Sardar Azmoun @ Zenit St. Petersburg 2021/22

[PSGman#19]

Check Sardar's stats again and then you'll realize your statement is incorrect.

I am not speaking about stats only

[Sepehr9]

I am not speaking about stats only

What are you speaking about then? Because a strikers job is to score goals and occasionally give assists. Something which Sardar is doing consistently for years now. Just yesterday he gave an important assist which lead to a very important goal.

[PSGman#19]

What are you speaking about then? Because a strikers job is to score goals and occasionally give assists. Something which Sardar is doing consistently for years now. Just yesterday he gave an important assist which lead to a very important goal.

I speak about some period of scoring/assist drought yes, but also period when he play neutral/without any motivation or bad first touch

[Sepehr9]

I speak about some period of scoring/assist drought yes, but also period when he play neutral/without any motivation or bad first touch

Regarding his "scoring/assist drought "I advice you to check his stats again, he scores a goal in every 2 games, that's very impressive so we cannot speak of a drought. regarding Azmoun not being motivated, that is just your impression, has nothing to do with reality. My impression is that he is a motivated player, his first touch is generally also good.

[PSGman#19]

Regarding his "scoring/assist drought "I advice you to check his stats again, he scores a goal in every 2 games, that's very impressive so we cannot speak of a drought. regarding Azmoun not being motivated, that is just your impression, has nothing to do with reality. My impression is that he is a motivated player, his first touch is generally also good.

Stats are not everything, specifically in a weak Russian league. But If you want to focus on stats, then we can talk about stats in CL.

[BacheLot]

i agree with PSG, getting fed up with his laxy dazy nonchalant , half-assish, lazy fk's playing demeanor up top ....!! especially so in yesterday's match..!!!
sure, his one touch combination and set up for our goal yesterday was sublime but also our probable Red card incident started out with him dragging ass collecting Amiri? pass to him top of the UAE Box, not being able to appropriately collect and hold the ball the fking ball up like a proper top level #9..!! that play coulda well turned that game on its head and handed us a cruel loss..!
not to mention his kiri attempt on that Penalty ... again half-hearted, kiri attempt with rather obvious intentions, that even a lardAss outa-shape keeper easily discerned and parried away..!

he still needs vastly up his stamina, and his pressing work-rate strength and even composure in possession and proper hold-up of the ball to play as anything resembling a Consistent Starting #9 in an Elite EU club we all want and expect him to join and play next season..!

he certainly possesses the abilities and the quality to do so, but frankly the adequate Fitness? (or is it more the Intent and motivation ?) to address those issues seem to be lacking and that is frankly sad to witness on a fking contract year where all top scout's eyes are on him ..! :/

[ParthianDE]

Although I agree that Azmoun often comes across as non-chalant, it does not bother me, because I accept him as he is.
That's his personality and he's doing great for what is expected of him scoring and assisting with really impressive stats, both for his club AND TM.
Also, regarding personality, he doesn't cause hashiee either which I'm very greatful for.

Plus, I really think some members really underestimate the extreme klimate differential between Russia and the UAE.
I vividly remember during the national anthem closeups that even UAE's goally had massive sweat pouring down his temples. This is before the game even started.
Another vivid memory is how our Busheri Maestro who is used to this super hot AND humid weather, had to lay down on his back when the final whistle blew and was breathing so hard for so long that I started worrying about him.

Azmoun is one of our elite level players and I'll gladly accept his minor personality quirks as long as he keeps getting us results!

[BacheLot]

^the reason im being overly critical and nitpicking is because i know that he is indeed an Elite level player and still imo the top overall Level footballer in TM....!! Yes above that of even Taremi but with not even half his workrate and Fitness level....!
here we are mostly expecting him to move to an elite level EU club, all's im saying is that he needs up his Fitness and proper pressing workrate and strength in hold-up play to have a realistic chance of landing that job and more importantly figure-in there as a Consistent Starter..!!

[inarsenewetrust]

and I also dont agree that his assist was minor or a GK error.

His ability to actually control the passes taremi fired at him in tight space and turn them into one touch return balls, and then have the awareness to play him in behind, onsides, and far enough in front that defenders had no chance to get back and close enough to taremi than GK couldnt reach it was objectively a high level play that won us the game.

So was his realization that taremi was in behind and playing him through with no hesitation for critical second goal vs Iraq.

Some games it was azmoun who scored the decisive goal with taremi giving the passes/involved in set up plays more (Bahrain, Iraq), some game like second iraq match and yesterday its the opposite.

We dont need to keep comparing them every game and saying oh this one did this better and this one didnt do that.

They are our best players by a considerable distance, they are both producing in europe and for TM, they are both improving considerably in past years, they both have room to grow and get better, and most crucially they really compliment each other well so we have the joy of watching them play together.

Skocic task is getting more service to them that ideally doesnt involve the other one always. Ghoddos, Gholizadeh, Salmani can all be really helpful to elevate technical level and speed of the AMs and make higher IQ decisions to supply these guys. IMO 2 of those 3 should almost always be starting.

Skocic often prefers 0 of them and it shows when we struggle to give them more than 2,3 good balls a game

[Sepehr9]

Stats are not everything, specifically in a weak Russian league. But If you want to focus on stats, then we can talk about stats in CL.

Weak Russian league? The Russian league is listed as the 9th strongest league in Europe. Stronger for example than Belgium and Turkey. The Russian league is also a very tough physical league which is not weak by any means. Sardar is clearly the star in this league and the topscorer. He plays for a club that has underperformed in the Champions League so naturally that also affects the striker, He has scored against Bayern, Ajax, Atletico and Anderlecht in the CL while playing for Rostov and not many Asian or Iranian players can say that. For the national team he has played 57 games and scored 37 times, those are incredible stats. He gave important assists against Iraq and UAE in his last two games for TM, most of the games he plays an important role, which is either scoring, giving assists or creating danger, which is his job as a striker. He is doing a great job, one of the best forwars Iran has ever produced along with Ali Daei and Taremi. Not too long ago people here were praising Gucci as this amazing striker while Sardar is superior to Reza in every aspect of the game, we are lucky to have him so just relax and enjoy his input and work for TM. Your criticism of Azmoun is unfounded.

[TM4LIFE]

I dont want to beat a dead horse here but Azmouns only issue has been staying in Russia too long and not getting to a league where expectations on your final third decision making and possession are much higher. Not much room to get it right only 1/3 of the time when you’re in a more cut throat league and that’s what it’ll take to polish up that facet of his game

[PSGman#19]

Weak Russian league? The Russian league is listed as the 9th strongest league in Europe. Stronger for example than Belgium and Turkey. The Russian league is also a very tough physical league which is not weak by any means. Sardar is clearly the star in this league and the topscorer. He plays for a club that has underperformed in the Champions League so naturally that also affects the striker, He has scored against Bayern, Ajax, Atletico and Anderlecht in the CL while playing for Rostov and not many Asian or Iranian players can say that. For the national team he has played 57 games and scored 37 times, those are incredible stats. He gave important assists against Iraq and UAE in his last two games for TM, most of the games he plays an important role, which is either scoring, giving assists or creating danger, which is his job as a striker. He is doing a great job, one of the best forwars Iran has ever produced along with Ali Daei and Taremi. Not too long ago people here were praising Gucci as this amazing striker while Sardar is superior to Reza in every aspect of the game, we are lucky to have him so just relax and enjoy his input and work for TM. Your criticism of Azmoun is unfounded.

9th league means there is 8 leagues better than this. Even Taremi plays in a bigger league and scored in CL against top league teams recently.
We expect him to be a world class striker like haaland who is a machine in Bundesliga and in CL every year.
Nice he scored against bayern and atletico but nothing in UCL so far, nothing last year, only two in a group without top teams two years ago.

[Medzdidz]

By the way I am totally agreeing that he needs to be in a better league which (hopefully) he should be next season and being surrounded by better players and playing more high calibre opposition every week with quality coaching will only benefit him.
Last seasons Champions League was a tricky one- he had fitness issues through most of that campaign and Zenit were horrendous altogether so no surprise he didn’t score. So far this season he was unlucky to have an injury not to start the last Malmo game and before that against Chelsea he had a couple of chances but should have an assist and not for quality defending from Rudiger probably would have had a goal.

[sam20]

9th league means there is 8 leagues better than this. Even Taremi plays in a bigger league and scored in CL against top league teams recently.
We expect him to be a world class striker like haaland who is a machine in Bundesliga and in CL every year.
Nice he scored against bayern and atletico but nothing in UCL so far, nothing last year, only two in a group without top teams two years ago.

First of all, let's keep in mind that taremi is two years older than azmoun. Let's see where azmoun is in two years, then compare.

Secondly, you point to his inability to score last year and this year after TWO MATCHES.

A player's chances of scoring is more heavily impacted by the way their team performs than their own ability.

Football is a team sport and you have to understand this and not just assume a player is underperforming just because he doesn't score in a TEAM SPORT. I'm only capitalizing words for emphasis sake by the way so don't take it the wrong way lolll.

Also keep in mind that last season, the Russian league had ZERO rest between their two seasons because of covid limitations, which is why they underperformed so badly last season vs now when they are able to keep up with Chelsea and deserved a draw with the chances Azmoun created.

Just look carefully at that match and our matches against iraq and UAE lately : even when azmoun isn't scoring, he's constantly creating goals and we wouldn't have scored without him on the field. He also plays really well and hustles, pressures defenders and Keepers into mistakes, wins tons of Arial duels which help us enormously with keeping possession and creating Chances.

You need to pay more attention to everything he does, not just the Chances he misses sometimes.

[PSGman#19]

First of all, let's keep in mind that taremi is two years older than azmoun. Let's see where azmoun is in two years, then compare.
Secondly, you point to his inability to score last year and this year after TWO MATCHES.
A player's chances of scoring is more heavily impacted by the way their team performs than their own ability.
Football is a team sport and you have to understand this and not just assume a player is underperforming just because he doesn't score in a TEAM SPORT. I'm only capitalizing words for emphasis sake by the way so don't take it the wrong way lolll.
Also keep in mind that last season, the Russian league had ZERO rest between their two seasons because of covid limitations, which is why they underperformed so badly last season vs now when they are able to keep up with Chelsea and deserved a draw with the chances Azmoun created.
Just look carefully at that match and our matches against iraq and UAE lately : even when azmoun isn't scoring, he's constantly creating goals and we wouldn't have scored without him on the field. He also plays really well and hustles, pressures defenders and Keepers into mistakes, wins tons of Arial duels which help us enormously with keeping possession and creating Chances.
You need to pay more attention to everything he does, not just the Chances he misses sometimes.

Taremi is two years older but he spent most of his career in iran and qatar. He left middle east very late.
Azmoun is in Russia for 10 years, even played europa league when being 17 or 18 y.o.
Yes he didn't scored in the two CL games this year, nor the 6 CL games last year (3 or 4 in reality) in a group without top teams, nor the last 4 games of CL the previous year (even an own goal) in a group without top teams.
We can have all the excuse of zenit being crap but brugge & co level isn't that above zenit one. Porto was demolished by a far superior Liverpool but taremi managed to score a goal.
Azmoun had a formidable opportunity to show his class and justify the hype at wc18. Ohhh this 1 vs 1 against Morocco