A technical review of Skocic's style of play

[Omids]

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...
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Emotional opinions? Whats emotional about seeing how he deployed or amended his tactics in game situations when faced with more formidable & better opponents in S Korea or Algeria and make a call on that. Tactics are not static but need to be malleable to situations. What i am saying here, and it seems you missed it, is that i felt his tactics were not flexible for real game situation even if he started with something in mind. And this is my opinion and nothing emotional about it.

[Mansoor]

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.

Thank you.
"I still think given more preparation and friendlies, Skocic might have been able to mold our team for the better. " Absolutely. There are drills that "can" fix the problem in the club level with lots of and lots of work & practice, watching videos, group and individual meetings, etc. I don't see that possible with our disastrous preparation and planning for the national team.

In Carlos' system of low-block, defenders played the role of the balance, and midfielders played the role of the pressure and support. He would choose players for the position according to their role. Cheshmi would get exposed as a pressure player, but Carlos mostly used him as the support behind the midfield. His height to intercept high balls and his read of the plays could have been the reasons behind Carlos's decision. Not sure.

[DR Strangemoosh]

In Carlos' system of low-block, defenders played the role of the balance, and midfielders played the role of the pressure and support. He would choose players for the position according to their role. Cheshmi would get exposed as a pressure player, but Carlos mostly used him as the support behind the midfield. His height to intercept high balls and his read of the plays could have been the reasons behind Carlos's decision. Not sure.

Exactly this, and as mentioned the decision was vindicated in the performance against Morocco where he intercepted the balls and added as a buffer in front of defence, whilst moving to the full back position on both sides on occasion to provide support.

Almost like a free role defender.

It worked for us
https://twitter.com/teammelli91/stat...dhpZX1amw&s=19

[Mansoor]

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.

Thank you.
I don't think he is delusional, more like wishful thinking. He wishes for the team to play modern football and insists on it at any cost. But just like you and I, he knows we got a problem! I am sure he sees what we see. He just believes it can be fixed. And, he might prove us wrong. Miracles happen every day!

[Mansoor]

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

Thank you for supporting the purpose of this discussion to remain technical.

[Mansoor]

Exactly this, and as mentioned the decision was vindicated in the performance against Morocco where he intercepted the balls and added as a buffer in front of defence, whilst moving to the full back position on both sides on occasion to provide support.

Almost like a free role defender.

It worked for us
https://twitter.com/teammelli91/stat...dhpZX1amw&s=19

Thank you.
I use this trick with 10 minutes left in the game to seal the victory against a dangerous opponent knocking on the door. Put a filler behind the midfield to prevent the ball from reaching the CB's line. You are at risk of conceding any time you allow the ball to get to the CB line.

[Kavian]

Conclusion: Skocic has no style of play!

[perspolis#1]

The issue with Skocics type of play is that the freedom of movement allowed is too much for Iranian players.

I will reiterate that Iranian players are not supposed to learn how to play modern football when they make it on Team Melli. They should know how to play prior to that. All the skills of trapping, moving into a pass, fluid ball movement, shooting, crossing are learned at young ages. If you don't learn it by age 21-23,(arguably earlier) you won't go much farther in those departments.

So when we have a team that leaves numbers up exposed and we rely on defensive acumen of a single player over the unit we are at risk for getting exposed multiple times. A lot of people made jokes about Beikzadeh vs Messi in 2014 but we all knew he would never be isolated vs Messi.

Now we have the risk of any of England's arsenal of wingers,Pulisic, Bale, Reyna to be isolated vs Moharrami or Noorafkan and it is a BIG problem.

One can argue our forwards are very strong and that we can compensate conceding with goals but statistically Iranian forwards do not score many at World cups and they cannot do anything without proper service.

If we don't correct the midfield issue, we will have a frustrating world cup of Azmoun moaning and grunting when a pass doesn't land on his feet and being isolated with Taremi chasing shadows.

We lack an attacking midfielder since the young Shojaei days, even going back as far as Karimi to bring creativity and open others up. We have no such player in our arsenal right now so instead of choosing a tactic and picking players to fit it, I would suggest choosing the tactic that suits our best players.


It does not mean we need to park the bus( as though any team knows how to do that) but to use Azmoun and Taremi as target men/counter attackers with a more low lying midfield with workhorses on the wings. We will be outpossessed in every one of our matches so our general attacking strategy should be to have our wings carry the ball up and either find the pass or early cross, take the foul, or get our forwards to take the foul. Heavy practice on set pieces(where entropy favors the underdog) should be our plan.

[inarsenewetrust]

Great analysis Mansoor jan. The issue i see is almost exactly what you have laid out. Skocic has selected a tactical style that doesnt suit the personnel, and on top of that refuses to try and find better personnel to execute that tactical style.

You mentioned norafkan, for me another horrific victim of this is nourollahi who you also mentioned. This guy on the ball is one of our weakest midfielders. In terms of anticipation before receiving the ball, technique under pressure, coordination etc he is not an international level player.

The way skocic plays, this player is the fulcrum of the team. Its almost like the role Brozovic occupies in croatian NT. Huge responsibility both on and off the ball. Off the ball his decision making and positioning is off, only attribute is his ability to cover ground and maybe add himself as a late runner into the box to finish chances (like vs lebanon). Putting this much load on him is killing the player and the entire midfield.

The critical issue the whole time has been that midfield. Taremi and Azmoun are badly isolated and even if you analyze their goals in qualifiers, it is almost exclusively a result of direct combinations between the 2 of them, some input from ARJ. There is no build up avenue consistently besides occasional Kanaani passes, few times I have seen some input from Moharrami on the right. But to address that, skocic has done next to nothing but continue expanding portfolio of jobs given to nourollahi. Strange to say the least. Vs Higher class opposition these direct combos off long balls will be few and far between, the 2 star players will get increasingly frustrated, drop into positions that will make them easier to mark in a bid to affect the game more, and the end result is predictable.

Now, he may say, as he does in interviews (bizarre as Ive never seen a head coach do this publicly) that we simply dont have proficient midfielders in Iran. To an extent that is true, but I think players like Hosseinzadeh, Ghoddos, Yasin Salmani, Mehdipour from a technical and tactical perspective are much more suited for the style of play that sko wants to play through the middle, yet he badly struggles sto incorporate them as well.

My personal suggestion. Drop this crap ASAP. Its not working and will not work. The way I see it vs England we need to park the bus and return to CQ style deep block. 5 back formation may be the best avenue for that game, and maybe future games as well. I actually think besides Kanani we have 2 excellent ball playing CBs. Pouraliganji and M. Hosseini. A 3 back trident of these guys will not only be imposing aerially, physically (key for dealing with English, Welsh, Americans) but also ensuring somewhat more stable build up play and less turnovers. An extra CB also will minimize the spaces that emerge in transition opportunities for the opposition, meaning less chance our players get isolated 1v1 or having to make up big distances vs faster players. Strangely enough our best game under skocic, without both Taremi and Azmoun, came in this formation vs a solid Bosnia side.

Amiri can push to LWB or CM depending on if Milad can regain his form in the next few months. In CDM Zone ezatolahi situation is a disaster and I would not rule out totally replacing him with Ali Karimi if the latter can get consistent minutes in the next few months for Kayserispor. Next to that DM Ghoddos is a must for his technicality, game IQ which is closest to Dejagah we have had. the coaching staff, skocic or otherwise, needs to get way more out of him! An addition DM in the form of mehdipour or Ebrahimi would round out the 3 man midfield and help provide another body in this key zone where our personnel is lacking. Skocic bizarre insistence on 442 at times is something I totally cannot understand tactically. It puts even more pressure in our weakest zones: Full back and CM. Imagine our garbage mid line with one less man vs top international opposition (2 CM vs 3). Recipe for disaster. Or our full backs vs the 343 style formation that we have seen England and Wales use regularly. That means one of our weak full backs vs an interior winger and a offensively dynamic wing back.

If in the next international break we finally break away from these childish attempts you have detailed, there can still be a chance of success. But it needs to happen ASAP.

--------------------------Beiro------------------

------Kanaani----------Pouraliganji------M. Hosseini---

Moharrami---Ghoddos---Karimi/Ezatolahi---Ebrahimi/Mehdipour----Amiri

-------------------Azmoun--------Taremi------------

OR Amiri in CM for Ebrahimi/Mehdipour with Milad at LWB.

[koorosh]

What a breath of fresh air this thread is. I am learning a lot... mostly about how little I know!

[peiman92]

*There are 0 plans on the offensive end because the players upfront are isolated from the rest of the team.

* Non existent link between the midfield and offensive players.

* No plan to attack through the middle, just overlaps on the flanks by LB/LW RB/RW for 90 minutes.

* When in position we see literally no movement from the midfield/offensive players, to create space/get in better position.

* A couple of passing combos from the players upfront every now and then, is the result of desperation/players taking matters in their own hands, not tactics.

* He still hasn't figured out how to include Ghoddos in a lineup with both Azmoun and Taremi. Instead he insists of playing Nourollahi who is rotting away in Al-Shotor.

These are just a few examples of how clueless Skocic is. I don't even want to talk about our defense lol.
One could write a book about the tactical shortcomings of Skocic.

[taremiscores]

Great thread