Esteghlal Fan Thread...

[Amin_]

Not a great match, but still very exciting. We're still a little shaky in defense, but hopefully that'll improve with time. Qn needs to find a fixed defensive line and stick to them. Rotating doesn't work. The players need steady playing time to get adjusted to eachother.

I don't understand why suddenly Pouladi started, and that in such a match, but ok. And why did it take so long before Manei was subbed out?! He was just aweful!

The conditioning of the team seems to be pretty ok. They kept running til the last minute while the Sepahan players looked to be out of breath after the 70th minute.

Anyway I'm glad the boys fought back and looked eager to win, but too bad.

[yashar_fasihnia]

again, a disappointing game by us and a disappointing scoreline. we should have and could have won the game!

1)why the hell did pouladi start out of the blue?? he was out for wat 6 7 months and suddenly one day, he becomes a starter?? weird.....
waste of substitution and 45 minutes for esteghlal
i really wonder if ghalenoi even wants to use janvario?? i was so excited to see him joining us but..

2)our 3 lines play so far apart. our defense, midfield and offense were so far apart that the sepahanis could easily move into our field with short passes.
our team was totally lost specially in the first half. players were just running around clearing the balls or tackling the opponent. repeatedly, u would see 6 7 esteghlalis infront of talebloo clearing the ball, and 1 or 2 esteghlalis, that too shorties like majidi and akbarpour standing next to aghili and bengar waiting for long aimless balls

3)sepahan exploited our 3-5-2 formation weakness very nicely in first half just like any other good asian team with decent european coaches would do. they took the ball to the sides behind our wingers thereby attracting our center backs towards themselves and opening our 3 men defense line hence providing good opportunity for the sepahan forwards right infront of the goal.
meysam manei specially was crap in his defensive duties and we faced lots of difficulties from that side in defense.
with the arrival of amirabadi and probably ghalenoi addressing this problem to hossein kazemi to engage more in battles and cover up for our wingers when they are out of position neutralized sepahans offensive moves most of the time. ofcourse, their 1-0 lead and the fact that they ran out of gas because of so much pressurizing in the first half helped us as well.

4)our defense line needs more coordination but i think individually, they were our best line.
our midfield is so uncordinated and lost and only has to rely on individual brilliance and our forward line is very ineffective
majidi looked good today in midfield and i would say ghalenoi should try janvario and milad nouri as well next to jabbari and if they dont work, just play majidi there.

hossein kazemi needs to concentrate more in his passes. many of his passes were either too short or too long and never made it to his team mates.his defensive duties however and his tackling were great specially in second half. again i think, ghalenoi must have told him to be more active and engage himself more in tackles and even foul in the middle of the field if necessary to break the opponents rhytm.

5)i must admit, we need a big target man upfront for our goal kicks and long balls from defense to offense. majidi and akbarpour simply cant win any aerial battles against big defenders.
i would say try abbasfard for 2 3 games and if it doesnt work out (which i think it wont cos i think abbasfard is crap anywayz), just go back to alizadeh. wat to do, we have no other options

6)players wise, i think pirouz ghorbani was our best player today, followed by khosro heydari.
montazeri, shakouri, kazemi, jabbari, akbarpour were also good.
manei and pouladi were utter crap. manei should only come as a sub. whenever he has started, he has been crap. he should come in second half to use his pace and skills on a relatively tired opponent.
pouladi, please, he shouldnt even be placed on the bench for the time being until he becomes match fit again.

i would like to see this formation tried next game against mes which is in kerman btw:

-----------------------------talebloo-----------------------------
-----------------------------koushki-----------------------------
-------------montazeri----------------------ghorbani----------------
-----------------------------kazemi---------------------------------
-----heydari------------------------------------amirabadi-------------
--------------------jabbari----------janvario--------------------------
-------------------abbasfard---------------akbarpour-----------------

if janvario is doing miserably, bring in majidi for his place and if abbasfard is not doing anything either, bring back alizadeh. atleast he pressurizes the opponent and has good throw ins.

7)this team has A LOT OF WORK to do in my opinion.
we only have fitness and stamina. nothing else.

still lots of tactical work has to be done on the team which i hope ghalenoi addresses and the team adapts over time.
-first and foremost, avoid extra dribblings and ball carrying specially by players like heydari, akbarpour, majidi and even at times, jabbari.
-quick one touch passing in forms of 2 and 3 player combos to quickly change sides of the field or switch from defense to offense or to simply penetrate the opponents midfield and defensive lines.
-reducing the gap between our 3 lines. our defense, midfield and offense line need to play closer to each other, to make the team more coordinated and compact. all 10 players should move upfront in attack together and move back in defense together.in this way, our players wont be out numbered and we can pressurize the opponent and even outnumber them at the same time. our passes will automaticaly become shorter, faster and more in number, hence making the interception of our passes more difficult by the opponent and eventually us increasing our ball possession and at the same time, making better use of it.
-work on the accuracy of passing, shooting, crossing and heading of the ball. some of our crosses were way off. our players dont take any shots on goal nor can they head the ball accurately enough.
-a major flaw which is seen in iranian football in general, and that is crossing the ball aimlessly or if the player is out of ideas. this should stop. why bother crossing if there is only 1 forward among 4 defenders upfront or when ur attackers are short and have no chance of using that cross. or even bother, when u cant even cross properly??
players should try to control themselves and cross only when its necessary. otherwise pass back the ball, and maintain possession and try to create another plan of attack! our players bring the ball with great difficulty around the penalty area and then just waste it with useless and aimless crosses. why not pass the ball back and in this way involve the rest of ur team mates in attacking as well, thereby increasing the number of midfielders infront of the opponents goal as a second wave of attack and then having a higher chance of scoring.
-increase the free movement of our players. when our player has the ball, his team mates should approach him for support or move into empty spaces thereby creating a good passing chance for our players and at the same time, distracting and confusing the opponents defense and midfield!
-clarrify and assign the set piece takers in trainings.
who are our set piece takers for direct and indirect freekicks?
manei? jabbari? heydari? kazemi? akbarpour?? akbari??
every time, a different player took the set piece.

8)also, ghalenoi and the staff should work on the morale and mentality and mental strength of the team. the team shouldnt give up so easily and get frustrated so easily. previously under ghalenoi, the team was mentally the strongest in the whole IPL and never gave up. but this team looks very vulnerable mentally and low in confidence. its times like these that experienced players like ghorbani,majidi and jabbari should step in and make a difference like how ghorbani did today. i dont think it was just coincidence that ghorbani and majidi were our most dangerous players today. they were determined and fighting back and the rest were trying to follow.
this needs to be worked on for the whole team.

thats about it for now, im very disappointed in my team and from the looks of it, i have to wait for a long time until i see the same esteghlal i saw under ghalenoi those previous 3 seasons

[Parham10]

^dont forget borhani

[persian boy]

lol thats funny. I predicted Ghorbani to score but i didnt get the score right. man iv been on a role lately, starting with the good fantasy player picks and now this.

[Ali Chicago]

First half waste of time to watch the game. Second game, SS played better until they scored and after that, nothing. The same old problem with Iranian football. We go not to loose rather than win a game.

Brilliant game by Akbarpoor and Khosro Haydari. If I were Daie, I would have taken a serious look at Haydari and Akbarpoor.
Yashar, Janvario for whatever reason (doesn't even practice regularly never mind he starts).

Mojtaba Jabbari and Hossein Kazeim playe way below par. I wish GN has the guts to bench Jabbari and Kazemi. I don't know why Yaddi Akbari isn't given more chances. I know Jabbari lost his father and all, but still he as a super star needs to be consistant. Maniyee is below par as well. i dont' know why Baykzadeh isn't tested.

Lot of takravi and ball carrying by the players. SS team speed is low. Our offense is really poor. Out of three goals (Jabbari, Amirabadi, Ghorbani) not a single goal by our forwards.

I know we aren't happy with the result, but we played against Sepahan and not "Ghormeh Sabzi). Haydari had to fight , Jalal Akbari, Ehsan Hajsafi for example. Not an easy task.

Ghorbani was really hungry, Haydari to some degree, rest didnt' seem hungry. While we aren't doing well, I am not hitting the panic button yet. Team might need more time.

One thing is GN's trust on Alizadeh. It seems there is this trend in our football with players who play upfront, center forward/target forward, who can' t handle the ball, pass the ball well, are half decent in the air, that coaches like them (rings a bell???) but fans don't like them.

[shayan20]

It was a good hard test for both SS and Sepahan to analyze their weaknesses.

SS played a good attacking game in the second half but your defense is still susceptible similar to last season.

the best player for SS was undoubtly Ghorbani, he played with pride and will in defense and wrapped up his good performance with the equalizer.

[yashar_fasihnia]

Yashar, Janvario for whatever reason (doesn't even practice regularly never mind he starts).

janvario doesnt even practice with the team??? may i ask how do u know this??? and if ur sure he doesnt even practice with the team, do u know why or atleast will he practice with the team and if yes, when will he??

[Ali Chicago]

janvario doesnt even practice with the team??? may i ask how do u know this??? and if ur sure he doesnt even practice with the team, do u know why or atleast will he practice with the team and if yes, when will he??

I am not in Iran, but my nephew goes to SS practices. I talk to a few older SS players around the team as well.

Rumors has it that his check wasn't passed and he is pissed. Officially they say, he is injured, who knows?

When I went to SS camp in Turkey Janvario wasn't there and even that very same day, GN told me that checks for 15 players didn't clear the bank and players are totally pissed (Maniyee's check was one of those who returned, so was AmirAbadi's). So I am not surpriesed to hear Janvarios' check isn't cleared but don't know for sure.

[yashar_fasihnia]

hmm..thanx for the info.

i heard that many of the esteghlal players checks didnt pass but about janvario, i think we signed him after the turkey camp. so naturally he wouldnt participate in the turkey camp.

[yashar_fasihnia]

btw last night on navad, the referee critic, mr. hamirat, said that the aghili pushing on alizadeh was a definite penalty and esteghlal should have been awarded a penalty whic ghalenoi also objected to.

where is ala on such days?

[shayan20]

btw last night on navad, the referee critic, mr. hamirat, said that the aghili pushing on alizadeh was a definite penalty and esteghlal should have been awarded a penalty whic ghalenoi also objected to.
where is ala on such days?

strange. I didn't see that as a penalty. A harsh biased ref could give that a penalty but not a normal one.
He didn't use his hands, he just went for the ball and got it.

[yashar_fasihnia]

from the replay i saw, aghili actually pushed alizadeh with his shoulder. it was more than a normal shoulderpush to me but anywayz...its over now..

[Kasra.]

/\ well said Yashar jaan. It's over now, but it was a PK!

[shayan20]

also in navad the guy said esteghlal should have had one of the players red carded.

[Kasra.]

which player?