Iran vs South Korea post match discussion and player ratings

[Babak agha]

It looks nice but considering those 10 were against the likes of Iraq/Bahrain/Cambodia/Syria (winnable games) and the one draw is against someone on our level, it doesn't look all too impressive but results are results..

And normally we play against Brazil and Germany and have wins?

[Farzadfarhangni]

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.

Pressing thank you was not enough for me. I wanted to thank you again and again for this post.

[naderb94]

Say what u want about Skocic, but I let the facts talk:
10-1-0 since he took over.

It looks nice but considering those 10 were against the likes of Iraq/Bahrain/Cambodia/Syria (winnable games) and the one draw is against someone on our level, it doesn't look all too impressive but results are results..

[Philosophy_King]

Watching the way Koreans expose our defensive line gave me flash backs of our AC 2019 Campaign under CQ. We are impressive in defeating all the "minor" Asian Teams based on the individual skills of Taremi and at times Azmoun+JB. But when we face a real challenge, a Team that actually doesn't make simple errors in their defensive line and play fast paced football with high pressing, we start struggling.

Since we had the same issue under CQ, i really don't think that only Tactics and Line-Up are the main reason for this weakness. The lack of friendly-games and infrastructure must be a big factor in that.

For the future, i really hope that we can create an attacking Line-Up that involves Ghoddus: his speed, creativity, ball control, dribbling-skills are vital.
On the other hand we must look for better options than Nourollahi in the Middlefield, i had the crazy idea to try Karim Ansarifard in this position, since he has great vision and also defensive skill.
Our LB position became a major problem, since MiMo start to haveing 2-3 bad games. I am really not a huge fan of Nourafkan, he gets to many cards and lacks the speed compared to MiMo. Using Amiri as a LB is a waste of his attacking potential. I just hope that MiMo can get his act together an reclaim the spot. In RB Moharammi had a very bad game, but overall he looked fine in all the other games, no need to question his spot after one game IMO.

[Iman_Joon]

Say what u want about Skocic, but I let the facts talk:
10-1-0 since he took over.

[Ostad_Goosfand]

what even happened to him? Man just dissapeared?

Injured, torn acl. Although skocic was not playing him when healthy

[OFFSIDE_1]

So, Skocic complains about the team after the game against UAE. He wasn't happy about the lineup. The one thing that did work for him in the UAE game, was bringing in Gholizadeh in the second half when the game was wide open and you had tired UAE defenders, a perfect situation for him to showcase his speed and quickness.


Rather than using the same strategy against S. Korea, he decides to start Gholizadeh against fresh Korean midfielders which ofcourse he played poorly and was taken out in the 2nd half. Very predictable.

Ezatolahi is the field general. Makes the defensive stops, and keeps possession of the ball even when the Koreans tried throwing him off, and he is a very good ball distrbutor. Even though their style of play is different, he is slowly becoming what Nekounam was for many years.

Amiri was all over the field. He hustled, he defended and frustrated some of the Korean players.

Taremi is the lifeline of the team. On the counter attack, he is very good at creating chances for the others. He does need to work on his finishes and sometimes he misses the easy ones and scores on the tough ones.


Skocic Will get us into the World Cup, but I think for the tournament we need a more accomplished coach.

[Leicester City]

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

Azmoun was trying to fight him

How are Japan and South Korea producing these physical, massive tanks all of a sudden like Tomiyasu and Kim Min-Jae?

[Camran khan]

I miss pouraligangi...

what even happened to him? Man just dissapeared?

[Camran khan]

Can anyone explain why everyone is blaming Moharrami for the goal we conceded? Not saying it wasn't his fault but I fell asleep part of the game, and from the highlights they show just right before the goal and our entire D line seems to be way too far up.

[PSGman#19]

Skocic is very frustrating. I would love that the guy progress to the next level and prove all those that mock his CV wrong.

His squad selection and starting line up are generally ok. He build on CQ legacy instead of breaking everything like wilmots. He also shows some pragmatism with correcting bad choice. I guess he could take it to the next level if only he finally decide to play Ghoddos and stop rewarding garbage IPL players like sarlak and noirafkan.

Unfortunately we can't have mourinho or decent international coach as alternative. We would either have an other skocic (with less knowledge of Iran), an other wilmots (unlikely), an average iranian (who will select all the IPL and friends) or a promising Iranian (golmo, neku) that aren't ready yet, could be burnt and may select all their previous players

[Medzdidz]

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

I agree completely, meant to post this in the game thread earlier too. He is an impact sub - last 30 mins of game against a tiring defence when it starts to open up in the middle and he can take advantage of that.

[aliEricCantona]

The ratings from the sofascore.

https://www.sofascore.com/iran-south-korea/KUbsqVb

[The Realist]

Not the best of the performance but under the circumstances, we take this with both hands.

Another great Assist by Azmoun and what a thunder header by Captain Marvel. Despite their huffs and puffs, it was Iran that hit the post twice, but Biravand saved our you know what with the final save of the game.

A resolute, disciplined. high pressing and attacking Korea against an Iran that was pushed back and defended in their own final third. Why in the world Dragan didn't go for a win and mix it up by using his subs, Ghodos, Ansarifard, Torabi,....

Finally, no thanks to those that assisted the Koreans by not allowing fans and especially women into the stadium, killing our home advantage and giving Koreans heart to fight.

[Ab-Gosht]

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.

100% agree