Iran - Albania - Post match discussion

[Kaiser Amir]

First half summary

Poor, poor first 20 minutes.
Then, it got slightly better, but far from impressive.

I read that some people were complaining that Team Melli players just hoof the ball upfield aimlessley.
In my opinion, this is exactly contrary to what Queiroz has ordered them to do, but, unfortunatly, we have to accept that some players can only do so much at the moment.

Notice how our goal-kicks are being taken.
The keeper doesn't hoof the ball upfield, instead he is restarting the game with a short pass to his nearest defender who, in his turn, looks to continue the build-up with another short pass and so on.

In my opinion, this is an indication of how Queiroz wants the play-making to start from defence, similar to what Barcelona does, instead of using aimless balls hoofed upfield.

Again, unfortunatly, there is a BIG DIFFERENCE between what Queiroz wants and what some of these guys can do.


Second half summary

Iran started better. An improved showing compared to the first 45 minutes.
I think Queiroz's half-time talk focused mainly on calming down the nerves of the players.
As a result, wild tackles were replaced by calm passing and nice build-up play.
Chances were created and Albania's goal game against the run of play.

Even though it was a combination of a lucky bounce, which brought the ball to the albanian player, and a perfectly placed shot, the goal also reflected the problems of our defenders.

The distance between them and the scorer was too much and it allowed the albanian player to take a clear shot at goal.

Unfortunatly, as the game went on, Team Melli fizzled out and the final 10-15 minutes were plain awful.


Sides notes

- I'm glad Haghighi was tested. I don't know if he is better than Rahmati, but, if we don't try new options, then we'll never find out. Haghighi had an alarming intervention in the first half, when he spilled Albania's only shot on target. However, apart from that, he didn't make mistakes, nor he was sensational. Unfortunatly, Albania failed to test him in the 2nd half and the goal was not his fault.

- Pejman Montazeri is another player I'm happy to have been tested. But, again, I can't judge from this one game, if he is a better option than Aghili.
Personally, I'd still use Aghili against Uzbekistan, but I'm waiting to read other people's opinions on Montazeri.

- Teymourian and Jabbari were not close to their top form. This can be a problem against Uzbekistan and is a cause to worry!

- Team Melli lacks penetration power without Khalatbari! We will definitely need him against Uzbekistan.

- Ghazi's injury is a huge blow to Queiroz's plan and it was shown today. Even though Ansarifard did OK, still, it was obvious that we missed Ghazi's physical presence in the box.


Conclusion

Team Melli still has a lot of problems and the match against Uzbekistan, a side which defeated Japan, home and away, in the previous round of the World Cup qualifiers is going to be hell for the Iran side I saw today.

[Masoud_A]

Not much to say other than the same old bekesh ziresh bebein chi mishe.

[K. Nader]

With this impressive performance by our team, it's only a matter of time before Spain and Germany call our Football Federation and request a friendly.

[KiarashM]

alright..first loss under CQ, i am beginning to have my doubts. We will not beat Uzbekistan under any circumstances, mark my words. This team sucks big time. I have lost my faith already, this match made me sick!

I guess all those pictures of hard working players in TM during Turkey camp didn't mean any shit. TM still hasn't booked progress under CQ.

[Martin-Reza]

Not a bad performance. We dominated and created six good chances whereas we didn't allow Albania one single shot from inside the area.

Albania certainly are not as weak as many expected them to be, the goal was an excellent shot.

I also think we got unlucky with the ref. Disallowing Ansarifard's goal due to hand play but at the same time not calling the penalty in injury time for the clear handplay blocking Nekounam's freekick is certainly double standard.

I liked Ansarifard, Pouladi, both central defenders, Teymourian and Karimi, whereas Jabbari and Nekounam - the latter at least over some periods - were underperforming.

However, I think it was an good test for Uzbekistan and the result is not so important.

[I LOVE IRAN!]

speechless, idk what happened was this our tm? im really confused

[dokhtar92irooni]

guys you have to relax this was our B team that was playing and it was just a friendly I'm sure many of our players didn't want to risk getting injured for the real match against Uzbekistan. Plus look at the friendly Germany vs Swiss the Germans lost 5-3 and they became 3rd in the last world cup. Also note that Karim's goal imo was valid and it should have counted

[Man United Fan]

I truley think that the problem is NOT the Iranian Team, but The Fan. If we lower our expectation and don't expect them to win, I think they would perform much better.. So the problem is us not them.

[NFL]

We must fire Crlos Qeiroz. Right now. Not tomorrow.

[Paradigm]

not much to say other than the same old bekesh ziresh bebein chi mishe.

^