Iran vs UAE post match ratings

[Prowess]

ARJ had a poor game, but he played well in the previous game against Iraq. His tentativeness on the ball is 99% related to his tenure at Brighton. Goes to show you how damaging a club can be to a player’s development, no matter how high the league is.

It was his decisiveness, aka confidence, that made the dutch league a piece of cake to him. Now, after years of psychological damage at Brighton, you can see his “regression”—-even in the dutch league.

A handful of games of Feyenoord won’t necessarily undo it, but hopefully receiving continued confidence and trust he’ll work through it, and become closer to the player we know he can be.

[OFFSIDE_1]

I was recently overseas and speaking to an Iranian from Iran. He asked me: how do people in the US view Iran? And I responded that the west views Iran as troublemakers. He said he disagrees and that they see Iran as competitors, pointing to the fact that western media is always mentioning us in their news.
I laughed at this because it reminded me of a story my mom told me as a kid about the Fox and the crow. The hungry fox sees a piece of cheese in the crow’s mouth and says to the crow, you sing beautifully! The crow feels good about this and starts to sing, cheese falling out of his mouth and the fox gets what he wants.
The point is that no Iranian should be proud of Iran’s perceived accomplishments despite sanctions, because there is no accomplishment to be proud of. In the meantime, the west flatters Iran by always mentioning it in the news, but then allowing it’s trade partner such as China to take advantage of Iran’s resources. Mizane tu sare Iran mige give your oil to China, your seas to Russia, and deals with those two countries behind back doors to get concessions out of them while leveraging Iran’s resources and turning a blind eye to the unfair trade practices that these countries partipate in with Iran.
These sanctions are NOT helping Iran. We shouldn’t just think about where Iran *could* be and should think about how to get where its people want it to be.

??
somehow we went from Taremi and Jahanbaksh's performance and TM's undefeated record to sanctions and China taking advantage of our resources ?

[zereshk-ali]

Amiri had a poor game on the ball with those continuous slips in advanced positions but also taking him out of the midfield in the second half showed how exposed the cm of Ezza and Nourallahi is without his energy and closing of the passing lanes.

Ezzatolahi is an excellent defensive midfielder when he has the right player alongside him and that player is definitely not Nourallahi. And certainly not in a 2. People are praising Nourallahi’s
high press but there are too many occasions that he gets caught in between pressing and sitting and doesn’t close off the forward pass in behind him and this exposes Ezza’s lack of mobility. There’s no way we’re starting va Korea without Amiri in central midfield after Skocic analyses that second half defensively.

[somebuffguy]

??
somehow we went from Taremi and Jahanbaksh's performance and TM's undefeated record to sanctions and China taking advantage of our resources ?

The point I’m making is that Iranians should stop being proud of Iran’s advancements, including sports, despite sanctions. We are not competing at the level we should be with global powers. Not with the resources Iran has, both human and natural resources.

[somebuffguy]

Amiri had a poor game on the ball with those continuous slips in advanced positions but also taking him out of the midfield in the second half showed how exposed the cm of Ezza and Nourallahi is without his energy and closing of the passing lanes.

Ezzatolahi is an excellent defensive midfielder when he has the right player alongside him and that player is definitely not Nourallahi. And certainly not in a 2. People are praising Nourallahi’s
high press but there are too many occasions that he gets caught in between pressing and sitting and doesn’t close off the forward pass in behind him and this exposes Ezza’s lack of mobility. There’s no way we’re starting va Korea without Amiri in central midfield after Skocic analyses that second half defensively.

This is an astute analysis I must say

[OFFSIDE_1]

The point I’m making is that Iranians should stop being proud of Iran’s advancements, including sports, despite sanctions. We are not competing at the level we should be with global powers. Not with the resources Iran has, both human and natural resources.

on the contrary. Iranians should be proud of Iran’s advancements in sports with all the sanctions placed on the country.

[Leicester City]

I think he is not that good that we might think. He had an excellent season in AZ (over performed maybe). But I think he don't have the natural technical talents that some others player have. He is maybe too scholar, so I guess it works out when everything around you goes well but may not be enough if the opponent is stronger or your team don't do too well.

Bro this has been a recurring theme, not just one game...

I know for a fact we would fared better with 10 players today. Kept on giving the ball away freely to the opposition you would've thought he was playing for UAE. Couldn't beat his man... couldn't even beat his own shadow if we are being honest. AND DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON SET-PIECES/DELIVERY. What even was that? I and half the people on PFDC could have sent a better ball in than that, I kid you not bro. Even a little baby could send in better quality than that. As a winger, if that's what you call a delivery then legit you have no business being anywhere near a football pitch.

[Kavian]

on the contrary. Iranians should be proud of Iran’s advancements in sports with all the sanctions placed on the country.

Any talk about advancements of any kind in light of the sanctions, gives legitimacy to the akhoud regime who in the first place brought us the sanctions and pushed a 3000 years civilization to be the worse of worse!

There is nothing here to be proud of .. period!

Pride is when we free our nation from akhound and dark religion.

[The Farbod]

ARJ's problem isn't that he plays poorly one game and well another. He honestly plays pretty consistently. The problem is that he is extremely limited physically and technically. He's not very fast. He's not very technical with the ball. His passing and spacial awareness is average at best. He has a good shot and he's a very hard working player. But thats it. So against some teams these issues come up while against others they dont. That fools you into thinking hes inconsistent. He's not. He's just not that good.

[Iran_19]

ARJ's problem isn't that he plays poorly one game and well another. He honestly plays pretty consistently. The problem is that he is extremely limited physically and technically. He's not very fast. He's not very technical with the ball. His passing and spacial awareness is average at best. He has a good shot and he's a very hard working player. But thats it. So against some teams these issues come up while against others they dont. That fools you into thinking hes inconsistent. He's not. He's just not that good.

True, JB played beyond his talent level, his last season in Holland set the bar high, but the reality is as you said he is not gifted player or excellent or very good in anything. He is just a hard working player with a great work ethic.

[Iranianarsenal11]

Goes to show that sometimes you have slightly above average players like ARJ grind their ass off and make it to the premier league while guys like PAG who are (no offense to ARJ) naturally better football players, waste their careers playing in the Chinese league...

I love ARJ and he was my MOTM against Iraq but today's game showed that his game is quite limited...

[Farzadfarhangni]

I have seen a lot of negative posts about Skocic and it all boils down to three points... 1) Team has no strategy 2) He depends too much on individual's abilities
and 3) Poor substitutions. I'd like to address or question all three.

1) Team has no strategy

Briefly, today we played 4-4-2 first half and 4-2-2-2 second half. We emphasized the right side in the first half as ARJ/Moharami/Nour were constantly switching positions and making triangles and moved the ball up to the corner flag to cross. On the left, Nourafkan and Amiri could not do the same as Ezzatolahi was to stay back at all times so they did not drive to corner flag but instead moved infield to partner up with Taremi to move the ball up.... I think they were emphasizing the right side because UAE's left back was injured and they were trying to put pressure on his back up... All this sort of thing to me is strategy. The fact that ARJ did not have a good game and Nour's passes were going stray is not coach's fault or lack of strategy. And Skocic adjusted to 4-2-2-2 in second half and performance did get better.

I'd like to ask people who feel Skocic has no strategy, what did they see as France's strategy in the last world cup? This may help me understand what their point is. There are coaches that have a defensive bias, like CQ and Mourinho, who rely on counterattacks and set pieces to score. And there are some coaches that don't care much about defense and try to outscore their opponents. But most coaches have a more neutral bias and adjust it more offensively or defensively depending on their opponent. Skocic is in this camp and today he adjusted it to be more offensive. There are coaches that build from the back religiously (Graham Potter) and others that use bekesh ziresh... But again, most coaches use a combination of the two and Skocic does too. So I am confused on what people would like to see to say that this team/coach has a strategy.


2) Skocic depends too much on individuals

This really gets me. Of course, he depends on individuals. Give Brazil's coach some Bangladeshi soccer players and have him win the world cup with them players!!! Please elaborate on what you mean here... (I know we have been weak offensively on set pieces, but hard to blame Skocic on this given so little time to prepare for these games)

3) Poor substitutions

We can have our opinions on this but I tried to come up with an unbiased test and checked the number of goals scored in the first halves and the second halves during Skocic's 10 game history. Logic being that if he makes good substitutions in second half, adjusting for the opponent's weaknesses, we should score more in second half. In his 10 games, we have scored 10 goals in first halves and 19 goals in the second halves. This by no mean is scientific proof but seems to indicate that his substitutions and strategy adjustments at half time are affective.

[Iran_19]

Skocic actually was sharp to take Norafkan out, not that he played bad, but he was going to get the red for sure. Same situation happened when Wilmots was there with Masoud, and we all saw what happened.
His subs were Ok considering the circumstances, subbed Norafkan out, Amiri as LB, then to protect the lead brought Hajsafi to move Amiri up, as he is more defensive winger than JB. and Sarlak, who is more defensive for Nour.
people like to see fancy sub, but at the end coaches think about 3 points and how to protect an away lead.

[Iran_19]

Sardar to me added some weight, and wasn't as fast as before. He usually is very sharp around the net, which wasn't the case in the last few games. Maybe i am expecting too much from him, i don't know..

[inarsenewetrust]

Sardar to me added some weight, and wasn't as fast as before. He usually is very sharp around the net, which wasn't the case in the last few games. Maybe i am expecting too much from him, i don't know..

He should have been subbed 10-15 mins earlier, but overall he is totally fit. just think it wasnt his best match. still when it mattered he made crucial contribution and showed his class.