It's time for another Asian competition and I hope we show some quality football now that we are up against weaker oppnents compared to WC. Less park the bus style and more entertaining offensive tactics is expecting from Team Melli. Probably, this is the last competition CQ will lead our team, so I wish it turn to a good memory by reclaiming the Asian title for 4th time. What are your thoughts about new NT selection and level of fitness? We have got many injured and bench warming players in European leagues now. Can we trust our half backs and strikers? Gucci is gone, Karim has got no meaningful playing time, Kaveh is injured, Azmoun has ups and downs and JB looks like out of tone. Even Taremi is struggling in QSL. Saeed is also injured. I only see Torabi, Amiri, M.Hoseini, Milmo, Beiro, Ghafouri, Saman, and Omid in good shape.
Thank you for creating this thread which updated me more about the current status of our team. I did not follow football much after the last World Cup. IMO, both Taremi and Ansarifard should be dropped from the squad. Those two players were used as winger in the last World Cup which unbalanced the offensive part of our team. We have better Central Forwards than them too. At this point, I pick Azmoun, Kaveh, Ghoddoos, and Alipour as my top choices for forward position.
IMO Cheshmi should be used as DM. Regard Jahanbakhsh, I am not worried. He is easily replaceable. AC 2019 will be the last tournament for Shojaei and Montazeri most likely. Dejagah should stay a little longer and get the call up whenever he is fit. IMO Mohammad Rashid Mazaheri should be dropped from the squad for AC 2019. At the moment I prefer Beiranvand, Hosseini, Abedzadeh, and Niazmand over Mazaheri and both Ghafouri and Moharrami over Rezaeian.
So you think it is time to get another coach with new/fresh ideas? I am not worried about the outcome of AC 2019. I am worried about post Asian Cup.
In my opinion Shojai should be dropped. He is not even good for PGPL level. He loses the ball in midfield so many times during the match in his team Tractor.
Let's be honest, we have seen what he can do in past 8 years. He is a good trainer, a good team organizer, a good youth scout, and an expensive but an excellent result base defensive manager. What he is not good at: 1. A good tactician specially a creative one. 2. A flexible offensive base manager. 3. A gentleman outside the pitch and in interviews. He emphasizes so much on defensive tactics, physical strength, and parking the bus that kills the essence of the game. He has no attention to play makers, creative technical players and entertaining football tactics.
So I think we should keep some defensive tactics of CQ and hire a new more offensive minded manager to bring the full potentional of Iranian football which was based on fast technical midfielders/wingers who could shoot from long distance prior CQ era. The time of boring matches with 1-0 score lines should come to an end. 8 years was enough to learn how to defend. Certainly I do not support going back to obsecurity with bi savad local coaches but the time of CQ is almost over in my opinion.
As you mentioned our tactic in the word cup was completely defending and occasional counter attacks. That is probably why CQ used non-creative players that were physical and willing to defend and run a lot like Taremi, Ansarifard, etc. instead of our creative players like Ghoddos, Gholizadeh, Torabi, Kaveh Rezaei, etc.
Whats the deal with ARJB? Is he gonna be fit for TM? Also bit of a side note but I never understood the "hate" he gets from you some of you guys. CQ's tactics limits his offensively output but off the ball, he's very noticible tracking back and making runs. Yea only 5 goals in 43 caps but against Asian opposition, if you need a guy to bring up the opposition defense with his abilities to hit it from distance or someone to unlock a defence with a moment of brilliance, hes the guy to do it. (His cut back and ball to Dejagah come to mind against Argentina)
Big shoes to fill for whoever comes in for CQ. If he decides to stay with the team for the next cycle, It wouldn't shock me one bit to see Iran advance past the group next WC. 3 WCs and 2 ACs with the same team.. some Oscar Tabarez sh*t right there.
Nobody hates JB, or at least I haven't noticed yet, but he is more of a club player and shows better result there compared to national team. He has been injured for sometimes and couldn't show his moment of glory in EPL yet. As a result, he has been a bench warmer for a long time. All of us were hoping he would choose a better club but he rejected Leicester City offer and accepted Brighton's which has not worked well for him so far. His ideal league was France or Spain. He is a little weak for EPL in my opinion. We have some quality players in his position such as technically gifted Torabi, old veteran Dejagah, PGPL top goal scorer and fast offensive player Alipour, or even Taremi/Ansarifard, ... Moharami, Rezaian I still think CQ will take him to UAE but nothing is certain if he is not fit for the match. As for cuts and long shots on target we have also Saman Ghoddoos who plays in French top division and I am sure he is CQ's top or secret weapon against Australia/Japan/S.Korea/KSA. I count Saman better than Dejagah and JB. He and Azmoun are our best hope offensively.
He likes to extend his stay for another 4 years with team Melli but the fans and IFF are fed up with expense, attitude, and style of play. He will get an offer if national team win the title or at least reach the semi, otherwise he will be gone most likely. Colombia is interested but they will be paying him half of what we do. His own contract is around 2.5 million plus full benefits (medical, living, traveling expenses) each year. (Although paid with delays) his entire management team should be paid 2-3 times more if I am not mistaking. It is very expensive for us and gobbles most of IFF budget each year.
Regard Jahanbakhsh, the truth is that we have many options in his position such as Gholizadeh, Torabi, Dejagah, etc. He is easily replaceable. So his absence is nothing to worry about. Ebrahimi, Ezatolahi, Mohammadi, and Azmoun are the most irreplaceable players for me at the moment.
In terms of playing style, WC 2018 was similar to WC 2014. Iran vs Morocco game was going to finish goalless draw like Nigeria vs Iran game until Morocco scored an own goal in 94th minute of the game. We lost 1-0 to both Argentina and Spain in the similar way. If Beiranvand did not save Ronaldo's penalty, Portugal vs Iran game would have been another Bosnia vs Iran game. WC 2018 was our best chance to reach second round of the World Cup but he was too cautious which killed our chance IMO. The way we play with CQ may be good for short term plans but not long term plans. If we want to improve and be more successful out of Asia in the future we need to play less defensively. I am still pissed that useless Taremi and Ansarifard got so much playing time over our creative players like Ghoddos, Gholizadeh, Torabi, Ghafouri, Kaveh Rezaei, etc in the World Cup. I am still sad that VAR disallowed our goal against Spain. It still makes me cry IMO he has nothing new to add to the team and I am fine with replacing him with another decent coach after the AC 2019.
Anyone who remotely follows TM is aware of him. His game against Arsenal was the first time I've heard of him. Had a friend tell me that Saman is better than JB before this season. Thought he was trying to be bold for the f*ck of it but it looks like he might be onto something here lol I feel like it's CQ's system that makes him seem replaceable. Just put in a workhorse to track back. Alireza imo has a unique skill set that would be effective against teams that bunker down. He's easily ahead of all 3 guys you named plus Taremi. You can only play so many wingers at once. I actually thought Ansarifard played really well from the deeper spot. Linked up well and added some brawn/aerial prowess to that part of the field but what do I know lol Cheer up
Big changes in IFF, all CQ and Taj old gaurds and supporters are being replaced one after another. Saket is gone, Kaffashian stepped down, and another big wig was replaced today. I don't think CQ survives after AC 2019. This is his last shot to add something to his resume before taking off. JB is a very hard-working player, and technically he is inferior to Torabi or Gholiadeh but has better long shots compared to Gholizadeh. Age has caught up with Deja and all injuries and his time in Qatar declined his fitness. I think he will retire from NT after AC 2019. Same goes to Shojai and Montazeri. Playing in Qatar is a big mistake, I wonder what will happen to Ebrahimi.
One update on injured players so far. Vahid Amiri got injured during his last match in Turkish league so he might lose AC 2019. Another injured player got added to long list of injured footballers. Saeed has not played for his club after his injury as well. Kaveh's situation is unknown.
Isn't Ezzlatolahi and Pouraliganji also coming back from injuries? A lot of guys out of form or injured.. How confident are you guys in TM for this tournament? I can tell you personally as a Korean fan, I feel like our team should take it this year. Its been such an up since Bento took over. Sonny on fire too.
PAG just came back from injury so I don't know if he is ready for AC 2019. Saeed is still injured which is the biggest concern for us. He is expected to be ok at end of December or early Jan, so taking him to UAE is a gamble. I think we are less prepared compared to last WCQs. CQ will be leaving so our players might get inspired by this. At the same time, as you already mentioned we have suffered a lot because of some players retirement, injury or being out of form. Personally, I think our chance is even less than AC 2015. Without Saeed, Seyed Jalal, PAG, Amiri, Gucci, Kaveh, ... And Taremi, Azmoun, Ansarifard, Cheshmi, JB and Deja being less effective or out of form I give us slim chance to claim the title. Economy is also really bad back home so it also has affected our prepration. As for Bento, I think he had a good start with Korean NT but his tenure at Portugal NT was a disaster even worst than CQ, so it is too soon to decide but good luck to you.
Hey guys, good to be able to post again after all that WC2018 business I don't think our chances are necessarily less than AC 2015. Keep in mind, last AC we had a very slow midfield, albeit strong, in Nekounam/Teimourian. Now even if Ezzatollahi doesnt play we are more dynamic and can attack. Plus our attacking talent is >>>>> compared to 2015. The biggest advantage is our bracket. Yemen, Vietnam, and Iraq, with respect to these three, are not as strong as UAE,Bahrain,Qatar were 4 years ago. Then we play against a team like Oman/North Korea and then Thailand/China. That means until our semi-finals we will be facing teams that,outside of Iraq, are inexperienced in getting that far in the tournament. From the semi-finals on is where we will see the fruits of CQ's labor.
If we reach the semi, we will be playing against Japan. Last time we played against them it was a friendly in Azadi back in 2015. We barely equalized through a PK deflection. Among all Asian side only Japan worries me.
Gholizadeh is injured as well. http://footballitarin.com/link_page.php?id=427809 https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/430903/Ali-Gholizadeh-doubtful-for-AFC-Asian-Cup What is going on? Why do we have so many injured players now?
Iran 1- 1 Palestine. Our squad was half of our usuals up to min 60 and we were dominating but careless at scoring (1-0). Our subs (5-6 players) came in after 60 min and they fell back to defend instead of attacking for more goals. Palestine scored on min 90+3. It is worrisome since it shows our strikers are toothless and our bench players are not up to the task. Azmoun has not scored any goal for NT since March! And he is supposed to be our best hope for scoring. Ansarifard and Kaveh are both bench warmers on their clubs and Taremi is same ole waste 10 opportunity to score one. Alipour is also tired and less effective compared to last season. Even Saman is not that one man show in his french club any more. We have serious goal scoring problem. We need a natural finnisher like Gucci.
It is official: Saeed Ezatollahi out of Asian Cup. https://90tv.ir/news/عزت-اللهی-جام-ملت-های-آسیا-را-از-دست-داد
Vahid Amiri recovered from injury and played for Trabzon FC in last game. So he is fine now. Gholizadeh, Jahanbakhsh, and Kaveh Rezaei are in danger of missing the tournament like Ezatolahi.