Iran vs UAE post match ratings and discussion

[Iranianarsenal11]

Happy nowruz everyone

I thought Iran played well today with all things considered. Finishing could've been better but Eisa made some tough saves too. I'll gladly take a 2-0 win.

Post your ratings and discuss the match below:

Beiro- 7.5 Had a nice save in the second half that could've easily been a goal. Was sharp overall.

Milad- 7.5 Besides letting his man cross late second half and nearly conceding, he was super sharp and rapid with his pace. Great defending today.

Shoja- 7.5 Also very solid

Kanaani- 8 Defended well and had some good through balls.

Cheshmi- 9.5 Would've been my MOTM if not for Mohebbi. Absolutely dominated the midfield, almost perfect passing accuracy, dominated all of the aerial balls, was truly a beast! My only complaint is he is a bit slow

Ghoddos- 7 Great assist. Not his best game, but not his worst. Still has great technique, just poor finishing and had a really bad giveaway that could've easily been a goal in the first half.

Ghayedi- 7.5 Good energy and work rate, had a great assist to Mohebbi. Could've had some better touches here and there.

Azmoun- 8 Anytime someone scores, it's hard to give lower than an 8. Sure he had some wasted chances, but overall his aerial threat and technique is just too good.

Mohebbi- 10 MOTM. He was an absolute menace today. Rapid pace, great strength, technique... He really should've had a hattrick today if not for VAR and a good save or two by Eisa.

ARJ- 7 Amazing work rate and defending to be honest... Besides that his technique and attacking contributions were quite minimal. But he was a big reason UAE couldn't do anything today.


SUBS:

Hosseinzadeh- 7 good technique and nice shot by him late. Not enough time to see him play though

Gholi- 8 Has the best technique on the team IMO. Was very lively off the bench

Karimi- N/A

Nemati- N/A

Alipour- N/A

[PEJ]

They really were struggling to get the ball to Hosseinzadeh. When he came in the rest of the guys were so tired that their passes were all over the place.

However that one turn he did and made the outside the foot pass through pass to Goli was top notch. This guy is in great form right now. It’s really time to introduce him to the lineup more often to see how he fares in the long run.

[perspolis#1]

Decent effort by all

Cheshmi did great

I am still very concerned about him playing this role in a World Cup facing goal and receiving passes.

The pace of play will be too much

[Karimi 8]

Overall:
- I am glad we won, we dominated the game and outside of a couple of moments where our defenders completely fell asleep, it was all under our control with decent attacking plays and speed. Just lacking some quality in finishing currently. Despite Azmoun scoring, his touch is long gone with some embarrassing shots. Jahanbaksh continues to be average at best, Taremi didn't even play he has been so poor in Inter, Gholizadeh over thinks everything MOTM has to be Mohebi, really showing his quality now. I think Ghayedi will never be beyond this level of opponent, but his unpredictability will help as a super sub.

Concerns:
- We are missing a link from defense to attack, and it all comes down to our struggling CM position. Although Cheshmi can show up for the odd game, he is extremely slow and cannot cover space well. Ghoddos was never designed to play as a CM long term, he is still much better as a CAM or winger in my opinion. While he is press resistant with good passing and strength, but his positioning and defending is not there. Ezatolahi has been riding on his "potential" for years now, with poor / below average performances for years. Until we address this, our defense will continue to be exposed, and our attacks will have to rely on moments of brilliance. We need someone to cover the space between the defenders and link up the play faster with the attack badly.

- The center of our attack is very strong, the CBs are decent, wingbacks are good, but wingers are under-performing and CM is embarrassing. This will be fine against low level Asian teams, but cannot hang with teams in the WC.

Changes:
- I hope we continue to see some incorporation of youth, so we don't end up with pretty much the same team as the Asia cup, even older than before.

[Hosseini]

Good game, good win, average opponent. Sardar is fit now. He lost the weight and is looking good for the world cup.

The problem: this is still more or less the same team as 4 years ago! Need new players STARTING and getting good minutes.

[oracle]

Cheshmi is good against slow teams to start .
But
If a team has a little speed forget it.

Rozbeh is a chicken, he can be serve at wedding or funeral.

Good to have him on a 25 man roster .

[Pluto2000]

This game showed that our defense becomes much better when we switch to 3 man midfield and without Mehdi. Not saying its his fault or anything, I just think that he's not a true defender or a true midfielder, so relying on him for speed in the middle is not the way to go. We should consider permanently switching to a 3-man midfield and rotating Sardar/Taremi, it will add longevity to both of their careers in TM, with the addition of making our defense less garbage. Especially now that we have more attack minded players contributing, takes the burden away from them.

[The]

Good: Hardani, Mohebbi.

Decent: Cheshmi, Ghaedi, Azmoun, JB

Poor: Hosseinzadeh.
Ghoddos. I know he got an assist, but he was very slow today. At times Cheshmi and Kanaani looked quicker on the ball than him. Hosseinnejad should be playing that role instead.

The rest average.

[oracle]

This game showed that our defense becomes much better when we switch to 3 man midfield and without Mehdi. Not saying its his fault or anything, I just think that he's not a true defender or a true midfielder, so relying on him for speed in the middle is not the way to go. We should consider permanently switching to a 3-man midfield and rotating Sardar/Taremi, it will add longevity to both of their careers in TM, with the addition of making our defense less garbage. Especially now that we have more attack minded players contributing, takes the burden away from them.

Rotating them will not make their tm career longer, that works at club level though.that extra game burden won't make a different.
Medi is perfect right behind sardar creating space in the opponent middle.
TODAY WE STRUGGLED OFFENSIVELY IN THE MIDDLE ,UAE HAD SHUT US DOWN IN THEIR OWN 1/3. we had to go to the wing to create and the goal was from there.
Medi creates space in opponent 1/3 in the middle.
This uae team was worst I seen since pre 2019.

Btw our defense was not better ,uae was just a poor team.
68th ranked vs 18th ranked
The 50 places difference showed .

[Pluto2000]

Rotating them will not make their tm career longer, that works at club level though.that extra game burden won't make a different.
Medi is perfect right behind sardar creating space in the opponent middle.
TODAY WE STRUGGLED OFFENSIVELY IN THE MIDDLE ,UAE HAD SHUT US DOWN IN THEIR OWN 1/3. we had to go to the wing to create and the goal was from there.
Medi creates space in opponent 1/3 in the middle.
This uae team was worst I seen since pre 2019.

Btw our defense was not better ,uae was just a poor team.
68th ranked vs 18th ranked
The 50 places difference showed .

And of course Uzbekistan is no offensive powerhouse so we probably won't concede much...we really need to play Japan and South Korea more often

[oracle]

And of course Uzbekistan is no offensive powerhouse so we probably won't concede much...we really need to play Japan and South Korea more often

We might even qualify before the Uzbekistan match begins, that intensity will be off big time.

If uae drops points vs n.k and Qatar lose to n.k
THAN
WE QUALIFY BEFORE UZBEKISTAN MATCH.