Iran vs Algeria Post Match Ratings and Discussion

[Farzadfarhangni]

Overall, I like the analysis, but your ideas eloquently exemplify the pervasive pessimism found on a daily basis on this site.The problem is that most of the posts, including yours, fail to take the economic and political backdrop into consideration. The mismanagement and bureaucratic chaos notwithstanding, Iran has for years been reeling under the most draconian sanctions. As also evinced in Carlos Queiroz' comments, the IFF presently does not have the money and resources necessary to ensure the kind of succcess the team deserves. Lack of know-how and solid organization may present another roadblock.

After the Wilmot debacle, whose selection was initailly applauded, including by many on this site, the federation was in a very difficult position, to the extent that they could find no one willing to lead the team. Then they offered the job to Skocic, a coach with hardly any international experience and expertise, who reluctantly accepted to take the helm in return for meager financial rewards.

Soon after Skocic began his job as coach of Team Melli, not many believed he'd be able to lead Iran to qualification;but he pulled off the unthinkable, arguably with a bit of luck coming his way. Then success began to breed higher expectations and ultimately harsher criticism. In fact, with the exception of Heshmat Mohajerani and Carlos Queiroz, every other Iranian coach has always been in an unenviable position of having to endure overwhelming, and at times unbearable, scrutiny of his performance, even after a single loss. Perhaps that is the chief reason not one of them has accepted to return to the job again; it's simply a very difficult task.

Now Skocic is being called out for the absence of a coherent strategy in a friendly game. Friendly games are supposed to expose a team's vulnarabilities, more so than highlighting its strengths. But rather than giving this man the opportunity to fix the flaws displayed during the game, many are already calling for his head. While not a world class coach, under current circumstances he's probably the best choice there is. (Some people are even wasting time fantasizing about a Quiroz return, not for a second realizing that he may not be willing to lead the team again, even if substantial money and a solid contract were on the table.)

I think it would be feasible to save our harsh commentary for the second or third friendly, should Iran continue to dwell on the same mistakes it committed during the game against Algeria. History tells us the coaching staff and players would be able to make some tangible improvements in the coming weeks and months; and let's not forget that the team we're likely to see in November will be a far cry from the one we saw yesterday. Furthermore, ample preparation or not, Team Melli tends to play its heart out in World Cup games--as it did in 1978, 1998, 2006, 2014 and 2018-- and it is likely to do so this time, especially with a little preparation and genuine support from its diehard fans.

So, folks, let's put comments like "we're in deep trouble" and "we're doomed" aside for the time being and send our beloved team some real words of encouragement. We can continue to engage in detailed analysis and even constructive criticism, but we cannot allow ourselves to be mired in a whirlpool of self-perpetuating despair and cynicism.

I don't understand what you are saying...

I like complaining and whining. It makes me feel important and smart. I don't offer any real solutions, I just like complaining. Knowing that Skocic is going to be our coach, I like saying stuff like "Nekonam will easily get us out of our group" or "CQ would make such a strong team that England will not show up for the match. They'd rather take a default 3-0 loss than to face CQ's TM" or other sh*t like that. I can never be proven wrong, so I like saying sh*t like that with authority and act like anyone that does not agree with me is an idiot. Makes me feel good, you know.

[Karimi 8]

The point of a friendly is to expose your weaknesses and build on your strengths so you can try out new tactics. Unfortunately however, a lot of us know deep down that our coach is incapable of fixing the weaknesses that the team is showing. I hope he proves me wrong, but his lack tactics or logic when it comes to selecting players is so alarming.

[Prowess]

Overall, I like the analysis, but your ideas eloquently exemplify the pervasive pessimism found on a daily basis on this site.The problem is that most of the posts, including yours, fail to take the economic and political backdrop into consideration. The mismanagement and bureaucratic chaos notwithstanding, Iran has for years been reeling under the most draconian sanctions. As also evinced in Carlos Queiroz' comments, the IFF presently does not have the money and resources necessary to ensure the kind of succcess the team deserves. Lack of know-how and solid organization may present another roadblock.

After the Wilmot debacle, whose selection was initailly applauded, including by many on this site, the federation was in a very difficult position, to the extent that they could find no one willing to lead the team. Then they offered the job to Skocic, a coach with hardly any international experience and expertise, who reluctantly accepted to take the helm in return for meager financial rewards.

Soon after Skocic began his job as coach of Team Melli, not many believed he'd be able to lead Iran to qualification;but he pulled off the unthinkable, arguably with a bit of luck coming his way. Then success began to breed higher expectations and ultimately harsher criticism. In fact, with the exception of Heshmat Mohajerani and Carlos Queiroz, every other Iranian coach has always been in the unenviable position of having to endure overwhelming, and at times unbearable, scrutiny of his performance, even after a single loss. Perhaps that is the chief reason not one them has accepted to return to the job again; it's simply a very difficult task.

Now Skocic is being called out for the absence of a coherent strategy in a friendly game. Friendly games are supposed to expose a team's vulnarabilities, more so than highlighting its strengths. But rather than giving this man the opportunity to fix the flaws displayed during the game, many are already calling for his head. While not a world class coach, under current circumstances he's probably the best choice there is. (Some people are even wasting time fantasizing about a Quiroz return, not for a second realizing that he may not be willing to lead the team again, even if substantial money and a solid contract were on the table.)

I think it would be feasible to save our harsh commentary for the second or third friendly, should Iran continue to dwell on the same mistakes it committed during the game against Algeria. History tells us the coaching staff and players would be able to make some tangible improvements in the coming weeks and months; and let's not forget that the team we're likely to see in November will be a far cry from the one we saw yesterday. Furthermore, ample preparation or not, Team Melli tends to play its heart out in World Cup games--as it did in 1978, 1998, 2006, 2014 and 2018-- and it is likely to do so this time, especially with a little preparation and genuine support from its diehard fans.

So, folks, let's put comments like, "we're in deep trouble" and "we're doomed" aside for the time being and send our beloved team some real words of encouragement. We can continue to engage in detailed analysis and even constructive criticism, but we cannot allow ourselves to be mired in a whirlpool of self-perpetuating despair and cynicism.

Beautiful post. Afarin 👏 👏

I truly don’t understand what purpose doom and gloom will serve us at this point? Skocic saved the ship that Wilmots was sinking, now he’s being given a chance to lead. It is what it is. After a few friendlies, then let’s see how the team looks. People forget that CQ had the team for 1 world cup and 1 asian cup, before achieving our best results in WC history. Even so, the goals we gave up in our friendly losses to Turkey and Tunisia before WC2018 were especially worrying with Roozbeh Cheshmi at centerback. And guess what? CQ STILL played him against Morocco but made tactical adjustments.

There isn’t going to be a coaching change before the world cup. We have to accept reality.

[SkyeKingu]

Overall, I like the analysis, but your ideas eloquently exemplify the pervasive pessimism found on a daily basis on this site.The problem is that most of the posts, including yours, fail to take the economic and political backdrop into consideration. The mismanagement and bureaucratic chaos notwithstanding, Iran has for years been reeling under the most draconian sanctions. As also evinced in Carlos Queiroz' comments, the IFF presently does not have the money and resources necessary to ensure the kind of succcess the team deserves. Lack of know-how and solid organization may present another roadblock.

After the Wilmot debacle, whose selection was initailly applauded, including by many on this site, the federation was in a very difficult position, to the extent that they could find no one willing to lead the team. Then they offered the job to Skocic, a coach with hardly any international experience and expertise, who reluctantly accepted to take the helm in return for meager financial rewards.

Soon after Skocic began his job as coach of Team Melli, not many believed he'd be able to lead Iran to qualification;but he pulled off the unthinkable, arguably with a bit of luck coming his way. Then success began to breed higher expectations and ultimately harsher criticism. In fact, with the exception of Heshmat Mohajerani and Carlos Queiroz, every other Iranian coach has always been in the unenviable position of having to endure overwhelming, and at times unbearable, scrutiny of his performance, even after a single loss. Perhaps that is the chief reason not one them has accepted to return to the job again; it's simply a very difficult task.

Now Skocic is being called out for the absence of a coherent strategy in a friendly game. Friendly games are supposed to expose a team's vulnarabilities, more so than highlighting its strengths. But rather than giving this man the opportunity to fix the flaws displayed during the game, many are already calling for his head. While not a world class coach, under current circumstances he's probably the best choice there is. (Some people are even wasting time fantasizing about a Quiroz return, not for a second realizing that he may not be willing to lead the team again, even if substantial money and a solid contract were on the table.)

I think it would be feasible to save our harsh commentary for the second or third friendly, should Iran continue to dwell on the same mistakes it committed during the game against Algeria. History tells us the coaching staff and players would be able to make some tangible improvements in the coming weeks and months; and let's not forget that the team we're likely to see in November will be a far cry from the one we saw yesterday. Furthermore, ample preparation or not, Team Melli tends to play its heart out in World Cup games--as it did in 1978, 1998, 2006, 2014 and 2018-- and it is likely to do so this time, especially with a little preparation and genuine support from its diehard fans.

So, folks, let's put comments like, "we're in deep trouble" and "we're doomed" aside for the time being and send our beloved team some real words of encouragement. We can continue to engage in detailed analysis and even constructive criticism, but we cannot allow ourselves to be mired in a whirlpool of self-perpetuating despair and cynicism.

Well said!

[Corey]

3-5-2 might not be such a bad idea. It might also solve our weak midfield problem by cluttering up the midfield. This could work if we manage to keep posession which is not that far fetched since our passing has become much better.

Exactly. We played 3 defenders against bosnia and it worked out. Upfront it is sardar and taremi anyways. So we need to fill the midfield. We got a lot of players who are actually good in offensive and defensive work but lack positioning. Therefore you need 5 midfielders tonreduce this problem.

[orbicular]

The problem isn’t the players. In CQ’s system, Noorafkan would look like Sergio Ramos. Our low block tactic hid the fact that we don’t have world class defenders. We played team defense under CQ, now we are expecting non-world class defenders to bail us out and we are being punished for it. If the players were instructed better tactically, we might have still lost today, but the game would have been less depressing in terms of us not looking so disorganized and inferior. Gholizadeh dribbled and didn’t pass at least 4-5 times, and those possession losses were causing dangerous counter attacks against us. I don’t blame Gholizadeh for this, I don’t blame Noorafkan and Moharrami for crumbling under the Algerian press, they are not instructed of how to properly play the ball, and often they’re alone in no man’s land. Watch the game again if you want to punish yourself, but you’ll notice how static the team is. In every position, players are mostly standing waiting for balls, and not coming back to compress the defense when needed.
These same players were running until they couldn’t run anymore under CQ. Skocic is not getting the best out of these players. I really believe that Cheshmi or whomever can play in our defense under Skocic and be soorakh and play under CQ and look like a capable defender. It’s just the tactics were there for CQ, Skocic still has a long ways to go, but he shouldn’t be TM coach. He should have achieved something before such a prominent position, he is not put in a position to succeed. History repeating itself for TM, mistakes of the past being made again. We didn’t learn from CQ that someone who has tasted success can push us far, but bringing in a stopgap will get us results like Branko, Daei, etc. Skocic is among these guys in terms of ability at the moment, not on CQ’s level. And if some of the deranged folks on here want to argue there’s even a comparison in experience, I’m happy to have a good laugh.
EDIT: I’m extra annoyed since I had my brother come watch the game with me and he doesn’t watch TM often and it was embarrassing. He was asking if we always played so disorganized. I told him that under Skocic, we have. We were able to skate through the group on our talent gap with our weak group, but the reckoning I worried about is starting. If Skocic is coach still in November, mark my words that history will repeat itself like last world cups, England 2-0 Iran, Wales 3-1 Iran, US 0-0 Iran. We have had almost these exact results in previous world cups where we’re ill-prepared and I’m already pretty confident that the cycle is continuing. Anyone who has hopes of round of 16… lol, sorry. Barring a major change or the other teams all getting Covid and playing waterboys, we’re in deep deep trouble.

Overall, I like the analysis, but your ideas eloquently exemplify the pervasive pessimism found on a daily basis on this site.The problem is that most of the posts, including yours, fail to take the economic and political backdrop into consideration. The mismanagement and bureaucratic chaos notwithstanding, Iran has for years been reeling under the most draconian sanctions. As also evinced in Carlos Queiroz' comments, the IFF presently does not have the money and resources necessary to ensure the kind of succcess the team deserves. Lack of know-how and solid organization may present another roadblock.

After the Wilmot debacle, whose selection was initailly applauded, including by many on this site, the federation was in a very difficult position, to the extent that they could find no one willing to lead the team. Then they offered the job to Skocic, a coach with hardly any international experience and expertise, who reluctantly accepted to take the helm in return for meager financial compensation.

Soon after Skocic began his job as coach of Team Melli, not many believed he'd be able to lead Iran to qualification;but he pulled off the unthinkable, arguably with a bit of luck coming his way. Then success began to breed higher expectations and ultimately harsher criticism. In fact, with the exception of Heshmat Mohajerani and Carlos Queiroz, every other Iranian coach has always been in an unenviable position of having to endure overwhelming, and at times unbearable, scrutiny of his performance, even after a single loss. Perhaps that is the chief reason not one of them has accepted to return to the job again; it's simply a very difficult task.

Now Skocic is being called out for the absence of a coherent strategy in a friendly game. Friendly games are supposed to expose a team's vulnarabilities, more so than highlighting its strengths. But rather than giving this man the opportunity to fix the flaws displayed during the game, many are already calling for his head. While not a world class coach, under current circumstances he's probably the best choice there is. (Some people are even wasting time fantasizing about a Quiroz return, not for a second realizing that he may not be willing to lead the team again, even if substantial money and a solid contract were on the table.)

I think it would be feasible to save our harsh commentary for the second or third friendly, should Iran continue to dwell on the same mistakes it committed during the game against Algeria. History tells us the coaching staff and players would be able to make some tangible improvements in the coming weeks and months; and let's not forget that the team we're likely to see in November will be a far cry from the one we saw yesterday. Furthermore, ample preparation or not, Team Melli tends to play its heart out in World Cup games--as it did in 1978, 1998, 2006, 2014 and 2018-- and it is likely to do so this time, especially with a little preparation and genuine support from its diehard fans.

So, folks, let's put comments like "we're in deep trouble" and "we're doomed" aside for the time being and send our beloved team some real words of encouragement. We can continue to engage in detailed analysis and even constructive criticism, but we cannot allow ourselves to be mired in a self-perpetuating whirlpool of despair and cynicism.

[the matrix1]

Can someone explain why the hell Haj Safi is so liked by every damn coach we have??

This man is ABSOLUTE trash. No exception, no defending him, nothing. To this day, I will never understand how he even gets the invites to the WC camps (purely because he is a leader?? we don't have time or enough ammunition with other players to say we need a leader like him on the pitch). We need skillful players, his time was done a long time ago! It is not about one or two games, it is the fact that he is not TM material

It's because he has connections, and many of the current players on team melli will vouch for him because he is very friendly and professional as a leader.

[KeonKish]

Playing Noorafkan as a center back when we had 2 other center backs available is true retardation.

Aref Aghasi came in with a huge performance and literally riid be skocic by showing what happens when you play two competent center backs. Aghasi showed guts, sense of urgency, and was overall quite good. He should stay.

Noorafkan cant defend to save his life. Gave away a clear penalty that wasnt called, and gave away at least 15 free kicks. he cant play center back, or fullback, just absolutely horrendous

Noorolahi doesnt even look like a midfielder. Chickenshit from him, hides from the ball, no touch, no control. NOTHING. we played better first 15 mins of the game when he never touched the ball.

As soon as algeria saw how shit out left side of nourollahi, hajsafi, and noorafkan was, they tore us a new one!

Good players this match
-Moharrami
-Aghasi
-Majid Hosseini
-Ebrahimi
- Ezatollahi

Everyone else was garbage.

[LoveTeamMelli]

Can someone explain why the hell Haj Safi is so liked by every damn coach we have??

This man is ABSOLUTE trash. No exception, no defending him, nothing. To this day, I will never understand how he even gets the invites to the WC camps (purely because he is a leader?? we don't have time or enough ammunition with other players to say we need a leader like him on the pitch). We need skillful players, his time was done a long time ago! It is not about one or two games, it is the fact that he is not TM material

[Leicester City]

skocic is not a good coach, he is crap!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q19xh217ooM