Does Shojaei belong to TM, and why?

[Kiarash]

He did well at a lot of short passes in the midfield. Problem was, that wasn't exactly something that TM did a lot of, before these games, so wasn't very easy for him to stand out like he did now.

I agree. He also seems to have changed his playing style a little bit, he doesn't hold the ball for too long and instead makes mostly a pass which causes less turn-overs.

And now he is playing as a CAM for a while under CQ, he certainly shows improvement! He was and is not really a winger (CQ put him on the left wing most of the time).

[ArminSh]

I would use Shojaie too if i was the head coach. The truth is we may have more talented players in IPL but none of them are experienced and history has proved when they play for TM for the first few times, none of them have impressed. Hes the most experienced play-maker we have. Until the day "dalaals" (not agents) in Iran aren't influencing our players anymore and more and more players like Jahanbakhsh go to Europe and gain experience, hes the best we got. I think Jabbari is the only one as experienced but hes got his own issues and will never play for TM again!

[Kiarash]

It is a good moment to bring up this thread. I hate to rub it in the face, but Shojaei has really turned into a different player since his move to Panionios. He is also performing very well for the NT, something many members were frustrated about that he didn't. I hope he stays consistent and takes us to Russia with his La Liga experience.

[DireStraits]

He was our best in world cup. See Iran Argentine highlights. How can you critsise him? He is the only creative midfielder in our team. If he is not used defensively he is OK. Best place
is behind CF.

[DR Strangemoosh]

Shojaei is talented but when he was pushed into the national team young, he was no more talented than others of his age. He was drafted in because of Branko's argument with the equally two-footed Mobali.

Don't get me wrong, he is skillful and capable of moments of genius, but we have had a few others who have been more talented than him.

What is plain to see by anyone who has seen Iran play live in the stadium is that he is so, so, so lazy. He doesn't do any running, tracking back, his positional play is awful. It is painful to see the other 9 outfield players running their hearts off and this guy just strolling like it is a walk in the park. It messes around with the team's shape and produces channels through which the opponents can attack. For that reason alone, he should be no way near TM. He isn't Ali Karimi, we can't waste a free-role berth on him.

[DR Strangemoosh]

He was our best in world cup. See Iran Argentine highlights. How can you critsise him? He is the only creative midfielder in our team. If he is not used defensively he is OK. Best place
is behind CF.

He was driving us crazy in the stadium just walking around like it is a sunday park. Best players in the Argentina game were the defenders by a long long way.

[BacheLot]

regardless of his excellent performance in first half, especially early on, i thought, he became relatively invisible and somewhat ineffective after the first half..!
in fact, that is the main reason we couldn't control possession better in the MF and connect better passes in Counter Attack during the second half..! I think he is playing his best football since his Osasuna heydays, perhaps even better, since he no longer keeps dribbling just for sake of dribble, and as soon as he gets by his markers he is looking to release teammates into attack with usually good through passes..! also his vision and defensive skills has improved remarkably under CQ's spell..!
nevertheless, CQ's system of play demands very high energy and stamina and build from his MFders and he is after all aging not quiet suited physically and can not cope with its positional responsiblities effectively any more than 45-60 minutes..!

so far as AM Position is concerned, i still prefer him starting over Dejagha, because Ashkan doesnt have even a fraction of massoud's technical abilities to dribble/unsettle his immediate marker so he ends up resorting to bull-rushing and holding the fking ball too damn long in MF va kheyli takravi kardan. Many of our opponents have noticed that, so they immediately double team him as soon as he get the ball and once he finally fights his way by the first man, the 2nd man more often than not disposes him..!
its up to CQ to either decide to bring him in as a starter or impact sub in the 2nd half, but he sure aint a 90minute performer and if we push it, we be likely looking to get the guy either god-forbid injured long-term or have him struggle to cope and ridiculed and bashed afterwards by emotional fans..!!

[Abtin]

^Invisible would be Taremi.

[BacheLot]

^Invisible would be Taremi.

him and Amiri performed a ton of what i call Intangibles (the dirty work and the stuff that are very important to the teams success but doesnt show up on stat sheet)
Taremi's relentless defensive efforts up n down RW is what more than anything else made Rezian's performance looked well above average..! true though even he couldnt cope with the energy levels required to play CQ's all out overall defensive tactics and shortly after half-time he seemed gassed too, missing simple passes like others mostly due to exhaustion..!

[PayamPersia]

Shoajei doesnt fit in TM playing style.
Reasons:
1. TM starts every game out of an solid defence, which means that every one mark a player and fight for every single Ball.
I dont have statistics, but from what i have seen shojaei gives the ball away too easy and make fouls in dangerous positions!
2. TM specialiced on counter attacks, here i have the feeling that shojaei lacks stamina and pace. He slows down our attack and make some
unnessecary dribbllings where he loose the ball.
Generally Masoud is to slow in his desecions and lack fighting spirit!
He is more a technical player which needs the ball for long time, he would be good for teams which controll the game and have a lot of possession.
But for TM, we have better candidates.

[Malavani]

Shoajei doesnt fit in TM playing style.
Reasons:
1. TM starts every game out of an solid defence, which means that every one mark a player and fight for every single Ball.
I dont have statistics, but from what i have seen shojaei gives the ball away too easy and make fouls in dangerous positions!
2. TM specialiced on counter attacks, here i have the feeling that shojaei lacks stamina and pace. He slows down our attack and make some
unnessecary dribbllings where he loose the ball.
Generally Masoud is to slow in his desecions and lack fighting spirit!
He is more a technical player which needs the ball for long time, he would be good for teams which controll the game and have a lot of possession.
But for TM, we have better candidates.

Ok, who are your better candidates? We don't have much choices for CAM position when you look at our PGPL based players:


Rahmani: Totally out of form and currently a bench warmer for SS
Shekari: Way too young and barely making the bench for Zob Ahan
Shojaeian: I'm not sure if he is TM material at all and it seems he is out of form as well as he has been dropped from TM and not performing so well for Gostaresh (Apparently , Kamalvand is disappointed by him too)
Haddadifar: Injured, too old and he actually retired from international football as well if I'm not wrong

Maybe Rafiee would be a decent solution but he is primarily a winger if I understood correctly.

Edit: My bad, Rahmani was actually a starter vs Zob Ahan but still not sure if he is in good form and ready for TM

[TM4LIFE]

I was carefully watching Shojaei, especially in the first half when he was captain. He did an excellent job of organizing our midfield positioning and making Uzbek possession seem useless. On top of that, he was one of the few forward-looking players that tried to push through some penetrating passes and dribbles. The passes didn't quite come off, however i would argue that he was only slightly inaccurate and a bit unlucky. He still seems to have a problem of running out of steam too soon, but I love having him play in front of Ezatollahi as both are creative and seem to link well.

[PayamPersia]

Torrabi, Sorosh, Ando, Omid Ebrahimi and at least even Khalatbari!

[Malavani]

Torrabi, Sorosh, Ando, Omid Ebrahimi and at least even Khalatbari!

Khalatbari is as old as Shojaei and not performing well for his club... The other players you mentionned aren't really offensive midfielders but I guess CQ can try them out in that position and see if they can play well there

[Iranianarsenal11]

Is this thread a joke? Do we really have a thread that pretty much says "Does one of TM's greatest players of all time belong to TM"? Because doubt it as much as you want, but Masoud is one of the greatest players to ever play for TM