Iran's offense was a disaster [By the numbers]

[Taz]

An Xg stats analysis of us would be very interesting. I suspect it'd look very favourably on us. Teams can't create jack shit against us. I'd have a guess it might be something like UZB 0.2-1.5 IRN today.

[mahestan]

Yeah we did win against Uzbekistan today, but in attack we are abysmal. It’s seriously worrying that we can only win with 1-0 score lines and miss so many opportunities.

We’re not going to win the Asian Cup if we continue with these 1-0 business and actually concede first in the game, especially against better teams than the Uzbeks. Eventually this is bound to get exposed.

I seriously can’t remember the last time we conceded first and then came back to win the game. Something to be concerned about.

We would've been 2-0 if Taremi had not missed that sitter. Of course our fellow PFDC members are going to debate for hours how it was a difficult shot and Taremi did his best.

Sadly we don't have a finisher that can bury that freaking ball.

That said, when was the last time we had a goal scored from a serious distance with a ferocious thunder? Was Hajsafi's goal in AFC 2015 the last time we had such goal? Why can't our play take a direct shot at goal and actually make the opposition's goalie tremble in fear?

[Ando Teymourian]

We would've been 2-0 if Taremi had not missed that sitter. Of course our fellow PFDC members are going to debate for hours how it was a difficult shot and Taremi did his best.

Sadly we don't have a finisher that can bury that freaking ball.

That said, when was the last time we had a goal scored from a serious distance with a ferocious thunder? Was Hajsafi's goal in AFC 2015 the last time we had such goal? Why can't our play take a direct shot at goal and actually make the opposition's goalie tremble in fear?

I believe Jahanbaksh scored outside the box with his left foot vs Qatar in Azadi

[GoIran]

We had the worst shots on goal per game in the WC.

[Kavian]

We had the worst shots on goal per game in the WC.

It doesn't matter how many shots on target you have, it matters how many you put in. These KPIs are outdated, they have no real meaning anymore! .. if these were true performance indicator, then Brazil should have been # 1, followed by Germany. We all know that did not happen.

What about "how many attacks team managed to defuse" as an indicator? I bet, Iran would be among the top.

[inarsenewetrust]

also our best chances werent even on target. Im thinking Karim side netting, taremi heads over, taremi 1v1 wide, Karim decides to square to nobody when he has a wide open chance

[Kian Persepolis]

also our best chances werent even on target. Im thinking Karim side netting, taremi heads over, taremi 1v1 wide, Karim decides to square to nobody when he has a wide open chance

Also Amiri's sitter against Portugal in the first half

[Bi-honar]

We had the worst shots on goal per game in the WC.

This just goes to show that shots on goal is not the most important metric in a tournament... Germany in 2nd place on that chart was out in the group stage and England, 2nd from the bottom finished 4th and had the tournament´s top goal-scorer!

Having said that, we definitely needed to be a lot more offensive against Morocco and I think we had the potential to be slightly more offensive against Spain and Portugal without causing too much trouble for us.

Portugal was absolute crap in this tournament and I think most objective observers (i.e. those who looked beyond Ronaldo) knew that. And Spain was in total shambles due to their coaching fiasco, so we could have taken more advantage of that and not made them into the giants which they were not at that particular point in time.

This was the 1st tournament in which none of the teams from our group made it past the round of 16 (versus 2 finalists and 1 semi-finalist in 3 of the past 4 tournaments), meaning that in relative terms this was in fact the weakest group we have played in. The 2nd weakest was of course in 1998 when Germany made it only as far as the quarterfinals and not surprisingly, it was our 2nd best performance ever.

Look at Spain now with a proper coach (Luis Enrique)... grouped with 2 WC semi-finalists in the UEFA League of Nations, they beat England away and absolutely demolished Croatia (6-0) at home. They looked nothing like the team that played in the WC.

And Asian Cup has got to be a very different performance for us. If we´re even going to make it into the semi-finals (never mind winning it) we do need to be a lot more offensive, creative and ambitious.

[inarsenewetrust]

This just goes to show that shots on goal is not the most important metric in a tournament... Germany in 2nd place on that chart was out in the group stage and England, 2nd from the bottom finished 4th and had the tournament´s top goal-scorer!

Having said that, we definitely needed to be a lot more offensive against Morocco and I think we had the potential to be slightly more offensive against Spain and Portugal without causing too much trouble for us.

Portugal was absolute crap in this tournament and I think most objective observers (i.e. those who looked beyond Ronaldo) knew that. And Spain was in total shambles due to their coaching fiasco, so we could have taken more advantage of that and not made them into the giants which they were not at that particular point in time.

This was the 1st tournament in which none of the teams from our group made it past the round of 16 (versus 2 finalists and 1 semi-finalist in 3 of the past 4 tournaments), meaning that in relative terms this was in fact the weakest group we have played in. The 2nd weakest was of course in 1998 when Germany made it only as far as the quarterfinals and not surprisingly, it was our 2nd best performance ever.

Look at Spain now with a proper coach (Luis Enrique)... grouped with 2 WC semi-finalists in the UEFA League of Nations, they beat England away and absolutely demolished Croatia (6-0) at home. They looked nothing like the team that played in the WC.

And Asian Cup has got to be a very different performance for us. If we´re even going to make it into the semi-finals (never mind winning it) we do need to be a lot more offensive, creative and ambitious.

and to your last point, CQ has stated in numerous recent interviews that our style of play needs to and will be totally different to succeed in asian cup. You could see the implementation of this in second half vs uzbekistan.

[RaginG Inferno]

So Spain just beat Croatia, the WC runners up, 6-0.

CQ pulled off a tactical masterclass.

[The]

So Spain just beat Croatia, the WC runners up, 6-0.
CQ pulled off a tactical masterclass.

Not really. The Spain team at the world cup was in a state of chaos with their coach getting fired two days before the opener and replaced by guy whose coaching Resume consisted of coaching a Segunda Division team for year. All CQ did was to park the bus.

[inarsenewetrust]

Not really. The Spain team at the world cup was in a state of chaos with their coach getting fired two days before the opener and replaced by guy whose coaching Resume consisted of coaching a Segunda Division team for year. All CQ did was to park the bus.

Yeah any of our esteemed iranian coaching personnel could have done the same.

[The]

Yeah any of our esteemed iranian coaching personnel could have done the same.

I didn't say anything about Iranian coaches. Just pointing out that the Spain team we played in the world cup was not in the same state as the current Spanish team, and comparing their results against Croatia to their result against us isn't the best argument to make.

Also, being better than Iranians coaches doesn't actually make Otto Mann a football genius. It just means he's the best we can get.

[inarsenewetrust]

I didn't say anything about Iranian coaches. Just pointing out that the Spain team we played in the world cup was not in the same state as the current Spanish team, and comparing their results against Croatia to their result against us isn't the best argument to make.
Also, being better than Iranians coaches doesn't actually make Otto Mann a football genius. It just means he's the best we can get.

bingo. He is the best we can get. So what is the point of constantly demeaning him in every other post?

He got us to the WC twice in a row, with a very respectable performance by ANY standard in Russia. 4 pts from that group was the best case scenario most of us could think of, and the best chance we had at getting through. We did that and still didnt go through. But we gained the respect of much of the worlds football, and many pundits, whether you like it or not. Now we have a young crop of players, basically all in europe, entering just the start of their prime. Beira, Moharrami, Majid, PAG, Milad, Ezatolahi, ARJ, Gholizadeh, Taremi, Ghoddos, Kaveh, Sardar (whenever he returns), AND slightly older, but just as capable and in shape players like Ebrahimi, Amiri, Ramin, Hajsafi, Ansarifard etc. Plus a whole generation of top talents coming through aka Shekari, Delfi, Allahyar, Sharifi, Shariati.

Im not saying the guy has always been right. But I am saying, he deserves much more respect than what you give him. There is just no better alternative for TM, and the truth is, he is not a bad option at all. In fact he is great option. Get behind him for the AC, if we fail to reach the final truly down to poor performances of the team, then by all means, CQ deserves real criticism. but as now the arguments against him are weak and pretty pathetic really.

[The]

bingo. He is the best we can get. So what is the point of constantly demeaning him in every other post?

He got us to the WC twice in a row, with a very respectable performance by ANY standard in Russia. 4 pts from that group was the best case scenario most of us could think of, and the best chance we had at getting through. We did that and still didnt go through. But we gained the respect of much of the worlds football, and many pundits, whether you like it or not. Now we have a young crop of players, basically all in europe, entering just the start of their prime. Beira, Moharrami, Majid, PAG, Milad, Ezatolahi, ARJ, Gholizadeh, Taremi, Ghoddos, Kaveh, Sardar (whenever he returns), AND slightly older, but just as capable and in shape players like Ebrahimi, Amiri, Ramin, Hajsafi, Ansarifard etc. Plus a whole generation of top talents coming through aka Shekari, Delfi, Allahyar, Sharifi, Shariati.

Im not saying the guy has always been right. But I am saying, he deserves much more respect than what you give him. There is just no better alternative for TM, and the truth is, he is not a bad option at all. In fact he is great option. Get behind him for the AC, if we fail to reach the final truly down to poor performances of the team, then by all means, CQ deserves real criticism. but as now the arguments against him are weak and pretty pathetic really.

The point is that the dude isn't the Genius people make him out to be. Compraed to Iranian coaches he might be a genius, but compared to other coaches who get paid as much as he does, he is a decent coach. I wouldn't have to bring people back down to earth, if they weren't acting like he's better than he actually is. He's a decent coach. That's it. Not a Genius, not a Magician.The dude parked the bus and with a bit of luck (Morocco Own goal, and a questionable last minute penatly against Portugal) managed to get 4 points. And I don't think we "gained the respect of the world and pundits". For every pundit who thought Iran played well, there was another who thought we played an ugly game and got lucky.

I'm more of the mind of accepting that Iran is in a shitty sitution and not many people want to work in Iran. CQ is a decent coach (not a genius, not Worldclass), but is one of the best we can realistically get.