Saeid Ezatolahi @ Vejle Boldklub | 2020-2021

[inarsenewetrust]

good pt for vejle. game ends 1-1.

Finished game with solid 7/10 rating on fotmob. Last 10 mins looked like he was gassed a bit and started making some mistakes, it was quite an intense game with lot of 50/50s and hard pressing.

[mehdi13]

69.6% passing accuracy, possession lost 22 times.

After watching the last two games I can see why Skocic didn’t invite him. He is in better shape, but still lumbering around the field. He is especially slow when moving laterally, players get past him easily. Still slow with the ball. If I wasn’t Iranian and you told me this is Iran’s best midfielder, I would be very confused.

[inarsenewetrust]

69.6% passing accuracy, possession lost 22 times.

I also dont think it was his best game, but not terrible or else coach would have removed him as another typical midfield starter was on the bench.

who should we start instead? Hajsafi and nourollahi lol?

He plays at a decent level all season with some drops in form after the winter restart. He is by far good enough to be making our pathetic midfield (at least one of the 4 CMs we take) that cannot complete 4 passes vs syria.

And last game he was one of the best players on the pitch lol, not comparable to what he showed today.

[Farzadfarhangni]

I also dont think it was his best game, but not terrible or else coach would have removed him as another typical midfield starter was on the bench.

who should we start instead? Hajsafi and nourollahi lol?

He plays at a decent level all season with some drops in form after the winter restart. He is by far good enough to be making our pathetic midfield that cannot complete 4 passes vs syria

I only watched the last twenty minute of the game and he looked pretty bad because as you said he was gassed. He was dispossessed a couple of times trying to move the ball up field and most of his passes were intercepted leading to a couple of dangerous counterattacks. Perhaps he should play 45-60 minutes for TM until he regains better fitness... It is amazing how judgement drops and decision making slows when you are exhausted...

[inarsenewetrust]

I only watched the last twenty minute of the game and he looked pretty bad because as you said he was gassed. He was dispossessed a couple of times trying to move the ball up field and most of his passes were intercepted leading to a couple of dangerous counterattacks. Perhaps he should play 45-60 minutes for TM until he regains better fitness... It is amazing how judgement drops and decision making slows when you are exhausted...

and we shouldnt really be surprised he is experiencing this. Whole point of him playing for bottom tier danish side is so he plays every game after 3-4 seasons since he last was a regular starter with amkar perm.

He has now played 2000 mins this season which definitely will take a toll on him as we are getting later and later into season. And even with these fitness related issues

still posting very solid stats. Not sure why we should give up on a 24 year old player in europe for his whole career when we SEE OUR ALTERNATIVES REGULARY - THEYRE HORRIBLE!... Saeid with 10 mins against bosnia produced a nicer pass than any midfielder that night to assist ghayedi.

If we do not promote/encourage him and leave him in the cold we may lose him. Remember guys like ozan tufan and sergio oliveira who have been two of the most consistent midfielders in europe this season (age 26, 28) went thru spells at saeid's age where they were also not anything near what their eventual level turned out to be.

[mehdi13]

I also dont think it was his best game, but not terrible or else coach would have removed him as another typical midfield starter was on the bench.

who should we start instead? Hajsafi and nourollahi lol?

He plays at a decent level all season with some drops in form after the winter restart. He is by far good enough to be making our pathetic midfield (at least one of the 4 CMs we take) that cannot complete 4 passes vs syria.

And last game he was one of the best players on the pitch lol, not comparable to what he showed today.

Unfortunately, Ehsan Hajsafi will be starting all four games in June. I don’t trust Saeid, in the shape he’s in, to be able to cover for and mop up after Ehsan Hajsafi for 70 minutes. Not that I think Nourollahi is a better player, but I think he’ll be able to do more work on the field. What else can we do? With our midfield options, completing 4 passes is asking too much.

[ABalls]

69.6% passing accuracy, possession lost 22 times.

After watching the last two games I can see why Skocic didn’t invite him. He is in better shape, but still lumbering around the field. He is especially slow when moving laterally, players get past him easily. Still slow with the ball. If I wasn’t Iranian and you told me this is Iran’s best midfielder, I would be very confused.

OUCH.

I mean, the guy has played in less than 50 games over the past 7 years, something like 7 games a year, and only 8 in the last 3 years. He was always going to be very rusty. I'm glad he is working to get back in shape, but this is a full year project. Hopefully next year he can perform at a higher level, and then he can look to get into a bigger league. He is borderline TM material, but is FAR from being a shoe-in. The dude can barely cut the mustard in Denmark, why do we think he is an automatic for a World Cup bid?

[KeonKish]

Dont know what game you were watching to be so negative.

I watched the entire game and he was very good until the last 10 or so minutes.

He's an entire level above ANY midfielder we have.

[Sepehr9]

Dont know what game you were watching to be so negative.
I watched the entire game and he was very good until the last 10 or so minutes.
He's an entire level above ANY midfielder we have.

I concur, seems like we got a couple of Ezatolahi haters here.

Saeid already at this stage (since his recovery) is the best defensive midfielder we have along with Ebrahimi. If Skocic does not lead TM to the world cup i will blame it on the absence of Ezatolahi, that's how important he is. He is unique for us as we do not have another DM like him at the moment.

[Dreamer]

It's unbelievable that any criticism is attributed as being a "hater".

If you compare him to some of our other European-based legionnaires, he's been one of the most inconsistent. Abedzadeh, Mohammadi, Rezaei, Gholizadeh, Azmoun, Taremi, even Sayyadmanesh + Zahedi, have all been playing consistently. If they've gotten injured and couldn't make it back to their teams, they either transferred or managed to get their place back in the team.

It's not much of a surprise to see Ezatolahi excluded, given that his team came in 10th out of 12 teams in the Danish league, and that he barely played any games last season. Give it some time. Let him play consistently at a high level, and I'm sure he'll make it back into the squad.

[KeonKish]

It's unbelievable that any criticism is attributed as being a "hater".

If you compare him to some of our other European-based legionnaires, he's been one of the most inconsistent. Abedzadeh, Mohammadi, Rezaei, Gholizadeh, Azmoun, Taremi, even Sayyadmanesh + Zahedi, have all been playing consistently. If they've gotten injured and couldn't make it back to their teams, they either transferred or managed to get their place back in the team.

It's not much of a surprise to see Ezatolahi excluded, given that his team came in 10th out of 12 teams in the Danish league, and that he barely played any games last season. Give it some time. Let him play consistently at a high level, and I'm sure he'll make it back into the squad.

Yeah because players like noorafkan are very high level right ?

Iranian players mostly play in crap leagues and if one has been one of the best players on his team in a middle level euro league that’s certainly way better than most of our PGL based guys.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[inarsenewetrust]

It's unbelievable that any criticism is attributed as being a "hater".
If you compare him to some of our other European-based legionnaires, he's been one of the most inconsistent. Abedzadeh, Mohammadi, Rezaei, Gholizadeh, Azmoun, Taremi, even Sayyadmanesh + Zahedi, have all been playing consistently. If they've gotten injured and couldn't make it back to their teams, they either transferred or managed to get their place back in the team.
It's not much of a surprise to see Ezatolahi excluded, given that his team came in 10th out of 12 teams in the Danish league, and that he barely played any games last season. Give it some time. Let him play consistently at a high level, and I'm sure he'll make it back into the squad.

hes not competing with those players you mention, so the comparison is a bit weird.

Lets compare him directly to his competition :

Hajsafi - horrific, truly horrific for many games running, he makes you want to stop watching. Cannot complete two basic passes, ruins many attacks with ridiculous turnovers and long range communications with NASA satellite.

Nourollahi - Seems to have gone the same way as ehsan. Cannot count how many ridiculous lob passes he made vs syria right to the opposition. I was high on him a year ago but he makes crucial mistakes in high stakes matches...Giving away PKs in big ACL games, big misses in front of goal for PP, etc. To include him as a starter to me seems like it will not end well.

Ebrahimi - The only truly solid midfielder we have atm but he is 33. IMO he should be starting with saeid at the base of the midfield like at the WC.

Karimi - A different player to ezatolahi completely - much more offensive minded. At least he is performing at a good level at the moment but basically no games of note for TM besides a couple friendlies, can we really trust him to suddenly become key player in the most important games for TM?

Ezatolahi's defensive anticipation and physicality is levels above these players, with the exception of ebrahimi. He is really the only true CDM we have, with a very good range of passing and technical skills too when he is not fatigued. But this list hardly indicates we have enough to leave him out of the squad... Keep in mind he was included in Denmark's team of the half season before january so he has hardly been terrible.

[KeonKish]

I'm also pretty sure the majority of people here justifying his exclusion haven't even watched one full game of his recently.

I have watched the majority of them.

He started the reason understandably rusty. After his 6 or 7th game he became one of the best players they had, scored some goals, and has been a consistent rock in front of their defense at the base of the midfield.

Naturally he is showing signs of fatigue as he has already played more than 2000 minutes and he has never played even 1000 before. His body is likely experiencing some rigidity and fatigue.

Even with the fatigue I watched him today and he has more quality in his pinky toe than hajsafi noorafkan and nourollahi combined.

[Dreamer]

I'm also pretty sure the majority of people here justifying his exclusion haven't even watched one full game of his recently.

I have watched the majority of them.

He started the reason understandably rusty. After his 6 or 7th game he became one of the best players they had, scored some goals, and has been a consistent rock in front of their defense at the base of the midfield.

Naturally he is showing signs of fatigue as he has already played more than 2000 minutes and he has never played even 1000 before. His body is likely experiencing some rigidity and fatigue.

Even with the fatigue I watched him today and he has more quality in his pinky toe than hajsafi noorafkan and nourollahi combined.

To be completely fair I haven't watched him, no, I just don't think it's surprising to see his exclusion and am trying to understand why folks are up in arms about it.

I'm not saying that other players selected for TM are better than him, and regarding inarsenewetrust's point, my comparison was meant to show that he's not exactly been playing at the same calibre as our other European legionnaires. By the logic that "he plays in a European league and thus should be included" we might as well include someone like Makani, just because he's in Europe.

I also think that we shouldn't judge our players based on how much "raw" talent or quality they may have. There's something to be said for not being able to break into a mid-tier Belgian team, or a Championship team. I'm glad he's transferred out and is now playing consistently, but maybe there's more than meets the eye here?

I don't know, in any case, I want him to be successful, I remember when he had just transferred to the Atletico academy. I'm not a fan of Skocic either based on the games I've seen so far with him.

[KeonKish]

To be completely fair I haven't watched him, no, I just don't think it's surprising to see his exclusion and am trying to understand why folks are up in arms about it.

I'm not saying that other players selected for TM are better than him, and regarding inarsenewetrust's point, my comparison was meant to show that he's not exactly been playing at the same calibre as our other European legionnaires. By the logic that "he plays in a European league and thus should be included" we might as well include someone like Makani, just because he's in Europe.

I also think that we shouldn't judge our players based on how much "raw" talent or quality they may have. There's something to be said for not being able to break into a mid-tier Belgian team, or a Championship team. I'm glad he's transferred out and is now playing consistently, but maybe there's more than meets the eye here?

I don't know, in any case, I want him to be successful, I remember when he had just transferred to the Atletico academy. I'm not a fan of Skocic either based on the games I've seen so far with him.

Just a minor correction here.

He didn't have any difficulty starting in the Championship.

He started and played 4 full matches in a row, did very well and won praise from commentary and fans.

He just had the bad injury after. I think that injury was very rough on him. If he hadn't gotten injured he would likely be a starter for reading right now.