Is Queiroz failing?

[Doctor DOOM]

the point I'm trying to make is nobody shd be foolish enough to rely on luck to get things done.
you may get lucky (as we were in tashkent, ulsan, tehran vs korea), you may also be unlucky* (in lebanon and tehran vs uzbeks). Or luck may not play any part at all and you can play for 4 hours using the same tactics and get nowhere.

so to think "I'm going to have one plan and keep at it and even if I dont succeed, I will get lucky" is pretty foolish.
a wise person will always have a "plan-B" in case things dont work out. IRRESPECTIVE of luck.


ANY ONE of those 3,4-5 korean chances could have doomed us. All it would take is for the ball to be a couple of inches to either side and we'd be discussing/dreading the play offs right now!! then you wouldnt be sitting here saying CQ's single strategy worked.
the longer we close our eyes to the problems, the worse things will get. we're basically fooling ourselves by basing any theories or arguments on a game that LUCK was the biggest player on MULTIPLE occasions.





* - as for the bad luck cases, again I must remind all, we can have a say in how lucky or unlucky we can get, to some extent also.
take the game against qatar earlier in the round and the one in previous round. WE, by our own decision making, reduce our luck and success rate by choosing a striker that is out of form and has very low strike rate for that period.
we can say we got unlucky we didnt score 4 goals against qatar in qatar (last year). true. but we also must admit the player WE CHOSE had a lot to do with all those misses and unlucky instances.
who knows ... maybe if we had a more in form striker instead of ansarifard, we could have actually converted a couple of those 4-5 chances.

That's why I say we cant rely on luck. but we can increase or decrease it by taking positive or negative steps.

if we stick to only one strategy without a back up, we ARE reducing our luck and success rate. By the same token, if we do have a plan B if our plan A doesnt bear fruit, then we are INCREASING our luck. as simple as that.





I just cant understand why we're arguing over something so blatantly obvious and common sense; one needs to have a back up plan.
that's a universally accepted and proven notion. and shdnt need anyone to explain it.
I just dont understand why there's an argument over such an obvious and clear matter. it's like arguing benefits of breathing oxygen!

[Martin-Reza]

Over a span of more than a handful game you will always be lucky at some occassions and unlucky on others. We had been very unlucky in all of the three games we didn't win and overall I wouldn't say luck was a major factor in our qualification but rather a stable defense.

Just look at the Korea game, they had like 75% possession, but how many clear scoring chances did they have? 3 or 4, maybe 5 real threats. That's not a matter of luck, but of organization, concentration, confindence and discipline - things Queiroz concentrated on from the beginning.

[Doctor DOOM]

yes, sure, ... if we discount the 3-4 extremely lucky occasions we somehow got away with. I guess 'getting lucky' is a part of the strategy. right?

but beware. lady luck is a fickle lass and totally unreliable.
you cant always "PLAN" on getting lucky with the defender missing the ball or the header squeeking an inch away, or the keeper making impossible double saves.
normally just one of those instances would be enough to prove your "keep at the door knob till grass grows under your feet" rule wrong. just ONE!

[Martin-Reza]

Seems the knob has eventually opened the door, while starting to doubt and jumping out of the window would have probably resulted in a broken neck . "Surprisingly" the multi-million dollar expert coach seemed to have known what he was doing from the start.

[Doctor DOOM]

and sometimes if you keep on trying a locked door, no matter how many times you turn the knob, the bloody thing IS locked .... then you have to try the window.

I just dont see or havent seen CQ try the window. he keeps on turning the same knob that hasnt opened the door!
he seems oblivious to the window or the need to try something other than the knob!

[Martin-Reza]

Sometimes, but sometimes you need to stick to your plan even if things are not going well immediately.

[Doctor DOOM]

^ good plan or not, a good coach MUST ALWAYS have a plan-B.
sometimes those "good plans" dont work, for variety of reasons, like refs not calling your penalties or goals, or opponents' keepers getting lucky, post hits, ... etc etc.

bringing professionalism and discipline and .. are all totally different things. Plan-B is about the game itself.

[Martin-Reza]

He always had a good plan and we were unlucky that it didn't work out early in the final stage.

He stabilized the defense, relied on experienced players and added fresh blood with European football mentality. He tried to stick to a certain team and not make too many experiments.

Besides, he fought on various fronts to improve our environment, such as league schedule, Hazfi Cup, IPL size, training camps, FIFA and AFC match scheduling, fitting equipment, discipline and more.

To me it was always obvious he was adding much needed professionalism while at the same time having a good plan on the field too.

That is why I was surprised and disappointed about the calls to remove this great coach, also by many knowledgeable members who usually don't let their emotions get in the way of rational analysis.

[Doctor DOOM]

after all that's been said and done, I must add one thing:
We still dont know if CQ has a plan-B for the games. for the first 5 games, he showed he didnt have one.
and the final 3 games, more or less went according to the script (with a hefty dose of luck on our side).
But what if RGN wasnt at the end of the ricochet in qatar. or what if the penalty against shojaei was rightfully called? or what if the qatari's shot went in instead of hitting the bar and they parked the bus after that? or what if the koreans had scored in their counter-attack in 1st half? or what if the ref had red carded ahmadi in that incident? or ... ? and many other what ifs that would have put our qualification on the brink. even a single one of them would have meant us entering the prolonged elimination (play offs)

I'm happy we qualified. But there are some questions still remaining in my mind. and lack of a Plan-B is one of them

[Mansoor]

Actually, this is one of those great threads that is worth reading it again, especially after fact. Very mature, lively, presented well from every aspect, and actually a witness to how our qualification path went with ups and downs reflected.

The answer is sure given though, as Carlos succeeded:

-- One characteristics that makes people like Carlos great is their ability to "adjust" and find solutions even in such difficult times as Iran faced. That's the difference between a good coach and a great coach. Another A+ for Carlos in that dept.

-- Going back to point A in first post, Carlos did that when he was able to push the players play up to their potential and above. I think he still has more work to do in that department and players can even get better in "playing together" section of it.

-- But point B, was partially achieved. He did help TM transit from old squad to players such as Gucci and a few new faces we saw at the end of qualifications, but the transit job was done partially.

I believe he still has 2-3 spots to put new players in. In particular and in my opinion, perhaps one winger and one or two midfielders (as Dejagah, Gucci, and Nekunam have their pass sealed).

Maybe miracle happens and Jahanbakhsh gets there soon enough to be that "other" winger we badly need.

Others who have a shot for this coming year, and I have a feeling they will push for it, seeing "play at WC" goal right in front of them and a whole year to catch up, are Rahmani, Mosalman, Gharibi, Sadeghian, and Alishah from U22 as well as Y. Karimi, O. Ebrahimi, and R. Haghighi.

Two players with long shots are Azmoun and Ansarifard if they get a chance to actually play in Europe.

[Mr.Click]

^ hehehe..was gonna post the exact same comment, beat me to it.
in my mind this thread is closed

[Martin-Reza]

Oh, btw, answer to the thread title's question is "no", just in case someone is still unsure. We can go through this thread though and easily find out who failed...

[Martin-Reza]

Hickups are normal in football, unfortunately also that some fans take themselves too important and bash the coach all the time.

[Doctor DOOM]

Redemption must taste so sweet for CQ.

He redeemed himself in the final 3 games and made up (I'd say he went an extra mile, in fact) for the early hic-ups

[faraz]

I believe we can finally put this topic to bed - Queroz ultimately did not fail. He exceeded expectations, finishing top of the group. Tactically, he really proved himself in the final 3 games. I felt like we had pretty clear plans in each of those games and they were all favourable results for us.

One last tidbit - we only conceded 2 goals in 8 games...that's unheard of! Queroz definitely had a role to play in that too.

Congrats to him, the team, and all of Iran - it is a proud, proud day for us all.