Iran vs Turkey Player Ratings | Post Match Discussion

[Sam van Dam]

by this rate we will be the next 8-0ers

hopefully CQ now realizes that the Cheshmi experiment is over.

Karim should not be playing midfield.

Ghafouri and Hosseini need to be called up.

our passes also need to be harder, Turkey's passes were crisp and powerful, ours were super soft

Masoud, love the guy but he needs to go

Ghoddos and AJB need to be on the pitch together for the full 90.

Ezza really fcuked us with his red card.

Beiro is solid, I'm now fully confident with him as our no.1

would like this to be our line-up vs morocco

---------------------Beiro----------------
------Ghafouri-----Hosseini----PAG-------MiMo------
----------------------Ebrahimi-------------------
----------Dejagah----------------------Hajsafi--------
----------AJB-----------Azmoun----------Ghoddos-------

Subs:

Gucci for Azmoun
Taremi for Dejagah, Have Ghoddos and Taremi switch positions
Gholizadeh for Hajsafi

we can beat Morocco with this line-up

[JamB]

Everyone needs to relax, it's called a friendly for a reason.

Turkey played with nothing to lose, and they had a lot of younger players trying to impress their NT coach.

TM has to be conservative in these friendlies... imagine a player giving his all in a friendly and getting injured just as he's about to live a life dream of playing in the World Cup.

Not worried at all.

So sick of these excuses. If we won you guys would be getting so excited. Enough with the excuses. Hold your team accountable when they play subpar. We are running out of friendlies. That was an okay excuse when we lost 1-0 to Tunisia in the hurricane. Not when we get man handled by Turkey with a very strong line up

[zereshk-ali]

Some observations...

This may have been CQ experimenting with the line up in the 2nd game against Spain. Shojaei deep to keep possession and Cheshmi, who is our best distributor of the ball at centre back and Ansarifard as an aerial option coming from deep.

However, playing both Shojaei deep and Ansarifard in a more advanced central role didn't work as they both are too slow on the ball and in releasing it. Ansarifard didn't get into the box nearly enough, so is wasted in that position. If Dejagah is fully fit I would expect him to start the second match in the ACM role. Also, Shojaei deep in midfield keeping the ball when we need to hold onto a result works well, but as soon as we conceded we struggle as he takes too long to play a forward pass. He also telegraphed a few of the longer switches of play and was still wearing strapping on his knee so not sure if he's fully fit yet. I still see him as a good option off the bench, and possibly to start the Spain game, but I think against Morocco we can't afford to start him.

We looked a lot more like our usual selves in the press when Ghoddos and Amiri came in - JB, Taremi and Ansarifard don't press enough and aren't agressive enough off the ball, so I don't think you can start the 3 of them together. I would expect one of these more high energy attacking midfield options to start. I know people hate Amiri, but he sets the tone off the ball and can win it high up.

People are bashing Rezaeian, but JB offered absolutely nothing defensively and left him exposed time and again. His positioning was so bad and he was so unaware of runners and failed to track - all it took was a simple overload on the left side from either the full back or a midfielder to create a dangerous chance. I'm sure that's why CQ switched him to the left hand side as Mohammadi's mobility give him the ability to cover. We need more work from JB if we're not going to get destroyed on the right hand side, specifically by Spain who will have the most advanced full backs in our group.

I like Cheshmi as a footballer, but unfortunately his physical limitations at centre back mean he's exposed both aerially and he's not agile enough to deal with strikers turning him. He also got caught out of position a couple of times. CQ's defensive coaching can probably fix the positioning, but we need a more agile and physical centre back playing alongside PAG.

We need more from Azmoun and Taremi. Azmoun looked lethargic and off the pace. He's our most potent goalscoring option, but both him and Taremi didn't have the usual movement and create the havoc that we know they can. I think part of this was as I mention from not having someone in the central midfield who is willing to play a quicker forward pass.

I'd be intrigued to see JB's % rate in crossing for TM - with the odd exception such as against Algeria he seems to constantly hit the first defender. Hajsafi, Rezaiean and Ghoddos should all be on free kicks before him.

With a few notable stray passes I thought we actually retained possession and played some nice combination football - we're much braver on the ball than we were 4 years ago, which should mean there will be more entertainment and goals in our games at the WC. We need to sort out the 2nd CB position, defensive work from JB and the quicker pass forward from CM positions if we're to make sure the goals are going in at the right end for us.

[Sly]

Not at all. He's the outside man. Cheshmi is on the inside and was caught out so badly. That goal was because of Cheshmi.

Take a look at the goal again! If Milad Mohammadi had reached the guy, Cheshmi wouldn't have needed to demonstrate his lack of defense qualities in the first place.

The whole sequence started with Milad not running fast enough. but yes, Cheshmi's lousy defense followed it.

[The Realist]

Wow so many negative outlooks!
Be hopeful but be realistic too.
LiveScore Commentary reports:
“Both teams could have won today but Turkey just managed to carve out the victory”

Gone the days that we could only score through set pieces- lots of open play and passing- although lots of mispasses too, we need to improve on that deadly ball into the 18, JB showed it once. 58% possession was encouraging too.

Please bring on Greece - game badly needed.

[_Navid_]

The irony of CQ excluding our best right back for playing a few games out of position, and him putting more than half of the team today in their unfamiliar positions.

[vatanparast]

I am surprised so many of you are still bashing shojaei.
My observations after watching this game.
1) our players that were injured all got to play. shoajei, ashkan and omid all played this game. good to know we at least have the latter pair as subs for last 20 minutes
2)we played with shojaei as the CDM. with karim also helping. hajsafi played further almost as CAM. I don't think we will play like that in any of the world cup games and this was mainly to confuse our opponents
3)both khanzadeh and cheshmi have shown to be very shaky at CB and easily get dribbled. I hope not to see either one as CB in any of our games. I would have liked to see majid hoseini pair with PAJ. we badly missed seyed jalal.
4)masood is by far our best playmaker but having him as cdm is a recipe for disaster. He controls the pace and holds the ball and distributes the ball beautifully, but because he has the ball so much, he is bound to lose the ball sometimes which will lead to goal scoring opportunities for our opponents. He also is too slow and will give away free kicks. He should only be used as CAM.
5)taremi had one of the worst games I have seen from him. unable to control the ball. he was invisible
6)cheshmi was our worst player. karim, vahid, taremi were also poor today
7)jb, paj and MiMo were only players that had good performances.
hajsafi, masood, ramin beiro, gucci,, ashkan, omid, saman were ok
8)sardar didnt have help upfront.
9)vahid was also poor today
not sure why ezatollahi didn't play today.
CQ learned a lot today and our players got physically tested against a strong pacy quality opponent

[Sly]

The irony of CQ excluding our best right back for playing a few games out of position,

You really don't believe that's the real reason, do you? CQ had to come up with some lousy excuses as answers to the media. Clearly there must be other reasons behind the scenes that he did not want to reveal at this time.

[inarsenewetrust]

OVERALL : I watched entire game and refrained from commenting during and right after game to really analyze it objectively.

First 20 mins we were very nervous and looked poor. Good on TM for pulling through the adversity and after that playing pretty well. The midfield experiment was okay, shojaei distributed well and hajsafi was dynamic, but karim just isnt a midfielder. PHYSICALLY, TM looked a lot better than algeria and Tunisia games, and was able to keep good intensity until the end. That is really good news. We were able to create many chances, also good news, and on the balance the match should have been draw.

Turkey was excellent, they have a very strong team with top players all around field. I think they are stronger than morocco, and maybe even portugal. This was a high level friendly and we learned a lot from this, so thank you to CQ and IFF and TFF for making it happen, and thanks to turkey coach for bringing a great A team.

Ratings :

Beiranvand - 8 . Excellent. Three top saves, one good exit. His positioning for second goal was slightly off, but he came to bail out cheshmi.

Rezaeian- 5 Overall a bit stressed out. Got better as match progressed. Needs to be more aware defensively but did okay overall there too. Apart from first 20 ofc where everybody sucked. Still think vouria could give ramin a run for his money as he seems to do better under pressure.

PAG - 6 . Solid, but needed to organize more and get a better command of cheshmi. Multiple times exposed with balls in behind. This didnt happen with Jalal or Morteza next to him. Good on the ball, but not ready to lead the defense and I think CQ will recognize that.

Cheshmi- 2. Horrible. The first goal was partially his fault, and second goal was totally his fault. No clue where tosun was, and not enough speed to catch up. Shaky all night and was not calming to defense, although there was a period where he was okay. Needs to be kicked out, sorry, just not at this level. He is good for SS, but not ready for this. Jalal needs to be called back, and either start him or Pejman next to Cheshmi.

Milad Mohammadi - 7 . Partially at fault for first goal, but also the fault of cheshmi and PAG big time. Needs to be a bit for calculated going forward but did very well overall. His speed and tenacity was on full display.I think some scouts may have been watching him in this match as well.

Shojaei - 6 . He was bad in the first 20 mins, but distributed the ball well and was calm under pressure after that. Off the ball tho, he was non existent, and yazici was able to give the pass to tosun for the second goal because masoud was to slow and weak to put him off or make a tackle. He can be an option for us in midfield, but not a midfield with hajsafi and ansarifard next to him. Just not enough defensively in those three.

Hajsafi - 7 . Great performance. He has newfound confidence and drive ive never seen form him before. Should have scored one yes, but overall very good on the ball and off of it. He is becoming a very dynamic midfielder and his move to greece and Kos has really given him belief in himself when he comes to TM.

Ansarifard - 4. Just not his position. He doesnt do anything defensively, and is not good when he plays a deep. He is a center forward, who has intelligent link up play but is best when playing one and two touch up front. Had a few good spells especially towards end of second half where he found space and linked up well.This experiment, thomas muller thing, is over as far as im concerned.

ARJ - 6.5 . Lively, made some good chances, had some good dribbles. Good off the ball as well and looked very energetic and vocal. Needs to play a bit more simple in the middle of the field tho, had a few to many give aways.

Sardar - 6.5 . Lively, lacked service, but pressed well and tried to get others involved. Should have shot himself a few times, but nearly scored.

Taremi - 4 . Very anonymous. He is an asian level player and you can see that. He has the potential to do crazy things once in a while, but is just not consistent.

SUBS :

Amiri - 5. Some good moments, but looks so nonchalant. the concept of mohkam totally missed him, gave some very retarded passes too. But he did get the ball back quite a fe times and passed simple and clean.

Ghoddos - 6. Lively, tried to make things happen. Needs to start next two games and cement place in team. he should start vs morocco. He is a class above taremi.

Ebrahimi 6 . Good on the ball and off it. He may very well start first game. If he plays simple and does his work off the ball, I think we will be okay there.

Dejagah 8. A class above what we have. Even just returning from a season long injury you can see that. Whoever doesnt is blind. So calm on the ball, aggressive, ready to make forward passes. Good PK. Need him to get to at least 75-80% in the next two weeks. He needs to start vs morocco.

Gucci - 6. Opportunistic in box and got us the PK, had one good shot too. but outside of the box, he is just too small and slow. Turkey CB's were easily bodying him. Good option late in games when we start getting ball into penalty area.

Really hope greece game goes through, we need it. Jalal and Vouria really deserve to be called back too for Khanzadeh and Cheshmi. Overall I am satisfied. I think TM can definitely beat morocco, and regardless of what other people may say this turkey team was on par or better than morocco. Just Tosun is head and shoulders above any forward morocco have. And guys like Under, Yazici, Akbaba, Ozyagup are of a similar quality to moroccan midfield. Defensively that guy soyuncu is a total beast. I think we can beat morocco and steal something from portugal, so I definitely have hope. Key is to win first match by any means necessary though.

[Sam van Dam]

The irony of CQ excluding our best right back for playing a few games out of position, and him putting more than half of the team today in their unfamiliar positions.

Rumor has it that Mazaheri will be starting at striker vs. Greece

jokes aside, i agree 100%

[_Navid_]

You really don't believe that's the real reason, do you? CQ had to come up with some lousy excuses as answers to the media. Clearly there must be other reasons behind the scenes that he did not want to reveal at this time.

Of course not man. Didn't believe it for a minute.

[shahname]

What baffles me is that CQ didn't sub Cheshmi for the entire match???!!!!!

Can someone explain WHY?

With that terrible performance, shouldn't he have been subbed out with someone like Hosseini?

Besides that, I think playing players like Ansarifard and Shojaei out of position is a terrible idea.

[beevee]

wow, wow. fellows, guys, ladies and my dudes. This was just a practice game. You try bigger slower players versus faster smaller players, you try slowing down the game, you try putting players in different position to see what happens Most importantly you prove a point to your team that they need to work a hell of lot more or they'll be ran out of Russia in short order. This is by far the best team Iran has ever produced, give them a chance, dance with girl that brought yiu to dance, let's not be so fast in throwing in the towel.

[Kas-r]

wow, wow. fellows, guys, ladies and my dudes. This was just a practice game. You try bigger slower players versus faster smaller players, you try slowing down the game, you try putting players in different position to see what happens Most importantly you prove a point to your team that they need to work a hell of lot more or they'll be ran out of Russia in short order. This is by far the best team Iran has ever produced, give them a chance, dance with girl that brought yiu to dance, let's not be so fast in throwing in the towel.

Your optimism is based on hot air. Practice game or not, our players did not manage to control the ball for more than 15 seconds in which point during the match whatsoever, looked badly disorientated, gave poor passes even over small distances, etc.

[zereshk-ali]

Exactly, despite everything our control of the game was a huge amount better than TM performances against european opposition that we had seen before CQ took over. There were so many years (decades...) under different coaches that we couldn't string 2-3 passes together. We forget what it was like then, before we could actually play with some kind of shape. I'm not sure why, is it memory loss? arrogance? too young to remember?

Some of you guys who complain about this kind of performance would have been tearing your hair out with TM for 3 decades. Where the reliance was just on individual moments rather than any kind of teamwork.

Still, there are so many areas we need to work on over the next few weeks and CQ needs to be on-the-ball.

Even at the last WC we were struggling to string 2-3 passes together against Nigerian and Bosnian teams that are probably at a similar level to the Turkish side we faced today, so memories can't be very long...