A technical review of Skocic's style of play

[Keshwardoost]

Thank you, Keshvardoost aziz, for posting this excellent article. So interesting to understand the mentality and the mindset of a world-class defender. What a monstrous mindset!

Thanks yourself for this amazing thread. Im glad you liked the article, its one of those that has stuck in my mind.
I often think about that part I bolded when Ezzas injuries comes in mind. lates time was the nosecrack, think it was one of the games vs iraq.

Edit: yeah I love his mentality, and how he describes defending as an art. And as the author writes, his humblenes and willingness to observe and learn to improve.
And how Cannavarros mentorsip/learning Cannavarro details, took his game to the next level.

[kian_khosh]

wonderful analysis of tm, also i can definitely see aghasi potentially being a breakout player at this wc. majid hosseini only made his debut a month prior to wc and was one of our standout players in 2018, from what i've seen of aghasi i can definitely see him being the same way

[Mansoor]

wonderful analysis of tm, also i can definitely see aghasi potentially being a breakout player at this wc. majid hosseini only made his debut a month prior to wc and was one of our standout players in 2018, from what i've seen of aghasi i can definitely see him being the same way

Thank you, Kian jaan. I think it was Aghasi that recognized the space and drove the ball, Kanani style, out of the pressure side that led to our goal.

[kian_khosh]

Thank you, Kian jaan. I think it was Aghasi that recognized the space and drove the ball, Kanani style, out of the pressure side that led to our goal.

[ATTACH]19174[/ATTACH]

from what ive seen of his games for foolad and tm it looks like he is very dangerous offensively as well, if our coach at wc has half a brain, we could use a 3 center back formation. imagine a 5 man defense with 2 ball playing center backs in kanani and aghasi with a sweeper center back of majid. pair that with 2 wing backs who are constantly tracking back (hopefully jahanbahksh and amiri), and i can see us frustrating opponents and getting goals on the counter. if this 5 back is executed well we can shock group B 100%

[Keshwardoost]

from what ive seen of his games for foolad and tm it looks like he is very dangerous offensively as well, if our coach at wc has half a brain, we could use a 3 center back formation. imagine a 5 man defense with 2 ball playing center backs in kanani and aghasi with a sweeper center back of majid. pair that with 2 wing backs who are constantly tracking back (hopefully jahanbahksh and amiri), and i can see us frustrating opponents and getting goals on the counter. if this 5 back is executed well we can shock group B 100%

I realy like this post! great lineup.

[Hosseini]

Playing out of the back takes years of constant training and consistency. If this is the style of play we want, it means it needs to come from the developmental stages of learning football like they do in Spain or even in Germany.

We aren't even close to being there yet. It doesn't make sense for Skocic to do this in the World Cup, given what we saw against Korea and Algeria. It's a recipe for letting in easy tokhmi goals, exactly like what happened against Algeria, who capitalized off two mistakes in the defensive line.

These situations would only worsen against stronger teams like the US, England, and Wales. I think anyone with any sort of football IQ should realize that

Great post and analysis. You pointed out our flaws clearly and well for everyone to see

[Mansoor]

Playing out of the back takes years of constant training and consistency. If this is the style of play we want, it means it needs to come from the developmental stages of learning football like they do in Spain or even in Germany.

We aren't even close to being there yet. It doesn't make sense for Skocic to do this in the World Cup, given what we saw against Korea and Algeria. It's a recipe for letting in easy tokhmi goals, exactly like what happened against Algeria, who capitalized off two mistakes in the defensive line.

These situations would only worsen against stronger teams like the US, England, and Wales. I think anyone with any sort of football IQ should realize that

Great post and analysis. You pointed out our flaws clearly and well for everyone to see

Mokhlesim. Thank you.

I wish they would take your advice at our clubs and work on modern football instead of chasing refs, blaming others, grass rolling, and winning at any cost. Then, we could talk about players' selections and options. Skocic is not as bad as his team makes him look, and in fact, he is trying to implement modern football. But his style of play does not seem to fit what we have in hand in the back, especially midfield. We can talk about drills and how to get better, but it is almost impossible for the national team with such a short time to prepare.

As outdated as Carlos' approach is to football to play low-block and transition football, unfortunately, that is the only chance we have in WC with the players in hand and what our football system is producing at youth and club levels.

[Omids]

Even with a set plan that Skocic might have had that worked ok for lesser team but i feel he is not equiped to handle an opposing manager that reads his plans and counters it. He clearly then is lost and shows his lack of depth and experience. Hence better coaches & teams will run rings around him simply put.

[Prowess]

This goes against the face of anyone who says "Skocic has no tactics." Of course he has tactics. They just have not been properly executed.

Many people underestimate the MINIMUM level of technical skill and mental awareness that is required to play from the back even against decent (not even elite) opposition (Algeria).

CQ fully understood this, and was more than happy to give the ball to the opponent, because he knew TM fared better in transitional play, counterattacking, and set pieces. Go re-watch the Iran Japan Semifinal Asian Cup 2019 game. Look how deep Dejagah would drop back for build up play. As skillful as he was, you can tell it was a strenuous task for him, because that style requires SEVERAL players proficient in skill and positional awareness, which we lack.

I still think given more preparation and friendlies, Skocic might have been able to mold our team for the better. We forget CQ's fixation on Cheshmi even after the Tunisia and Turkey friendlies. But we gave him a pass because of his resume and our WC2014 performance. And now, our impatience will ultimately give us a even a more "incompetent" coach.

[Omids]

This goes against the face of anyone who says "Skocic has no tactics." Of course he has tactics. They just have not been properly executed.

Many people underestimate the MINIMUM level of technical skill and mental awareness that is required to play from the back even against decent (not even elite) opposition (Algeria).

CQ fully understood this, and was more than happy to give the ball to the opponent, because he knew TM fared better in transitional play, counterattacking, and set pieces. Go re-watch the Iran Japan Semifinal Asian Cup 2019 game. Look how deep Dejagah would drop back for build up play. As skillful as he was, you can tell it was a strenuous task for him, because that style requires SEVERAL players proficient in skill and positional awareness, which we lack.

I still think given more preparation and friendlies, Skocic might have been able to mold our team for the better. We forget CQ's fixation on Cheshmi even after the Tunisia and Turkey friendlies. But we gave him a pass because of his resume and our WC2014 performance. And now, our impatience will ultimately give us a even a more "incompetent" coach.

I am afraid that you are venturing out from the tactical discussion into the choice of coach discussion which would lead this thread down to the same tit for tat discussion on Skocic, CQ and other options that is on so many other threads. So let’s not go there here.

[Prowess]

I am afraid that you are venturing out from the tactical discussion into the choice of coach discussion which would lead this thread down to the same tit for tat discussion on Skocic, CQ and other options that is on so many other threads. So let’s not go there here.

Your post right before mine, ventured out my friend. Feel free to respond to my tactical take, which consisted most of my post.

[sam20]

This is why we reached new heights under cq: he understood the limitations we have, as well as our strengths, and his style plays to our strengths.

Unlike this delusional setup from skocic where he just let's the players roam free and thinks for some reason that we can play open, attacking football against anyone, and play the ball out from the back, as if though we're Bayern Munich.

Delusion at it's finest.

[O-ZoNe]

Even with a set plan that Skocic might have had that worked ok for lesser team but i feel he is not equiped to handle an opposing manager that reads his plans and counters it. He clearly then is lost and shows his lack of depth and experience. Hence better coaches & teams will run rings around him simply put.

When you state you "feel" now we are getting away from technical stuff and getting into emotional/sentimental opinions.

I'm enjoying reading the posts in this thread but let's not go down the path of other threads...

Sent from my SM-G973W using Tapatalk

[DR Strangemoosh]

We forget CQ's fixation on Cheshmi even after the Tunisia and Turkey friendlies. But we gave him a pass because of his resume and our WC2014 performance. And now, our impatience will ultimately give us a even a more "incompetent" coach.

But the decision was vindicated, no? I thought he was really solid - he moved between a defence protection DM role to an additional full back with tremendous ease and always seemed to be covering the right areas when I watched the games again. This highlight also doesnt show that amazing turn, dink and pin-point long ball he did

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFLQKN1TJB0


We no longer have this kind of role in our team

[Mansoor]

Even with a set plan that Skocic might have had that worked ok for lesser team but i feel he is not equiped to handle an opposing manager that reads his plans and counters it. He clearly then is lost and shows his lack of depth and experience. Hence better coaches & teams will run rings around him simply put.

Thank you. I am not sure if their coaches will read his plans and counter them or read the players and counter them. I think it is the latter one. Our players are making costly mistakes in positioning, mixup, and slow plays instead of 1-2 touches to move the ball and are not able to recover after losing the position during play from the back. Again, practice, practice, practice can fix these issues; something we don't have at the national level.
Algeria's squad does not even come close to what we will face in WC.