Iran vs South Korea post match discussion and player ratings

[Doctor DOOM]

Beiranvand - 6.5 . Strong with his feet, he has improved so much in this regard. Strong aerial exits. Big improvement here too. Positioning was a bit weird on the goal, so I knock him down a point for that but he had an important, difficult stop at the end he executed perfectly.

Moharrami - 3 . Really poor. His awareness on first goal was shocking, to lose their best guy like that. In possession he was timid, often he would make one nice dribble and follow it up with a backpass or pass straight to korea. Needs to be way more decisive when he is attacking. Strange considering he was our best player in this area vs UAE.

Khalilzadeh - 6.5 - Strong first half, so so second half. Think you can see 1v1 he is not an excellent defender although some iranians really want to believe that. He does have solid speed, anticipation, and leadership qualities to marshall the backline and will continue to do so moving forward, but there are some deficiencies we will have to accept.

Kanani - 6.5. His 1v1 defending was better than shoja but his passing wasnt great. Too many bezan ziresh moments to nobody, although this wasnt totally his fault. The midfield besides saeid offers zero passing options, and skocic continues to fail to address this issue, or even attempt to.

Amiri - 7. Back to usual self. Physically imposed himself on the koreans, great energy, and helped a lot when he moved to midfield in second half. His passing wasnt as good as it could have been but still solid display.

Ezatolahi - 8. MOTM. Cant believe some people kept calling for his TM exclusion. He is so far and away our best midfielder. He totally dominated the koreans from technical and physical perspective. His turns were beautiful, directed play perfectly. He would look even better with a couple technically competent players next to him. I really dont know how his club situation is how it is, I guess it his consistency and persistence, but he has the talent to play in bundesliga or serie A without any issue. The play for his shot that hit the post was top class and something I have rarely seen any TM player produce in last 10 years.

Nourollahi - 6 Not his worst game. Did his usual running around. But its obvious he is technically super limited. The angles he gives saeid and the defenders when they are trying to play out of the back suck. He is usually hiding himself behind multiple players. His game could look so much better if somebody like ghoddos was next to him to alleviate the burden on him when we are in possession.

Gholizadeh - 4.5 - Pretty non existent, forgot he was even playing besides a couple horrible passes and giveaways. This guys issue is also consistency. He showed a great cameo vs UAE, gets a start, then plays like crap.

Jahanbakhsh - 7 - He was objectively horrible in first half again and deserved a sub, but the goal was very hard one to generate power and he did so brilliantly. After that he really started playing with some confidence. There is a player somewhere in there, its just buried deep beneath years of inactivity.

Azmoun - 7. Solid game from Sardar. Wasnt given any great or even good service, but nearly scored with long range effort (he is improving in this category a lot) and the assist for ARJ from basically toop e morde was pure class. We had players (Taremi, ARJ, nourollahi) in similar cutback positions all night and none could produce a decent ball. From a much harder angle with his entire weight going the opposite way the accuracy he showed with the clip to ARJ just highlights what a high level player he is. I can see him holding out of some challenges he normally wouldn't, I am pretty sure transfer is looming for him and he prefers to take less risks if possible these days.

Taremi - 6.5 Obviously he was our most dangerous guy like usual, but he decision making was selfish and usually wrong today. Unlucky he didnt score with the bike or the great long distance effort. I prefer him to be playing off the left like vs Iraq, today him and azmoun were playing as orthodox CFswith taremi dropping deep in second half to facilitate offense more.
Subs :

Noorafkan - 5. Kid gets subbed in and immediately gets a dumb yellow. Next play he goes to ground for a risky tackle where it was unnecessary. I know he is young and just starting with TM, some decent games, but he needs to learn from this shit, it shouldnt be too hard to minimize dumb fouls.

Others - N/A.

Skocic - 5. Hard to see the overall game plan through the midfield, if possible will one of his huge fans just explain it to all of us idiots who struggle to see it? The midfield has zero identity besides saeid, they dont offer any good passing angles to CBs, Fullbacks, or saeid and then when ball goes to front 2 there is often huge gap between them and midfield for combo plays. Not incorporating ghoddos is quite frankly ridiculous and at this stage looking very very worrying. He will not have time to assimilate into the xi the day before WC. He needs multiple games there to gel with ezatolahi, one of amiri/nour, the wings and forwards, etc.

To me it seems skocic is a bit fixated with undefeated record. He takes zero risks. The game was right there for the win, with a ghoddos sub we probably would have unlocked them a few more times and gotten it. Instead when we were in ascendency he didnt make a game winning sub, waited for our guys to get tired and fizz out, then he subs with 90 seconds left to waste time and secure point. In the end it almost backfired.

If he doesnt start incorporating ghoddos, salmani, ghayedi more vs lebanon and syria he really is setting this team up for failure in WC. We are too one dimensional in reliance on Mehdi and Sardar. We are basically forcing them to be our main playmakers and finishers, instead of allowing them to focus on their strength and having midfield function as a cohesive unit and provide them steady supply line. WE have the personnel to at least try and address that, and he just totally ignores them. Subbing on Norafkan for gholi when you are chasing a game is just weird, even if it allows amiri to move one line forward. Just underlines how cautious the guy is.

I am not saying he is a shit coach, the record of course proves he is decent and the team isnt playing horrendously. But imo he has a very clear ceiling in terms of his ideas and long term vision that his career has shown he will not exceed. For a WC we need some fresh ideas, variability in our play to build on our decent base. Unfortunately after 11 games he doesnt really show he is coming up with any new schemes or ideas.

I agree with majority of points:

but a few words:
Yes, Skocic seems to be a bit cautious when he's meeting his first really good team.
But then again, majority of coaches would be too given the circumstances:
1- we top the group.
2- we have 2 extra points
3- SKorea is an almost surety a qualifier. That leaves the next team, which is FIVE points behind us.

His strategy imo I wrote above (so I wont waste time and bandwidth here) seems to make sense. At least to me.


But at the same time I agree. We need to show more variation. and not always rely on Taremi/Azmoun to dig us out of a hole.

We HAVE TO give the likes of ghoddos, ghaedi, Gholi (despite his average turn out today), far more chances we've given so far.

Perhaps his aim is to qualify as early as possible & then use the remaining games for trying out different formatiions, lineups and tactics.

But agree, even before qualification we need to show more variation.

==========

the nourafkan sub, I tried to explain.
and it seems to worked very well actually.

==========

I completely agree our traditional strength, MIDFIELD needs to show more energy and creatvity.
and easiest culprit to point at is Nourolahi (for me). He is just barely performing a 10 score out of 20. Just passing grade. And that is simply not good.

we better try others.

[Iranianarsenal11]

One thing I want to add, is that South Korea has a GEM in their CB Kim Min-Jae

One of the best centerbacks I have seen in Asia in a long time.. wow

It's not easy defending Azmoun and Taremi but he did really well. He's been in impeccable form for Fenerbahce as well

[Doctor DOOM]

A very tough game by any standards for us. Games against SKorea is ALWAYS a tough game for us, no matter who’s our coach or who is playing. So ppl expecting a rousing performance as if we were playing against Syria or Yemen, need to readjust their views. SKorae is and has always been a well organized, well drilled disciplined team.

Therefore I suspect the strategy was to soak up pressure in the 1st half. Assess what the opponents are capable of. And then hit them on the break in a more aggressive 2nd half. This was going according to the plan until that magnificent pass/assist from Korea. That pass was pure class. And almost ANY team would have been hurt by such a pass, slicing through our midfield and defense.

It was just unfortunate that our weakest player (on the day), Moharami was found wanting against Korea’s strongest player receiving this perfect pass. But then, as I said, almost any team would be hurt by such a pass.

This put a spanner in our team’s strategy. But it was a good test too. For the team to show it CAN bounce back and come from behind. These are precious lessons for our team and I’m happy it happened against a team that will most probably be the other team qualifying for the WC, and not any THIRD team making the group more difficult and stressful.

The fact that we shd have expected immense pressure on our right flank and defense was to be expected with Son operating there. And barring that marvelous assist, we did an above average job. Something to build on and remember.

I assume Skocic merely followed his pre-determined script for the 2nd half and got his just rewards with the goal. In fact Korea was extremely lucky they didn’t lose the game by 3-1, with 2 more post hits. We also almost gave it all away in the dying minutes which I put it on: 1- Players’ fatigue and loss of focus and/or 2-Skocic’s bad “closing” strategy (more on this below).
================

In defense and criticism of Skocic:

1- I’m critical of his subbing and parts of his endgame strategy.
For example, his subbing Azmoun out near the end, instead of Taremi is baffling. Most coaches would have taken taremi out. Unless Azmoun himself asked for it or he was still carrying a slight knock. Bringing a speedy Ghaedi was the correct decision BTW. Perhaps a little sooner.

Also his strategy for the final 10 minutes of the game, if he meant to keep the tie wit an eye on a speedy counter, would have asked for a slightly higher line for the team, closer to the halfline. Not so close to our own 18.
Then again, that may have been more the PLAYERS’ fatigue than a coach’s decision. So I’m not going to berate him for this.

Midfield: Our mid lacked creativity. Maybe it was just wrong placement of players all across the 3 lines (I could venture Amiri at LB, JB at LW). But manly our midfield where although Ezzatolahi was in supreme form (a very welcome sign), Nourolahi was back to his usual (turning out BARE ACCEPTABLE MINIMUM performance). And if we leave out the Korean goal, I guess this too made sense with the overall strategy of the 1st half.
But their goal forced Skocic to rethink and that’s why he asked Ghoddos (a more creative, forward looking player) to warm up. Hopefully for Nourolahi. And only once we scored did Skocic rethink his strategy (and I guess it was then that he settled for a draw) and change to Sarlak instead.

Yes, I like many of you would have liked to see Saman come in. Who knows with his creativity and playmaking we would have scored another. So this is another “HALF” criticism I have. Half becoz again, this was Korea. And a draw, with us topping the group with 2 extra points was not a bad situation by any standards.

2- In his favor are the following points that many seem to forget:

- The capability & pedigree of the opponent team. This was not Syria or Lebanon. Don’t expect overwhelming superiority from the get go over them. We are pretty much equal teams with our own weak and strong points.

- As said, his strategy made sense. Both for the 1st half and the 2nd half. And lets not forget, given an inch this side or that, we could have come out 3-1 winners. So temper your criticism.

- Skocic’s reshuffle of the team really turned the game around and worked. And that is hallmark of a good coach. After the Korean goal, by bringing Nourafkan for LB, he allowed Amiri (who is wasted at LB) to come to LM/LW , by releasing JB (who was performing well. Despite many of your criticism) to his better suited RW role.

What this did was reinforce our left side, both for defense as well as attacks. And with JB as RW, now, Koreans had to deal with TWO dangerous flanks. That’s why we were able to put extra pressure on them and even score.
=================

Bottomline is we got what we came for. Yes, we could have come out winners even. But we still top the group. And with TWO significant points above Korea (who shd not be our concern) and more crucially, FIVE very significant points above the 3rd placed team.
We remain in the drivers’ seat an with the next 2 games against Lebanon and Syria, barring some freak accidents, we shd be qualifying for the WC with ease. In fact this could be our easiest of WC qualifications in our history.

[P-Rug]

One thing I'll say about many of the comments (particularly during the game) from folks here is that people are micro, micro, micro analyzing players way too much second by second; I know we all love the team so much that we watch each game with a lot of emotion (I catch myself doing that a lot too), but to knit pick on each player for every tackle and pass and be so Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde about our player performances is very off-putting; you read these threads, and from game to game, you see people going from Taremi is one of our best players to he is garbage and sub him out; one game Golizadeh should definitely be started, another he should definitely be benched; one game Azmoun is so wonderful with his energy and assists, another he is so lazy and doesn't care and should be subbed out earlier. And so on and so on. People's reactions and emotions towards individual players are so harsh and unappreciative and tend to change like the wind smh

We really need to take a chill pill when watching these games (myself included sometimes). Without exception, I have noticed that when I re-watch these matches in their entirety a day or two later without that overflow of emotion and anxiety, and tend to evaluate things more from a macro level (than the micro analysis of every little touch), the game looks much different the second time around.

[milad_b]

Well if you check their results you'll see that they won all of their home games (exept ours ). This time SK already had 3 home games and got 7 points! They still got us next ! This iraq team is also in a mess this year and still managed to get a draw in SK home. Go to youtube and watch their home games against syria and lebanon ! Syria had bad luck late goal and lebanon had dozens of chances to equal!

The way i see this korea IMO is the weakest korea i've seen! lol hopefully i don't jynx it

People keep repeating this BS so much that everyone is starting to believe it.... Here's their results in the last WCQ 3rd round. Not much better at all. Lost to Qatar and China, drew Iraq, Syria, Uzbekistan. How's their current results worse than that so far?!

[Ari]

Horrible game against a very weak opponent. But great individual play by Taremi, Azmoun snd Jahanbakhsh. I've got very easy questions to our coach:

1. What about Hosseini and Ghoddos? Pouraliganji is injured. Ok. You got an excuse here.
2. What was the gameplan? Playing for a draw? Going out for the Win? I don't get it. Do you?

Sorry guys, but Skocic got lucky. It's just luck. Luck and some grown players like Azmoun, Taremi, Beiranvand, Jahanbakhsh. CQ didn't had these players. He never had. Taremi and Azmoun are not the players they were 4 years ago.
Sure we gonna make the qualification with a half decent coach with some dedication. And Skocic got dedication, other than Wilmots. But that's not enough. I'm sorry for our players. But that's what we have to live with now.

[The]

Beiranvand - 6.5 . Strong with his feet, he has improved so much in this regard. Strong aerial exits. Big improvement here too. Positioning was a bit weird on the goal, so I knock him down a point for that but he had an important, difficult stop at the end he executed perfectly.

Moharrami - 3 . Really poor. His awareness on first goal was shocking, to lose their best guy like that. In possession he was timid, often he would make one nice dribble and follow it up with a backpass or pass straight to korea. Needs to be way more decisive when he is attacking. Strange considering he was our best player in this area vs UAE.

Khalilzadeh - 6.5 - Strong first half, so so second half. Think you can see 1v1 he is not an excellent defender although some iranians really want to believe that. He does have solid speed, anticipation, and leadership qualities to marshall the backline and will continue to do so moving forward, but there are some deficiencies we will have to accept.

Kanani - 6.5. His 1v1 defending was better than shoja but his passing wasnt great. Too many bezan ziresh moments to nobody, although this wasnt totally his fault. The midfield besides saeid offers zero passing options, and skocic continues to fail to address this issue, or even attempt to.

Amiri - 7. Back to usual self. Physically imposed himself on the koreans, great energy, and helped a lot when he moved to midfield in second half. His passing wasnt as good as it could have been but still solid display.

Ezatolahi - 8. MOTM. Cant believe some people kept calling for his TM exclusion. He is so far and away our best midfielder. He totally dominated the koreans from technical and physical perspective. His turns were beautiful, directed play perfectly. He would look even better with a couple technically competent players next to him. I really dont know how his club situation is how it is, I guess it his consistency and persistence, but he has the talent to play in bundesliga or serie A without any issue. The play for his shot that hit the post was top class and something I have rarely seen any TM player produce in last 10 years.

Nourollahi - 6 Not his worst game. Did his usual running around. But its obvious he is technically super limited. The angles he gives saeid and the defenders when they are trying to play out of the back suck. He is usually hiding himself behind multiple players. His game could look so much better if somebody like ghoddos was next to him to alleviate the burden on him when we are in possession.

Gholizadeh - 4.5 - Pretty non existent, forgot he was even playing besides a couple horrible passes and giveaways. This guys issue is also consistency. He showed a great cameo vs UAE, gets a start, then plays like crap.

Jahanbakhsh - 7 - He was objectively horrible in first half again and deserved a sub, but the goal was very hard one to generate power and he did so brilliantly. After that he really started playing with some confidence. There is a player somewhere in there, its just buried deep beneath years of inactivity.

Azmoun - 7. Solid game from Sardar. Wasnt given any great or even good service, but nearly scored with long range effort (he is improving in this category a lot) and the assist for ARJ from basically toop e morde was pure class. We had players (Taremi, ARJ, nourollahi) in similar cutback positions all night and none could produce a decent ball. From a much harder angle with his entire weight going the opposite way the accuracy he showed with the clip to ARJ just highlights what a high level player he is. I can see him holding out of some challenges he normally wouldn't, I am pretty sure transfer is looming for him and he prefers to take less risks if possible these days.

Taremi - 6.5 Obviously he was our most dangerous guy like usual, but he decision making was selfish and usually wrong today. Unlucky he didnt score with the bike or the great long distance effort. I prefer him to be playing off the left like vs Iraq, today him and azmoun were playing as orthodox CFswith taremi dropping deep in second half to facilitate offense more.
Subs :

Noorafkan - 5. Kid gets subbed in and immediately gets a dumb yellow. Next play he goes to ground for a risky tackle where it was unnecessary. I know he is young and just starting with TM, some decent games, but he needs to learn from this shit, it shouldnt be too hard to minimize dumb fouls.

Others - N/A.

Skocic - 5. Hard to see the overall game plan through the midfield, if possible will one of his huge fans just explain it to all of us idiots who struggle to see it? The midfield has zero identity besides saeid, they dont offer any good passing angles to CBs, Fullbacks, or saeid and then when ball goes to front 2 there is often huge gap between them and midfield for combo plays. Not incorporating ghoddos is quite frankly ridiculous and at this stage looking very very worrying. He will not have time to assimilate into the xi the day before WC. He needs multiple games there to gel with ezatolahi, one of amiri/nour, the wings and forwards, etc.

To me it seems skocic is a bit fixated with undefeated record. He takes zero risks. The game was right there for the win, with a ghoddos sub we probably would have unlocked them a few more times and gotten it. Instead when we were in ascendency he didnt make a game winning sub, waited for our guys to get tired and fizz out, then he subs with 90 seconds left to waste time and secure point. In the end it almost backfired.

If he doesnt start incorporating ghoddos, salmani, ghayedi more vs lebanon and syria he really is setting this team up for failure in WC. We are too one dimensional in reliance on Mehdi and Sardar. We are basically forcing them to be our main playmakers and finishers, instead of allowing them to focus on their strength and having midfield function as a cohesive unit and provide them steady supply line. WE have the personnel to at least try and address that, and he just totally ignores them. Subbing on Norafkan for gholi when you are chasing a game is just weird, even if it allows amiri to move one line forward. Just underlines how cautious the guy is.

I am not saying he is a shit coach, the record of course proves he is decent and the team isnt playing horrendously. But imo he has a very clear ceiling in terms of his ideas and long term vision that his career has shown he will not exceed. For a WC we need some fresh ideas, variability in our play to build on our decent base. Unfortunately after 11 games he doesnt really show he is coming up with any new schemes or ideas.

Spot on post haji. Saved me the typing and worded it much better than I could.

[Ostad_Goosfand]

Gholizadeh is not starting material. Very good 15-30 minute bench player if we need an offensive spark

[ashimashi]

The sad thing is that this korean team is probably the weakest korean side i've seen in past 10 years

People keep repeating this BS so much that everyone is starting to believe it.... Here's their results in the last WCQ 3rd round. Not much better at all. Lost to Qatar and China, drew Iraq, Syria, Uzbekistan. How's their current results worse than that so far?!
18.jpg

[inarsenewetrust]

Beiranvand - 6.5 . Strong with his feet, he has improved so much in this regard. Strong aerial exits. Big improvement here too. Positioning was a bit weird on the goal, so I knock him down a point for that but he had an important, difficult stop at the end he executed perfectly.

Moharrami - 3 . Really poor. His awareness on first goal was shocking, to lose their best guy like that. In possession he was timid, often he would make one nice dribble and follow it up with a backpass or pass straight to korea. Needs to be way more decisive when he is attacking. Strange considering he was our best player in this area vs UAE.

Khalilzadeh - 6.5 - Strong first half, so so second half. Think you can see 1v1 he is not an excellent defender although some iranians really want to believe that. He does have solid speed, anticipation, and leadership qualities to marshall the backline and will continue to do so moving forward, but there are some deficiencies we will have to accept.

Kanani - 6.5. His 1v1 defending was better than shoja but his passing wasnt great. Too many bezan ziresh moments to nobody, although this wasnt totally his fault. The midfield besides saeid offers zero passing options, and skocic continues to fail to address this issue, or even attempt to.

Amiri - 7. Back to usual self. Physically imposed himself on the koreans, great energy, and helped a lot when he moved to midfield in second half. His passing wasnt as good as it could have been but still solid display.

Ezatolahi - 8. MOTM. Cant believe some people kept calling for his TM exclusion. He is so far and away our best midfielder. He totally dominated the koreans from technical and physical perspective. His turns were beautiful, directed play perfectly. He would look even better with a couple technically competent players next to him. I really dont know how his club situation is how it is, I guess it his consistency and persistence, but he has the talent to play in bundesliga or serie A without any issue. The play for his shot that hit the post was top class and something I have rarely seen any TM player produce in last 10 years.

Nourollahi - 6 Not his worst game. Did his usual running around. But its obvious he is technically super limited. The angles he gives saeid and the defenders when they are trying to play out of the back suck. He is usually hiding himself behind multiple players. His game could look so much better if somebody like ghoddos was next to him to alleviate the burden on him when we are in possession.

Gholizadeh - 4.5 - Pretty non existent, forgot he was even playing besides a couple horrible passes and giveaways. This guys issue is also consistency. He showed a great cameo vs UAE, gets a start, then plays like crap.

Jahanbakhsh - 7 - He was objectively horrible in first half again and deserved a sub, but the goal was very hard one to generate power and he did so brilliantly. After that he really started playing with some confidence. There is a player somewhere in there, its just buried deep beneath years of inactivity.

Azmoun - 7. Solid game from Sardar. Wasnt given any great or even good service, but nearly scored with long range effort (he is improving in this category a lot) and the assist for ARJ from basically toop e morde was pure class. We had players (Taremi, ARJ, nourollahi) in similar cutback positions all night and none could produce a decent ball. From a much harder angle with his entire weight going the opposite way the accuracy he showed with the clip to ARJ just highlights what a high level player he is. I can see him holding out of some challenges he normally wouldn't, I am pretty sure transfer is looming for him and he prefers to take less risks if possible these days.

Taremi - 6.5 Obviously he was our most dangerous guy like usual, but he decision making was selfish and usually wrong today. Unlucky he didnt score with the bike or the great long distance effort. I prefer him to be playing off the left like vs Iraq, today him and azmoun were playing as orthodox CFswith taremi dropping deep in second half to facilitate offense more.
Subs :

Noorafkan - 5. Kid gets subbed in and immediately gets a dumb yellow. Next play he goes to ground for a risky tackle where it was unnecessary. I know he is young and just starting with TM, some decent games, but he needs to learn from this shit, it shouldnt be too hard to minimize dumb fouls.

Others - N/A.

Skocic - 5. Hard to see the overall game plan through the midfield, if possible will one of his huge fans just explain it to all of us idiots who struggle to see it? The midfield has zero identity besides saeid, they dont offer any good passing angles to CBs, Fullbacks, or saeid and then when ball goes to front 2 there is often huge gap between them and midfield for combo plays. Not incorporating ghoddos is quite frankly ridiculous and at this stage looking very very worrying. He will not have time to assimilate into the xi the day before WC. He needs multiple games there to gel with ezatolahi, one of amiri/nour, the wings and forwards, etc.

To me it seems skocic is a bit fixated with undefeated record. He takes zero risks. The game was right there for the win, with a ghoddos sub we probably would have unlocked them a few more times and gotten it. Instead when we were in ascendency he didnt make a game winning sub, waited for our guys to get tired and fizz out, then he subs with 90 seconds left to waste time and secure point. In the end it almost backfired.

If he doesnt start incorporating ghoddos, salmani, ghayedi more vs lebanon and syria he really is setting this team up for failure in WC. We are too one dimensional in reliance on Mehdi and Sardar. We are basically forcing them to be our main playmakers and finishers, instead of allowing them to focus on their strength and having midfield function as a cohesive unit and provide them steady supply line. WE have the personnel to at least try and address that, and he just totally ignores them. Subbing on Norafkan for gholi when you are chasing a game is just weird, even if it allows amiri to move one line forward. Just underlines how cautious the guy is.

I am not saying he is a shit coach, the record of course proves he is decent and the team isnt playing horrendously. But imo he has a very clear ceiling in terms of his ideas and long term vision that his career has shown he will not exceed. For a WC we need some fresh ideas, variability in our play to build on our decent base. Unfortunately after 11 games he doesnt really show he is coming up with any new schemes or ideas.

[Kavian]

Again, for me is not so much of individual player rating but how the team plays together and executes the game plan. Here is my 2 cents;

1. Consistency, Consistency, Consistency! ... We are not able to sustain game plan for more than 5 min at a time. We are great for a little bit then we become horrible! .. and I mean HORRIBLE where the whole team goes into this dazed and confused mental state. We lose the ball easily, make bad passes, often commit unnecessary fouls and become very vulnerable! I don't know what our coaching staff think about those moments or even if they recognize this phenomena at all.

2. The more I watch Iran games under current coaching staff, the more I realize the team plays more or less the same against all teams. I have not been able to see/sense a profoundly different game strategy for a specific game. Other teams will eventually see this and devise countering strategies, as we saw during UAE game.

3. Wings Wings Wings!! our weakest links continue to be our wings. From the back to the front! We have lack of solid players and skills there. We are not able to deliver healthy balls and create opportunity for our strikers. Sardar is a type of forward who needs to be fed healthy balls.

4. As for players today, I think our defense was the better part of our team. Both Kanani and Shoja did well. Our midfield was sitting back too much and were playing width most of the time. We saw what happened when Ezat ventured forward. We almost scored! Ahmad is a great player but for some reason, it is hard to spot him on the field. Our strikers were dangerous. Taremi was everywhere today. We are so lucky to have him. Sardar was little bit better than previous game, but again, he is not like Taremi. He needs service which the team did not do for him to score. His assist was superb! JB continues to score but overall he is also a weak link.

With that said, I think today's result was better for Korea. They managed to get a point in Tehran which puts them in a better position in the return game.

I hope we win the game with Lebanon and sit comfortably on top of the table with a comfortable 13 points.

[Keshwardoost]

Next match, I would love to see Ghoddos, Majid Hosseini, Milad Mohammadi get a start.

Time to shake things up a bit and stop playing the exact same lineup.

Id like to se Hardani get a chance angain, and Ghoddos and Ghaedi

[milad_b]

I have been supporting skocic from the beginning even when he was criticised by so many people! I said from beginning he should get 10-13 games, then we should judge him. Today was his 11th game and I'm totally disappointed! Maybe Time to start thinking about a proper world class coach! How did Taaj let Herve Renard go is a BIG question for me! He should be put in jail for that!

Lack of play making with all this world class players! Benching Ghoddos and playing Ahmad noor ! Vahid amiri as LB ??? I thought i would never say this but since Noorafkan is suspended I'm happy with hajsafi to play as LB! Allowing koreans to attack without compressing them??? The sad thing is that this korean team is probably the weakest korean side i've seen in past 10 years or so (barely managed to beat syria and lebanon and draw against iraq (weakest iraq))!

Saeed Ezza Man of the match !

The rest of the team either average or under average!

[The Realist]

Just a word on the ref: I thought he had a decent game.

Nice favour with 10 seconds to go and Koreans having a final corner kick he below his whistle. Haha, Koreans were furious!

[_Navid_]

What a joy it is it watch Saeed play. It is like watching poetry!

Beiranvand 8
Kanani 5.5
Shoja 5.5
Moharrami 4
Noorafkan 5
Amiri 6
Nourollahi 6
Ezatollahi 8.5
Jahanbakhsh 7.5
Gholizadeh 4
Taremi 6.5
Azmoun 7