Dragan Skočić In or Dragan Skočić Out?

[Karimi 8]

- First thing he did was to make our opponents look weak. That is exactly what a good coach does. He also makes his players look like stars which again is exactly what a good coach does. (Of course, some here forget how they were afraid of this group and now proclaim that it was a weak group)

- He was able to play a more balanced brand of football successfully

- I like how our second halves are almost always stronger than the first halves and as you know the second half is called the coach's half. He reads the game well and out foxes the opposition coach.

- His demeanor and how he deals with players. I feel players play more stress free under him than under someone like CQ. Jalal Talebi also had this personality and got the best out of our players playing against a very strong group in 1998.

- Compared to CQ, players hands are less tied during the game and they have freedom to express themselves more. An example of this is how our CB's have the freedom to move up with the ball, to create chaos like Kanani's assist to Azmoun in our last game against Lebonan. Shoja and Kanaani have been doing this from time to time during the qualifications as our #6 has been too out of shape to do it all game long and our #8 has been non existant.

- We attempt to build from the back more often than under CQ. Of course, this requires good passing and good first touches and not being afraid to keep the ball and not treating the ball like a hot potato. Needs more work and higher quality players (Our players, especially Mohammadi in SK game, during high press, were exposed) Work in progress but definitely the right way to play.

Good points thanks for sharing. I am also very confused why out players treat the ball like a hot potato and try to get rid of it as soon as possible. Also, I didn't see any development in terms of how we should react to a high-press. I don't think we can rely on slow starts against a team like England, or the US (with players like Pulisic) on the team. By the time the second half comes, given our poor defending, we may be already down a few goals. I do like that our CBs have been able to move up more like you pointed out, I have seen similar things in Chelsea as I watch their games. I think the freedom to express themselves may also backfire, as we have seen Gholizadeh become extremely selfish in his game.

Lets see if we can work on our ball holding / distribution game, defending, and have an answer to a high-press.

[Farzadfarhangni]

He made Hong Kong, Cambodia, Iraq, Syria, Bahrain, UAE look weak. Jalebe.... So what is a weak team to you? USA? England? South Korea?

I don't remember you coming out here when the groups were announced and say any sabzi foroosh will get us out of this group. "Iraq, oh my god, Iraq", "Bahrain is sh*t except when it comes to Iran, they play like England" etc, etc... was all I could read here and I remember you saying that Skocic will fail. Now that we beat them easily, "oh, we had a weak group"... Indeed, Jalebe.

[PersianLion80]

- First thing he did was to make our opponents look weak. That is exactly what a good coach does. He also makes his players look like stars which again is exactly what a good coach does. (Of course, some here forget how they were afraid of this group and now proclaim that it was a weak group)

- He was able to play a more balanced brand of football successfully

- I like how our second halves are almost always stronger than the first halves and as you know the second half is called the coach's half. He reads the game well and out foxes the opposition coach.

- His demeanor and how he deals with players. I feel players play more stress free under him than under someone like CQ. Jalal Talebi also had this personality and got the best out of our players playing against a very strong group in 1998.

- Compared to CQ, players hands are less tied during the game and they have freedom to express themselves more. An example of this is how our CB's have the freedom to move up with the ball, to create chaos like Kanani's assist to Azmoun in our last game against Lebonan. Shoja and Kanaani have been doing this from time to time during the qualifications as our #6 has been too out of shape to do it all game long and our #8 has been non existant.

- We attempt to build from the back more often than under CQ. Of course, this requires good passing and good first touches and not being afraid to keep the ball and not treating the ball like a hot potato. Needs more work and higher quality players (Our players, especially Mohammadi in SK game, during high press, were exposed) Work in progress but definitely the right way to play.

Jalal talebi took Ivic’s work and shat on it. He was heard on audio/video telling the players please don’t let a lot of goals in vs Germany lol jalal

[Farzadfarhangni]

Good points thanks for sharing. I am also very confused why out players treat the ball like a hot potato and try to get rid of it as soon as possible. Also, I didn't see any development in terms of how we should react to a high-press. I don't think we can rely on slow starts against a team like England, or the US (with players like Pulisic) on the team. By the time the second half comes, given our poor defending, we may be already down a few goals. I do like that our CBs have been able to move up more like you pointed out, I have seen similar things in Chelsea as I watch their games. I think the freedom to express themselves may also backfire, as we have seen Gholizadeh become extremely selfish in his game.

Lets see if we can work on our ball holding / distribution game, defending, and have an answer to a high-press.

There are no secrets for beating a high press. You have to pass your way out of it, ie, building from the back. If too many are pressing and you feel you can't work your way out, you go backwards, and suck in their players and pass the ball back to your goalie to bekesh ziresh and pass over the pressing line where we should have a numbers advantage. Sounds simple but requires an hour of practice a day for a year with same group of players until their decisions are made as second nature. And requires skillful players.

I am sure we are going to play more defensively against England, especially during the first half. Especially the first 25 minutes.

As far as Gholizadeh, here are my feelings. He is a jaraghee (spark) player. Most of the time jaraghee fails to start a fire, but every once in a while it does. By definition, this makes him an inconsistant player compared to someone like Jahanbakhsh or Amiri who do nothing special but do the basics well every game. The question is what percent of the time does Gholizadeh's spark cause a fire. All I know is that his percentage was higher and he is in a funk right now. I like the idea of using him as a sub in games that we can't break down the opponent for him to come in and unlock the game. He is a cheap man's version of Luis Diaz.

[Farzadfarhangni]

Jalal talebi took Ivic’s work and shat on it. He was heard on audio/video telling the players please don’t let a lot of goals in vs Germany lol jalal

I spoke only from a psychological perspective. Ivic, indeed prepared a very good team, especially conditioning wise. But we were going to world cup after 20 years and a revolution and a war... It would have been very easy for the players to play tense or nervous. But what stood out to me is how calm and confident they played. A coach has a lot to do to set the tone and feel of a team. As I have mentioned before, our players don't lack intensity. Us Iranians are too intense if anything and so it helps us to have a calm relaxed coach and you have to agree with me that Talebi had a calm demeaner.

[nisfejahan]

Do you think the same style of play and what you saw in those games against much weaker opponents will continue to get results in the WC, against teams like England?

We may or may not. With proper preparation, friendlies, support, I am going to be guardedly optimistic. With even the greatest coach (if there is such a thing) Iran has lower football budget, less resources, worse players, less competent federation than most countries. On top of it, it is subjected to sanctions that make arranging camps friendlies etc, very difficult. FIFA still owes Iran money from the 2018 games!!!! So I am not expecting miracles, but remain an optimist.

What I am sure of, is that even trying to change the coach at this time will be disastrous, both in the short term and in the long term. In the short term, there is no mythical coach that can come in and reshape the team, find and mold new players (all in less than 8 months), especially if the core issues of preparation are not addressed. In the long term, firing a coach, who by all objective standards, has achieved better results than any one else, will make hiring a coach in the future a very difficult task.

Right now, all the hoopla about Skocic not being good enough is hurting TM more than it helps. He is the best choice right now, the coach that has bonded with players over a very successful turn-around, knows the league, and knows the system. The focus should be on getting the team prepared, not shooting ourselves in the foot in the hope of some mythical Bagger Vance appearing and taking us magically to the second round.

[mehdi13]

I don't remember you coming out here when the groups were announced and say any sabzi foroosh will get us out of this group. "Iraq, oh my god, Iraq", "Bahrain is sh*t except when it comes to Iran, they play like England" etc, etc... was all I could read here and I remember you saying that Skocic will fail. Now that we beat them easily, "oh, we had a weak group"... Indeed, Jalebe.

I don’t remember what I posted or not. But I promise you I didn’t look at that group and think for a second that UAE could finish ahead of us. I knew like everyone that SK would be the only competitive test before the WC and that its results would say a lot about a coach that a majority of members had, and have, many doubts about.

[PersianLion80]

I spoke only from a psychological perspective. Ivic, indeed prepared a very good team, especially conditioning wise. But we were going to world cup after 20 years and a revolution and a war... It would have been very easy for the players to play tense or nervous. But what stood out to me is how calm and confident they played. A coach has a lot to do to set the tone and feel of a team. As I have mentioned before, our players don't lack intensity. Us Iranians are too intense if anything and so it helps us to have a calm relaxed coach and you have to agree with me that Talebi had a calm demeaner.

The guy was a nervous wreck saying jooneh madarat don’t let many goals in vs Germany. Ivic instilled the calm. Talabi was shitting his pants everytime a camera pointed at him

[PSGman#19]

We may or may not. With proper preparation, friendlies, support, I am going to be guardedly optimistic. With even the greatest coach (if there is such a thing) Iran has lower football budget, less resources, worse players, less competent federation than most countries. On top of it, it is subjected to sanctions that make arranging camps friendlies etc, very difficult. FIFA still owes Iran money from the 2018 games!!!! So I am not expecting miracles, but remain an optimist.

What I am sure of, is that even trying to change the coach at this time will be disastrous, both in the short term and in the long term. In the short term, there is no mythical coach that can come in and reshape the team, find and mold new players (all in less than 8 months), especially if the core issues of preparation are not addressed. In the long term, firing a coach, who by all objective standards, has achieved better results than any one else, will make hiring a coach in the future a very difficult task.

Right now, all the hoopla about Skocic not being good enough is hurting TM more than it helps. He is the best choice right now, the coach that has bonded with players over a very successful turn-around, knows the league, and knows the system. The focus should be on getting the team prepared, not shooting ourselves in the foot in the hope of some mythical Bagger Vance appearing and taking us magically to the second round.

I agree but I think it is good skocic receive some criticism so he can open his eyes on garbage players that have nothing to do in TM.

[Nokhodi]

The guy was a nervous wreck saying jooneh madarat don’t let many goals in vs Germany. Ivic instilled the calm. Talabi was shitting his pants everytime a camera pointed at him

You should hear the 1978 team. They were saying we should just withdraw and avoid embarrassment when they saw the Dutch team - this was after they had friendlies with Wales, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Ghana and France.

My point being some Iranians just go overboard when it comes to overhyping opponents and suffering from a chronic lack of self-belief.

[Farzadfarhangni]

The guy was a nervous wreck saying jooneh madarat don’t let many goals in vs Germany. Ivic instilled the calm. Talabi was shitting his pants everytime a camera pointed at him

Interesting. Love to hear that interview. In either case, you are making my point. So it was Ivic who had the nice temperament that our players responded to. Point being that our players react better with an easy going coach that calms their nerves.

[PersianLion80]

Interesting. Love to hear that interview. In either case, you are making my point. So it was Ivic who had the nice temperament that our players responded to. Point being that our players react better with an easy going coach that calms their nerves.

Yes it was Ivic. I agree with the calm demeanor point btw. But I have yet to see real tactics from Skocic

[O-ZoNe]

Yes it was Ivic. I agree with the calm demeanor point btw. But I have yet to see real tactics from Skocic

And look at the results after Viera and Ivic were fired. We mostly had subpar coaches with the exception of Blazevic. If Skocic given his record is fired i doubt anyone credible will want to lead TM...

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[Reza_Abdolahi]

I dont get why people want to get rid of skocic.... as long as we win matches, who gives a damn about the tactics. he literally won every match besides the two south Korea matches. I agree CQ was a better coach but even with him we had two draws against Syria, another draw against venezuela, lost against turkey, lost against tunesia, another draw against Iraq in the last asian cup. so what? those loses and draws are acceptable because the tactics are okay?

It would be the stupidest thing to do to switch from coach right now. you really expect zidane or Mourinho will take over if skocic gets fired? and even if we get a sub-top coach. you think he can develop the perfect tactic for our team while the only players he knows from team melli will probably be taremi and azmoun. every coach outside Iran doesnt even know who ezatolahi and gholizadeh are. I bet they wouldnt even recognize jahanbakhsh if they would bumb up to him in the street.

[Reza_Abdolahi]

Another thing I want to add. Lets be realistic here. Altough Iran is 1# in asia's ranking. Japan, south Korea are better than us. To be honest I doubt that Iran is even better than Saudi Arabia and australia. The saudi's are crushing every asian team at the moment, like iran. so who knows if we are better than them. Be realistic here. The only reason iran is nr1 in asia is because they barely played against saudi arabia, japan and australia in the last 15 years. we consider feyenoords, brentford, charlerois and dinamo zagreb's benchwarmers as our top players. 2/3 of our goalkeepers isn't even a starter in his (mediocre European) club. So lets not be too dramatic about our loss against south Korea here.