Originally posted by perspolis#1
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I know we did not play great against Kyrgyzstan but the magnitude/reasons/rationale are obviously up for debate.
Sat down the night after the Iran game and watched Qatar-UAE.
Analysis below:
All hope is not lost
To start, I know many of us saw the result of the game after watching our own narrow win and started to panic about how UAE will be an impossible task for us. I think we are more than capable of beating them away if we play to our best, not just narrowly but with more than a goal too.
I want to dispel the rumor that UAE dominated Qatar. For the first 65 minutes, UAE offered little attack. Their first goal was because of Qatar defense falling asleep and losing a player. The second goal was because of Qatar passing it straight to UAE's midfielder and a counter beating them. The third goal was due to Qatar committing too many people up and giving a cheap turnover which UAE finished.
That being said, despite Qatar having more of the possession this UAE team only had 3 shots on goal and they converted all of them. They are not going to dominate us but will definitely look for our mistakes and hope to capitalize on them.
UAE also got lucky with a 100% handball of theirs being ruled out by VAR against Qatar.
Formation:
UAE played a 4-1-4-1 formation with one deep lying midfielder(Yahia Nader) and two more advanced central midfielders(Tahnoon Al Zaabi and Abdalla Hamad) with two wide men on the sides. When they go on the defensive they stick to this formation. This is primarily a counterattack strategy, with a focal point in their striker and a lot of runners in the midfield.
Strategy:
Defensively--> As the other team approaches their side of the field, their forward Caio Canedo and whoever of the 4 in their front midfield is closest to the ball will start to press. The other 3 will hold the line and stay in place. If the ball is deep in the opponent half, the full team will try to press high and win it back for a quick turnover and a chance. Having a system that is this heavy on pressing means they often leave things up to chance defensively.
Qatar passed through their line of 4 a few times and the UAE's midfield took a while to get back to help.They rely on their defenders to win the 1v1s so they can start their counterattacks again. They do not park the bus like the Syria side we played in the Asian Cup and are much more open. Good passing will be key for us.
Offensively--> They are a counterattacking team that uses turnovers to convert into quick chances. Two of their goals vs Qatar were due to the midfield turning the ball over and then UAE scoring within seconds after. They did not have many spells where they had possession against Qatar. We will very likely have most of the ball on Tuesday. This is part of their strategy to lull you into a false sense of security and get a quick counter goal.
Their primary method of moving the ball up is using two of their workhorses Yahya AlGhassani(LM) and Tahnoon Al Zaabi who is a CM. AlGhassani is skillful and likes to make long runs to carry the ball up and join the attack. Several times they also tried diagonal long balls to him to try and outrun the opponent RB. Al Zaabi has an Ngolo kante vibe to him where he gets into a tackle and uses his smaller stature to run inbetween lines to carry the ball up.
They are not using Ali Mabkhout anymore so their goals are mostly opportunistic.
Key players:
1) Caio Canedo-- He is their naturalized striker. The good news for our CBs is that Caio Canedo is nowhere near as fast as Joel Kojo of Kyrgyzstan. He is 34, has good technique, decent speed for his age and decent buildup play for a striker at Asian level. He is often alone and spends a lot of time without the ball. I think Shoja will find it much easier to defend him than Kojo. Need to make sure we snuff the ball from him whenever he gets it to prevent UAE from getting out.
2) Yahya Al Ghassani---> Their LM/LW. This guy is fast and probably the most technical player on UAE. He likes to carry the ball up himself and then looks to shoot himself or cross into Canedo. Who we pick for RB will be very important on Tuesday. We don't have a lot of options so GN has to get it right whether Yousefi or Hardani would be the better choice.
3) Kouame Autonne--> *surprise surprise* UAE naturalized an Ivorian CB who is big,strong, and fast. The guy's style reminds me of Eric Bailly meaning that he has those traits but also plays VERY kharaki. Several times he tried very risky tackles and headers. It will be challenging for our team to win headers over this guy but interplay will work against him. Taremi might be good to get a penalty if reffing is fair.
4) Khalid Eisa--> what I will say is that Arab goalkeepers tend to have masterclasses against us. This guy has had them in the past against us, and hopefully does not have one against us on Tuesday.
Lineup changes:
Seeing the game again--> Noorafkan did not do that badly in some ways BUT he would be the wrong choice against UAE only due to his recovery speed.
We need Ezatolahi to dictate the plan and find through balls through this line of 4.
We don't have a natural DM so choosing who should be next to Ezatolahi is tough. Ghoddos might be our best bet to keep the ball and reduce mistakes unless GN decides to put a CB as a CDM in an unorthodox way.
For the wings I would play Torabi who can carry the ball and take people on to cause confusion with Gholizadeh. Choice of RB is tough but would go with Hardani because that's his natural position.
My keys to win for Iran:
1) Exploiting the gaps in UAE's midfield--> Many times when the UAE would press, Qatar was able to pass through especially to the wings when AlGhassani pushed up too high. If we can get the passing right we can get the ball to our wide players who will have time on the ball to bring others in or to take on their man. Our best passer in the midfield(Ezatolahi) needs to play in this one.
2) Minimize mistakes--> As above, all 3 of UAE's goals were due to Qatar's mistakes. We need to make sure that we do not give cheap turnovers in the midfield and that will minimize if not eliminate any chance UAE has of scoring.
3) Aerial advantage--> Despite the Ivorian CB and one of their RBs, the rest of the team is basically between 5'6 and 5'10. We have a significant aerial advantage which means the delivery on the much improved field should be better. Their team also doesn't look well drilled on set pieces several times Qatar crossed it in, it led to confusion by their team on who is supposed to stand where.
3) Use the correct wingers--> We need people who have high work rate and can take on people 1v1. The UAE team relies on their defenders making stops instead of zonally defending. If they fall back to defend, they concede the wings so that means Torabi and Gholizadeh have plenty of chances to do damage. Ghaedi is a good option off the bench.
4) Taremi/Azmoun combo--> Taremi can help us if he plays behind Azmoun. 90% of UAE's midfields defensive works comes from their lone DM Yahia Nader shielding the defense. If Taremi can ruin this guys day, we will see plenty of opportunity for shots from outside and linkup play.
5) Shrugging off the last game and moving on--> Thursday sucked besides the result. Ok, time to move on. UAE's ground is good. After watching Qatar-UAE, I can say at our best we are a much better team than them. Time to prove it.
Sat down the night after the Iran game and watched Qatar-UAE.
Analysis below:
All hope is not lost
To start, I know many of us saw the result of the game after watching our own narrow win and started to panic about how UAE will be an impossible task for us. I think we are more than capable of beating them away if we play to our best, not just narrowly but with more than a goal too.
I want to dispel the rumor that UAE dominated Qatar. For the first 65 minutes, UAE offered little attack. Their first goal was because of Qatar defense falling asleep and losing a player. The second goal was because of Qatar passing it straight to UAE's midfielder and a counter beating them. The third goal was due to Qatar committing too many people up and giving a cheap turnover which UAE finished.
That being said, despite Qatar having more of the possession this UAE team only had 3 shots on goal and they converted all of them. They are not going to dominate us but will definitely look for our mistakes and hope to capitalize on them.
UAE also got lucky with a 100% handball of theirs being ruled out by VAR against Qatar.
Formation:
UAE played a 4-1-4-1 formation with one deep lying midfielder(Yahia Nader) and two more advanced central midfielders(Tahnoon Al Zaabi and Abdalla Hamad) with two wide men on the sides. When they go on the defensive they stick to this formation. This is primarily a counterattack strategy, with a focal point in their striker and a lot of runners in the midfield.
Strategy:
Defensively--> As the other team approaches their side of the field, their forward Caio Canedo and whoever of the 4 in their front midfield is closest to the ball will start to press. The other 3 will hold the line and stay in place. If the ball is deep in the opponent half, the full team will try to press high and win it back for a quick turnover and a chance. Having a system that is this heavy on pressing means they often leave things up to chance defensively.
Qatar passed through their line of 4 a few times and the UAE's midfield took a while to get back to help.They rely on their defenders to win the 1v1s so they can start their counterattacks again. They do not park the bus like the Syria side we played in the Asian Cup and are much more open. Good passing will be key for us.
Offensively--> They are a counterattacking team that uses turnovers to convert into quick chances. Two of their goals vs Qatar were due to the midfield turning the ball over and then UAE scoring within seconds after. They did not have many spells where they had possession against Qatar. We will very likely have most of the ball on Tuesday. This is part of their strategy to lull you into a false sense of security and get a quick counter goal.
Their primary method of moving the ball up is using two of their workhorses Yahya AlGhassani(LM) and Tahnoon Al Zaabi who is a CM. AlGhassani is skillful and likes to make long runs to carry the ball up and join the attack. Several times they also tried diagonal long balls to him to try and outrun the opponent RB. Al Zaabi has an Ngolo kante vibe to him where he gets into a tackle and uses his smaller stature to run inbetween lines to carry the ball up.
They are not using Ali Mabkhout anymore so their goals are mostly opportunistic.
Key players:
1) Caio Canedo-- He is their naturalized striker. The good news for our CBs is that Caio Canedo is nowhere near as fast as Joel Kojo of Kyrgyzstan. He is 34, has good technique, decent speed for his age and decent buildup play for a striker at Asian level. He is often alone and spends a lot of time without the ball. I think Shoja will find it much easier to defend him than Kojo. Need to make sure we snuff the ball from him whenever he gets it to prevent UAE from getting out.
2) Yahya Al Ghassani---> Their LM/LW. This guy is fast and probably the most technical player on UAE. He likes to carry the ball up himself and then looks to shoot himself or cross into Canedo. Who we pick for RB will be very important on Tuesday. We don't have a lot of options so GN has to get it right whether Yousefi or Hardani would be the better choice.
3) Kouame Autonne--> *surprise surprise* UAE naturalized an Ivorian CB who is big,strong, and fast. The guy's style reminds me of Eric Bailly meaning that he has those traits but also plays VERY kharaki. Several times he tried very risky tackles and headers. It will be challenging for our team to win headers over this guy but interplay will work against him. Taremi might be good to get a penalty if reffing is fair.
4) Khalid Eisa--> what I will say is that Arab goalkeepers tend to have masterclasses against us. This guy has had them in the past against us, and hopefully does not have one against us on Tuesday.
Lineup changes:
Seeing the game again--> Noorafkan did not do that badly in some ways BUT he would be the wrong choice against UAE only due to his recovery speed.
We need Ezatolahi to dictate the plan and find through balls through this line of 4.
We don't have a natural DM so choosing who should be next to Ezatolahi is tough. Ghoddos might be our best bet to keep the ball and reduce mistakes unless GN decides to put a CB as a CDM in an unorthodox way.
For the wings I would play Torabi who can carry the ball and take people on to cause confusion with Gholizadeh. Choice of RB is tough but would go with Hardani because that's his natural position.
My keys to win for Iran:
1) Exploiting the gaps in UAE's midfield--> Many times when the UAE would press, Qatar was able to pass through especially to the wings when AlGhassani pushed up too high. If we can get the passing right we can get the ball to our wide players who will have time on the ball to bring others in or to take on their man. Our best passer in the midfield(Ezatolahi) needs to play in this one.
2) Minimize mistakes--> As above, all 3 of UAE's goals were due to Qatar's mistakes. We need to make sure that we do not give cheap turnovers in the midfield and that will minimize if not eliminate any chance UAE has of scoring.
3) Aerial advantage--> Despite the Ivorian CB and one of their RBs, the rest of the team is basically between 5'6 and 5'10. We have a significant aerial advantage which means the delivery on the much improved field should be better. Their team also doesn't look well drilled on set pieces several times Qatar crossed it in, it led to confusion by their team on who is supposed to stand where.
3) Use the correct wingers--> We need people who have high work rate and can take on people 1v1. The UAE team relies on their defenders making stops instead of zonally defending. If they fall back to defend, they concede the wings so that means Torabi and Gholizadeh have plenty of chances to do damage. Ghaedi is a good option off the bench.
4) Taremi/Azmoun combo--> Taremi can help us if he plays behind Azmoun. 90% of UAE's midfields defensive works comes from their lone DM Yahia Nader shielding the defense. If Taremi can ruin this guys day, we will see plenty of opportunity for shots from outside and linkup play.
5) Shrugging off the last game and moving on--> Thursday sucked besides the result. Ok, time to move on. UAE's ground is good. After watching Qatar-UAE, I can say at our best we are a much better team than them. Time to prove it.
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