Dragan Skočić Appreciation Thread!

[webmaster]

Yes. He has done well I have to admit and apologize for not believing in him.

[inarsenewetrust]

I dont get it. Do some people not watch the same match? I am so happy for this win, so happy for the real MFs who stepped up and showed their balls and their quality.

But come on guys...The spacing between the lines just to start with in the first half...I mean thats not football, not defensive football, not offensive football, just nothing.

The gaps down the sides...that nearly cost us 3! goals. That is gonna be taken advantage of by a better team. That has nothing to do with chemistry...There is no balance when he persists with these ridculous systems + player selections. I think he is close to realizing what everybody else realized a long time ago, (aka when we played uzbekistan with the same xi he started tonight), namely that is cant work.

[kaebi kabab]

BORO BABA

The guy started the worst xi possible that produced probably one of our most suicidual halves of football ever.

Only when forced to introduce ghoddos did game change (a player who should have started the game) and then when he brought in saeid for an injured vahid (another who should have started game) did we shit on bahrain like we should have done from minute 1.

And still he didnt sub the worst player on the pitch, hajsafi...

The guy is gone after this round. He is a moron in charge of one of the most talented generations ever

I do give him credit for at least recognizing how badly he fucked up and putting in ghoddos at half. Also whatever they spoke about with the players overall was solid bc they did not panic in second half.

Only if he drops the worst midfield combination in the history of TM for Iraq game will there be some evidence for appreciation thread.

perfectly said.

[Mansoor]

Salam doostan,
I am not going to defend or attack anyone, just posting from a coaching perspective.

Dragan had a plan for this game:

The match was in a hot and unfavorable environment.
You go in aggressive, and with Bahrainis fresh leg, you could concede a goal,
and there go the usual time-wasting strategies.
Our emotions kick in, and before we recover, 90 min is quickly over. Down 1-0, WC run is over.

Instead:
Start conservatively, control the game, let them run, and lose their fresh legs under this extreme temperature before pushing forward.
So Dragan started the first half with 4-4-2 flat with two def midfielders, Hajsafi was terrible, Milad was awful, and with this 4-4-2, the midfield was too congested to create chances for Taremi and Azmoun.

The key to flat 4-4-2 is to have two play-makers speeding up the game and opening the space in wings for fullbacks to advance. Milad was terrible advancing, Moharrami rarely did, Ghaolizadeh and Amiri rarely created chances. That was because our wide plays did not exist; Bahrain congested the deep plays very well.

Similar to HK game, Dragan had a diff plan for the second half.

He changed to 4-3-3 with a V in midfield, similar to most of Carlos's games but more offensive. Gholizadeh and Taremi went to wings to create width and more space for Ghoddous and Amiri in the middle to make plays. With Amiri needed in midfield for his runs, he had no choice but to replace Milad with Ehsan and make two changes with one sub. Brilliant and efficient sub, just in case we need more subs upfront.

The plan worked well; we played wide, created space deep, and split the defenders twice for two world-class finishes.

When Amiri got injured, he brought in Saeed and changed the formation to /\ of 4-3-3, also known as 4-2-3-1, moving Ghoddous in front of Ahmad and Saeed. Excellent move since we were up 2-0, and it was wise to control the game and close the middle where the opponent looked a bit dangerous and hopeful. With this sub, it was clear that Bahrain could no longer score, and he basically sealed the game.

Dragan showed three formations in one game which displays tactical flexibility. In addition, his real-time decision-making to change tactics twice is rated A.

He also gets an A for his game plan and intelligent subs. However, he gets a B for not recognizing Milad was not ready mentally, and Milad's ineffectiveness cost us the first half.

He also gets A to have Bagheri on the bench. There were 11 calm Karim on the field today, apparent effects of Karim's incredible role-model leadership. Calm and focused players against a team like Bahrain was part of the reason for Iran's success.

Well done, Iran. Dragan may field some of the reserves to start the next game to keep fresh legs for the Iraq match under this hot temperature and back-to-back games. Perhaps, Karim, Jahanbaksh, Ghaedi, and Torabi.

[Roozbeh-G2006]

There are many more factors in play than most of us here can think of. And TBH Most of the times when things don't go the right way it is not because what we thought should had been done but wasn't done. A coach is in a much better position to make his decisions than us sitting way outside the circle and don't know what is happening inside. Skocic has a great chance to prove himself as a coach that can achieve big and put himself among the better class of coaches. He is serious about his profession and if he can take us to WC finals he will be sitting among thje likes of CQ and others and will be in high demand. This is a win win situation. Wilmot was a wanker who cared about his wages and his money and didn't give a shit about the team he was supposed to manage. He is finished professionally as he has shown that money is more important to him than professional goals and achievement. Skocic I am assuming is more serious about his profession. He has also worked in Iran and understands our ways. This is also important. So Let's stay behind him till he takes us to the Finals and who knows we may even achieve more than ever at the finals.

[O-ZoNe]

Sorry to spoil but he definitely doesnt deserve such a thread, at least not yet. The guy jeopardised our chances in a must win game by starting with worst ever lineup (Nourollahi, Hajsafi) among lot of other mistakes. I will thank him when he make sure we have qualified for the World Cup.

Right. But if he was CQ we would blame the pandemic. Being robbed of home field and being denied a clear red card. We would say CQ is a miracle worker who managed a draw or 1-0 win. We won in Bahrain and comfortably under tremendous heat, zero preparation, corruption and hwy robbery by AFC. Give the man credit when and where it is due.

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[Kian H]

I think its Way too soon to jump to conclusions. I dont like how many people before the match were cussing the coach and writing him off. And I dont Think we should praise him as a hero yet. Time Will tell what it, but to be honest im still on the Fence. I dont like to jump to conclusions early, and many football fans seems to do that.
I dont Think anybody here is right or wrong, and the game today shows that. The lineup wasnt good, and our midfield was like a bagel, a Hole in the middle. There was nobody there and they ran through it like nothing. The same with our full backs. There was alot to be worried about.
BUT our second half was Great and the substitutions he made was great. The Way he made the right changes shows, that he tactically flexible which is Great.
Therefore like before the game, i havnt made up my mind about the coach yet. Time Will tell what he is capable of. Will we all be cussing him After the Iraq game or praising him? The same ones praising him now Can turn on him, and the same ones criticizing him now can hail him. But we must back him and show our support, instead of bringing negative energy. Thats the only Way we Can help our team. So lets support Them now and come with the verdict After the Iraq game

[Mahsaa]

I dont get this thread, appreciate what ? Even with me as coach we should beat Bahrain and Hong Kong, different it would be if we saw an amazing iranian team, which we didnt.

This was the worst Bahraini team i have seen in many years, if the game would be 270 minutes Bahrain would havw not scored.

Hajsafi as usual. He should be ashamed to play for TM.

Still thank you Dragan but we need to see quality. Of course i also liked some of his ideas

[The Realist]

It is the sign of a good manager that although he makes a mistake or at least he finds his line up and tactics are not working, he’s bold enough to make changes. It was brilliant play by our two strikers and the changes that transformed our fortunes.

While I agree it is early days in giving Dragan extensive credit, so far so good from a manager that was in a mediocre club level management over a year ago. He’s done a lot better and on the way to repairing the horrible damage that a world class manager did to TM (yes IFF has a lot to answer too)

Football is a game of results and he’s got pretty good ones so far. Win against Iraq and we would then owe him and the lads. I’m not saying he’s a perfect fit for guiding us in a World Cup tournament but for now and next round he’s on the way to proving himself. I for one will support him, every fan has his own opinion. Don’t forget TM results is not just about management, today we can boast about having few-world class players.

[Golefarsi]

Do you really think CQ will come back? It wount happen and its time to accept the past is the past. If Dragan gets a good result over Iraq and respectful result in friendlies over decent teams then its better to stick with him. CQ is gone and people needs to accept it.. I dont want CQ back, his era is finished. Seams people remember CQ only over a few games. Our WCQ 2014 was big roller-coaster loosing to Libanon and geting raped by UZB. Getting two very lucky wins over Korea... There are no easy games. IFF needs to do their homework when it comes to what coach they bring in. CQ could not do more than he did for us, he maxed us out in my mind or reached our peak and there is no guarantee that with him we will all of a sudden reach WC.

[Philosophy_King]

BORO BABA
The guy started the worst xi possible that produced probably one of our most suicidual halves of football ever.
Only when forced to introduce ghoddos did game change (a player who should have started the game) and then when he brought in saeid for an injured vahid (another who should have started game) did we shit on bahrain like we should have done from minute 1.
And still he didnt sub the worst player on the pitch, hajsafi...
The guy is gone after this round. He is a moron in charge of one of the most talented generations ever
I do give him credit for at least recognizing how badly he fucked up and putting in ghoddos at half. Also whatever they spoke about with the players overall was solid bc they did not panic in second half.
Only if he drops the worst midfield combination in the history of TM for Iraq game will there be some evidence for appreciation thread.

Honestly at this point, i wouldn't mind it if an Iranian Coach (Yahya, Hashemian, Daei) would continue our mission, if we make it to the next round.

[Doctor DOOM]

To Skocic detractors:
I understad the first half was quite bad.
But maybe he was thinking of preserving some of his trump cards for the Iraq game. Hence benching Ezzi or saman or JB, ... , thinking if this starting lineup does the job in the first 50-55 minutes, then those other chaps can take it easy and not show their form or game.

unfortunately, he had to bring in some in to finish the job.
I wouldnt read too much into who was benched or what his line up was.

clearly he was intelligent enough to know what to change to impact the game.
some coaches persist even when they're failing so obviously.

[Afat11]

As a general matter, it doesn’t make sense to say the coach is purposefully playing weak players with a weak tactic to A. Get in the mind of the other team B. Conserve players to use later, C. Some other sneaky reason. In a do or die game like this, you don’t look ahead to 2 games from now (even if it worked you’d be stupid to do that as a manager).

Let’s be real that Skocic was out of his depth in the first half. You start your best players in a do or die game like this. Imagine Hajsafi had given a stupid pass (which he did many times) and they’d scored before us. We’d be singing a different tune after a great deal of Bahraini grass rolling.

It’s disingenuous to say a coach ever puts a bad lineup out on purpose. He didn’t and it wasn’t an “ace up his sleeve” situation. When that backfires, you’re out of a job. The team he started was bad, that’s it. He needs to improve going forward. If he has Hajsafi out there against Iraq trying to “surprise them” and bring in the big guns at 60th minute, we will be in a perfect position to lose. Make better decisions to start. We have a lot of depth, no reason to put out that weak starting lineup.

[diz]

The results are what we all wanted. Give the dude some credit. He had a demoralized team after the wiltits fiasco, without any support from IFF for friendlies, training, etc. yes, the first half was aweful, everyone turned it around in the second half. He’s no CQ, but the results can’t be ignored.

[O-ZoNe]

As a general matter, it doesn’t make sense to say the coach is purposefully playing weak players with a weak tactic to A. Get in the mind of the other team B. Conserve players to use later, C. Some other sneaky reason. In a do or die game like this, you don’t look ahead to 2 games from now (even if it worked you’d be stupid to do that as a manager).

Let’s be real that Skocic was out of his depth in the first half. You start your best players in a do or die game like this. Imagine Hajsafi had given a stupid pass (which he did many times) and they’d scored before us. We’d be singing a different tune after a great deal of Bahraini grass rolling.

This irks me...with CQ us fans were like imagine if he had the resukt against Argentina...so close against Nigeri...Bosnia not his fault oh what could have been. 4 years later same story...imagine this or that...

Skocic comes into a place we have a hostile history...uses a lineup he had no time to prepare...played his moves and came out not 1-0, not 2-0, but 3-0...a scoreline that if CQ got against this team we'd be asking to make him president and give him 4 doctorates....

Man TM fans are a fickle bunch
Let's enjoy the win. None of this was Skocics doing but against all odds and afc bs he snuck a win! Congrats to all!



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