Dragan Skočić Appreciation Thread!

[Mr.Click]

its very possible
look@ senegal egyt opponent in playoff is no push over.

it be a good group to have
iran colombia and egypt in it

While you're at it might wanna add Portugal too 😂

[Iman_Joon]

I'm so sick and tired of people saying things like "but look at the players we have" bla bla... yeah, but why the hell couldn't that belgian guy win any games with this team?
He even had more experience and have been dealing with way more bigger star players than our players....

So I don't buy that crap that Skocic didn't do anything - the players did it all.....

[Futbaldoost]

^ Again, well said. Funny that Skocic was asked the same question in a TV interview and he said perhaps in one match we just let the players play without the coaching team and see what happens.

Go TM!

[BacheLot]

Handling talent is a skill on its own.

indeed ...!
that goozoo Wiltits also had the same Rock Solid TM squad which was essentially the end result of CQ's hard work of Over 8 years..! but he didnt know what to do with them to get positive results vs clearly inferior opponent list in last round of qualifying..!

imo, the only knock against or should say questions/doubts still surrounding Dragan is that his TM hasn't yet faced a truly challenging and high footballing caliber opponent, so rightfully some doubts/questions remain whether if he achieve similarly impressive results as he has so far in final round of Qualifying..??
and no i dont consider Iraq/UAE/Bahrain probably even SK ? anywhere near a high caliber footballing nation that we are very much likely to face at WC..!! Just because we have traditionally Underperform or lost vs such teams, doesn't mean that they were a better footballing opponent than TM..!!
what Eskoocher must be fully commended for is that he has not allowed his TM to Underperform when facing such Tokhmy opponents, especially in vital fixtures...!! something even CQ wasn't able to achieve, even after 8 years in charge with a respectable consistency..!

so far the most challenging game eskoocher has had at helm of TM has been the SK clash @ our home and we only managed a draw...! though some could argue that should won it narrowly too..?

[DR Strangemoosh]

Even though I love Queiroz for building Iran, giving us two unexpectedly amazing world cup experiences for those who went to Brazil and Russia and blooding all these players, I have to give credit where credit's due.

Skocic has done very well particularly after the disaster of Wilkunt and i'm happy with how he has handled the media and some of the other challenges in iranian football.

I know there are still doubters who think that Iran with this talent pool should aim for second round and he probably doesn't have the nous for that but who knows, he's earned it so let's see...


Cliffs Notes:

Queiroz is an absolute God
Skocic is doing well and I hope he continues.

[Ghermez Agha]

His achievements, with almost no friendlies, no prep, etc, are nothing short of amazing. Trust the results to indicate competence.

I do not disagree, however, my biggest bone to pick with him ATM and honestly has been my biggest lingering one from day 1 is his CB selection. If he continues to get that wrong we will pay for it in the WC and he will be no more than branko 2.0. He has thousands of minutes of game film to refer to where countless blunders, poor positioning, etc. resulted in a dangerous counter for the opposition. Thankfully we played in a very weak group and didn’t have to pay for it in qualification but in the WC…..that will not be the case.

PAG is in absolute must in the back, no questions about it. He cannot afford for his own sake to get that wrong

[Futbaldoost]

I do not disagree, however, my biggest bone to pick with him ATM and honestly has been my biggest lingering one from day 1 is his CB selection. If he continues to get that wrong we will pay for it in the WC and he will be no more than branko 2.0. He has thousands of minutes of game film to refer to where countless silt blunders, poor positioning, etc. resulted in a dangerous counter for the opposition. Thankfully we played in a very weak group and didn’t have to pay for it in qualification but in the WC…..that will not be the case.
PAG is in absolute must in the back, no questions about it. He cannot afford for his own sake to get that wrong

I think his main challenge is the talent pool. He also has the philosophy that there is the element of players knowing each other and playing as a cohesive unit. The good news is that PAG is now training and he is 1.5 to 2 months away from being match ready (watch here https://video.varzesh3.com/video/245...B1%D8%A7%D9%82). I think/hope that Skocic will start experimenting in CB after WC draw.

Go TM!

[Damavand]

I appreciate Skocic for qualifying us so early to the WC. But for me to have full faith in him at the WC, he has to be able to convincingly defeat Korea in March.

Something he failed to do in Tehran with his conservative approach in the first half and not bringing in fresh legs when the Koreans were in complete disarray after we had equalized in the second.

[O-ZoNe]

I appreciate Skocic for qualifying us so early to the WC. But for me to have full faith in him at the WC, he has to be able to convincingly defeat Korea in March.

Something he failed to do in Tehran with his conservative approach in the first half and not bringing in fresh legs when the Koreans were in complete disarray after we had equalized in the second.

I don't think this is fair. Remember we have qualified and Skocic may want to test other systems and players. While he is likely to stand by his words and try for the win, given our track record with arranging friendlies he may have no other opportunity to experiment. The guy is in the history books...against all odds thanks to Wilmots...let's cut him some slack. The real test will be can he get us to round 2 or even win AC.

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[diz]

I appreciate Skocic for qualifying us so early to the WC. But for me to have full faith in him at the WC, he has to be able to convincingly defeat Korea in March.

1-0 defeat of Korea in Soeul would be convincing enough for me.

[Keano]

Last WCQ we held the least goal conceded team of the continent (Almost the world's) and this year we hold streak of 11 undefeated matches record

[Damavand]

1-0 defeat of Korea in Soeul would be convincing enough for me.

That score line is fine with me as long as we are the dominant team through out the game, the same way Korea was dominant against us in the first half in Tehran.

[inarsenewetrust]

I agree he should be commended for quick qualification. CQ also achieved a full qualifying campaign undefeated, but as mentioned, what really stood out and pointed to our evolution was the games against SK.

1-0 in azadi may have been our mots dominant performance vs a respectable side in the last decade+. They literally did not have a sniff (literally zero shots on goal, 1 shot total), we controlled the match from start to finish and scored a beautiful back-to-front team goal as well. This was the prototype CQ performance, even when they had the ball we were in control.

Then in the away fixture saeid got a red and we still got out of a packed seoul with a 0-0 draw.

Reproducing the same level of dominance vs SK is the only way we can tell (until friendly matches) where the team TRULY stands, regardless of the clear improvements we have made when dealing with arab opposition

[BacheLot]

That score line is fine with me as long as we are the dominant team through out the game, the same way Korea was dominant against us in the first half in Tehran.

dominant possession stats, attractive attacking football blah blah blah.... means little to me compared to Ultimately Getting Positive Result/ by any and all means possible.!!

[ramingeles2000]

you can't have it both ways. you can't say "well TM has amazing players, any coach can do it" when we win and then blame the coach if we don't win.

The coach's job is to select the right players, motivate them, and take the resources at hand - players, conditions, friendlies, whatever - and put the team in the best position to succeed. CQ put us in a position to win.

Was CQ responsible for Messi's curling kick?
Was he responsible for ben williams showing pouladi the red?
Was he responsible for Taremi's inability to score against portugal in the dying minutes?
was he responsible for saeed/taremi's absence against japan in ac2019, and hajsafi and kanaani's idiocy in leaving their posts?

CQ did an amazing job with the players we had. We had some really bad luck at critical moments, and this usually boiled down to our players. If any of those moments had gone the other way, CQs legacy wouldn't be vulnerable to attack.

Skocic has done a good job. I'm not going to give all the credit to our players because wilmots had the same players and we were a mess. while it's true that skocic has done a fine job at the asian level, it's also true that skocic's TM has real issues in the back, the likes of which we haven't seen since CQs early days. unfortunately none of us know how severe these problems are because we haven't been tested. SK away will be a decent test but they'll be qualified so i'm afraid it won't be the stress test some are making it out to be.

i just hope to god we get tested through some solid friendlies....i don't want to find out how vulnerable we are in the WC against france/italy/brazil.