hardly any. Just the standard switching of the left and right wingers. Which is pretty routine and nothing special.
Otherwise the rest of the team (9 players) were pretty much STATIC. Packed tight, they all stuck to their positions and zones and were hardly given any space to venture out. Especially in the first two games.


So I don't see what you mean by rotation. Let alone it being such an advantage.


2- fatigue factor aside, the loss and more importantly, the sub par performance vs. Bosnia was also due to the wrong line up (too defensive for a game we needed to score goals to win).



He also proved he had no attacking strategies laid out .... IF AT ALL he had any plans for it.



We also got our answer to the worry '' given his typical game plan and philosophy, what if we concede early into a game?''. And the answer was even more worrying.


3- all the rest of the technical and preparatory issues only confirm CQ is the perfect ''right hand man'' whose best use is to PREPARE A TEAM, especially physically.
Of this, nobody had any doubts.
Where he invites criticism is the duties of the head coach and the decision making and game planning parts.


4- tactically sound is all fine and dandy. But in Asia cup we need to advance and go as far as it takes, hopefully to the finals and an eventual championship.
This requires goals to be scored. ideally at least one goal more than the opponents.
For this to happen, we have to go forward and attack and get near the opponents' goal. In other words, tactics totally opposite of defensive/parking the bus.
I just haven't seen much of this from CQ.

[Kiarash]

I think we played a good amount of offensive games under CQ. It's unfair to say otherwise, simply because its not true.

Just look at these score lines, no matter how weak the opponent was. Take a look and tell me it wasn't offensive:

Iran 3-0 Indonesia WCQ
Indonesia 1-4 Iran WCQ
Iran 6-0 Bahrain WCQ
Iran 4-0 Lebanon WCQ
Iran 5-0 Lebanon ACQ
Iran 4-1 Lebanon ACQ
Iran 3-0 Thailand ACQ
Iran 3-2 Kuwait ACQ

How do you explain these results then?

[Adesor Vafaseya]

well DD I do not agree with your last post.
Perhaps the way I interpret football is different than yours.
I saw a lot of rotation in our formation during each of our games and not just the wingers. I didn't see a static team at all!
vs Bosnia I could clearly see the all the midfielders pushing forward when we had the ball, but were too slow on Bosnian counters to close the gaps with the defence.
Personally, I would have loved to see Beitashour instead of Heydari in the line up vs Bosnia, but thats about it.
Again, the way we two look at football is different from one another... hence we cannot agree with eachother on this I guess.

[Dreamer]

I think, for the sake of continuity, it's worth it to have him for the Asian Cup.

I agree with you DD jan on CQ playing a very defensive game and sometimes too much of one (we nearly missed the World Cup by a hair), however I really think we need him for the physical and mental aspect.

Our players get very emotional when it comes to playing against the likes of Bahrain, and CQ knows how to use this to our advantage.

I'm not worried about the group stage, as I think we can get 4 points and go through. What I'm really worried about is the playoffs. There is a very good chance we may face Japan, who in my opinion are superior to our team. If not Japan, we'll be against any one of Jordan, Iraq or Palestine who are incredibly speedy teams and can exploit us on counter-attacks if they reverse our tactics against us.

I'd be surprised if we play a team different than our World Cup one and that's a bit worrying. I'd love to see youngsters in the line-ups, primarily up front (I'm not worried about our defense too much in the future, the likes of Sadeghi and Hosseini, even though I think very highly of them, will most likely retire in the coming years).

We truly need to prep some forwards for the next World Cup, and we need to prep them now. Ghoochannejhad needs a physical partner. Enough of the holding midfielder/trad. right back as a right winger (Heydari). We need more Jahanbakhsh's, more playmakers (Ezatollahi), Sadeghian etc.



Anyways, back to your question, I think that if we don't keep Quieroz we risk losing the players and then we'll need a complete overhaul of the squad which we won't get. If CQ puts of a good performance at the Asian Cup, it'll be an interesting road to the World Cup. Any other coach at the moment, unless we get Hiddink (whose headed to Holland), Mourinho (hah), Martinez (...), we'll be taking huge risks.

There are coaches in Iran like Jalali who would be great for our team, but I'm not sure if we'll get someone like him.

[Doctor DOOM]

I am also not too worried about the group stage. We will advance. The main tournament starts after the group stage.

If he stays, he will have to change tacks and employ a different attitude.

he certainly cannot continue with the same 23 men. This 23 was just overwhelmingly defensive with very few attacking players. He will have to bring in a few new players of sorts that are totally missing in the present one. A physical center forward goes without saying, as we are totally devoid of such a style of player at TM.

He also has to redo his strategies and team tactics. He will have to start using his creative players more. That means he needs to invest in time and games using them. It will be stupid to use them in the games, cold.

He also has to give more freedom to our flank players, be it fullbacks or wingers. He can't chain them to our half as he did.


Will he change, but? That is the question.
Or will he start making insurmountable giants of any and all teams we'll meet, months before the games?