TM Creativity

[Bandar Hamal]

Given TM's lack of creative options in midfield, how do you guys rate Milad Sarlak and/or Arash Rezavand getting called up for variety? I think Sarlak could be a good back up for Ezatolahi as a passer from deep and Rezavand, while I'm still unsure of him, is maybe Iran's best option behind Ghoddos and Gholizadeh as a more advanced option should Skocic ever choose to play them as CAMs or narrow channel players. I think this is Iran's biggest problem area right now; Queiroz tried turning Dejagah into a CAM to resolve it. Also what is going with players like Shekari and Soltanimehr? I was hoping Shekari would develop into that more advanced player and Soltanimehr was supposed to be another Nekounam -- when are these guys going to play?

[inarsenewetrust]

Given TM's lack of creative options in midfield, how do you guys rate Milad Sarlak and/or Arash Rezavand getting called up for variety? I think Sarlak could be a good back up for Ezatolahi as a passer from deep and Rezavand, while I'm still unsure of him, is maybe Iran's best option behind Ghoddos and Gholizadeh as a more advanced option should Skocic ever choose to play them as CAMs or narrow channel players. I think this is Iran's biggest problem area right now; Queiroz tried turning Dejagah into a CAM to resolve it. Also what is going with players like Shekari and Soltanimehr? I was hoping Shekari would develop into that more advanced player and Soltanimehr was supposed to be another Nekounam -- when are these guys going to play?

neither are TM material. Yahya turned Sarlak into a serviceable player but his ball retention even for Asian standards is not particularly strong, especially under pressure (this is key weakness of most iranian mids). And thats regular ball retention, not even forward passes to start attacks. His best attribute is ability to break up play.

Rezavand from SS matches I saw struggles to dictate tempo of PGPL matches. Soltanimehr had bad luck with injury, he is playing more regularly now but lost basically 2 years of development with injury. Shekari's tractor spell has been a disaster bc shojaei refuses to retire and shekari will never be included in xi over him at CAM.

Emergence of Gholizadeh is the main answer to our creative issues. He looks excellent as a CAM and in going from strength to strength in belgium. Ghoddos if he rediscovers his fitness has tehnical qualities far far superior to any domestic players.

Dejagah was prob the most effective TM cam for a long time. His natural game IQ was so high, great ball retention, really set the tempo of the team.

The mids for TM moving forward are basically: Ezatolahi, Nourollahi, Karimi, Noorafkan, Ghoddos, Gholizadeh. I would include Ebrahimi before noorafkan but it seems like skocic is phasing him out.

[Bandar Hamal]

Dejagah was a good ball carrier and could dribble away from trouble but his creative passing through the middle wasn't the best, he would usually end up on the wings to cross the ball. I think it kind of worked but overall Iran still lacked some incisiveness in that department. Thanks for the posts on Sarlak and Rezavand, my impression of Sarlak was that he was emerging as Persepolis's best passer of the ball but I could be jumping the gun.

EDIT: Is there anyone else in the league to look out for?

[Preezy]

The positive thing about Shekari is that even though he is benched, he has two perfect mentors for his development in Shojaei and Dejagah. He’s only 22 and has the potential to have a bright future.