Iran vs South Korea post match discussion and player ratings

[Kavian]

And yet the belgian guy couldn't beat teams like them. Skocic took us from nearly bottom to winning the group when we were in a bad bad and dark place. But yeah, I know what you mean and yes he could be little better with his coaching DURING games.

The Belgian guy was a con artist .. he was the product of bunch of opportunistic middle men trying to make big commission which they did :-) and the head of federation was in lala-land. Didn't understand what he was signing with guy. Bi-saavadi !!!!

[Keshwardoost]

yeah they probably told that illeterate guy yeah its that marc guy from belgia or holland or whatever it was, you know the one you liked when you were a kid..
and he thought he gets marc van basten.. then he signed the papers and got marc wiltits

[Doctor DOOM]

It looks nice but considering those 10 were against the likes of Iraq/Bahrain/Cambodia/Syria (winnable games) and the one draw is against someone on our level, it doesn't look all too impressive but results are results..

and CQ faced what teams in asia exactly?
the same.
Same thing with Wilmots and Bran-goh and every other coach who coached Iran in ASIA

[ABalls]

Weird game.. Iran honestly had the better chances besides a few horrible giveaways and defensive lapses. Still, 1-1 is an OK result considering we are top of the leaderboard right now
Post your ratings below:
Skocic: 4.5, to be honest, skocic left a lot to be desired in this game. There was no defensive structure nor was there any great attacking strategies. Got bailed out by brilliance from Azmoun and ARJ
Beiranvand: 8, thought he had a good game. Good exits and couldn't do much on the goal he conceded. That save at the end thanks to horrible defending from Shoja and a poor giveaway from Moharrami saved us.
Moharrami: 3, absolutely woeful all game. So many poor passes and turnovers and was caught sleeping on the Son Heung-Min goal. Giveaway in the last minute almost lost us the game.
Shoja: 5, not his best day today. We knew he would have trouble against a more formidable defense and here it was.
Kanaani: 6, better than Shoja lol
Amiri: 6.5, hustled hard and played some good balls but couldn't really do much else
Nourollahi: 6.5, played decent tbh, had a great through ball to Taremi and got passed a korean defender near the goal but we still cannot rely on him. His first touch and game in tight spaces is not great.
Ezatolahi: 8.5, excellent game from Saeid! Controlled the midfield and had some great tackles, excellent technique and was unlucky not to score the goal that hit the crossbar. My MOTM
Gholizadeh: 5.5, invisible
ARJ: 7, first half he was pretty stiff and couldn't do much but man he is really on a good goal scoring form of late lol.. 3 goals in 4 team melli games.
Taremi: 8, such a tank. We are so lucky to have him, we love you Mehdi! Was getting pretty much triple teamed and still found a way to lead us on attack and even on defense! His long shot was also unlucky to not go in...
Azmoun: 7.5, good hustling and hold up play.. His assist to ARJ was a beauty! Reminded me of the Ghoddos
assist to Azmoun against Vietnam in 2019 AC.
SUBS:
Noorafkan: 4.5, pretty poor defensively. Definitely his worst team melli game yet.
The rest N/A

Mostly agreed, but I would provide a lower rating to both Beiranvand for some sloppy distribution. Our defense as a whole struggled.

Good thing Lebanon is the first game next month. Without taking our foot of the pedal too much, its time to rotate the squad and look at our options and other combinations. Hosseini, Sarlak, Ghayedi, Mohammadi, J. Salmani, Aghasi, Gholami, Y. Salmani, Ghoddos and Sayyadmanesh all need to be considerations for call-ups and minutes.

-----------------------Beiro---------------------
Moharrami---Hosseini---Shoja---Mohammadi
ARJ-------------Sarlak---Ghoddos------Amiri
-------------Azmoun----------Taremi-----------

With J. Salmani, Ghayedi and Gholami prioritized for playing time.

[TM4LIFE]

Man i know azmoun sent that nice assist but his passing in the final third was so frustrating this game. So many times he just needed a simple clean ball to Taremi and he made either the wrong choice or hit it poorly. Taremi also with a couple weird mishits on good opportunities. Shame we couldn't get the 3 points.

[zereshk-ali]

- Skocic’s reshuffle of the team really turned the game around and worked. And that is hallmark of a good coach. After the Korean goal, by bringing Nourafkan for LB, he allowed Amiri (who is wasted at LB) to come to LM/LW , by releasing JB (who was performing well. Despite many of your criticism) to his better suited RW role.

What this did was reinforce our left side, both for defense as well as attacks. And with JB as RW, now, Koreans had to deal with TWO dangerous flanks. That’s why we were able to put extra pressure on them and even score.

100% agree

[Naap]

Our wings are consistently disappointing. Jahanbaksh may be scoring well lately but he should be the one setting up Taremi and Azmoun, not the other way around all the time. We have such a luxury of having these two strikers up front who don't really need many chances to score, but how can they when nothing useful comes from the other attacking players.

[inarsenewetrust]

Man i know azmoun sent that nice assist but his passing in the final third was so frustrating this game. So many times he just needed a simple clean ball to Taremi and he made either the wrong choice or hit it poorly. Taremi also with a couple weird mishits on good opportunities. Shame we couldn't get the 3 points.

the three (ARJ azmoun taremi) arent totally in sync always. Its still a process for them to find that chemistry again.

ARJ has his own issues, primarily confidence and speed related. But it seems unless/until he scores he lacks confidence to do even the basics properly. His entire playstyle changes with confidence.

Taremi is being asked to do too damn much. BC our midfield has no creativity at all it is up to taremi to drop deep and fulfill the role of somebody like ghoddos (since nour stands behind 3 guys like a scared little kid afraid to receive the ball under pressure for fear of turnover). Taremi is ok at this but it means you are going to get production of forward player acting as a mid from him, i.e he will take some unnecessary touches, the weight on his passes is not always correct, the passes are not always right, just bc compared to what he usually does he is being asked to be the main creator too.

I also counted many times taremi had the ball onto azmoun and he just didnt release it in time.

In general azmoun doesnt seem as sharp as he did before his couple week injury layoff this past month.

[Kavian]

Mostly agreed, but I would provide a lower rating to both Beiranvand for some sloppy distribution. Our defense as a whole struggled.
Good thing Lebanon is the first game next month. Without taking our foot of the pedal too much, its time to rotate the squad and look at our options and other combinations. Hosseini, Sarlak, Ghayedi, Mohammadi, J. Salmani, Aghasi, Gholami, Y. Salmani, Ghoddos and Sayyadmanesh all need to be considerations for call-ups and minutes.
-----------------------Beiro---------------------
Moharrami---Hosseini---Shoja---Mohammadi
ARJ-------------Sarlak---Ghoddos------Amiri
-------------Azmoun----------Taremi-----------
With J. Salmani, Ghayedi and Gholami prioritized for playing time.

Agree! But the game with Lebanon will not be an appropriate venue to field an experimental squad.

Lebanon is a tall and physically strong squad and have shown they can hold their own against bigger teams.

Game with Lebanon is a must win and we have to go with full experienced squad to guarantee the 3 points.

The reason for that would be because if we draw with Lebanon, and Korea beat UAT at home with a 3 or more goal margin, they will occupy the top position in the table. If we lose the game to Lebanon and Korea beat UAE, we will be in second place with only 2 points ahead of third place team which will be Lebanon. Not a comfortable scenario and certainly not worth risking the 3 points going into the next round.

If we are ahead by 2-3 goals in the later part of the 2nd half, then we can consider bringing in some players to gain experience.

[MR.ESTESNAII]

Korea got really lucky today….wish we got to see saman ghodos play more …one point is better than a loss. Is sad to see how they can’t install a VAR and support TM with loud supporters. It’s good we have more home games now…this has been an easier qualifications so far then the rest…..man imagine the monster we would be if Iran’s government wasn’t such a gaav and spent some money on this team

[ehsan singapore]

why doesnt ghoddos play?i think is a personal thing the coach and karim bagheri and hashemian dont play him on purpose

[Karimi 8]

why doesnt ghoddos play?i think is a personal thing the coach and karim bagheri and hashemian dont play him on purpose

He has barely played this season with Brentford (86 minutes total), and he was rarely used under Carlos, and now Skocic. I don't know the reason, but it can't be a coincidence.I don't understand because the times he has been on, he has done well for the most part, it is so confusing...

[Payam_Ali]

We need PAG back. In addition, I don't understand why Majid Hosseini, Pejman Montazeri and the rest of the defensive line from WC2018 hasn't got any consideration of being called up.

PAG tore his ACL. Who knows if he will ever be the same, let alone better than Shoja and Kaanani, who beat him out for three starting spot when he was healthy

[Nokhodi]

I won’t provide ratings but provide some general comments.

We tied our closest competitor and are first in our group. That in itself is a huge positive. Let’s be grateful considering how easy these things can go off track.

Best players today were Ezatollahi (by far) and then Amiri.
Physically they destroyed the Koreans, made excellent tackles and didn’t waste the ball often.
Ezatollahi is a classic player and really reminds me of Bagheri. There is a reason CQ constantly invited him to TM even when he was barely playing for months in his clubs.

Moharrami was really bad. Way too inconsistent. How can someone be so good and then bad in the next game ?
The central defenders were also quite bad. JB had a really bad first half too.

Some of you are asking why Ghodoos wasn’t bought in?
It’s quite simple - Ghodoos is superior offensively compared to all our midfielders, but he does not have the defensive capabilities that Nourollahi has.
With Nourollahi we basically play 2 DMs even though it doesn’t look like it. Nourollahi though is not a good player offensively so you all get pissed.
Once Korea scored, TM really picked it up and was attacking constantly without giving much shape defensively.
At that stage Skocic isn’t going to weaken the defensive capabilities of the team, when he believes the offense is going to get it done; he was right too - we should have 3 goals in the 2nd half at least.

For those complaining this is a weak group - you can only play who is in front of you. These games are ridiculously hard mentally. We have seen TM f up before in easy groups. One game at a time, that’s all you can do.

For those who saw our defense be challenged - what did you think was going to happen? We played a relatively open and attacking game - of course a team like South Korea will counter and challenge. They,re damn good at that, show some respect.

For those who keep crying for Ghaedi - he’s not the player you think he is. 15 years ago we had annoying fans constantly asking for Kazemian, Mobali, Borhani, and Enayati… and they all messed up… Ghaedi isn’t much better - that’s right, I said it.
I even think that nourollahi and Ghaedi won’t be in TM within 6 months - UAE is going to destroy their football like it has countless others.

For those who want flawless football - it doesn’t exist. Go back to PlayStation.

Now we need to prep for the next 2 games. Those games will be dirty and intense.
Also a very good opportunity for Ghodoos to start.

TLDR; calm yourselves, you’re running around like headless chicken.

[Under Lahaf]

if we had VAR (like many other nations in this world), the following would have triggered a review;

1. Korean player tackle on Taremi in 18 yard - Looked like a foul and it was a penalty

I thought I read in this forum? that we were going to have VAR by this game?

Not having VAR could've cost us 3 points! this is beyond ridiculous.


Korea got lucky, the result could've been much better but it doesn't change the fact that first half was very shaky and even boring. TM came alive after it fell behind.