Esteghlal Fan Thread...

[purple_haze]

I too must say I feel bad for my blue friends and I must say GN, is actually the first one to blame. If we are to put forward history as alibi, then Parvin who won multiple titles with PP in the past, is also a capable coach by today's standards also and if he doesn't deliver, he's not to blame.

GN, has chosen the many players they have bought, he has been with the team since the end of last season apart from knowing Esteghlal inside and out, he's the one who's prepared the team and he's the one who decides who and what system they should play.

It's time for him to realize, that the outdated 3-5-2 isn't working anymore. When he last utilized this and won the league, most of the other teams where playing the same system, but that's not the case anymore and most of the IPL teams have abandoned this system.

He's got the material. He has possibly the most complete squad in the league at his disposal. The passion is there, from both players and even GN himself, but the game plan simply isn't working. They run alot and put pressure on the opponent, but there's not much thought and varaiation behind it. The only obvious plan I could see was to try and send as many long balls as possible and hope one of the guys upfront would head it in. All the energy was focused on areal play, despite having fast. technical players like Jabbari, Heydari, Majidi, Amirabadi and Akbarpour who could do some serious damage if the ball is kept on the ground once in a while. They scored a goal but that was an "out dasti" and that IMO was useful at the time, but shouldn't have dictated the gameplay from that point on, but did.
I think EsEs had more chances before the equalizer, when they had more variation in their attacks, than after.

[shayan20]

didn't watch the game but looking at the result, it seems like it's going to be a terrible season for ss again.

[shayan_esteghlali]

i just had a awsome day, and right now i come home and the first thing i do is i come and the computer to check the score of the game and it just ruined my day

please god bring enayati back, him and akbarpour were the best duo IPL has ever seen!!!!!

[The-Red]

ss seems to have lost the prestigue of being esteghlal...I mean that confidence is not there, the winning mentality that says win every damn game, at least try to, whether home or away, is not there...I thought GN can bring that back to ss, but he has failed and staying with GN at this point won't help anything...it's not like GN didn't know the team and needed time to get adopted...GN has nothing new to offer to this team and the team needs a different prespective on the game and new vision, not the same old people, doing the same old things...ss will continue to struggle with GN and Fatolahzadeh...don't be fooled by one or two good results in the near future, ss has a long season both in the league and ACL, ss does something now, or sufferes a horrible season.

[yashar_fasihnia]

im too depressed to say anything.

but in short,2 points:

1)we conceded some real bad goals today. 2 long range shots and 1 in dying minutes on a counter when we were all out attack.
harsh way to lose a game specially when we didnt convert so many chances we created. and a penalty the referee overlooked.

2)it seems that ghalenoi cant make his team to paly on ground and keeps insisting on aerial balls. when i saw taghipour as our third sub and we were trailing behind by 1 goal, i knew he was gonna put taghipour upfront for headers, just like ansarian was used a few years back. and as expected, didnt work at all.


we desperately need a good finisher and even with him, i doubt we can do much. maybe win the hazfi again at best.
our team doesnt have tactical variation. we wont go far in ACL just relying on crosses from both sides and outdastis of alizadeh.

[The-Red]

^only 5 games played for ss this season, some 40+ games left in all competitions,,,if real changes are made, season can be overturned...but with all the politics and dalalbazi and partybazi in our football, I can't be hopeful that many drastic changes are made for good.

[IranJavidan]

This is just too frustrating and embarrassing. I think one factor that we're all missing out on is probably the most important reason behind our failures: money, or lack of.

Armin jan, that's why there's no fighting spirit. There's no such thing as fighting for your team, etc nowadays. Maybe one or two players play the game for the love of it and the fans, but the rest of them, forget it. They're in it for the cash baby. And don't get me wrong, I'm not criticizing here, I'm just saying it the way it is.

So when you hear about Esteghlal's players' cheques being bounced every week, how does one realistically expect them to play?

This can be blamed directly on the management, which has surprisingly failed to meet the team's demands. On a higher level, the government is probably even more responsible, as Fathollahzadeh at least tried to inject some entrepreneurial ideas that could generate more revenue for the team for example, but was rejected by the sazman tarbiat badani (surprise!).

That's why privatizing our clubs will enhance our football in every way. Because when there's a business approach to the football industry (as it's called in the world these days), then everyone's effort in the team will be towards optimization and success; to generate more and more profits. And NOT band-bazi and taking advantage of popular teams for political purposes and agendas, as it's done in Iran. Believe me guys, the maximum we can reach in terms of success in our football, would be maybe one ACL championship, and a world cup spot. Can we produce knowledgeable coaches? Can we build real football academies? Can we PAY THE SALARIES ON TIME?? These questions can go on forever, and maybe I'm just ranting here, but every season that the sazman is refusing to let go of teams that belong to the people, we fall back at least 5 years in terms of potential growth and the consequential success that comes with sustained growth. So you can do the math and calculate just how much damage has been inflicted on our football in 8 "professional" football seasons.

Having said all that, GN has to revise his plans big time. It's 2008, which respectable team plays 3-5-2 these days? I know there are some exceptions, but teams that play with 3backs, at least get desirable results. The sad part, is that it would be too much of a setback for gn to crush his ego, accept his mistake, and send a 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 system to play. Another problem is that the team has been practicing with and is used to the 3-5-2, so changing now will not actually guarantee anything.

Unfortunately I don't have anything positive to say? Other than let's hope for better results, but reading my post again tells me, even if we get good results, much of these problems seem to come back to the team on a cycle basis anyway...

On the brighter side of things, at least I'm happy that Perspolis seems to be on the right track with their finances and efforts for privatization. They have expensive players, but they can pay the tab; and they're backed by a fantastic cash-cow/entrepreneur. Hopefully, their positive results from this change will encourage Esteghlalis to pressurize the government to let go of the team, and let us fly the sky of success.

One day....

[shayan20]

what's wrong with ss strikers??
we all know what's wrong with azlizadeh but what about abasfard, majidi and akbarpoor?
They all seem like they have lost their finishing touches.

[avicenna 18]

ss seems to have lost the prestigue of being esteghlal...I mean that confidence is not there, the winning mentality that says win every damn game, at least try to, whether home or away, is not there...I thought GN can bring that back to ss, but he has failed and staying with GN at this point won't help anything...it's not like GN didn't know the team and needed time to get adopted...GN has nothing new to offer to this team and the team needs a different prespective on the game and new vision, not the same old people, doing the same old things...ss will continue to struggle with GN and Fatolahzadeh...don't be fooled by one or two good results in the near future, ss has a long season both in the league and ACL, ss does something now, or sufferes a horrible season.

I was going to make my comments and I noticed you've pretty much said it all...
Mega Ditto.....


Essteghlal needs a fundamnetal change!!! They are so inconsistent and are used to losing..this is aweful

[perspolisi]

ss seems to have lost the prestigue of being esteghlal...I mean that confidence is not there, the winning mentality that says win every damn game, at least try to, whether home or away, is not there...I thought GN can bring that back to ss, but he has failed and staying with GN at this point won't help anything...it's not like GN didn't know the team and needed time to get adopted...GN has nothing new to offer to this team and the team needs a different prespective on the game and new vision, not the same old people, doing the same old things...ss will continue to struggle with GN and Fatolahzadeh...don't be fooled by one or two good results in the near future, ss has a long season both in the league and ACL, ss does something now, or sufferes a horrible season.

"You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to The-Red again."

[Ali Chicago]

Watched the game over the weekend and of course it was depressing to see the loss.

Having said that, without jumping the band wagon, I think this loss in big part was due to the really really poor subs by GN and poor perofrmance of SS defensive mids and on goals 1 and 2 (specially 2nd one Talebloo).

GN's mistake
==========
Subbing Abbasfard

Abbasfard unitl was in the field, presentetd a good target. One-two with Janvario. Air presensce. What SS needed was good crosses from left. So a good sub IMO was bringing Baykzadeh, pooladi or Maniyee to pour more balls in the Saba 18 yards.

With the addition of Alizadeh SS attacked in the air even more and addition of Alizadeh's throw ins SS would have got a goal sooner or later. But Abbasfard sub (if he wasn't injure was clearly the wrong sub). Watch the game again, as soon as he is out, SS doesn't have a target forward and Saba players clear all the long balls.

Alizadeh sub was a waste.


To fix his fist mistake (abandoning areial attack), GN brough Taghipoor as a forward. Taghipoor isn't a forward. So GN wasted his subs. SS at times really dominated the Saba.

What the hell is wrong with Kazemi. On both first goal and second goal where is the pressure by the defensive mids on the ball carrier. Why Kazemi falls back so much back to the defense line? Even on the third goal, if you look Saba has three players vs. two SS denfenders and Talebloo.

Talebloo definitly need to save at least that second goal. Ball came from like 35 yards out.

This one I chalk up against GN's poor game reading and real-time coaching.

While ago, I had a discussion with one of the blue fans about Alizadeh vs. Abbasfard, we saw the difference and I dont' need to make anymore comments.

Having siad that, I still support the team and coaching staff. I wish, GN had balls to bench whole bunch of big names. If SS wants to play long balls, even Jabbari won't be any help in that tactic. Kazemi, Jabbari (if we play long balls) need to sit out. Majidi as a sub where he is used (in the mid) isn't helpful either.

[The-Red]

Ali jan GN has not offered anything new to the team....3 years ago he did have a great team, but he was also a good motivator, he was also good at bringing up their morale when down and reminded them of what it means to play for esteghlal, but this season, he seemes to have failed in all departments...I must admit it is much easier to coach team that is on a winning form and had the golden triangle, it's much tougher now, but still I blame GN for many of the SS problems, and fatolahzadeh to an extend.

btw, ss has hired a pyschologist for the team...good move actually, but of course they can't stop here, must do much more to get the team back to form, and again, a few win here and there won't cut it, SS has the ACL coming up, this team needs major reforms.

[Ali Chicago]

Ali jan GN has not offered anything new to the team....3 years ago he did have a great team, but he was also a good motivator, he was also good at bringing up their morale when down and reminded them of what it means to play for esteghlal, but this season, he seemes to have failed in all departments...I must admit it is much easier to coach team that is on a winning form and had the golden triangle, it's much tougher now, but still I blame GN for many of the SS problems, and fatolahzadeh to an extend.
btw, ss has hired a pyschologist for the team...good move actually, but of course they can't stop here, must do much more to get the team back to form, and again, a few win here and there won't cut it, SS has the ACL coming up, this team needs major reforms.

Armin Jaan;

You forget about one thing and it is called Winnig. When that is not there all of a sudden forces are being woken up, conflicts, emotional problems.

Imagine if on Friday, two of the SS chances were converted in the first half (janvario and jabbari converted, or ball wasn't returend on the goal line by Saba defender), SS was going with a different to the dressing room.

At present SS situation, it is like catch 22, one need to win to get a positive attitude and positive attitude to win.

As I pointed out, I think GN sub's was disasterous. But we all make mistake. The whole TM situation I think impacted GN in a bad way. He started to become cautious, playing names (even in the TM that led him to play names in the AFC). He keep second guessing himself and changing the line up. Confidence is gone from GN for whatever reason it seems. He was the one who brought Sadeghi, Ghorbani, Talebloo to the main team and kicked whole bunch of big names, Navazi, Bakhtiyari zadeh, Momenzadeh, even Samereh and many others. Where is that GN?

I can't fully blame the man. If we deal with someone like Ala in PFDC, imagine what kind of pressure likes of GN, Ghotbi and other big team coaches need to deal with. After a while it gets to you and impacts one's emotional, mental state. I am not justifying this (assuming my prognosis is right), I am just describing it. GN for sure has potential as a coach, but first he needs to dig himself out of this hole. At tough times man shows his true color. Let see how GN act.

[IranJavidan]

sorry to be the messenger, but akbarpour is suspended until further notice by the disciplinary committee for his foul in the saba game:

http://isna.ir/ISNA/NewsView.aspx?ID...1199013&Lang=P

next time, I hope it's better news.

PS- GN has stated that he is still loyal to his promise to make us league champions. he said that our point difference with PP is only 4 points, and we've played 3 away games whereas PP has only had one, so he is confident that our point difference, and standing will surely be enhanced in the near future. he also said that whenever fathollahzadeh asks him to leave, he will do so without any problems (ISNA source).

[yashar_fasihnia]

thanx for the news hassan. i guess akbarpour is punished for his mistake.

maybe majidi can do something now upfront...