Central defense

[zzgloo]

Martin jaan.....
I could n't have said it better myself.....I also recommand to add
#4- Thier inability in " First touch ",against high crosses aganist our Goal.

[mehdy]

Yeah,Daei should try more many CD's in friendly match.

I agree with Nosrati and Montazeri.

Unfortunately,Hadi Shakouri didn't play,bcz of Koushki,Montazeri,Ghorbani.
I think he is good candidate too.
He　can send accurate long pass,good in the air and has a good speed.

Martin jan,I always check Omranzadeh.
However,he spend bad season,though he scored 5 goals...

[purple_haze]

I completely agree. In fact I said this already last year, or maybe even before.
This is an area were we are in deep trouble even compared to asian level countries, let alone at higher international stage like if we were to qualify for WC.
I stressed this even more after the game against Kuwait last year, in which the better one was having an off day and was combined with a worse version of himself, Bengar. I said back then that it was an enigma to me, why we were constantly using 2 similar, almost copy of each other, defenders in CD, instead of a combination of different qualities. All of the current ones, are basically the same with Hosseini being the better one and the rest just lower quality of the same type, which is decent in the air and brute force muscle power, slow on the ground and not much to not any brain usage in between.

If we could have a combination of muscle power and and at least speed (with intelligence being a bonus) we could at least improve.

To me the usage of the same ineffective duo in every freaking friendly, instead of trying other combinations is as much a waste as using Kaebi in every meaningless match instead of letting Khosro Heydari have a go at it.

[Martin-Reza]

I think we are not doing well in that department currently. We failed to keep a clean sheet in any of the 4 World Cup qualifiers so far. And it wasn't like our goalkeeper did bad, he actually was one of our best players so far, if not the best.

We allow far too many chances. I think we have 3 main problems:

1) Concentration slips: Our defenders are strong in one-on-ones and in the air, but too often lapses allow the opposition to get great chances. A recent example was Aghili sleeping while Park headed the loose ball in from close range.

2) Speed: We all know our centerbacks are not very fast. This makes problems in defending more upfront, rather we often defend deep which is counterproductive to trying to play an offensive aggressive game.

3) Build-up: Both Hosseini and Aghili rely on too many high balls, most of them being recovered by the opponent rather easily.

I think all 3 problems concern both centerbacks, but Aghili is worse in two of the three departments, I'm not sure about speed. Hosseini clearly is the better defender in my eyes, he anticipation and ability to read the game outclasses Aghili. I personally don't think the other 2 regulary called up defenders, Ghorbani and Bengar, are better than Aghili in any of the 3 departments though, and also worse in others. I also don't think Montazeri is better than Ghorbani.

I really would like to see Rahman Rezaei and Mohammad Nosrati reinvited. Both showed several far better performances against stronger opponents then our current defenders, especially Aghili, currently show.

As for other interesting options like Omranzadeh, I must say I unfortunately didn't have the chance to observe them often enough.