Iran vs Montenegro Player Ratings | Post Match Discussion

[maniei]

One of the best test matches in a very long time.

Beiranvand - 4: There are enough goalkeepers in Iran capable of amazing saves, but who cant catch the fucking ball and are insecure. He had 3 huge blunders to the goal conceded. I like him, but I'm afraid he is not good enough for TM at this point. We need a world class goali, he is not (but who is in Iran?).

Rezaeian - 8: Great game defensively and offensively. His crosses are not great yet. He needs to work on them
Montazeri - 7: Not as excellent as usual. He will probably step it up in more important occasions.
Pouraliganji - 6: Was active, unlucky in a few scenes. Unfortunate red card.
Aghaei - 5: Not a good game. He seemed slower than the rest and physically weaker. It got better the second half we he got help from Mimo

Torabi - 8: Great game, great assist. He deserves to play in Europe. Good thing CQ played him 90mins so he can get exposure after his long injury and make it to Europe this summer afterall.
Dejagah - 7: An absolutely OK match by him. Felt good to have him around after a long time. It was abvious he wasnt at 100%, but he contributed good set pieces.
Ezzatolahi - 8: He has so much potential its incredible. What he still can improve is his effectiveness upfront. Also he needs to get more confident and present on the field in order to drag the game to himself and dirigate, like Nekounam used to.
Hajisafi - 6: It began as another of his excellent, flawless matches fabregas style, untill he got injured. His injury exposed us during the phase Montenegro pushed that lead to the equalizer.

Azmoun - 9: Man of the match! If he converted that 1 on 1 vs the goali, it would have been a 10.
Ansarifard - 5: Was unlucky on the left wing. Montenegro closed the room down, unlike against Qatar where he had more space. With Azmoun performing again, Ansarifard is his replacement for a central striker.

Ali Karimi - 9: Wow! What a mature performance by him. He looked like one of the pillars of our game. In fact that was like his first real TM match. Especially he seems to be exactly what we might have been missing in central midfield. I'm very excited about him.
Ghochannejad - 7: Almost scored again from his very limited oppurtunities.
Mohammadi - 8: He is such a gem. you can sense right away he is something special everytime he gets the ball.
Pahlevan - 5: He is not bad, but lets skip to Shekari right away.
Pourghaz - nr: Didnt see enough to rate. Generally its good to have him around. He is a good replacement for DM and CD, and always seems to do his job just fine.

[04041374]

Adidas kits seem new to me

[inarsenewetrust]

holy shit ur right. That is from the high end template, not the cheap regista one...We are moving towards a full sponsorship I think.

[Abtin]

holy shit ur right. That is from the high end template, not the cheap regista one...We are moving towards a full sponsorship I think.

I think Adidas is just waiting for us to qualify, and then sign the full deal.

[The Realist]

Am I the only one who is not convinced by Beiranvand? He looks shaky and far from solid when it comes to crosses and we saw that on the first goal. We saw that in Persepolis last games as well. He is pretty solid when it comes to shots but I get nervous everytime the other team crosses...

As a former goaly myself, I can see his intermittent fault, there are times that he is instinctively confused wether to punch the ball or catch it and that's when he does neither and pushes the ball into the 18th yard box.
He is obviously not doing this deliberately- more work with Gaspar would hopefully close this wrongful habit!?

[inarsenewetrust]

As a former goaly myself, I can see his intermittent fault, there are times that he is instinctively confused wether to punch the ball or catch it and that's when he does neither and pushes the ball into the 18th yard box.
He is obviously not doing this deliberately- more work with Gaspar would hopefully close this wrongful habit!?

he actually was good with his catches, and other punches, and fantastic with shot stopping. This was a bad mistake, which he will learn from. exactly what friendlies are for...

[The Realist]

he actually was good with his catches, and other punches, and fantastic with shot stopping. This was a bad mistake, which he will learn from. exactly what friendlies are for...

Read again!

[KeonKish]

Player ratings:

Beiranvand - 7, Solid, besides the one mistake he had.

Rezaeian - 8 Showed that in terms of offensive offering, he's got a lot to offer, both goals came off his great headers, they had great pace and accuracy. Showed a great workmate and showed that he's been training to stay fit despite his club issues.

Pouraliganji - 5, very unfair red card, he has some bad days like this, but most of the time he's a lot less scrappy than this.

Montazeri - 7 solid

Aghaei - 6.5 Defended well but didn't seem in sync.

Pourghaz - 6.5, decent job defending

Hajsafi - 5.5 Nothing much besides that one really nice pass.

Ezatollahi - 6.5 Below his potential, not crazy bad or anything though.

Dejagah - 7 did well besides that one mistake.

Torabi - 8.5 Torabi needs to get out of iran ASAP, he might not play in a nice league, but he's WAY more effective than jahanbakhsh, he made the montenegrin defence look like idiots.

Mohammadi - 7 he did alright, but I'm kinda confused on what position he was playing today????

Karimi - 8 What a transformation after playing in croatia. He is very composed, very calm, and his pass reminded me of pirlo, inch perfect!

Pahlevan - 6.5 good hustle and positioning

Ansarifard - 6 Kinda pulled a classic karim today.

Azmoun - 9 Two stellar goals, with a chance for a few more. Put jovetic in his pocket.

Ghoochannejad - 7 Good hustle, didn't get as many opportunities as azmoun, he seemed to be playing kind of on the wing??



Overall thoughts:

Montenegro is a mid level, solid, european team, They have players in very good teams, much better than ours.

They had a lot to show in terms of attack, and we were able to contain them.

We had some issues in the midfield and I think you could see the gap left by ebrahimi today, this lead to most of their chances. Hajsafi needs to step up.

We did much better offensively today and IMO torabi and azmoun link up really well together, they were constantly creating trouble.

We showed better fitness and it showed toward the end of the game, montenegro was out of breath and out of ideas, even when we had 10 men. we stayed calm and focused.


its such a great feeling to know that we have so many options in so many positions.

its great to know that if one of our strikers has a bad day, we have 4 to choose from.

and in the midfield we aren't doing bad either.

WITH ebrahimi back in the picture we will have

Ezatollahi, Karimi, Ebrahimi, and Shojaei, not bad at all.

Im confident we will beat uzbekistan.


I give a lot of respect to montenegro not only for showing great sportsmanship and manners, but for taking the friendly seriously and playing with their best players.
hope they can qualify to the WC.

[inarsenewetrust]

Read again!

im not disagreeing with you ! Chill.

[Iran_19]

Goalkeeper is the only position we struggle as we talk, otherwise we have lots of depth in other positions. Even in CD with PAG and Mohammad Ansari.

[Nariman]

Happy to see that likes of Mehdi Torabi, who was injured for a long time, and Ramin Rezaeian, no club for several weeks, still managed to make it into the starting lineup and proved their quality once again. While Torabi smoothly assisted the 1st goal, Rezaeian was involved in both goals with 2 smart header passes.

- Respect to Ali Karimi as well, what a perfect long pass for the 2nd goal.
- Ezatolahi's FK rocket reminded me of Bagheri.
- Azmoun was one huge threat, could have scored 2 more! - but one hit the bar and the other was saved.

I understand that Beiranvand gets questioned ( I am also not fully comfortable with him), but today he had several great saves. Dejagah should be blamed much more for losing the ball like that, but since he is always "head & shoulders" above others, no matter how he plays, he remains immune towards criticism. Likes of Shojaei got bashed & insulted for much less... This is no hate towards Dejagah, but rather we fans should be fair and not focus on "names" only.

Last but not least, if the referee doesn’t finish the game Milad Mohammadi would probably run until the next morning.

and f*** IRIB.

[GolfePersique]

and f*** IRIB.

a bunch of losers.

[koush22]

I think Azmoun showed the agents of the world what he can do with a team that plays offensively unlike rostov.

[GolfePersique]

with proper service provided, he can become a world class player. Time to make the big move now, as he's clearly beyond the Russian league.

[BacheLot]

Firstly I would like to discuss the game overall. Lets put one thing to rest...Montenegro are a very good and have shown it as they are second in their Qualifying group behind poland. They have beaten a strong Danish side, and narrowly lost to poland, as their big results so far. Jovetic, Savic, Basa, Vucinic ( a bit old now) are all top, top players. They also have some promising young players in lower leagues (Bundesliga 2, Croatian league, etc). They were very physical today and ref gave no protection at all. Therefore I was very impressed that our team did not get bullied, and in the end definitely out muscled montenegro. We showed that if teams want to go physical, we have the personnel and attitude to deal with that too.

Now onto our performance.We lined up with ansarifard on the left, dejagah at CAM, and torabi on the right. First 15 minutes, we were on top. Moving ball very well, switching play,bipassing their high press, and creating chances. Hajsafi had an excellent cross field switch to rezaian, who layed it off to torabi. Then torabi twists and turns and leaves the montenegro defense for dead, and sharply cuts it back for sardar who one times it in. Then montenegro amped up pressure. Ansarifard was not heling aghaei nearly enough and left him exposed. We ended up too deep, and hajsafi was clearly struggling with an injury. eventually pressure told after some great clearances by our centre backs. Cross from aghaei's side because of lack of pressure on their winger, Beiranvand with a really shitty punch, and their player lays it back to jovetic who puts in the corner.
After that we picked it up again, and with Hajsafi leaving the pitch, Ali karimi came in and immediately we regained control. Dejagah got much mroe involved and we were unlucky not score with azmoun hitting inside of post with a great header from dejagah cross. Ezatolahi also had a stunning freekick from long range tipped over. Second half we made some subs, with milad coming in for ansarifard at left wing to provide additional cover for aghaei. Dejagah also was subbed (prob cuz he is just coming back from not playing for months) and gucci came in and we went 4-4-2. We controlled much of the play in the second half, and it showed with a great second goal. Karimi with a cross field through ball, rezaian lays it off with a header, and sardar volleys home with a half-bike. Could have scored again through sardar, or gucci who curled a nice one that went narrowly wide after sardar's lay off. Red card was not a red card from Ganji, but whatever. We didn't seem to troubled with 10 men until last 3 minutes where beiranvand made a good save from a long range strike.

This game had everything. A good opponent, who played very physical. Some top quality players for our boys to test themselves against. And a semi-hostile atmosphere. Plus we got put into a very realistic situation that could occur at WC (10 men) and dealt with that well. Also many guys played (Aghaei, Pahlevan, Ali karimi, pourghaz_ who normally do not so we got to see some new personnel, tactics.
Ratings

Beiranvand - 6.5 . One bad play that led to the goal. But other than that one of his best performances. Many crucial saves, and looked confident on crosses apart from the goal. Kicking could have been slightly better at times.

Rezaian - 7.5. Defended very well and was excellent going forward. Always an option with his runs. He looks in top shape for a guy who hasnt played club football, or a competetive game in almost two months.

Montazeri - 6 . Had some very good interceptions and blocks from crosses, but wasnt very good on the ball and struggled in the 20 minute spel where montenegro dominated.

Pag - 6 . Same as montazeri. He was out of position for red card, but on the ball he was good, carrying it out back well.

Aghaei - 5.5 . His debut against a good team too, he did okay. Let down by ansarifard not helping him at all defensively in the first half. Seems like a fairly quick, physical player who can be a good backup to MiMo. Didnt add much going forward, but looked much better when milad was infront of him giving additional support.

Ezatolahi - 8. Excellent performance, this is the ezatolahi we know and not the one that we saw with Anji. He was quick on the ball, switched play constantly, and took minimal touches. Defensively he was very good as well, and was able to deal with physicality of montenegro, and even bully them off the ball

Hajsafi. 6. Did well early on, then picked up injury but stayed on and was clearly struggling, giving away ball so was subbed.

-------Ali Karimi - 8.Came in for Hajsafi. Excellent in possession. Great range of passing, very assured on the ball, and smart defensively. Him and saeid are our future in defensive midfield. Hopefully he gets a starting spot next year at Dinamo and then he will start in WC.

Torabi - 7.5 . Great performance from a really bright player. Assist for sardar was brilliant. At times he dribbled too much and gave the ball away. If he gets to europe he will be a starter for many years to come. He has it all, technique, physicality, and endurance.

Dejagah. 6.5. Played as CAM. Did well in first 15 linking up play. Struggled when montenegro dominated, and gave ball away a lot. Later in the half when we regained control, he played a big part. Good set piece delivery as well. Lets remember he is just coming back from a long injury lay off and has only played 20 mins for Wolfsburg since his return

Ansarifard. - 5. He tried to make things happen in possession, but gave ball away too much. But his defensive work is what his rating is about. Played at LW, and gave little to no support to first time starter Aghaei. Subbed at half, probably for this very reason.

Azmoun - 8.5. Converted 2 out of 4 chances. one hit the bar, and other missed one on one. His first goal was instinctual and good positioning, second goal very acrobatic. Looked very confident. Did not over dribble as in previous matches. Had some good linking up with gucci, almost grabbed an assist. This guy is a special talent, lets hope he makes the right move this summer.
Subs : Gucci - 6.5. Played one half, nearly scored with a curling effort. But didnt get a lot of service.

Mimo -7 . Helped aghaei a lot , and was dangerous going forward. Played on the right wing a bit too. Im sure he will return to left back for most of our future matches .

Pahlevan - 6.5. solid. Made sure to help aghaei when he came on. Had some decent dribbling going forward and was good in possession. He will need to really be special next season with zob ahan to make potential WC squad. Kaveh Rezaei, Saman Ghoddos could take his place.

Purghaz - 7 Limited time on the pitch, but sured up defense. Sepahan is a good move for him, he will get to play for a big team and with a higher level coach in Kranjcar. He is a good defensive option to have, and im sure he will be in squad for WC. CQ was right about him all along when many of us questioned his spot on the roster.

I think CQ will focus his analysis on our poor 20 minutes in first half when we lost control. We dropped too deep and didnt keep the ball. Other than that we deserved to win. . Good job to all the players and coaching staff. Lets finish the job against uzbekistan. If we do, see you all in russia ( I will be there) !

thats pretty much what is saw too...!
Ps
Ansarifard back to being his old self, lost, lousy and invisible..! rightly subbed out at HT.
Figured Reza would be too soft and wouldnt fair well in this game, vs strong, physical opponents and he sure didnt ..!
almost glad HajSafi got injured ?? so AK6 or someone else get some meaningful minutes in LM ..!!
Glad Torabi had himself a decent showing, this kid badly needs some European Refinements in order to become a reliable, go to WC Winger for us.
if he stays put in iran, ARJ and others will keep him nailed to the bench and he may not even make the traveling squad. this off season he needs to become pro-active about a transfer to Europe a la MilMo, or i doubt he will make the WC..!
Beiro badly needs to work on his Positioning and decision during crosses and hopefully he will never make another such stupid mistake as today, on the conceded goal. He looked damn good in other areas of keeping and tbh, we simply have no one even close to replacing him as number 1, for now..!!
that was a real tough Debut match for Aghaie who struggled as expected. surprised he stayed on for so long..!
he got bit better as game wore on and as he got more support but still didnt impress enough...!!
Ashkan seemed awful rusty(for obvious reasons) and still not comfortable in operating in middle, he probably woulda been better off brought on from the bench today..!?
PAG had a rough day overall ..! his positioning was horrid in this game, and he got caught out of place quiet a few times almost costing us a goal or two..! off course twice got carded out on LW trying to cover for Aghaie, one being a dumb, frustration foul, other a likely goal-saving, professional foul that resulted in 2nd yellow and his marching orders..!


that was an Excellent test match..!! we finally had our organized team defense and keeper too this time around, properly tested vs a quick passing, strong and dangerous opponents..!
dame Montenegro federation garm for giving us this much needed quality friendly..!

overall we played a well organized, solid team football, regardless of many changes to our usual starting lineups. I feel pretty confident of a win vs uzbeks now..!