Team Melli is dysfunctional without Nekounam

[Sly]

We miss a player like Nekounam in TM just liked we missed Daei, Bagheri, Mahdavikia, Karimi, etc. all at top form!

Next one to be missed is without a doubt, Jalal Hosseini!! We have arguably never had such a consistent defender with 0 mistakes before! No one talks so much about him and all the respect to Montazeri, Pouraliganji and all other good defenders in TM but after Hosseini quits, we'll have a big hole in his position!

His f*cking statue should be made and put on a square somewhere in Iran! That's how huge this guy has been for TM!

[Kian Persepolis]

So how true is this rumour of Nekounam returning to Team Melli?

[Z Joon]

So how true is this rumour of Nekounam returning to Team Melli?

Hopefully not true at all. I mean how embarrassing would that be.

We need to give some time until we find the right player, which we will.

[PersianLegion]

We miss a player like Nekounam in TM just liked we missed Daei, Bagheri, Mahdavikia, Karimi, etc. all at top form!

Next one to be missed is without a doubt, Jalal Hosseini!! We have arguably never had such a consistent defender with 0 mistakes before! No one talks so much about him and all the respect to Montazeri, Pouraliganji and all other good defenders in TM but after Hosseini quits, we'll have a big hole in his position!

His f*cking statue should be made and put on a square somewhere in Iran! That's how huge this guy has been for TM!

From watching the old games and the one I have seen on TV I should say Seyd Jalal is among the best defenders we have ever had along with Rahman Rezai, Afshin Peyrovani, Hadi Aghili, Yahya Golmohamadi and Mehdi Pasha Zadeh.

[Ando Teymourian]

We are definitely missing him, but that doesn't mean he should come back (I don't think he intends to either, probably just usual media rumours).

Sometimes its good to struggle, which is what we are doing now. Makes you stronger in the long run.

TM is in a transition stage, and THIS IS WHAT WE ALL WANTED. We wanted younger players to be invited, which is exactly is what is happening.

We wanted change, but apparently are not prepared to go through the growing pains that come with the transition stage of a team. And a transition stage isn't 4 or 5 games like some people here seem to believe. Its more along the lines of 15-20 games.

A team going through a transition stage rarely stays at the same top form it was in. It just doesn't work like that, so we need have the stomach for a long campaign.

Losing Nekou is part of this transition.

Its funny, because people were basically saying the same thing during the 2014 qualifiers. Barely anyone had the jeegar to go through a long and inevitably bumpy campaign.

[Kiarash]

I would't mind him coming back, he has qualities which could help our team still. Age doesn't matter a lot when you talk about Nekounam, he has been a valuable asset to us not so long ago and if there is any situation where we need his experience we should call him up. But at the moment I believe we don't need him since we have enough older players to carry the team in this round.

[Sly]

From watching the old games and the one I have seen on TV I should say Seyd Jalal is among the best defenders we have ever had along with Rahman Rezai, Afshin Peyrovani, Hadi Aghili, Yahya Golmohamadi and Mehdi Pasha Zadeh.

All the ones you mentioned here above, although good defenders, they have indeed made bad mistakes in their career (as any player would)! I still remember Yahya's own goal (against....was it Oman?) and Rezaei's penalty against Ireland in the WCQ2001 and his big mistake against Mexico in the WC which eventually led to their lethal goal! Just a few examples of their bad mistakes....

Seyd Jalal on the other hand, knock on the woods, I am yet to see one big mistake of this caliber from him in TM! The guy is f*cking flawless!

[ایرانی]

As some members here have already alluded to, we have to move on. Even if he does come back his contribution would be short term. Its good to retire on top anyways and not have another Ali Daei scenario where the fans would be pleading for him to hang up the boots when he loses his form.
When Ali Daei retired, TM had problems finding a suitable replacement for a striker and that was largely due to the fact that youngsters were not given enough playing opportunities for the national team. Hence TM was deficient in the center forward position for a number of years.

There are good potential candidates such as Puraliganji, Ali Karimi and Ezzatollahi. I particularly am impressed with the young Ali Karimi of Sepahan, his passing vision and calmness on the ball shows maturity beyond his years. I hope he finds his way to Europe soon.
Ezzatollahi is the obvious replacement but he is still too young.

Ebrahimi is ok as a DM but we need a 'deep lying player maker' which was what Nekounam was, and not just another hustler like Ando. Right now we have two hustler's in the DM position.
In other words a Pirlo and Gattuso like scenario.

[Camran khan]

From watching the old games and the one I have seen on TV I should say Seyd Jalal is among the best defenders we have ever had along with Rahman Rezai, Afshin Peyrovani, Hadi Aghili, Yahya Golmohamadi and Mehdi Pasha Zadeh.

Aghili!?!?!?! Really!?

All the ones you mentioned here above, although good defenders, they have indeed made bad mistakes in their career (as any player would)! I still remember Yahya's own goal (against....was it Oman?) and Rezaei's penalty against Ireland in the WCQ2001 and his big mistake against Mexico in the WC which eventually led to their lethal goal! Just a few examples of their bad mistakes....

Seyd Jalal on the other hand, knock on the woods, I am yet to see one big mistake of this caliber from him in TM! The guy is f*cking flawless!

He was at fault for Bosnia's second goal in the World cup, in general however, he is very solid.

[Kiarash]

Seyd Jalal on the other hand, knock on the woods, I am yet to see one big mistake of this caliber from him in TM! The guy is f*cking flawless!

2nd goal of Bosnia was Hosseini's fault. He made a pass straight to the Bosnian player who created the opportunity to score.

[Sly]

He was at fault for Bosnia's second goal in the World cup, in general however, he is very solid.

2nd goal of Bosnia was Hosseini's fault. He made a pass straight to the Bosnian player who created the opportunity to score.

Yes, you're right!!! Damn, I'd forgotten about that! No statue of him then!

[Kiarash]

The only thing I miss about Hadi Aghili was his Tekken-like headers.

He was a beast in going forward during set pieces because he could jump high for days.

[ایرانی]

I think the next best step for Nekounam is to go into coaching.

[Camran khan]

The only thing I miss about Hadi Aghili was his Tekken-like headers.

He was a beast in going forward during set pieces because he could jump high for days.

True. He was very lethal with his headers on set pieces. But at the same time, everytime I saw one of the opponent's players moving in Aghili's direction my heart rate went through the roof.

[Damavand]

Even though Bosnia's 2nd goal was offside, Hosseini's mistake that day killed the game for us.