Dragan Skočić In or Dragan Skočić Out?

[Leicester City]

This poll is for the consumption of PFDC to see where the forum stands on the matter.

Poll will close in 30 days.

Please vote.

[ramingeles2000]

Hoorad baz shoroo kardi? we're trying to enjoy our saturday afternoon.

[Leicester City]

[oracle]

daneshmand after
lebnon match
should resign along with vahid hashemian.
daneshmand did his job got us to wc .
going out on top.

[oracle]

dragon bye bye
dragon bye bye

[somebuffguy]

I voted for him to be out. He has to get better control of the players and motivate them no matter how bache nane their personalities might be.

[diz]

My pragmatic side says we gotta keep him, as there are no other realistic options before the WC. However, the passionate side of me says that it should be a privilege for any coach to be at the helm of such a talented team, and if they are not giving it 100% to get this team ready, prepared, and confident, then they can stay back and watch TM from home like the rest of us.

[Kian H]

I have a question. Imagine we never had Wilmots as a coach. Now imagine you get the oppertunity to fire Skocic now and hire Wilmots instead. A coach who has experince at the highest level. He coached Belgium at a World cup and a euros. He has Been the coach of some of the Best players in the World. He Would probably have the respect og our players. Would you take him? Probably yes. And that is probably the level of coach we Can get. On paper Wilmots is a much much better coach for Iran. But history showed, that Skocic is better for Iran than him

The morale is, be carefull what you wish for 8 months before a World cup. We could end up with a New Wilmots.

[somebuffguy]

I have a question. Imagine we never had Wilmots as a coach. Now imagine you get the oppertunity to fire Skocic now and hire Wilmots instead. A coach who has experince at the highest level. He coached Belgium at a World cup and a euros. He has Been the coach of some of the Best players in the World. He Would probably have the respect og our players. Would you take him? Probably yes. And that is probably the level of coach we Can get. On paper Wilmots is a much much better coach for Iran. But history showed, that Skocic is better for Iran than him

The morale is, be carefull what you wish for 8 months before a World cup. We could end up with a New Wilmots.

Exactly. Sports is like war. The team that wants it more, wins. This is why I think Skocic can only stay if he can get his soldiers in line. Players HAVE to want to play for him. They have to want to play for Iran.

[KasraKhan]

This poll is for the consumption of PFDC to see where the forum stands on the matter.
Poll will close in 30 days.
Please vote.

Sounds like a court proceeding.

[Altamonte]

I have a question. Imagine we never had Wilmots as a coach. Now imagine you get the oppertunity to fire Skocic now and hire Wilmots instead. A coach who has experince at the highest level. He coached Belgium at a World cup and a euros. He has Been the coach of some of the Best players in the World. He Would probably have the respect og our players. Would you take him? Probably yes. And that is probably the level of coach we Can get. On paper Wilmots is a much much better coach for Iran. But history showed, that Skocic is better for Iran than him

The morale is, be carefull what you wish for 8 months before a World cup. We could end up with a New Wilmots.

Wtf, even on paper Wilmots is trash. Skocic has actually won trophies as coach lmaoo

[Leicester City]

Gol Bezan Podcast's Analysis Article

Analysis Article: Iran 0 - 2 South Korea

4 Takeaways From Team Melli’s Defeat in Seoul

For the first time in 11 years, the Iran National team suffered defeat against one of its biggest rivals, South Korea. Following a comprehensive loss in Seoul, Team Melli surrendered first spot in the group and all but squandered chances of achieving a Pot 2 seeding for the upcoming World Cup in Qatar. While the absences of key players such as Taremi, Moharrami, Ezatolahi, Ghoddos and Jahanbakhsh severely handicapped Dragan Skočić’s men, the performance shown Thursday brings to the surface far deeper concerns that will undoubtedly put pressure on the coaching staff and players in the buildup to the World Cup.

1. Questionable Personnel

With the absences of Ezatolahi and Moharrami due to suspension known for months, a replacement defensive midfielder and right back were of urgent priority for the match versus South Korea. The favorite for the right back spot, Saleh Hardani, has been in impressive form following his transfer from Foolad to Tehran giants Esteghlal. Having deputized for Moharrami throughout qualification, it came as a shock to many when Hardani was dropped from the squad altogether. This pattern of confusing personnel selection could also be seen in the continued exclusion of in-form, veteran defensive midfielder Omid Ebrahimi. In his place, the inclusion of internationally-irrelevant Kamal Kamyabinia (who has not shown anything of special note for his club in many years) seemed to have handicapped Skočić even before the starting 11 was announced.

However questionable his initial squad may have been, even his most ardent supporters would struggle to explain the starting 11. The return of Milad Mohammadi, whose previous performances in the national team had seen him replaced by the likes of Vahid Amiri and Omid Noorafkan, proved to be a major liability. The AEK Athens man’s performance was so poor that Skočić was forced - not for the first time - to remove him at the half. On the opposite side, Shoja Khalilzadeh acquitted himself well defensively for 40 minutes, but his questionable fitness meant his level dropped until his eventual substitution on the stroke of half time. In his place, Aref Gholami made his debut at right back and looked highly uncomfortable out of his regular central role. Both Khalilzadeh and Gholami looked weak in possession and caused countless turnovers. Here, Skočić's refusal to prepare and play an orthodox right back cost the team dearly.

In midfield, Skočić's selection of Omid Noorafkan, who has not played that position since a failed stint in Charleroi three years ago, was particularly problematic. Unable to provide a reliable defensive shield or help keep possession, Noorafkan looked badly out of his depth. Beside him in the midfield was Ehsan Hajsafi, another left back placed in a central midfield role who severely limited the team’s offensive capabilities. It was Hajsafi’s failure to square the ball for a wide-open Ali Gholizadeh in the opening minutes that deprived Team Melli of a critical early goal. His performance subsequently got worse, forcing Skočić into another early sub.

By playing a combination of out-of-form and inexperienced players in new positions together for the first time, Skočić disrupted the stability of the team and created problematic situations that he had to address within the first hour. This wasted precious time and handed initiative to the Koreans, who upon realizing the inherent weakness of Iran’s side, ramped up the pressure and finished off the match.

2. Unclear Tactics, Failure to Adapt to Different In-Game situations

Following a promising opening 15 minutes where Team Melli pressed high and created multiple dangerous turnovers deep inside Korean territory, Skočić's men suddenly decided to drop into an extremely low block, encouraging the Koreans to try and break them down. The failure of the midfield line to initiate quick transitions from this low block to unlock the speed of Gholizadeh and Azmoun on the counter attack meant that the hosts felt free to push higher up the field. Often when Iranian defenders did take control of the ball, the midfield failed to provide appropriate passing angles and outlets to progress possession, leading to a series of dangerous turnovers. The roles of the individual midfielders were poorly designated, with none of Noorafkan, Nourollahi, Hajsafi, or Amiri providing stability in possession, smart defensive positioning, or offensive creativity.

After conceding the first goal, the coaching staff had 15 minutes to reassess before sending out the team for the second half. Whatever was said at half time was clearly insufficient, as the team looked much worse after the break, looking even more vulnerable defensively and equally toothless going forward. Critically, the team seemed woefully ill-equipped to respond to going behind. Skočić spent far too long adding another forward to the mix, and by the time he finally found the courage to do so the game was already lost. While individual errors did not help, it is undeniable that many of those making the mistakes should have been given more protection both with and without the ball. Such tactics are dictated by the coach and their absence is the cause for concern.

3. Isolation of Sardar Azmoun

Despite not being in the best of form following his recent return from injury and illness, Azmoun is still one of the team’s two top class players along with the absent Mehdi Taremi. Ensuring that his potential is maximized is clearly one of the keys for Team Melli every time they take the pitch. While Azmoun has bailed out Skočić on multiple occasions in recent months, Thursday he was left isolated and uninvolved. Nourollahi and Hajsafi often failed to recognize Azmoun’s movements in behind the Korean defense, and the lack of another body near Sardar meant that his ability to win aerials and knock the ball down for others was severely limited. It was only after the introduction of Hull City youngster Allahyar Sayyadmanesh that Azmoun looked more like his usual self. He first initiated a brilliant double movement to free himself from his marker and get on the end of Allahyar’s accurate cross, before subsequently producing an excellent flick-on that put the youngster clean through on goal. Given Taremi’s absence, ensuring that Azmoun had the support to keep possession, relieve pressure on the back line, and spring dangerous situations on the counter was critical, and something that the coaching staff badly failed to deliver.

4. Lack of Player Development

Perhaps the most damning element of Thursday’s defeat was the fact that many saw it coming. An overreliance on the partnership of Taremi and Azmoun, and a clear lack of depth in central midfield and both full back spots was badly exposed by the Koreans…but it wasn’t exactly a surprise. While Skočić has produced a solid run of results against some of Asia’s weakest sides, he has failed to properly integrate promising players such as Sayyadmanesh, Alipour, Mohebi, Hardani, Mehdipour, and Yasin Salmani to the national team setup despite the warning signs that their services would be required soon. When he was forced to rely on some of these alternative options in a big game they were woefully unprepared, and Skočić further compounded the issue by including many out of position players instead. This failure to build up a group of emerging, in-form options behind the team’s core means that Iran are continuously only a few absences away from complete breakdown. Such a situation is hardly healthy heading into a world cup where world class performances will be required every few days.

In the leadup to the 2018 World Cup, then-Head Coach Carlos Queiroz sensed potential weakness from his first-choice center back and captain Jalal Hosseini, and pivoted to testing alternatives throughout later qualification matches and friendlies. These included the likes of Mohammad Ansari, Rouzbeh Cheshmi, and Majid Hosseini. He repeated this process in the midfield zone when selecting the ideal partner for Saeid Ezatolahi, with Omid Ebrahimi, Akbar Imani, Ahmad Abdollahzadeh, and Ehsan Hajsafi all given chances before the eventual options were settled upon. Even on the right side, Vouria Ghafouri was given ample opportunity to challenge Ramin Rezaeian. Eventually, the likes of Cheshmi, Ebrahimi, and M. Hosseini emerged as some of the side’s best performers by the time the World Cup rolled around. As they were introduced in stable situations, they were able to show themselves and adapt long before being thrust into high pressure atmospheres in Russia. Contrastingly, Skočić has wasted many months of such opportunities, instead sticking with players who consistently fail to show acceptable performances levels, or those that are highly susceptible to injury and loss of form.

In the eight months that remain before Qatar, the Croat and his staff will need to show a tremendous reaction and recognition of current shortcomings. Failure to do so means that an entire nation’s dreams of making history will be solely reliant on the individual brilliance of an overused front two.

https://golbezanpodcast.com/news/analysis-article-iran-0-2-south-korea/

[diz]

I have a question. Imagine we never had Wilmots as a coach. Now imagine you get the oppertunity to fire Skocic now and hire Wilmots instead. A coach who has experince at the highest level. He coached Belgium at a World cup and a euros. He has Been the coach of some of the Best players in the World. He Would probably have the respect og our players. Would you take him? Probably yes. And that is probably the level of coach we Can get. On paper Wilmots is a much much better coach for Iran. But history showed, that Skocic is better for Iran than him

The morale is, be carefull what you wish for 8 months before a World cup. We could end up with a New Wilmots.

Great question. I would say that Wilmots was a snake in the grass, no matter when he would have gotten hired. The point is that we shouldn’t settle if we find TM in trouble. We should be demanding better (of Skocic, of IFF, of the next coach, etc).

[O-ZoNe]

It had to happen one day, as Team Melli lost to its nemesis South Korea after 11 years. It also meant the end of Dragan Skocic’s undefeated record extending two years and 15 matches. Iran lost to a full-strength Korea 2-0 in World Cup stadium in the top of the table clash of Group A FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifiers.

Under the circumstances, it was an honorable defeat, if there is such a term and the result is hardly a source of shame but more rather a disappointment. Losing half of your fix starting players while playing against the top team in the group is in fact expected and fair. This does not indemnify the coach and player, however, as there were some shortfalls and gaps that need attention and analysis.

Starting at the lineup. Despite Skocic statement in the press conference that his team will not be playing a defensive game, his lineup and gameplan were exactly that!

There were six defenders in his team: Shojaa KHALILZADEH, Majid HOSSEINI , Milad MOHAMMADI, Hossein KANANI-ZADEGAN, Omid NOORAFKAN, and Ehsan HAJSAF . However one interprets that, it is still a defensive park-the-bus like lineup.

With a team like South Korea, such a plan will be a dream as it allows their players to keep the pressure up and keep coming at you time and time again until they score, and that is exactly what they did.

Opting for a defensive game plan was not the best option despite the half-strength team. Skocic actually only one defender in Moharrami who was easily replaceable without overhauling the team defense.

There was also this disturbing unconfirmed news that Khalilzadeh started the match carrying an injury sustained in training. It was clear that the defender was suffering and had to be substituted before halftime.

In the Goal:

Despite the horror of the first goal, where Amir Abedzadeh committed a real blunder, the keeper was at the top of his game and was at his best during the first half. His aerial superiority and timely interceptions and distribution of the ball were quite creditable. Even in the first few minutes of the second half, he managed to make a miraculous double save and thwarted Hueing Min Son several times. In the second goal, he was not to be blamed either.

The Defenders:

Skocic wanted to solidify this line to ensure the Koreans don’t turn their full-strength team into an advantage. The poor marking in addition to the clumsy handling by Abedzadeh, resulted in the first goal, but it was not only the keeper’s fault. Questions should be asked why 4 markers could not stop Son Heung-Min from shooting. That was feeble marking. The second goal, however, was definitely poor marking which allowed the South Korean defender to find himself unmarked in the box and a simple tap-in to score.

On the positive side, the defense really cut the Korean supplies by giving Son Hueing Min very little breathing space. A world-class player like him can inflict real damage and despite scoring one goal the Iranian defenders deprive him of many.

Where were the Midfield players?

Collectively, it was the worst of the 4 lines of the team. As the game plan required defending from deep, Skocic was counting of these players to form the first defense line, however, that was the Achilles Heals of the team. The defensive side of the midfield worked fine and relatively did what it was asked to do, but they all failed to support the lonely striker in Azmoun and were instrumental in having Azmoun experience one of his most futile matches with Team Melli.

The insistence of Gholizadeh and Nourollahi to send long balls or trying to pass the ball behind the Korean defense to Azmoun failed one time after another. In fact, during the whole match, Iran managed one such success in passing behind to Azmoun, which the striker managed to head mildly into the Korean keepers waiting arms.

Whether the two central midfielders were going according to the game plan or using their own initiatives, is unknown but that is a clear shortfall and needs to be addressed for future and more important games.

Jahanbakhsh and Ezatollahi were sorely missed in this match.

A One-man show at the front!

Basically, that was the case with Azmoun up front against South Korea. He drew a lonely and desperate figure. There was no chance in hell for Azmoun to create a threat let alone score with the little support he had from his teammates and their game plan. Frustrated and lonely, Azmoun was easily neutralized by the Koreans.

Conclusion

In general, the absence of 5 key players is significant for any team and a handicap against the strongest, but in hindsight, things could have been better. It is a loss that practically meant very little, but for the experience and future games, Skocic should have a big lesson to learn and study the match carefully to discover the loops and the gaps that lead to the loss. But once again, no big harm was done.

One point to end the subject. This match will surely be celebrated by the anti-Skocic camp, but then again let us not get fooled by them and their hidden agenda. Skocic’s reputation remains intact and would be prudent to support him all the way to Doha.

https://www.teammelli.com/korea-rep-v-iran-post-match-analysis/

[026121]

Appreciate that he saved us from being knocked out with one of our best sides and for easily qualifying us to the World Cup while playing a more entertaining football than CQ. However, think it’s time to let go of both Skocic(he can find a higher paying job) and Hashemian(great guy, he also lacks authority), hire a coach with more authority and who’s respected by our football community. My ideal assistant coaches would be Bagheri and Nekounam or Daei(hope he would consider becoming TM assistant). My ideal coach would be someone older defensive coach with strict rule over his players and training, who isn’t easily pressured by outside forces.