Iran - Bahrain (11 Oct 2011)

[Hajagha]

maybe. in YOUR planet.
because in MY planet "passing correctly" is also as important.
and CQ had given him a distributor's role which demands far better passing quality than what he did here

besides I said below HIS levels. which means he ..... nevermind. just read the post again.

cheers back

Well, I don't remember even one ball of Neko's wrong doing. But it doesn't matter for me. His leadership and game tempo was clinical and coaches should force their players to watch how he controlled the whole game. I recommend you to watch how he forced his forwards to come back and gets the ball from him rather to stay on the defense line and wait for the ball. He had a few moments with Khalatbari and Jabbari that told them what to do. Later on, whenever he gets the ball, the whole team was moving UP and DOWN and gets wider too. Watch the forth goal (I guess, maybe another one) and you see what I mean.

Cheers,

[Hajagha]

^ Good observation Majid jan, let me add a few too.

CQ won the heart of the fans. They like him and listen to him.

Mahini goes far if he keeps the same trend.

Pooladi gets better and better.

Milad gets CQ attention even he is not 100% yet. Still, he gets benched to learn how to behave.

Cheers,

[BacheLot]

FK it
curiosity was killing me ..! couldnt wait for the full game to be uploaded..!!
dangit..! i knew id miss a dandy..!!
wow
you just gotta hand it to CQ

[maij]

There are many positive points in this match that I dearly like to share with everyone.

1- Mojtba Jabbari's return to form is one hell of a good omen for Iran. His creativity along with karimi in the midfield , supported with the defensive skills of Ando and Nekounam as defensive midfielders will be absolutely perfect in the coming matches.

2- Ando Teymourian , was the man of the match for me , although it would have been a very close call if Jabbari played to the end. His value for the team in every aspect is priceless. He is a fighter , a destroyer , a leader and a fantastic shooter , with such a goal. petty that his temperament gets the better of him. I knew , I swear to it , that he would get a silly yellow card , and he did. This part of his professionalism is lacking.

3- I was so happy that Ansarifard scored and scored such a beautiful & clinical goal. This will boost his confidence after the miserable game in his last outing against Qatar , where he was a poor finisher.

4- The defense was no tested , apart from one or two scares , but I attribute that to the strong midfield and the tactics that CQ employed on pressing the opposition deep in their own half.

5- Aghily may not be the most elegent or reliable defender in the world , but his heading ability and scoring record is second to none , what a player?


For the record: I don't believe that the sending off was the reason that Team Melli crushed Bahrain. I attribute that to the tactical brilliance of the team in facing a very difficult defensive minded team. Let us not forget that Team Melli historically had problem with such teams like Jordan and Bahrain. This time , Quieroz found the key....Brilliant.

[Doctor DOOM]

lol Yah, like your shot on Neko. It's obvious to me that you never played as a defensive mid. Otherwise, you knew how good he was.

Cheers,

maybe. in YOUR planet.
because in MY planet "passing correctly" is also as important.
and CQ had given him a distributor's role which demands far better passing quality than what he did here

besides I said below HIS levels. which means he ..... nevermind. just read the post again.

cheers back

[Hajagha]

With no doubt Man of the Match was Ando, with one super goal, two assists and winning a red card against opponent. Still even without those moments, his presence in every corner and his performance give me enough reason to crown him.

Second, I congratulate to CQ to transform the team to the current form.

Cheers,

[yashar_fasihnia]

great result and great game.

both ando and milad's cards were stupid and unnecessary by them.

i think we should keep meydavoudi only for center forward position and compete with ansarifard and ghazi. he cant perform well where he is currently playing. mahini and kazemian are more effective there. ( i think rezaei is way out of form right now)

pouladi has certainly improved since his first days as LB but i feel he doesnt have that sense of trickery and soft ball touch which haj safi and generally successful LBs tend to have. he is more of a physicaly player who runs in a straight line until he gets tackled.

i guess queiroz prefers him cos of his body strength and height advantage over hajsafi which gives the backline a better defense.

[Hajagha]

^ lol. indeed.
although we did have a few things that need smoothing over. But the scoreline is just too sweet at the moment for me to dabble in them.

lol Yah, like your shot on Neko. It's obvious to me that you never played as a defensive mid. Otherwise, you knew how good he was.

Cheers,

[Doctor DOOM]

^ lol. indeed.
although we did have a few things that need smoothing over. But the scoreline is just too sweet at the moment for me to dabble in them.

[Martin-Reza]

Lol, funny how short such a thread of yours can be when there is little to complain about .

[Doctor DOOM]

I guess all this would have been a bit different had it not been for the first minute send-off, which I think was justified after watching the replay and seeing the two footed direct lunge on Ando’s leg. That was the defining moment of the game which changed the whole game around for both teams. But that’s football and for once unsportsmanship and rough plays did get penalized. Anyway, on with the game.

I feel CQ is trying to bring in elements of British style of direct plays with a strong, tall center like Ghazi starting the games. Not that I have anything against this, as we need such a player to make use of our excellent wide players like mahini, heidari, hajsafi, … who can rain crosses into the box. So this is a positive thing.

But Ghazi’s most use was winning most of the aerial battles, shielding the balls and eventually feeding other players coming forward. Reminds me of the old Daei. Although he still lags behind Daei’s accuracy in goal scoring. But overall I am happy we have such a player with such characteristics in the team.


I liked how he used the flanks and insisted on stretching the Bahraini defense that I am sure, had come to close down shop and park the bus in front of the goal for 90+ minutes, relying on quick counters. Although heidari had fluctuating levels of performance but overall I think he did well and was an asset on the flank (even if his shots from the middle were typical defender-shots that usually rock the stadium clock than the net). Our right flank became a live-wire with Mahini’s entry though. This kid will go places if he keeps it up.

I’m also happy we scored an early goal. Which negated the Bahraini game plan of killing the game off with their typical grass rolling and time wasting tactics. In the first half, the more goals we scored, the more they had to come out to get something from the game. Which played into our hands. But I guess by our fourth goal all motivation and hope was squeezed out of them and they just wanted to finish the game with the least goals conceded.


Another pet peev of mine used to be long rangers that I'm happy to see CQ has insisted on it enough to see a decent number of shots from range. and our fourth was the result of this. Great to see our players take shots and try their luck from range. especially since most of them were either on target or whizzed by the post.


Players:
For me, the top player in the first half was Jabbari. He had a hand in the first goal and scored the second and helped fill Karimi’s absence in the middle. So it was a bit strange seeing him get subbed. Especially since Nekounam played a very ordinary game and was clearly below his usual levels.


In the second half Mahini and Ando were the top picks for me. Although as a whole the team played well and I am quite happy with their overall performance.

I feel we have exorcised the ghosts of 2001 game and we have finally put to rest that infernal match. It’s been a decade. But I think this was sweet, sweet revenge for us.