I was reading an article on fifa.com recently about Saudi which mentioned their players that played the most matches during their campaign, and it got me wondering who played the most for us during our campaign so I started noting down our player's appearances. I thought I'd share it with you guys. I've written them as the number of games they've started followed by the number of appearances as substitutes in brackets. Keep in mind we had 18 WCQ games in total.
Haghighi 4
Beiranvand 12
Ghafouri 5
Rezaeian 12(2)
Hosseini 9(2)
Montazeri 10
Pouraliganji 12(1)
Mohammadi 10
Hajisafi 13
Teymourian 7(2)
Ezatolahi 12(1)
Ebrahimi 8(2)
Karimi 2(1)
Shojaei 5(2)
Dejagah 11(1)
Amiri 11(6)
Jahanbakhsh 11(3)
Taremi 12(4)
Torabi 3(4)
Ansarifard 3(3)
Azmoun 12 (2)
Gucci 3(6)
Mazaheri 1
Makani 1
Pourghaz 2(2)
Kanaani 1
Cheshmi 0(2)
Ansari 2
Heydari 2
Kamyabinia 1(1)
Alishah 0(2)
Shojaeian 0(1)
K. Rezaei 1(2)
Observations:
Hajisafi made the most starting line up appearances out of everyone (13), I think this is mainly for his versatility which lets him play in midfield as well as LB when needed. Amiri showed how he has incredible stamina, making the most appearances in total (17) meaning he just missed a single game. Taremi was not too far off with 16 appearances. Amiri and Taremi genuinely have three lungs as they always give their all endurance-wise, which is why I think they are our only non-legionnaire players that consistently make it into our main team and CQ always calls upon.
Other outfield players playing the majority of games included Ezatolahi (13), Dejagah (12), Jahanbakhsh (14) and Azmoun (14). Our defensive lineup was also quite consistent with Rezaeian (14), Mohammadi (10), Hosseini (11), Montazeri (10) and Pouraliganji (13). Although I reckon Montazeri would've gotten more game time than Hosseini if it weren't for his injuries. 14 players made 10+ appearances.
Ebrahimi was surprisingly used more often than Ando and Masoud (who just got 5 starts the whole campaign). So maybe he is more useful than people think. Gucci made the most appearances as a sub (6), and that's kinda the role he's played this entire campaign- similar to Ansarifard. Ghafouri is a solid backup for RB, but we don't quite have one for LB (unless you want to count on Hajisafi for that role). Torabi has been unlucky with game time due to the traffic in his position.
Beiranvand has been our main keeper, but Haghighi got his fair share of games as well I reckon.
I think we've got our main team going forward sorted for the WC with most players being legionnaires and young. DM's are a bit a iffy. But Ezatolahi should do well as he's been consistent for his age, and the recent criticism he's got was mostly all in the moment. And next to him we need to sort out whether it will be Ebrahimi, Hajisafi or Karimi. Hajisafi would be a wise option as he has WC experience playing in midfield. CB's are relatively sorted as well if we don't mind going with 34/36 year olds. But if we want to integrate younger players into that role we need to do it quick. Kanaani and Ansari didn't seem too convincing in those roles. There's also Pourghaz? So relying on Montazeri and Hosseini won't be bad, as age shouldn't be that much of an issue for CB's. And Pouraliganji definitely needs a more experienced partner next to him, as the last match highlighted. GK issue isn't really an issue in my opinion.
The main bulk of the team (those 12/13 players who played the most) should be on the plane to Russia. The other places are up for grabs really. There are some players who played big roles from the bench who'll probably be there too like Gucci but not too sure about the other ones like Ansarifard and Shojaei.
We also have to consider many other players were called up during the campaign who didn't get to play like Nourafkan recently. There were also friendly games during this time that I didn't include in the statistics and analysis. And hopefully (big word) we will get more friendlies in the future to test other players so we make sure we have the right 23 for the WC.
Haghighi 4
Beiranvand 12
Ghafouri 5
Rezaeian 12(2)
Hosseini 9(2)
Montazeri 10
Pouraliganji 12(1)
Mohammadi 10
Hajisafi 13
Teymourian 7(2)
Ezatolahi 12(1)
Ebrahimi 8(2)
Karimi 2(1)
Shojaei 5(2)
Dejagah 11(1)
Amiri 11(6)
Jahanbakhsh 11(3)
Taremi 12(4)
Torabi 3(4)
Ansarifard 3(3)
Azmoun 12 (2)
Gucci 3(6)
Mazaheri 1
Makani 1
Pourghaz 2(2)
Kanaani 1
Cheshmi 0(2)
Ansari 2
Heydari 2
Kamyabinia 1(1)
Alishah 0(2)
Shojaeian 0(1)
K. Rezaei 1(2)
Observations:
Hajisafi made the most starting line up appearances out of everyone (13), I think this is mainly for his versatility which lets him play in midfield as well as LB when needed. Amiri showed how he has incredible stamina, making the most appearances in total (17) meaning he just missed a single game. Taremi was not too far off with 16 appearances. Amiri and Taremi genuinely have three lungs as they always give their all endurance-wise, which is why I think they are our only non-legionnaire players that consistently make it into our main team and CQ always calls upon.
Other outfield players playing the majority of games included Ezatolahi (13), Dejagah (12), Jahanbakhsh (14) and Azmoun (14). Our defensive lineup was also quite consistent with Rezaeian (14), Mohammadi (10), Hosseini (11), Montazeri (10) and Pouraliganji (13). Although I reckon Montazeri would've gotten more game time than Hosseini if it weren't for his injuries. 14 players made 10+ appearances.
Ebrahimi was surprisingly used more often than Ando and Masoud (who just got 5 starts the whole campaign). So maybe he is more useful than people think. Gucci made the most appearances as a sub (6), and that's kinda the role he's played this entire campaign- similar to Ansarifard. Ghafouri is a solid backup for RB, but we don't quite have one for LB (unless you want to count on Hajisafi for that role). Torabi has been unlucky with game time due to the traffic in his position.
Beiranvand has been our main keeper, but Haghighi got his fair share of games as well I reckon.
I think we've got our main team going forward sorted for the WC with most players being legionnaires and young. DM's are a bit a iffy. But Ezatolahi should do well as he's been consistent for his age, and the recent criticism he's got was mostly all in the moment. And next to him we need to sort out whether it will be Ebrahimi, Hajisafi or Karimi. Hajisafi would be a wise option as he has WC experience playing in midfield. CB's are relatively sorted as well if we don't mind going with 34/36 year olds. But if we want to integrate younger players into that role we need to do it quick. Kanaani and Ansari didn't seem too convincing in those roles. There's also Pourghaz? So relying on Montazeri and Hosseini won't be bad, as age shouldn't be that much of an issue for CB's. And Pouraliganji definitely needs a more experienced partner next to him, as the last match highlighted. GK issue isn't really an issue in my opinion.
The main bulk of the team (those 12/13 players who played the most) should be on the plane to Russia. The other places are up for grabs really. There are some players who played big roles from the bench who'll probably be there too like Gucci but not too sure about the other ones like Ansarifard and Shojaei.
We also have to consider many other players were called up during the campaign who didn't get to play like Nourafkan recently. There were also friendly games during this time that I didn't include in the statistics and analysis. And hopefully (big word) we will get more friendlies in the future to test other players so we make sure we have the right 23 for the WC.
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