holy crap, did i hear that bbc clip right? Persepolis now leading the Iranian league? any news about how afshin ghotbi is doing?
Well, yes and no! They lead Sephan by 3 points, but Sepahan has 2 games at hand (3 if you count Perspolis's game tomorrow morning). http://www.lastkick.com/?page_id=2491 I think by the time they are all even on # of games played,Sepahan may be leading the league.
oh wow. what's the chance that i will see Persepolis in ACL? no offense to Sepahan fans, but i rather see a team coached by afshin play a k-league team in the ACL. just more fun for me.
so what's the verdict for Afshin for Persepolis fans? is it too early to tell? or do they think that he contributed a lot to their current status?
He's arguably the most popular coach in Iran now, so much so that the red fans have given him the nickname "emperor".
that's awsome news. with his credentials it won't be long until we see him become a NT coach somewhere. i guess the two logical place will be either Korea or Iran, but if he keeps this up, i guess he will eventually make Iran's NT. If Korea shows interest, by logical extension, Australia will probably ask too. of course, that would suck for me since Iran under the helm of him who has such an intiminate knowledge of Korean football will probably cause the largest challenge for Korea in next asian competitions.
Team PLD PTS 1. Perspolis 16 36 2. Sepahan 13 30 3. Malavan 15 26 4. Saba 16 26 as you can see Perspolis are leading the table but Sepahan is right behind them with 3 games in hand. Both teams are in great form this season and there is no one that would deny the fact that one of these 2 teams will be the champions. Perspolis's last game was yesterday against saba at home and they were leading 2-0, but saba equilized on 81' and 84' minute. the second goal(penalty) was a controversial decision by the referee. I consider Afshin Ghotbi unlucky not to win. I have a feeling this season is going be one of the most entertaining seasons with sepahan and perspolis fighting till end.
Afshin Ghotbi could be on the hot seat right now. The loss to Pas in the Hazfi Cup may open the flood gates of criticiscm. He is already having problems with Alireza Marzban, and apparently a few players too. This loss did not help. I hope they can win their next two league games.
To be honest, they have been winning and equalizing poorly as of late. This may simply be the straw...
That's what I am thinking too. Although in an ideal world this should not cause the talks of the coach's dismissal, we all know what vultures the Iranian media and unemployed coaches are. They see someone limping and they all start circling up over head!
Looks like the perspolis mess is blowing up wide open افشين قطبي: يك دستيار خارجي جانشين مرزبان مي شود and these from FARS, and ISNA: تاخير قطبي و استيلي و غيبت سليماني، رضايي و رودباريان در تمرين تيم فوتبال پرسپوليس رضايي: قطبي نمي تواند مرا بازخواست كند قطبي: پاسخ خوبي به بي انضباطي هاي رضايي مي دهم درخشان: قطبي نمي**تواند به فعاليتش در پرسپوليس ادامه دهد جلسه قطبي و استيلي پشت درهاي بسته
Yeah I'd heard there were internal issues between Ghotbi and Estili but never imagined it's this bad! The defeat came at a good time because it was bound to happen since Perspolis have been playing poorly. Now at least they can use the break to get their heads on straight; if it's going to be sorted out, this is the best time for it!!
Here is another interesting article about the Perspolis mess from Hamshahri Online: از دنيزلي تا قطبي
They've done it again! كاشاني: قطبي پول ما را بدهد و برود Some times I wonder why any coach would want to take on this stupid (Perspolis coaching) job!
Afshin is having a hard time over there. My prediction is that he will coach Perspolis two maybe three more games before he leaves or forced out: بررسي حاشيه**هاي پرسپوليس در گفت**وگو با افشين قطبي
haha. all it takes is 1 game. if he wins it, he'll become untouchable. what a game it's going to be tomorrow. good luck to afshin and perspolis.
Don't start with that Tx!!! The only possible shady thing was 7 minutes of extra time; which they didn't need. They had a penalty not given! And Sepahan played badly; not even a defensive tactic in mind! Just hit the ball as hard as you can.
7 minutes was indeed ridiculous, yet they scored in the 6th minute of that extra time... Penalty not being called was silly, but so were the cards! The ref seemed as frustrated as a PP fans. Defensive? Thats how Sepahan has ALWAYS played, they have a very solid defense, and they count on counters, so nothing new there. Anyways its all done. Lets hope Afshin can do Iran proud next year. I'm sure Sepahan will find its way via the Hazfi cup. They are after all Iran's best teams.
I think the second team in the League qualified anyway because Iran has 3 spots now. Defensive and counter-attack is fine, but taking out Abulheil and Karimi meant that there was no counter-attack; ended up with defense, hit the ball in the air, ball ends up back in Sepahan's half withint 30 seconds and the Perspolis players not needing to even return to their own half. But all that aside, it should make for a more interesting ACL next year with Iran's best 2 teams represented (via the Cup route if I'm wrong).
Stop being silly Tx! PP had 6 points taken away from them (as opposed to the 3 taken away from SP). PP deserved the title and they got what they deserved in the most dramatic way possible. Extra time given was a bit too long but then again we all know how Sepahan was trying to pull a Bahrain on PP. All in all, the best team this year won the league. Well deserved.
Post Game Silly or not, and as biased as I may sound, the win is tainted. PP isn't held to the same responsibilities as Sepahan. What Sepahan lost 3 points for, PP is allowed to get away with. *Yawn*