Would TM benefit from a switch to a three at the back system?

[Pluto2000]

Hey all,

So I'm here sitting bored at work and since my TM itch won't be scratched for many more months, I decided to explore the potential of how TM would work in a three back system (if ever).

Right now, it seems like are stuck in a hyper aggressive 4-4-2 for what seems like 5-6 years now. The whole team is built around Mehdi and Sardar up top, in sacrifice of numbers in the midfield. However in recent years, I'm sure as we all know Mehdi is getting very old and Sardar is a big question mark. There is a very good chance he will injured and out for a month nearly every game he plays.

So all this in my boredom is making me wonder...can the current TM pull off a 3-4-3?

I've been inspired by Leverkusen's dominant run this season (of course TM is no Leverkusen 🤣, take this as a hypothetical) and how Xabi Alonso has implemented his 3-4-2-1 taking advantage of half spaces.

Currently, our defensive problems are because of us overlapping our fullbacks to join the attack, leading us extremely prone to counterattack if said fullbacks don't hustle back to defend (See Ramin and Haj Safi). So what if we switched to some sort of 3-4-3? This would make it very easy to have 5 in defense on counters. Would this type of system work for us? As we know, in a three back system the CBs must have technical quality. So what if we had something like this for example?

Goalkeeper (not a fan of Beiranvand personally but we don't have anyone better)

Moharrami - Hosseini - Aghasi (He is a left footed CB)

Hardani - Ezatollahi - Ghoddos - Milad

ARJ - Taremi - Mohebi


In my opinion it would keep GNs hyper attacking mindset while giving us slightly more stability in defense, in addition to allowing us to rotate players like Mehdi/Sardar with their age and injury proneness catching up to them.

What do you think?

[perspolis#1]

Hey all,

So I'm here sitting bored at work and since my TM itch won't be scratched for many more months, I decided to explore the potential of how TM would work in a three back system (if ever).

Right now, it seems like are stuck in a hyper aggressive 4-4-2 for what seems like 5-6 years now. The whole team is built around Mehdi and Sardar up top, in sacrifice of numbers in the midfield. However in recent years, I'm sure as we all know Mehdi is getting very old and Sardar is a big question mark. There is a very good chance he will injured and out for a month nearly every game he plays.

So all this in my boredom is making me wonder...can the current TM pull off a 3-4-3?

I've been inspired by Leverkusen's dominant run this season (of course TM is no Leverkusen 🤣, take this as a hypothetical) and how Xabi Alonso has implemented his 3-4-2-1 taking advantage of half spaces.

Currently, our defensive problems are because of us overlapping our fullbacks to join the attack, leading us extremely prone to counterattack if said fullbacks don't hustle back to defend (See Ramin and Haj Safi). So what if we switched to some sort of 3-4-3? This would make it very easy to have 5 in defense on counters. Would this type of system work for us? As we know, in a three back system the CBs must have technical quality. So what if we had something like this for example?

Goalkeeper (not a fan of Beiranvand personally but we don't have anyone better)

Moharrami - Hosseini - Aghasi (He is a left footed CB)

Hardani - Ezatollahi - Ghoddos - Milad

ARJ - Taremi - Mohebi


In my opinion it would keep GNs hyper attacking mindset while giving us slightly more stability in defense, in addition to allowing us to rotate players like Mehdi/Sardar with their age and injury proneness catching up to them.

What do you think?

I think being able to be fluid tactically is a great strength of the best teams and it is certainly worth a try.

For a 3-4-3, it is a scary prospect with the most likely player pool we have now.

Looking at your lineup, its hard to say how it would really pan out. To my understanding in a 3-4-3 the wide players are incredibly fit and also capable of driving the ball up/technically proficient . I have faith in Hardani to do this but zero faith in Mohammadi. He is not strong on the ball and trusting him with advancing the ball is risky. I wish we had someone who can truly play this role now(a younger Amiri would be good).

With how high Rezaian plays now, it's almost like we play with 3 at the back already.

Depending on how we plan on attacking, I think ARJ is too slow for such a formation because the wingers in a 3-4-3 need to be great at overlapping and taking on players. Jahanbakhsh is skilled but has lost a step and I do not remember the last time he took a player on in a 1v1.

Our midfield still runs the risk of being sliced through especially if a team plays with a false 9 that occupies Ezatolahi's and Hosseini's attention in the lineup you listed.

In a post-Azmoun/Taremi team I could see us try it with Torabi/Ghaedi on the left, Mohebbi in the middle and a Gholizadeh or someone else on the right. That's a very fluid front 3 that will cause problems for any team.

[Iranianarsenal11]

Hey all,

So I'm here sitting bored at work and since my TM itch won't be scratched for many more months, I decided to explore the potential of how TM would work in a three back system (if ever).

Right now, it seems like are stuck in a hyper aggressive 4-4-2 for what seems like 5-6 years now. The whole team is built around Mehdi and Sardar up top, in sacrifice of numbers in the midfield. However in recent years, I'm sure as we all know Mehdi is getting very old and Sardar is a big question mark. There is a very good chance he will injured and out for a month nearly every game he plays.

So all this in my boredom is making me wonder...can the current TM pull off a 3-4-3?

I've been inspired by Leverkusen's dominant run this season (of course TM is no Leverkusen 🤣, take this as a hypothetical) and how Xabi Alonso has implemented his 3-4-2-1 taking advantage of half spaces.

Currently, our defensive problems are because of us overlapping our fullbacks to join the attack, leading us extremely prone to counterattack if said fullbacks don't hustle back to defend (See Ramin and Haj Safi). So what if we switched to some sort of 3-4-3? This would make it very easy to have 5 in defense on counters. Would this type of system work for us? As we know, in a three back system the CBs must have technical quality. So what if we had something like this for example?

Goalkeeper (not a fan of Beiranvand personally but we don't have anyone better)

Moharrami - Hosseini - Aghasi (He is a left footed CB)

Hardani - Ezatollahi - Ghoddos - Milad

ARJ - Taremi - Mohebi


In my opinion it would keep GNs hyper attacking mindset while giving us slightly more stability in defense, in addition to allowing us to rotate players like Mehdi/Sardar with their age and injury proneness catching up to them.

What do you think?

The right side would be perfect...

Left side would struggle immensely... Neither Mohebbi nor Milad have good ball security.

This would work if we had a younger Amiri like Persepolis#1 was saying, or if Abolfazl Jalali becomes more consistent we could try him at LWB.

[Pluto2000]

I think being able to be fluid tactically is a great strength of the best teams and it is certainly worth a try.

For a 3-4-3, it is a scary prospect with the most likely player pool we have now.

Looking at your lineup, its hard to say how it would really pan out. To my understanding in a 3-4-3 the wide players are incredibly fit and also capable of driving the ball up/technically proficient . I have faith in Hardani to do this but zero faith in Mohammadi. He is not strong on the ball and trusting him with advancing the ball is risky. I wish we had someone who can truly play this role now(a younger Amiri would be good).

With how high Rezaian plays now, it's almost like we play with 3 at the back already.

Depending on how we plan on attacking, I think ARJ is too slow for such a formation because the wingers in a 3-4-3 need to be great at overlapping and taking on players. Jahanbakhsh is skilled but has lost a step and I do not remember the last time he took a player on in a 1v1.

Our midfield still runs the risk of being sliced through especially if a team plays with a false 9 that occupies Ezatolahi's and Hosseini's attention in the lineup you listed.

In a post-Azmoun/Taremi team I could see us try it with Torabi/Ghaedi on the left, Mohebbi in the middle and a Gholizadeh or someone else on the right. That's a very fluid front 3 that will cause problems for any team.

In regards to your points, I would have preferred someone like Gholizadeh on RW since I agree ARJ has become a more central player in recent years. But with him injuring his knee big time again recently, I have doubts his TM career which is a shame. Torabi is getting old too. It will be interesting to see who starts taking up the mantle on that RW spot.

I agree on Milad, I'm not entirely solid on him. I think he has talent taking the ball forward but struggles with creativity when he doesn't have someone to work off of. SPEAKING of Jalali though, I think it's a great time to try him at that LB spot. He's in great form recently and tied for leading assists in PGPL

[perspolis#1]

In regards to your points, I would have preferred someone like Gholizadeh on RW since I agree ARJ has become a more central player in recent years. But with him injuring his knee big time again recently, I have doubts his TM career which is a shame. Torabi is getting old too. It will be interesting to see who starts taking up the mantle on that RW spot.

I agree on Milad, I'm not entirely solid on him. I think he has talent taking the ball forward but struggles with creativity when he doesn't have someone to work off of. SPEAKING of Jalali though, I think it's a great time to try him at that LB spot. He's in great form recently and tied for leading assists in PGPL

Of course we should try things before we write them off.

Its crucial that we use the games vs Hong Kong and Uzbekistan to experiment.

There is little we gain from the standings at this point.

Realistically between Japan, Saudi, Korea, Australia, Qatar getting grouped in Pot 1 or Pot 2 makes no difference.

[oracle]

3-4-3
it's pretty compicated but fun system to have.
unfortunately not enough days in fifa days to put it in workinwe will be stock
With 4-4-2 persian classic and 4-2-3-1 in wc.
we should play 4-2-3-1 if thats Formation for wc so plYers get feel of it.

1 reason didn't beat qatar was 4-2-3-1 not enough games under belt to succeed 2 gMes In the row

[Pluto2000]

3-4-3
it's pretty compicated but fun system to have.
unfortunately not enough days in fifa days to put it in workinwe will be stock
With 4-4-2 persian classic and 4-2-3-1 in wc.
we should play 4-2-3-1 if thats Formation for wc so plYers get feel of it.

1 reason didn't beat qatar was 4-2-3-1 not enough games under belt to succeed 2 gMes In the row

There isn't a big difference in our 4-2-3-1 vs 4-4-2 when it comes to TM since we usually play Taremi as the CAM and Ghoddos pretty deep as pivot. The game vs Qatar was just strange because general decided to start Mehdi in left wing and start Omid in Ghoddos role with Ghoddos CAM.

We need to find a replacement for Ghoddos pretty fast, it feels like if he's not next to Eza stabilizing our midfield it turns into sholezard

[oracle]

There isn't a big difference in our 4-2-3-1 vs 4-4-2 when it comes to TM since we usually play Taremi as the CAM and Ghoddos pretty deep as pivot. The game vs Qatar was just strange because general decided to start Mehdi in left wing and start Omid in Ghoddos role with Ghoddos CAM.

We need to find a replacement for Ghoddos pretty fast, it feels like if he's not next to Eza stabilizing our midfield it turns into sholezard

4-2-3-1 general plays with 2 actual dmf is way different than when tmplays with saman next to saeed ...if tm played 4-4-2 saeed next to Saman vs qatar we would of won.

Anyway whatever system the going to play in wc
they should play it more often.

In general eyes Saman is set on stone starter until
2027ac

[Pluto2000]

4-2-3-1 general plays with 2 actual dmf is way different than when tmplays with saman next to saeed ...if tm played 4-4-2 saeed next to Saman vs qatar we would of won.

Anyway whatever system the going to play in wc
they should play it more often.

In general eyes Saman is set on stone starter until
2027ac

As he should be, Saman is literally our midfield. Eza couldn't play without Saman next to him, we see how much his qualities decrease when there is someone like Cheshmi next to him

[sedee91]

When our 4 defensive structure fell against Qatar, I think it is first best to know what players are strong enough to fit in a traditional structure before going into a more complex one. I do not believe that existing PGL teams have played in this formation yet, so I doubt that GN would opt to use this. Especially, since we are planning on making TM younger or decreasing the age average.

It would be very difficult unless we have a team that is both young and experienced like USMNT to pull that off. Right now, we need to restructure, before trying this. We could tend to use this against low-quality teams, but AFC teams have been improving quite rapidly and it's also not uncommon to see naturalized players from time to time.

[Nokhodi]

When our 4 defensive structure fell against Qatar, I think it is first best to know what players are strong enough to fit in a traditional structure before going into a more complex one. I do not believe that existing PGL teams have played in this formation yet, so I doubt that GN would opt to use this. Especially, since we are planning on making TM younger or decreasing the age average.

It would be very difficult unless we have a team that is both young and experienced like USMNT to pull that off. Right now, we need to restructure, before trying this. We could tend to use this against low-quality teams, but AFC teams have been improving quite rapidly and it's also not uncommon to see naturalized players from time to time.

GN's favorite formation is 3-5-2. He won so many leagues with it.
Unfortunately Iranians aren't good in that system for whatever reason and I generally don't like to see TM play it. Opens us up to way too many chances.

[Pluto2000]

GN's favorite formation is 3-5-2. He won so many leagues with it.
Unfortunately Iranians aren't good in that system for whatever reason and I generally don't like to see TM play it. Opens us up to way too many chances.

It's a formation that depends on team work and discipline. None of your CBs can be caught out of position. And your fullbacks have to be solid on both attack AND hustling back to defense (Hardani/Goudarzi) types.

The main reason I was thinking it could work with GNs TM is because our main defensive problem right now is our fullbacks...they get caught up too high and we get broken like maste musir on counterattacks . A three back formation easily lets you go from 3 at the back to 5 at the back when your wingbacks join in, so I was thinking that could let us have more numbers when it comes to dealing with counters and playing from the back. Though this WOULD have to mean sacrificing one of our wingers (unless we play 3-4-3 where we would sacrifice a striker). Is the extra defensive stability worth the sacrifice? I think so personally...we get away with it from minnow teams but big teams run us over so easily.

I always go back to that game we had against Bosnia 2-3 years ago with our B team, we looked so dang good in that 3 back system. I wish Skocic was more willing to go something like that back then.