BREAKING: Team Melli List for Friendlies against Uzbekistan and Mali

[PSGman#19]

There are many issues with that squad.

GK call-ups were great because Niazmand and Abedzadeh can play one game each.

DF:
Why isn’t Shariati or Salimi called up? Instead, 3 defenders with 0 caps (Gholami, Nemati, Najjarian) were called up. Why is a 31 year old Khalilzadeh with just 5 caps called up? A player who is hot headed and mistake prone in previous appearances for Iran. Why not call up a proven player such as Ghafouri instead considering the lack of quality fullbacks in the squad? Considering Khalilzadehs age, there is no excuse to pick him ahead of the latter.

MF:
Why is Noorafkan with 1 cap called up ahead of Ezatolahi, Zahedi, Shekari, Salmani
Moghanlou or Dejagah?

FW:
WHY is a 29 year old Ansari called up??? This is literally a waste of a bench option that could’ve and should’ve went to one of the previously mentioned players considering that Azmoun, Taremi and Rezaei have the position locked. Why is Ansari called up ahead of Delfi, Ansarifard, Alipour or Allahyar???

We can’t afford to waste the few chances we have with friendlies with these types of call-ups. This was the chance to experiment with the squad considering that Jahanbakhsh, Beiranvand and PAG are injured.

Not to mention Rezaian, Ebrahimi and Mehrdad which better be because of the pandemic.

Monkey squad picked by a monkey coach. All he is, is a positive vibe coach.

We have so many european players now. This monkey calls up 14 PGL players.

I agree with the points you mention but we can also be comprehensive with covid quarantine here and there, and iranian players that just transferred in Europe (or in verge of being transferred). Don't need to break their euro integration with some friendlies

[FootballeKhob]

BREAKING: Team Melli List for Friendlies against Uzbekistan and Mali

There are many issues with that squad.

GK call-ups were great because Niazmand and Abedzadeh can play one game each.

DF:

Why isn’t Shariati or Salimi called up? Instead, 3 defenders with 0 caps (Gholami, Nemati, Najjarian) were called up. Why is a 31 year old Khalilzadeh with just 5 caps called up? A player who is hot headed and mistake prone in previous appearances for Iran. Why not call up a proven player such as Ghafouri instead considering the lack of quality fullbacks in the squad? Considering Khalilzadehs age, there is no excuse to pick him ahead of the latter.

MF:

Why is Noorafkan with 1 cap called up ahead of Ezatolahi, Zahedi, Shekari, Salmani, Moghanlou or Dejagah?

FW:

WHY is a 29 year old Ansari called up??? This is literally a waste of a bench option that could’ve and should’ve went to one of the previously mentioned players considering that Azmoun, Taremi and Rezaei have the position locked. Why is Ansari called up ahead of Delfi, Ansarifard, Alipour or Allahyar???

We can’t afford to waste the few chances we have with friendlies with these types of call-ups. This was the chance to experiment with the squad considering that Jahanbakhsh, Beiranvand and PAG are injured.

Not to mention Rezaian, Ebrahimi and Mehrdad which better be because of the pandemic.

Monkey squad picked by a monkey coach. All he is, is a positive vibe coach.

We have so many european players now. This monkey calls up 14 PGL players.

Relax dude. Ghafouri is injured. Saeid and the coach spoke and probs tought staying in denmark is the best option right now. Also u cant say why is noorafkan invited because of zahedi??? They play 2 different positions. Also inviting moghanlou and salmani just cause they transfered to Portugal ? Give them time. Also shoja is in prime form, 100% good call up. Only thing ure right on is why ansari is invited. No need to call it «monkey squad» and «monkey coach» its a good squad for now

[kian_khosh]

khalilzadeh deserves it 100%

[Iranianarsenal11]

There are many issues with that squad.

GK call-ups were great because Niazmand and Abedzadeh can play one game each.

DF:

Why isn’t Shariati or Salimi called up? Instead, 3 defenders with 0 caps (Gholami, Nemati, Najjarian) were called up. Why is a 31 year old Khalilzadeh with just 5 caps called up? A player who is hot headed and mistake prone in previous appearances for Iran. Why not call up a proven player such as Ghafouri instead considering the lack of quality fullbacks in the squad? Considering Khalilzadehs age, there is no excuse to pick him ahead of the latter.

MF:

Why is Noorafkan with 1 cap called up ahead of Ezatolahi, Zahedi, Shekari, Salmani, Moghanlou or Dejagah?

FW:

WHY is a 29 year old Ansari called up??? This is literally a waste of a bench option that could’ve and should’ve went to one of the previously mentioned players considering that Azmoun, Taremi and Rezaei have the position locked. Why is Ansari called up ahead of Delfi, Ansarifard, Alipour or Allahyar???

We can’t afford to waste the few chances we have with friendlies with these types of call-ups. This was the chance to experiment with the squad considering that Jahanbakhsh, Beiranvand and PAG are injured.

Not to mention Rezaian, Ebrahimi and Mehrdad which better be because of the pandemic.

Monkey squad picked by a monkey coach. All he is, is a positive vibe coach.

We have so many european players now. This monkey calls up 14 PGL players.

- Khalilzadeh has proven to be the best Iranian CB at the moment, along with Kanaani and Hosseini. Shariati isn't team melli ready yet, and Ghafouri is one of the best RBs in Iran but didn't get called up due to injury i believe. Salimi will get called up in the near future but right now he is probably busy negotiating with european clubs after he terminated his contract with tractor

- MF: Noorafkan is a young versatile player who had a solid year this year. Ezatolahi is still catching up with his new squad and it's best to let him gain fitness in denmark for now. Zahedi and Moghanlou are forwards, and Shekari isn't ready for team melli right now. Salmani is more of a defender and is trying to move to get a visa for Portugal. Dejagah I would've called up for depth I agree.

-FW: I actually agree here. Ansari is a waste of a spot but then again you always need one of those players on team melli who is willing to shut up and be happy to just sit on the bench and not complain. I would have called up Dejagah or Ansarifard instead, maybe Zahedi.

The reason skokic didn't call up a lot of our european based players are because they are either behind in pre-season training with their clubs, are injured, or just don't have the fitness yet. Otherwise the ones that deserve call ups have gotten them!

[Karimi 8]

khalilzadeh deserves it 100%

Agreed he has a bit of a temper but hopefully he’ll be calm in our games. We can really rely on him and Kanani for our CBS. Hosseini and Pouraliganji have competition for sure.

[Leicester City]

There are many issues with that squad.

GK call-ups were great because Niazmand and Abedzadeh can play one game each.

DF:

Why isn’t Shariati or Salimi called up? Instead, 3 defenders with 0 caps (Gholami, Nemati, Najjarian) were called up. Why is a 31 year old Khalilzadeh with just 5 caps called up? A player who is hot headed and mistake prone in previous appearances for Iran. Why not call up a proven player such as Ghafouri instead considering the lack of quality fullbacks in the squad? Considering Khalilzadehs age, there is no excuse to pick him ahead of the latter.

MF:

Why is Noorafkan with 1 cap called up ahead of Ezatolahi, Zahedi, Shekari, Salmani, Moghanlou or Dejagah?

FW:

WHY is a 29 year old Ansari called up??? This is literally a waste of a bench option that could’ve and should’ve went to one of the previously mentioned players considering that Azmoun, Taremi and Rezaei have the position locked. Why is Ansari called up ahead of Delfi, Ansarifard, Alipour or Allahyar???

We can’t afford to waste the few chances we have with friendlies with these types of call-ups. This was the chance to experiment with the squad considering that Jahanbakhsh, Beiranvand and PAG are injured.

Not to mention Rezaian, Ebrahimi and Mehrdad which better be because of the pandemic.

Monkey squad picked by a monkey coach. All he is, is a positive vibe coach.

We have so many european players now. This monkey calls up 14 PGL players.

This is 100% a good list by Dragan Skočić, one which is definitely based on merit and good performances in the league/ACL. Whoever that should have got called that did not was either: A) Injured, B) Not allowed to join due to COVID-19 restrictions from their host country, or C) Possibly expelled from TM.

DF:

Shariati: Too early for a NT call up for him, still needs time to grow and develop. One for the future.

Salimi: Possibly the only player you can make a case for not being called up, however I believe he will be called up in the near future and likely with him potentially landing in European Football.

The rest have merited their place in TM for defense.

MF:

Noorafkan: Was called up because he was very decent and consistent this season in the league, Asian Champions League, and in our group of death at AFC U-23 Championship. He is very versatile and most likely fits the system Skočić wants to play. (We can also see lots of other versatile players in that list such as Hajsafi, Nemati, Najjarian, Ghoddos, Amiri, etc...) Also, some of the players you mentioned do not play in midfield.

FW:

Ansari: He was called from the standby list, so not really a big deal. May not even play any minutes.

The rest of the players you mentioned are either not match fit or have literally just joined their respective clubs and need time to adapt. Obviously, he is going to call up PGPL players when he cannot call up European players due to the reasons I mentioned, and besides he was a coach of a PGPL team going back to 2013 so he will know the players he called up since he was either their coach or they played against his teams.