Does Shojaei belong to TM, and why?

[Camran khan]

agree on the first part where he should come off the bench against japan and Australia, but he should start against the arab teams because they give him the space that he needs so he can play like his old self.
on to your second post. i do not agree because when jabbari was starting at the CAM role , masoud was starting at LM so that is wrong.

But aziz, we didn't have Jahanbakhsh back then, I love Masoud as a person and his passion, but honestly, do you think he could start over Jahanbakhsh? Not in a million years.
And lets not forget Hajsafi, one of the few Iranian players who is good all around.

[saadat_abad]

But aziz, we didn't have Jahanbakhsh back then, I love Masoud as a person and his passion, but honestly, do you think he could start over Jahanbakhsh? Not in a million years.
And lets not forget Hajsafi, one of the few Iranian players who is good all around.

no no you are right!! you just kinda miss took my point haha. if jabbari hadnt retired, masoud woula have never gotten that attacking mid role! hence jb would have never gotten the starting job for the Rm/Lm spot. you said if jabbari hadnt retired! if he hadnt yet, i honestly dont think jb would be starting because masoud always finds a way to start.

[Camran khan]

no no you are right!! you just kinda miss took my point haha. if jabbari hadnt retired, masoud woula have never gotten that attacking mid role! hence jb would have never gotten the starting job for the Rm/Lm spot. you said if jabbari hadnt retired! if he hadnt yet, i honestly dont think jb would be starting because masoud always finds a way to start.

ah ok. Lets agree to disagree then. I just can't see Masoud start over either Hajsafi or Jahanbakhsh on the wings.

[ramingeles2000]

lol still no one answers the question - who is our alternative to masoud????

[saadat_abad]

lol still no one answers the question - who is our alternative to masoud????

honestly,
i would go with hajsafi. thats one of his natural positions! and he has the experience so why not?

im also ok to keep masoud

[Camran khan]

lol still no one answers the question - who is our alternative to masoud????

Dejagah in the middle, Hajsafi and Jahanbakhsh as wingers. Or Sadeghian, Rahmani, Soroush Rafaie etc, we have plenty of options that we can TEST.
For instance, unfortunately Rahmani is injured.
But this is his assist stats for the few last seasons:
09/10:15
10/11:13
11/12:9
12/13:11
13/14:7
Meanwhile people are trying to find brilliance in every move Masoud makes, which is being subjective. A lot of people here make very big stretches of plays TM make and give credit to a certain players, mostly to their own favorite player.

[Bi-honar]

no one is claiming the Lebanon games should be used to measure his performance. It was incorrectly mentioned that he had 0 assist in 1 game and 1 assist in the other. I just pointed out that their stats were wrong

He did have 0 assists in one game and 1 in the other dude - those were the games in Tehran. He had 3 assists in the game played in Lebanon.

I have said this many times before and I say it again - put Shojaei in a subtropical climate and below 1000 meter elevation and he plays okay, not great, but okay - take either or both of those factors out and he's terrible.

In fact, other than his very 1st goal for TM every other goal he has scored in his career (club or TM) has been under those subtropical sea-level conditions and all of his assists under CQ with the exception of that one in Azadi have also been under the same conditions.

Of course, the saving grace is that if CQ does decide to keep him on the team for the Asian Cup, we will be playing under those exact conditions.

[Z Joon]

lol still no one answers the question - who is our alternative to masoud????

Bakhtiar Rahmani, Sadeghian, Rafiei, Khalatbari, Azmoun all are better options with biggest strengths than Masoud. Mosalman would also probably do a better job than him.

Personally Im a big fan of Bakhtiar's playing style, the best passer in the league IMO and excellent team player. Once these guys get more international games and experience they will be terrific and very useful for our qualifying campaign.

[Bi-honar]

lol still no one answers the question - who is our alternative to masoud????

Ramin jaan, we don't need an alternative for Shoajei. Shojaei is himself an alternative for Hajsafi or JB and that's the only reason he played against Korea, because Pouladi was missing and Haj took his place.

But IMHO, we even have much better "alternatives" than Shojaei for our attacking midfield. Khal, Rafei, Sharifi, just to name a few.

[KeonKish]

I think that we could do very well if we play Hajsafi as CAM, he is our fittest player, has speed, skills, vison etc. I think it would take him a couple games to get used to it. Or we could put dejagah CAM and Hajsafi LW. Hajsafi has been really good whenever he played LW for TM. He was toying with Uzbeks on the wing in tashkent, too bad karimi was our striker in that game

[BacheLot]

CQ likes to use the two wings for attacking anyways, I don't believes his preferred tactics rely on a traditional Central AM..!
Even when we had AK8 & Hadaadifar as regular starters on offensive end, they both pretty much worked down Right & Left wing ..!

[rugs]

Re: Does Shojaei belong to TM, and why?

@ rugs
so what does that make you people who scream and shout in support, and scrounge around to find one moment, one pass, one dribble, and continue to tout the handful of moments to justify his presence? Not to mention underlining your need for a faghih to think for you and dictate.

I don't even get what you're saying. If I say Shojaei played well against Argentina it's because someone said he always sucks. I have nothing invested in Shojaie. I've always said the same thing, and that is: maybe he is doing what CQ wants him to do, and if he's been selected time and time again by many different mangers, then maybe he is not as horrible as the simpleton fan thinks.

For example. I don't like Heydari in TM. In my view he is far worse than Shojaie. But I don't insult the coach or other people if they disagree with me. I realize that I am a fan, and like all fans I have little insight into what goes on behind closed doors and what things the manager is looking for.

If this was Daei with Sadeghi, or GN with Fekri, I would be upset because they are amateurs in the world of football. But I have faith in CQ and give him the benefit of the doubt since he is a professional. If he drops Shojaie or keeps starting Heydari, I won't freak out.

Lastly, one needs to be Shia to even be qualified for anything regarding velayat. But alas I am not.

[Bi-honar]

CQ likes to use the two wings for attacking anyways, I don't believes his preferred tactics rely on a traditional Central AM..!
Even when we had AK8 & Hadaadifar as regular starters on offensive end, they both pretty much worked down Right & Left wing ..!

Yeah, he usually has the CAM playing to the left or right which I find a bit strange, that's also the reason we are really short on shots from behind the box and why our DM's can't move up too much and get more involved in play making.

[ramingeles2000]

Bakhtiar Rahmani, Sadeghian, Rafiei, Khalatbari, Azmoun all are better options with biggest strengths than Masoud. Mosalman would also probably do a better job than him.

Personally Im a big fan of Bakhtiar's playing style, the best passer in the league IMO and excellent team player. Once these guys get more international games and experience they will be terrific and very useful for our qualifying campaign.

Rahmani is unproven and hasn't shown he belongs as a starter on TM, Sadeghian is a lunatic, khalatbari can't play defense, and azmoun is a striker, not a playmaker??

[Z Joon]

Rahmani is unproven and hasn't shown he belongs as a starter on TM, Sadeghian is a lunatic, khalatbari can't play defense, and azmoun is a striker, not a playmaker??

Shojaei hasn't shown he belongs as a starter on TM since 2013. All of these players are better than Masoud and Azmoun has already played behind the striker with his club.