Iran vs South Korea Player Ratings | Post Match Discussion

[AIrani]

Yes, red card was troubling me to see our team play 40 minutes with 10 players.

Iran's defense was great. South Koreans tried but did not succeed.

Now it is up to Uzbek to earn their spot. Uzbeks losing to China today was their fault.

Iran will play Syria in Iran. Syria will be familiar, because they have played some games in Tehran.

Iran is in, I wish Uzbeks come 2nd

[Scooter]

I am very disappointed at Ezatolahi or rather he should be called Eftezahlahi for this match. That kind of demeanor and temparment does not deserve to play for TM. I kept thinking what if he had done this in Russia at crucial World Cup match for TM. Imagine the consequences!

Absolutely correct! Can you imagine how hard-pressed TM would have been to play against say.. Netherlands, or Uruguay, or Spain, with 10 men? S. Korea is one thing, but most other opponents (who can actually shoot on target) would have scored, under such circumstances.

[inarsenewetrust]

I decided not to comment during games anymore, ppl are just too emotional on here. But here are my thoughts.
Our defense is fantastic. There are no two ways about it. Korea are the best attacking team in asia and were not able to do anything, even with 45 mins of playing against 10, in front of 60000 of their own fans. Both our team defending, and defense/gk were so solid. Obviously we couldn't see anything on the attacking end after ezatolahi's red , but we were looking dangerous there as well early on. Again, our main problem is ball retention in the midfield, exacerbated by ezatolahi's performances. Overall our defensive display was 10/10, and given circumstances, i think overall we were 7/10 as a team . I truly believe 90% of teams will really struggle to score against us in WC.

Ratings :

Beiranvand : 7 . On this performance, he deserves to keep his place ahead of ARH , he was very calm, and did everything that was asked of him when it came to crosses. Obviously he didn't have to stop a single shot, but in terms of his demeanour and organizing of defense I think he was very assured, something that hasnt always been the case.

Ramin : 6. . Defended very well. Could have been better in possession, but that will improve a lot given oostende play a heavily possession based, play outta the back style. He also seemed more switched on defensively when the ball was on the other side of the pitch. His main weakness is ball watching, he loses concentration when the ball is on the other side of the pitch, loses his man, and that is what has punished him in Belgium. But he seemed more aware today, already improving. Couldn't do as much as usual going forward obviously.

PAG : 9 . MOTM. A monster at the back. So calm and cool, physically imposing, seemed like he won all aerial and ground duels. Solid in possession as well. He has learned very well from Pejman and Jalal.

Ansari - 6 . Started very wobbly, but improved as the game progressed and made some good blocks and interceptions. I can't knock him too much for his early mistakes bc he was thrown in the deep end. I personally rate khalilzadeh higher, but this was a very zahmat-kesh performance from him, and he probably solidified his spot for Russia as a reserve CB.

Milad : 8 . Defensively excellent, good going forward. His defending is so great to watch, he goes right into opponents feet and gets ball, totally not afraid of getting dribbled. Also in possession he is one of our best players, very calm. Def as a result of playing in europe.

Hajsafi - 6.5 . Solid from ehsan. He is good going forward and worked very hard defensively, also is def a leader on the pitch, you could see him organizing the team.

Saeid - 3. I will first talk about his general performance prior to red card. It would have been a 4.5 max. Physically he is very strong and wins all aerial battles, defends well. This is probably due to his own physique and playing in RPL, where midfielders mainly just defend. But with that ball, he is horrendous. Lack of technical ability, no calm on the ball, plays far to slow, doesnt choose the right passes, and often just passes the ball out of play or too opposition. Moving to RPL did nothing for him in the dept. He cannot be counted on to retain possession, and is the main cause for our deficiencies in this dept. It was telling that after his red card our play improved. Onto the red card, what was he thinking ? The guy is way too caught up with modeling and poz dadan to focus solely on football. Let his team down. I am sure CQ will bench him now, which is exactly what he deserves. Also you can see why he doesnt start for rostov. He needs to leave RPL quickly.

Askhan : 7.5 . Only player who could retain possssion. So smart and hard working. This guy is top quality, you can tell. With no team he ha maintain himself so well. Hopefully he announces his new team soon and they are good and he plays for them regularly. He deserves to start in WC.

ARJ : 7.5 . Great defensively, kept the ball well in possession. Obviously hard for him to do much in terms of chances. Would have liked to see him just dribble at the heart of sk on some those breaks. He worked very hard.

Amiri - 5.5 . He worked hard, has some decent moments. I can see why CQ likes him, he is a hard worker. But he isnt dangerous enough going forward. Just not enough talent on that end in an international field.

Gucci - 7. Dangerous when on the pitch. Unfortunate with ezatolahi's red that he had to be sacrificed.

SUBS : Ali karimi - 6.5 . Much better that saeid in possession, good defensively too. If he finds a euro team and plays, I think he will start in WC with ehsan.

Taremi - 5. Didnt do much, no service either.

Cheshi - 6 . Won some important balls. I think he can add something to TM bc he is versatile and solid , and seemed very assured.
I think this game basically just exposed saeid's weaknesses which I had commented on for a while. When i saw him in Anji end of last year he was playing just like this. He needs to stop being rewarded with PT, and I think that will happen after this game.
Hope we see ghoddos, Torabi, Sardar, Karim and whole lot of goals against syria in tehran.

[TM4LIFE]

Should also add that it is expected for Ghoddos not to play in a WCQ game as big as this. He's only spent a day with the team and isn't familiar with our tactics. I do expect him to come off the bench against Syria though, which will be very exciting to watch. I think he gives our central midfield some much needed depth and attacking prowess, as Karimi and Saeid are generally sloppy going forward.

[Iran_19]

Ezzatollahi was totally out of shape,.

[Iran_19]

Beiranvand - 7
Mohammadi - 8
Pouraliganji - 7
Ansari - 7
Rezaeian -5
Ezatolahi - 4
Hajsafi - 6
Dejagah - 7
Jahanbakhsh - 7
Amiri - 5
Ghoochannejhad - 5

[inarsenewetrust]

Ezzatollahi was totally out of shape,.

physically in shape, technically deficient . This is a result of not playing for rostov, but also just his play level in general. I saw the same exact things for Anji, and i commented on it then. On the ball he thinks to slow, and doesnt choose the right passes.

[TheBoss]

When you hit the breakwall known as Iran

[Camran khan]

When you hit the breakwall known as Iran

Fixed it for you.

[TheBoss]

CQ after the final whistle

[naderb94]

Beiranvand - 7
Mohammadi - 9
Pouraliganji - 7
Ansari - 7
Rezaeian -4
Ezatolahi - 2
Hajsafi - 6
Dejagah - 7
Jahanbakhsh - 7
Amiri - 3
Ghoochannejhad - 6

Taremi - 6
Cheshmi - 7
Karimi - 6

Milmo is easily the MotM with his all around performance. Ezzatollahi was atrocious to watch. I am glad we won't see him in the Syria match which could allow Chesmi/Noorafkhan possibly get the start alongside Hajsafi who looked solid today. Overall, defense was suberb with PAG and Ansari like a brick wall and Cheshmi was great too imo.
Rezaeian was nerve racking to watch whenever he took ages to clear a damn ball out.
Both Dejagah and ARJ looked pretty solid too.

** I will say that I cringe when I see Amiri play. He does work hard, but the guys has ZERO IQ when he plays. Several times, he reacted quick and sent in useless crosses. I want Torabi to take his spot next match and have Ghoddos come in as sub.

Hoping to see Azmoun or Ansarifard start the next match instead of Gucci.

[teammelli91]

😕🙁☹️😣😖😫😩😐...

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭!!!

[teammelli91]

CQ after the final whistle

Carlos Queiroz
Team Melli
Iran

[Z Joon]

I decided not to comment during games anymore, ppl are just too emotional on here. But here are my thoughts.
Our defense is fantastic. There are no two ways about it. Korea are the best attacking team in asia and were not able to do anything, even with 45 mins of playing against 10, in front of 60000 of their own fans. Both our team defending, and defense/gk were so solid. Obviously we couldn't see anything on the attacking end after ezatolahi's red , but we were looking dangerous there as well early on. Again, our main problem is ball retention in the midfield, exacerbated by ezatolahi's performances. Overall our defensive display was 10/10, and given circumstances, i think overall we were 7/10 as a team . I truly believe 90% of teams will really struggle to score against us in WC.
Ratings :
Beiranvand : 7 . On this performance, he deserves to keep his place ahead of ARH , he was very calm, and did everything that was asked of him when it came to crosses. Obviously he didn't have to stop a single shot, but in terms of his demeanour and organizing of defense I think he was very assured, something that hasnt always been the case.
Ramin : 6. . Defended very well. Could have been better in possession, but that will improve a lot given oostende play a heavily possession based, play outta the back style. He also seemed more switched on defensively when the ball was on the other side of the pitch. His main weakness is ball watching, he loses concentration when the ball is on the other side of the pitch, loses his man, and that is what has punished him in Belgium. But he seemed more aware today, already improving. Couldn't do as much as usual going forward obviously.
PAG : 9 . MOTM. A monster at the back. So calm and cool, physically imposing, seemed like he won all aerial and ground duels. Solid in possession as well. He has learned very well from Pejman and Jalal.
Ansari - 6 . Started very wobbly, but improved as the game progressed and made some good blocks and interceptions. I can't knock him too much for his early mistakes bc he was thrown in the deep end. I personally rate khalilzadeh higher, but this was a very zahmat-kesh performance from him, and he probably solidified his spot for Russia as a reserve CB.
Milad : 8 . Defensively excellent, good going forward. His defending is so great to watch, he goes right into opponents feet and gets ball, totally not afraid of getting dribbled. Also in possession he is one of our best players, very calm. Def as a result of playing in europe.
Hajsafi - 6.5 . Solid from ehsan. He is good going forward and worked very hard defensively, also is def a leader on the pitch, you could see him organizing the team.
Saeid - 3. I will first talk about his general performance prior to red card. It would have been a 4.5 max. Physically he is very strong and wins all aerial battles, defends well. This is probably due to his own physique and playing in RPL, where midfielders mainly just defend. But with that ball, he is horrendous. Lack of technical ability, no calm on the ball, plays far to slow, doesnt choose the right passes, and often just passes the ball out of play or too opposition. Moving to RPL did nothing for him in the dept. He cannot be counted on to retain possession, and is the main cause for our deficiencies in this dept. It was telling that after his red card our play improved. Onto the red card, what was he thinking ? The guy is way too caught up with modeling and poz dadan to focus solely on football. Let his team down. I am sure CQ will bench him now, which is exactly what he deserves. Also you can see why he doesnt start for rostov. He needs to leave RPL quickly.
Askhan : 7.5 . Only player who could retain possssion. So smart and hard working. This guy is top quality, you can tell. With no team he ha maintain himself so well. Hopefully he announces his new team soon and they are good and he plays for them regularly. He deserves to start in WC.
ARJ : 7.5 . Great defensively, kept the ball well in possession. Obviously hard for him to do much in terms of chances. Would have liked to see him just dribble at the heart of sk on some those breaks. He worked very hard.
Amiri - 5.5 . He worked hard, has some decent moments. I can see why CQ likes him, he is a hard worker. But he isnt dangerous enough going forward. Just not enough talent on that end in an international field.
Gucci - 7. Dangerous when on the pitch. Unfortunate with ezatolahi's red that he had to be sacrificed.
SUBS : Ali karimi - 6.5 . Much better that saeid in possession, good defensively too. If he finds a euro team and plays, I think he will start in WC with ehsan.
Taremi - 5. Didnt do much, no service either.
Cheshi - 6 . Won some important balls. I think he can add something to TM bc he is versatile and solid , and seemed very assured.
I think this game basically just exposed saeid's weaknesses which I had commented on for a while. When i saw him in Anji end of last year he was playing just like this. He needs to stop being rewarded with PT, and I think that will happen after this game.
Hope we see ghoddos, Torabi, Sardar, Karim and whole lot of goals against syria in tehran.

Good analysis. However you can trust me on this one that Khalilzadeh is no way better than Ansari. Not only that, he is also 3 years older. He is much more prone to stupid mistakes because he isn't as composed, and he has major temper issues. I think some just remember his latest ACL match, he is good by ACL standard but Ansari has more potential and a safer defender.

People should not forget that it was his competitive/non-friendly debut in a difficult position (away vs Korea as a CB) against a tough team, and he still did well

[teammelli91]

When you hit the breakwall known as Iran

Bahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!

Who's the real monkey now?? Carlos Queiroz??