Sardar Azmoun @ Zenit St Petersburg | 2019

[STYX]

wow I don't thin Ronaldo can do this! His winning, dribbling, running and passing the ball was amazing!

[inarsenewetrust]

https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/13...-St-Petersburg

for those that loves useless stats like xG (not sure how it refelcts negatively on sardar as he is usually highly involved with most of zenits offensive plays), here is his match rating from another stats based site whoscored. Only behind zhirkov for MOTM. He was rated 2 full points higher than sobolev, one the players you mention he is way of the pace of the of in the league scoring charts. Same thing happened last week when they played vs shomorudov. Rostov who ali Samereh could have scored against beat Lokomtiv Moscow and CSKA away from home and sit tied for second. Just because zenit and sardar were so good vs them doesnt mean they are a bad team.

Hes not only "trying" hes delivering.Today he missed one chance badly, but made up for it when he put dzyuba on a platter after taking on and beating 3 guys.

I remember people were saying how bad and out of form he was before he scored brilliantly against lyon away, I thought that would put an end to people questioning his form when he doesnt score in a game or two. Guess not. Haters will hate.

[Iranianarsenal11]

That was a pretty bad miss by Azmoun but it happens to the best of us. He made up for it in the 93rd minute with his beautiful run and assist.

[Malkay]

https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/13...-St-Petersburg
for those that loves useless stats like xG (not sure how it refelcts negatively on sardar as he is usually highly involved with most of zenits offensive plays), here is his match rating from another stats based site whoscored. Only behind zhirkov for MOTM. He was rated 2 full points higher than sobolev, one the players you mention he is way of the pace of the of in the league scoring charts. Same thing happened last week when they played vs shomorudov. Rostov who ali Samereh could have scored against beat Lokomtiv Moscow and CSKA away from home and sit tied for second. Just because zenit and sardar were so good vs them doesnt mean they are a bad team.
Hes not only "trying" hes delivering.Today he missed one chance badly, but made up for it when he put dzyuba on a platter after taking on and beating 3 guys.
I remember people were saying how bad and out of form he was before he scored brilliantly against lyon away, I thought that would put an end to people questioning his form when he doesnt score in a game or two. Guess not. Haters will hate.

Sorry but you've lost all credibility when you call xg a "useless stat"? It's an advanced metric, based on quantifiable facts not one impression or memory of what took place in 90 minutes, that has revolutionised modern football and that most professional football clubs use as an indicator of underlying performance measurement and scouting.

As for WhoScored.com's player rating system, it's a far more "useless" measurement tool for player performance in that it is heavily skewed towards rewarding attacking players unless a match finishes 0-0. Contrary to what the website claims, football clubs aren't using WhoScored ratings to decide which players to sign. But yes, bookies use it for their betting markets as do lazy journalists.

Furthermore, WhoScored is a 2nd hand stats provider. They receive their raw data from Opta, which is a far more reliable source of unfettered numerical stats. No legit stat provider would rate 22 players on the same criteria when they play different positions, with the value of a goal or assist adding such weigh to their "ranking" (depending on their position) versus several other defensive or attacking variables that take place across 90 minutes. It's like trying to tell me the player that got the 3 bonus points on fantasy premier league was the best player in the game . He certainly wasn't the second best performing player on the pitch today. Anyone without their Iran hat on would tell you that.

Funny how users of this forum wanna pull out WhoScored.com ratings for our attacking players... how's Majid Hosseini ranking out of the 22 players on the field in each of his matches fellas? Come at me with Opta and Squawka, don't come at me with WhoScored.

Lastly, I'm disappointed that you strawmanned me as "a hater" when my post, which is a balanced reflection of what happened in the game, showed empathy to his current form and highlighted his consistencies. I've presented incontestable numeracy as to how his last 8 to 10 matches translates to his form when compared to the rest of his time at Zenit. You've told me that today, he was worthy of an "8.12". On what basis? That late assist? Was he worthy of the "6 point whatever the hell this score means" he would have received had the match ended on 92 minute or does that not fit your narrative?

[inarsenewetrust]

Sorry but you've lost all credibility when you call xg a "useless stat"? It's an advanced metric, based on quantifiable facts not one impression or memory of what took place in 90 minutes, that has revolutionised modern football and that most professional football clubs use as an indicator of underlying performance measurement and scouting.
As for WhoScored.com's player rating system, it's a far more "useless" measurement tool for player performance in that it is heavily skewed towards rewarding attacking players unless a match finishes 0-0. Contrary to what the website claims, football clubs aren't using WhoScored ratings to decide which players to sign. But yes, bookies use it for their betting markets as do lazy journalists.
Furthermore, WhoScored is a 2nd hand stats provider. They receive their raw data from Opta, which is a far more reliable source of unfettered numerical stats. No legit stat provider would rate 22 players on the same criteria when they play different positions, with the value of a goal or assist adding such weigh to their "ranking" (depending on their position) versus several other defensive or attacking variables that take place across 90 minutes. It's like trying to tell me the player that got the 3 bonus points on fantasy premier league was the best player in the game . He certainly wasn't the second best performing player on the pitch today. Anyone without their Iran hat on would tell you that.
Funny how users of this forum wanna pull out WhoScored.com ratings for our attacking players... how's Majid Hosseini ranking out of the 22 players on the field in each of his matches fellas? Come at me with Opta and Squawka, don't come at me with WhoScored.
Lastly, I'm disappointed that you strawmanned me as "a hater" when my post, which is a balanced reflection of what happened in the game, showed empathy to his current form and highlighted his consistencies. I've presented incontestable numeracy as to how his last 8 to 10 matches translates to his form when compared to the rest of his time at Zenit. You've told me that today, he was worthy of an "8.12". On what basis? That late assist? Was he worthy of the "6 point whatever the hell this score means" he would have received had the match ended on 92 minute or does that not fit your narrative?

The xG stat you mentioned only works in his favor. It shows as you said that he is capable of scoring more goals than he is scoring now, because of how active he is in terms of zenits offensive production as a team. I dont think whoscored is reliable, but nor do I think saying he is out of form based on him not matching his xg stat

Sardar is not in as good of goalscoring form as when he first joined zenit, when he literally was scoring a goal a game, which is an insane purple patch. He is not in such a patch in front of goal, but even with that is still producing very solid numbers and impacting the play very well, and scoring in key games too. If this is him being "out of form" then all it does is show us how impressive he is becoming, that he can keep producing good numbers even in his "bad" patches. Dzyuba was on a scoreless streak last season that lasted 10-12 games! Sardar's poor form in comparison which you highlighted is...8 goals and 5 assists in 17 games. If you take into consideration the 4 games zenit could barely produce a chance sardar's form has actually been very solid.

All forwards have these patches, except for maybe the top 7,8 guys, your messis, ronaldos, agueros, lewandowskis, aubameyangs, etc.

That includes non iranians that im sure you would categorize as top talents in world football like werner just for one example, among many many others.

[diz]

Zenit now leaders in RPL, three points clear of Rotov

[Keano]

His ball control in their own half, hustling and getting past 4 opponent players and finally the beautiful assist was much sexier than the actual goal, moreover worth more than both goals they scored today.

[inarsenewetrust]

https://twitter.com/premierliga_en/s...91236158726144

in totw again. decided by official stat metric system of rpl.

[Bladsville]

Anyone who thinks Sardar is on a cold spell is obviously just going based off of BS stats and isnt watching the dude play.

That run and assist against Krylya the other night was one of the best I have seen this season regardless of league.

[Iran_19]

Sardar is fine. We are lucky to have him.

Sent from my MAR-LX3A using Tapatalk

[BacheLot]

finally got around watching the full game...

as a whole his performance (mostly as the sole striker with DZ on bench) was brilliant, however his finishing touches were subpar throughout the game..!
his combination play and passing in and around the box were top class and his positioning flawless...!
he looked completely spent and exhausted by the full-time whistle, i think it took all his remaining ounces of energy to make that last glorious run and assist to the big man ..!

he certainly needs to be rested for the midweek cup game ...! Personally, would prefer him playing no more than 30-40 min. in the next weekend league game too...!
in order to have him fresh and firing on all cylinders against Leipzig, but that seems highly unlikely, as its evident Zenit's first and foremost priority is winning the league...!

ps
Zenit's wingers and MFdrs are almost as lethargic and inaccurate at delivering quality service/crosses to their targetmen as TM, perhaps even worse...!? i lost count of how many times Sardar positioned himself beautifully for a breakaway or a header in the box, only for the service to arrive day late and dollar short..!!
im sure that contributed heavily to his overall fatigue and probably even affected his ability to do better job of finishing in the few good openings that fell to his feet..!!?

[inarsenewetrust]

finally got around watching the full game...
as a whole his performance (mostly as the sole striker with DZ on bench) was brilliant, however his finishing touches were subpar throughout the game..!
his combination play and passing in and around the box were top class and his positioning flawless...!
he looked completely spent and exhausted by the full-time whistle, i think it took all his remaining ounces of energy to make that last glorious run and assist to the big man ..!
he certainly needs to be rested for the midweek cup game ...! Personally, would prefer him playing no more than 30-40 min. in the next weekend league game too...!
in order to have him fresh and firing on all cylinders against Leipzig, but that seems highly unlikely, as its evident Zenit's first and foremost priority is winning the league...!
ps
Zenit's wingers and MFdrs are almost as lethargic and inaccurate at delivering quality service/crosses to their targetmen as TM, perhaps even worse...!? i lost count of how many times Sardar positioned himself beautifully for a breakaway or a header in the box, only for the service to arrive day late and dollar short..!!
i
m sure that contributed heavily to his overall fatigue and probably even affected his ability to do better job of finishing in the few good openings that fell to his feet..!!?

agreed. What I have noticed about Sardar is while he has improved his endurance tremendously (he played 90 vs bahrain, 90 vs Rostov, not 90 vs leipzieg but busted ass for over an hour away there, and another 90 the other night), he is obviously still young and maybe hasnt developed the mental strength/experience as of yet to concentrate on that last touch for so many high pressure games in a row.

If you look at the way he took his finishes vs the likes of Lyon and Benfica, they were 1v1s and he was so sharp in his decision making and execution with them. Clearly he has the quality to do so and it isnt necessarily related to form as he just did this in recent weeks. Its when he lets his concentration/mind slip that he can be a little sloppy in front of goal.
Im sure he wont play at all midweek so he can get a much needed rest, and hopefully as you say he gets at least half an hour off next weekend before leipzig.

It takes a real soldier/machine type player (ala Lewandowki, Zlatan, Ronaldo, Aguero) to be so consistent in front of goal for so many games. You emotionally and physically must be a rock. What will give sardar more credit than his finishing, and is the reason big clubs will inevitably circle for him, is that even when he doesnt score he still provides so much for the team. This match was a perfect example of that. Form in front of goal will come and go in patches, hopefully becoming more and more consistent as his career develops, but his overall game play, technique, decision making, off the ball movement, etc is what will always remain the same. If a fwd is just a pk box player, they can never develop those traits, and will be a liability to team when not in top form in front of goal, and likely put out of starting 11.

Sardar doesnt have to score to affect the game greatly, and his totw performance this week is just more evidence of that.

[diz]

[Leicester City]

[JoojehKoobedeh2]

Whatever happened to Malcolm coming back