Sardar Azmoun @ Rubin Kazan | 2017-2018

[Iran_19]

I watched a bit of second half, Azmoun had a good game overall.

[inarsenewetrust]

yeah his speed and dribbling looks sharp. He just needs to score once to get back his confidence around goal. Overall not even a bad result. Lokomotiv are a good team and rubin played with ten for over 30 minutes.

[BacheLot]

FT
1-1
Fair result
Sardar ran his socks off and helped out defensively tremendously in 2nd half and was quiet lively going forward.
good 90min action but no goal which doesnt help his stats..

[Amin_]

Azmoun played well in the second half considering Rubin was down a man for quite a long time.

He could have finished in that scene in front of the goal although it was a bit from the side and he had to shoot with his left foot.

Another good sign is that he played the full match. He was not subbed even when they were down to 10 men.

A shame Rubin conceded in ET in the end.

[BacheLot]

the chance was hard to score cause he had to shoot with his left foot.

It was his weak leg

yup, and the defenders and keeper made the opening angle tight ...
still he missed it quiet wide off the mark , thats where Reza's 2footed finishing mastery surpasses that of sardar, he woulda at least kept the shot on fram....!?

[inarsenewetrust]

when his confidence is high so his left foot. I remember he scored a rocket with his left earlier last season. At this stage in his career, I dont really think sardar is ruthless,lethal number 9 . He creates many chances with speed, dirbbling, and his heading is second to none, but in one on one situations his finishing is closely tied to his confidence levels.

[Ab-Gosht]

I watched the whole match. Sardars best game so far this season. All in all low tempo low quality game almost no scoring chanses

[Ab-Gosht]

sardar won 4 aerials, most out of alla players in the match. 2nd best had 3 won

[teammelli91]

As fans we all need to take a chill pill and be patient. Some of our fellow PFDC family have high expectations for Azmoun and want him to score every match that he plays. We tend to forget and not consider the positives and we automatically jump to conclusion when Sardar doesn't score 2-3 games in a row. It happens. He's still young and it's a collaborative effort not a one man team. He's a great player and still has a lot of room to improve on. A lot of the great players in the best teams in the world did not experience half of what Azmoun experienced from age 18-21. That being said, I am NOT comparing him and saying that he is better. I only say this so that we can learn to be patient.

[Malkay]

I think the next three fixtures offer a decent opportunity for him to get off the mark this season

[Afat11]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...League_players

I was just looking through this list for any players that had left the RPL for better leagues. I probably looked at 100 players on this list and couldn't find any (except for Bastos going to Lazio and Rondon).

If someone has the time, I would love to see how many foreign players in the Russian league have actually gone on to better leagues. Seems like many players in Russian league either come from or go to Arabestan, China, Turkey, etc.

I can't find many players if any who have made it to top teams in top leagues from the Russian league. This is very worrying. Many guys who have quality seem to be stuck there from 2008-2012. Guys like Yann M'Vila can't seem to leave the league. According to his wikipedia, he wanted to stay in EPL after a loan spell, but wasn't bought despite playing well and being a fan favorite.

Is this a sign of the league overall? Why is the league like this? I am worried that our 3 players may be in the same position as the other foreign-based players to join RPL teams. Seems to be a career graveyard. I think out of the hundreds of players on this list, there may only be around 10 or less that went to better leagues in Europe after playing in Russia, and of them, I can't find anyone who went on to a top European team. Very unsettling seeing this. I was hoping for 1 player to have made it big!

[Z Joon]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...League_players

I was just looking through this list for any players that had left the RPL for better leagues. I probably looked at 100 players on this list and couldn't find any (except for Bastos going to Lazio and Rondon).

If someone has the time, I would love to see how many foreign players in the Russian league have actually gone on to better leagues. Seems like many players in Russian league either come from or go to Arabestan, China, Turkey, etc.

I can't find many players if any who have made it to top teams in top leagues from the Russian league. This is very worrying. Many guys who have quality seem to be stuck there from 2008-2012. Guys like Yann M'Vila can't seem to leave the league. According to his wikipedia, he wanted to stay in EPL after a loan spell, but wasn't bought despite playing well and being a fan favorite.

Is this a sign of the league overall? Why is the league like this? I am worried that our 3 players may be in the same position as the other foreign-based players to join RPL teams. Seems to be a career graveyard. I think out of the hundreds of players on this list, there may only be around 10 or less that went to better leagues in Europe after playing in Russia, and of them, I can't find anyone who went on to a top European team. Very unsettling seeing this. I was hoping for 1 player to have made it big!

That's exactly what I've been saying and which worries me not only for Sardar but other RPL guys like Milad

[Afat11]

That's exactly what I've been saying and which worries me not only for Sardar but other RPL guys like Milad

There must be good money or some other factor within the league which causes so many players to stay for so long. I can't put my finger on it. Some of these players have had big names and obvious quality, but they seem to become stuck in Russia. I hate to say it, but Russia may be similar to Arabestan in that they have big money in the league, but it is not a talent development league. You sign a fat contract for 5 years, and make the money before moving on to China. I hope I'm wrong, but I am a bit scared for these guys' futures after looking at that list of players.

[Z Joon]

Sardar Azmoun @ Rubin Kazan | 2017-2018

There must be good money or some other factor within the league which causes so many players to stay for so long. I can't put my finger on it. Some of these players have had big names and obvious quality, but they seem to become stuck in Russia. I hate to say it, but Russia may be similar to Arabestan in that they have big money in the league, but it is not a talent development league. You sign a fat contract for 5 years, and make the money before moving on to China. I hope I'm wrong, but I am a bit scared for these guys' futures after looking at that list of players.

I don't know why either but maybe it has to do with the fact that with the 2018 Russian WC coming up, they wanted to strengthen their league in the years leading up to it, try to keep their stars and other players that attract foreign league interest by raising their contracts.

Somewhat similar to what Qatar are doing with the 2022 WC

[Afat11]

I don't know why either but maybe it has to do with the fact that with the 2018 Russian WC coming up, they wanted to strengthen their league in the years leading up to it, try to keep their stars and other players that attract foreign league interest by raising their contracts

This makes sense. Looking at the article below, it seems salaries in Russian league are very high.

http://russianfootballnews.com/the-7...ut-the-league/

It's an interesting read. These are pretty big salaries for some pretty mediocre players. As it states, some players weren't even playing for their clubs and were getting fat salaries. That $3 million a year that is rumored for Sardar may very well be true. I really hope this doesn't turn into an Ashkan scenario where he is fighting to keep himself in Russia so he can continue making his salary that he might not attain in Western Europe.

I compare it to some of my friends. They work at shit law firms doing personal injury, but are making big money. They haven't learned how to really practice law or litigate, and while others are making less and learning to establish their future, they are taking the easy money early. My father always says that if you pay your dues today, you can relax tomorrow. Wish Sardar had a similar mentality, but I guess it is a career for him so making a big salary is important. In the end, it's his life. Will be sad if he is another wasted potential though.

Ali Karimi could have been a top 20 player in the world, in my opinion. Could have opened the door for many future Iranian players to have a big name player from Iran. It still makes me wonder what could have been with AK8. Hope Sardar doesn't follow that same career path.