Iran - Albania post match discussion

[Martin-Reza]

Very unnecessary loss. We created six good chances in the match whereas Albania only had three shots from outside the box which were somewhat dangerous, one of them unfortunately being excellently struck and beating Haghighi.

I think we were clearly the better side and I am quite satisfied with the performance, especially in second half.

Ansarifard did great, the handball ahead of his disallowed goal certainly wasn't deliberate, you can call that but don't have to.

On the other hand, the very clear handball inside the box in injury time which blocked Nekounam's freekick must have been a penalty kick.

However, too bad Ansarifard's shot after his great run was denied by the keeper. Also Karimi's two chances should usually be goals, as well as Mahini's and Nouri's first half efforts.

I liked the performances of Ansarifard, Teymourian, Pouladi and Karimi, whereas I was very disappointed by Jabbari and also, at least over some periods, by Nekounam.

Our defense overall did a good job too, so thumbs up for Hosseini and Montazeri, also Mahini of course.

All in all, I think Albania was a good test for a physical team like Uzbekistan and we should come back from Tashkent undefeated or even with three points, if we use our chances better.

[Nokhodi]

Midfield was way too lethargic for my liking. No creativity, no good passes. They couldn't see 10 meters to their left or right today.
They will hopefully step it up for the important games.
Teymourian was running everywhere today and tackling, but his passes were horrible. He can't play well in tight spaces.

[CHaMiLLionaire]

I won't judge CQ until the end of the Qatar game in Azadi. If we fail to acheive the minimum of 4 points in the next two games- then we are in serious trouble.

There were glimpses of good play during the match. I liked the urgency and pressure that our players played with. Almost every 50-50 ball was ours.... on the other hand, the most dissapointing performance was that of midfield. Neko had alot of bad passes. Andranik was running around aimlessly. Jabbari was proving to us that the grey hair he has is certainly deserved. I would have liked to see Zandi and Nazari, but theres no point to talk about that now.

All in all, we should come back undefeated from Tashkent. I think this is the most probable line up.

Rahmati, Pouladi, Aghili, Hosseini, Heydari, Neko, Andranik, Karimi, Khalabari, Ansarifard, Rezaei.

Second half subs would probably be Mahini,Jabbari, and Zare/Zandi

[zzgloo]

Very Good Freindly Game...the kind we should have had before uzbakistan.....Albania was not a push over,but CQ 's TM out played them and out class them....they got the win though.
TM played with chamistry even though with the secound team.....TM how ever,must have Dejagah or Ali Karimi to get result.

[Doctor DOOM]

I agree. a good test against a team similar to uzbekistan.
I liked that we did create some (not enough, if you ask me, though) chances and had opportunities to score at least a couple of goals.
But at the same time I am conerned why our striker (singular!!!) failed to make any dent too. Perhaps we have become a bit too dependent on ghazi and the likes of ghazi?
any news of Arash Afshin's injury or when he'd be fit? what about Ghazi? with these two coming back and hopefully Dejagah regaining his fitness (if not by uzbekistan game, at least by the qatar game) our offensive game would be on steroids.
sadly, at the moment ol' jello-legs ansarifard is our primary hope for goals!! (Oh, dear God!)



the team didnt show the kind of quality one would write home about or boast. But it is only a friendly and I HOPE (hope I'm right) keeping safe and avoiding injury was the primary reason behind the overall performance of the lads.
Not to mention this is no way going to be the starting line up against uzbeks. (God, please no jabbari. the lad has managed to become so hated and despised in such a short time. be it for his feet's performances on the pitch or his mouth's performances off the pitch!) I'm expecting a very different team (line up as well as attitude) to walk out onto the pitch on june 3rd.
One clue for this is resting karimi for the bulk of the game, who has become CQ's source of creativity. So for all the lack of creativity in this game, I'm thinking we'll see a different offensive on that day.


I was hoping to see this kid nazari justify his call up. alas!



I agree with Martin on the pair of Montazeri-Hosseini as a reliable pair. I've been asking for this for months now. Montazeri seems more intelligent, more versatile and quicker than Aghili. although Aghili is bulkier and more physical especially on set pieces where he can win balls through sheer physicality. So even if we use Aghili against uzbeks, I think montazeri would be a great partner for Hosseini (who's entered my BAD BOOKS due to his departure from sepahan at the most crucial time for them. what an dumb idiot!) in games against south korea and qatar.



Thank God rahmati was rested and we tried another keeper. the goal haghighi conceded was pretty much unstoppable by most keepers. defenders, however, once agains showed they can get rid of the ball quick enough! we MUST work on this.


on the negative side, the team didnt show much quality in terms of coordination, strategy and tactics except patches. but that can be forgiven since some players joined only recently and some wont get to play at all anyway.

[Nokhodi]

I was hoping to see this kid nazari justify his call up. alas!

Stupid FIFA did not send his paperwork in on time!

[St_Mark]

I agree. a good test against a team similar to uzbekistan.
I agree with Martin on the pair of Montazeri-Hosseini as a reliable pair. I've been asking for this for months now. Montazeri seems more intelligent, more versatile and quicker than Aghili. although Aghili is bulkier and more physical especially on set pieces where he can win balls through sheer physicality. So even if we use Aghili against uzbeks, I think montazeri would be a great partner for Hosseini (who's entered my BAD BOOKS due to his departure from sepahan at the most crucial time for them. what an dumb idiot!) in games against south korea and qatar.
.... anyway.

That defense line remind me of 2006 15th Asian Game Duha Qatar.
Mahini, Montazeri , Hosseini...
It was Iran U23 + 3 senior. From that list , Khosro Heidari, Pouladi , Zare , M Nouri, Haghighi ... made it.
2006

Men	Qatar (QAT) Mohamed Saqr Abdulrahman Mesbeh Abdulla Al-Berik Majdi Siddiq Ali Nasser Mesaad Al-Hamad Hussein Yasser Magid Mohamed Ibrahim Al-Ghanim Talal Al-Bloushi Adel Lamy Wesam Rizik Waleed Jassem Yusef Ahmed Abdullah Koni Qasem Burhan Sebastián Soria Khalfan Ibrahim Younes Ali Bilal Mohammed	Iraq (IRQ) Mohammed Noor Al-Deen Mohammed Ali Haidar Rahim Mustafa Karim Samer Saeed Ali Mansour Younis Mahmoud Jassim Mohammed Haidar Sabah Ali Rehema Ali Khudhair Alaa Abdul-Zahra Karrar Jassim Salam Sha*** Haidar Aboodi Mohammed Gassid Ahmad Abd Ali Muayad Khalid Osama Ali Ahmad Kadhim	Iran (IRI) Alireza Haghighi Mohsen Arzani Jalal Akbari Jalal Hosseini Pejman Montazeri Behshad Yavarzadeh Milad Nouri Maziar Zare Mehrdad Oladi Arash Borhani Mohammad Gholamin Sheys Rezaei Saeid Chahjouei Hossein Mahini Mohammad Nouri Khosro Heidari Ehsan Khorsandi Adel Kolahkaj Mehrdad Pouladi Hassan Roudbarian

[BacheLot]

Midfield was way too lethargic for my liking. No creativity, no good passes. They couldn't see 10 meters to their left or right today.
They will hopefully step it up for the important games.
Teymourian was running everywhere today and tackling, but his passes were horrible. He can't play well in tight spaces.

Very Good Freindly Game...the kind we should have had before uzbakistan.....Albania was not a push over,but CQ 's TM out played them and out class them....they got the win though.
TM played with chamistry even though with the secound team.....TM how ever,must have Dejagah or Ali Karimi to get result.

yup, i concur to these..!!
albania though not flashy were very well organized and intune as a team, especially defensively..!! hence a great prep game for probably what we gonna face in tashkent..!! i only saw the 2nd half and my biggest qualm as nokhodi was with the our mf ..! we were totally void of creativity and our mfders didnt move well w/o the ball either to make themselves available..!
zz is spot on, to penetrate a well organized and Packed D, people of jabbari and ando's caliber are of no good use..!! we badly need AK and Dejagha, if we are to pose any offensive threat..!
the bright side in the game was a lively, dangerous and confident Ansarifard..!! i hope he doesnt choke and disappear in the big games though..!! im still leery about that..!
i am glad Haghighi got a full game under his belt..!! he wasnt all too convincing but overall he distributed the ball well and got some important experience ..!
i think the worst thing about that game was the Loss..!! cant say that we really deserved to win, but certainly did not deserve to loose that match..!! it shoulda and i wish it woulda ended in a draw..! the ACL participants seemed tired and drained bodily and emotionally and losing that way, with the ref being a jerk, exasperated their misery..!! i hope they recover well emotionally prior to uzbec game and really think that towards the end of camp cq should just let them rest up and chill a little bit, so they wont be edgy and nervous and in higher spirit prior to match..!
unless Aghili's form has dipped drastically at his new club..!!? i would still stick with him and hossaini combo in the backline, to start..!didnt care for him even being tried uptop (even karimi)and i hope that was just to confuse uzbeks scoutings..!!
i am still nervous about not having any solid starter for our LW..!! i dont know what form KB is in right now and with him missing so much training time, i dont think he can factor in as a starter any more..!!?
i dont think Mahini can unseat Heydari @ right back and hate to see him benched..!! perhaps its time CQ experiment with him as a LW..!!?
Ando was a beast, in super form, and certainly the most effective tm player prior to Dejagha's intro..! but since his injury he is back to becoming the old ando..!! run like hell but cant hit a wide side of a barn with his passes and choppy play..!! i hope he doesnt get carded and sent off in the game..!! i can see it happening from frustration..!
GR Rezaie is in a horrid form as of late and i wouldnt give him any playing time but perhaps off the bench late..!
Neku was meh, but he is always good for a goal and flash of brilliance and i think he will be in better form by game time..!
i dont mind bring AK off the bench but damn, we simply dont have even a half as good reliable back up for him..!! Jabbari is in a funk as of late and i dont know if he will snap out of it..!!??
pouladi didnt look too convincing, late to the ball and fouled a lot ..!
wonder if Ashkan get a start..?? probably not, but as an emergency sub, he is very likely feature sooner than later if we fall behind..!!
we should win this match, if we dont make too many mistakes and approach it cautiously..!

[KeonKish]

yup, i concur to these..!!
albania though not flashy were very well organized and intune as a team, especially defensively..!! hence a great prep game for probably what we gonna face in tashkent..!! i only saw the 2nd half and my biggest qualm as nokhodi was with the our mf ..! we were totally void of creativity and our mfders didnt move well w/o the ball either to make themselves available..!
zz is spot on, to penetrate a well organized and Packed D, people of jabbari and ando's caliber are of no good use..!! we badly need AK and Dejagha, if we are to pose any offensive threat..!
the bright side in the game was a lively, dangerous and confident Ansarifard..!! i hope he doesnt choke and disappear in the big games though..!! im still leery about that..!
i am glad Haghighi got a full game under his belt..!! he wasnt all too convincing but overall he distributed the ball well and got some important experience ..!
i think the worst thing about that game was the Loss..!! cant say that we really deserved to win, but certainly did not deserve to loose that match..!! it shoulda and i wish it woulda ended in a draw..! the ACL participants seemed tired and drained bodily and emotionally and losing that way, with the ref being a jerk, exasperated their misery..!! i hope they recover well emotionally prior to uzbec game and really think that towards the end of camp cq should just let them rest up and chill a little bit, so they wont be edgy and nervous and in higher spirit prior to match..!
unless Aghili's form has dipped drastically at his new club..!!? i would still stick with him and hossaini combo in the backline, to start..!didnt care for him even being tried uptop (even karimi)and i hope that was just to confuse uzbeks scoutings..!!
i am still nervous about not having any solid starter for our LW..!! i dont know what form KB is in right now and with him missing so much training time, i dont think he can factor in as a starter any more..!!?
i dont think Mahini can unseat Heydari @ right back and hate to see him benched..!! perhaps its time CQ experiment with him as a LW..!!?
Ando was a beast, in super form, and certainly the most effective tm player prior to Dejagha's intro..! but since his injury he is back to becoming the old ando..!! run like hell but cant hit a wide side of a barn with his passes and choppy play..!! i hope he doesnt get carded and sent off in the game..!! i can see it happening from frustration..!
GR Rezaie is in a horrid form as of late and i wouldnt give him any playing time but perhaps off the bench late..!
Neku was meh, but he is always good for a goal and flash of brilliance and i think he will be in better form by game time..!
i dont mind bring AK off the bench but damn, we simply dont have even a half as good reliable back up for him..!! Jabbari is in a funk as of late and i dont know if he will snap out of it..!!??
pouladi didnt look too convincing, late to the ball and fouled a lot ..!
wonder if Ashkan get a start..?? probably not, but as an emergency sub, he is very likely feature sooner than later if we fall behind..!!
we should win this match, if we dont make too many mistakes and approach it cautiously..!

I think ando and jabbari, and the whole team were just exhausted. Ando was passing fine for SS after his injury. Bad and short passes are a sign of fatigue anybody who has played soccer knows this. TM GET SOME REST!!!

We also need to use montazeri, aghily is clutch and good for late game, but montazeri is much more intelligent and tactically sound. He also knows how to keep a team together, and has technical ability unlike aghily who is basically a flying brick( no offense meant, Aghily is an extremely ONE sided player strong in the air and physically and that's about it. We should use montazeri and see how he does, if it works we should sub in aghily.

[BacheLot]

^ i agree, the most obvious thing after the final whistle in that match, was the flat out annoyed, Drained and exhausted looks on the faces of our boys..!
looooooooong PGL season, bowing out of ACL in tiring and embarrassing fashion, mentally drained, having to rush to TM camp for more prep and competing for positions in TM & loosing out the contentious Albania friendly by that tokhmy, out of nowhere goal and dealing with the asshole turk ref,....! that really calls for a day or so of chill exercises and some relaxation (which we can ill afford ..!) just for our boys to get the upcoming important game out of their minds and relax their thoughts and beat up bodies..!!

ps
cant say that i would mind the montazeri and aghili swap either..!! i trust CQ will make the right decision on that..!!
i just dont like too many changes and fiddling with the established starters in a game like this..!! but fact is alot of our regular starters are not in their good form and quite a few are missing due to injury and changes needs to be made..!!