Iran vs South Korea post match discussion and player ratings

[Mahsaa]

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.

Montazeri ? lol is he even alive ?

[metallica69]

Overall good game

This team clearly needs more time together. I don’t know if they will have any friendlies any time soon. We do need a better right back. Not sure if we have other options as our league hasn’t even started. 8 more points and I am buying my Qatar tickets

[naderb94]

Good result against the other best team in the group but ok performance overall.. First half was absolutely atrocious but 2nd half we got better.. Thankfully we got a point out of it. The officiating was really good.. The ref allowed them to play and sided with us on a few occasions.

We've had 3 bad performances so far out of the 4 we've played but have gotten by getting great results.. These kind of performances will be good enough in Asia but we'll get killed in the WC playing like this.. Our backline terrifies me against stronger opponents.

Ratings

Skocic: 0, He got exposed today.. He had no adjustments or gameplan at all.. Made like one sub which was poor.. Waited til the 89th min to bring in other subs.. I don't know what he has against Ghoddos but its really getting annoying now.

Beiranvand: 8, Saved us in the end and overall looked like in control, he could've done better on the Son goal but solid performance.

Moharrami: 1, Gave up way too many poor passes and just looked horrible all over.. clearly our worst player.. but we've seen better performances from him

Shoja: 4, he was ehh.. looked sloppy in defense and worries me just like kanaani. good to play against arab countries but nothing higher

Kanaani: 4, looked horrible today.. almost gave up a late goal to Son.. I would be scared if we were playing some European country.

Amiri: 6, Did well playing aggressive but some points i was scared he would get carded.. still a solid performance.. Not a bad LB option for us.

Nourollahi: 5, he was okay... had a good assist to taremi in the first half but also had some poor passes and decision making.. just okay

Ezatolahi: 9, our best player today! Was a tank in the midfield and controlled the middle of the field. had very crisp solid passes whereas other players for us were very sloppy with passes

Gholizadeh: 4, poor performance.. he's better off coming in as a sub for ARJ like the UAE game.

ARJ: 7, if it wasn't for his outstanding header, i would've likely given him a 4. his game is way too inconsistent. I do think he should start but needs to be subbed off at some point.

Taremi: 8, He was our best attacking player today. Created multiple opportunities on goal with a nice bicycle kick and shot that hit the post. He did waste a couple of other good opportunities in the first but overall a solid performance.

Azmoun: 7, Solid game overall.. Great assist to ARJ for the goal due to his hustle where many would've given up. Had a great shot on goal towards end of the first half.

SUBS:
Noorafkan: 4 Shouldn't have been brought into the game.. Came in and got a yellow right away. Overall poor game.

[nisfejahan]

MOM....Ezzi again.

Beiro, great save at the end.

Taremi, ran his ass off again. A bit too selfish. At times tried to do too much by himself.

Azmun, cannot judge, did not get much in terms of service.

JB, expected better. Great goal. He has scored in 3 out of 4 games now and leads AFC scorers in this round. But still expected more in terms of playmaking, first touch and control.

Noorollahi continues to disappoint. Cannot understand how he starts in from of Saman.

Gholi, ok but expected much more.

Central defense, adequate for now.

Left and right backs, disappointing.

Skocik ?!!! He needs to make changes sooner. Saman HAS to play. Ghaedi deserves better than garbage minutes. The game plan seemed to be back to bezan ziresh and hope for a miracle by Sardar of Mehdi. Need better possession, movement of the ball.

[Mahsaa]

I missed Koreas goal while driving but what does Beiro do 10 meters in front of his goal ??

[mahestan]

Montazeri ? lol is he even alive ?

He's hanging out with Seyed Jalal

Joking aside, I know age plays a big factor, but at minimum we need the 1 defender that is the backbone for our defensive line. Hopefully PAG can regain that once he is back.

[PEJ]

Montazeri ? lol is he even alive ?

Lol! The guy is playing with his grandchildren right now.

[naderb94]

Next match, I would love to see Ghoddos, Majid Hosseini, Milad Mohammadi get a start.

Time to shake things up a bit and stop playing the exact same lineup.

[PEJ]

I missed Koreas goal while driving but what does Beiro do 10 meters in front of his goal ??

I mean what was he supposed to do? Sadegh was burned pretty bad, and Son had a clear path to goal. As a goalie you can’t just sit back, you have to come out and challenge the ball. Son did a great job of not holding the ball too long and hit a pro level placement shot.

[perspolis#1]

You guys have to chill. The CQ vs Skocic thing is overblown its the same players with CQs team being defensively more sound but with Skocics team taking more risks. Move on from it.

10 points. We could have won but let's get qualified and then worry about the World cup. 6 points against Lebanon and Syria and we are pretty much there

[_Navid_]

What a joy it is it watch Saeed play. It is like watching poetry!

Beiranvand 8
Kanani 5.5
Shoja 5.5
Moharrami 4
Noorafkan 5
Amiri 6
Nourollahi 6
Ezatollahi 8.5
Jahanbakhsh 7.5
Gholizadeh 4
Taremi 6.5
Azmoun 7

[The Realist]

Just a word on the ref: I thought he had a decent game.

Nice favour with 10 seconds to go and Koreans having a final corner kick he below his whistle. Haha, Koreans were furious!

[milad_b]

I have been supporting skocic from the beginning even when he was criticised by so many people! I said from beginning he should get 10-13 games, then we should judge him. Today was his 11th game and I'm totally disappointed! Maybe Time to start thinking about a proper world class coach! How did Taaj let Herve Renard go is a BIG question for me! He should be put in jail for that!

Lack of play making with all this world class players! Benching Ghoddos and playing Ahmad noor ! Vahid amiri as LB ??? I thought i would never say this but since Noorafkan is suspended I'm happy with hajsafi to play as LB! Allowing koreans to attack without compressing them??? The sad thing is that this korean team is probably the weakest korean side i've seen in past 10 years or so (barely managed to beat syria and lebanon and draw against iraq (weakest iraq))!

Saeed Ezza Man of the match !

The rest of the team either average or under average!

[Keshwardoost]

Next match, I would love to see Ghoddos, Majid Hosseini, Milad Mohammadi get a start.

Time to shake things up a bit and stop playing the exact same lineup.

Id like to se Hardani get a chance angain, and Ghoddos and Ghaedi

[Kavian]

Again, for me is not so much of individual player rating but how the team plays together and executes the game plan. Here is my 2 cents;

1. Consistency, Consistency, Consistency! ... We are not able to sustain game plan for more than 5 min at a time. We are great for a little bit then we become horrible! .. and I mean HORRIBLE where the whole team goes into this dazed and confused mental state. We lose the ball easily, make bad passes, often commit unnecessary fouls and become very vulnerable! I don't know what our coaching staff think about those moments or even if they recognize this phenomena at all.

2. The more I watch Iran games under current coaching staff, the more I realize the team plays more or less the same against all teams. I have not been able to see/sense a profoundly different game strategy for a specific game. Other teams will eventually see this and devise countering strategies, as we saw during UAE game.

3. Wings Wings Wings!! our weakest links continue to be our wings. From the back to the front! We have lack of solid players and skills there. We are not able to deliver healthy balls and create opportunity for our strikers. Sardar is a type of forward who needs to be fed healthy balls.

4. As for players today, I think our defense was the better part of our team. Both Kanani and Shoja did well. Our midfield was sitting back too much and were playing width most of the time. We saw what happened when Ezat ventured forward. We almost scored! Ahmad is a great player but for some reason, it is hard to spot him on the field. Our strikers were dangerous. Taremi was everywhere today. We are so lucky to have him. Sardar was little bit better than previous game, but again, he is not like Taremi. He needs service which the team did not do for him to score. His assist was superb! JB continues to score but overall he is also a weak link.

With that said, I think today's result was better for Korea. They managed to get a point in Tehran which puts them in a better position in the return game.

I hope we win the game with Lebanon and sit comfortably on top of the table with a comfortable 13 points.