Yes ,TM missed NV,but I'm not sure even if he was healthy, Branco would have inserted him in starting 11!
If nothing else, Branco has proved that he can be very stubborn on the system and players that he wants for most games. Sometimes he contradicts his own philosophy. He started as "players in the service of 4-2-3-1 system" type of coach ,but he has evolved into "system in the service of players" type of coach!
He seems to be of the conviction that best 11 should play, regardless of position and tactical needs. Our strong line (the 3) were all playing out of position to accomodate the (1) line's presence! Even his substitution pattern, which seemed effective in earlier games, did not address that!
Is not so much nikbakht himself, eventhough, he is a sar va gardan above all left footers in Iran.He was injured and so was his substitute Badaavi. But couldn't 16 IPL teams ,provide him with an alternative leftie? How about Maddanchi as insurance policy?His indecision, created an off balance offensive scheme that has been very much predictible not only to the experienced coaches such as Bahrani's, but also to fans 1000s of miles away that have never walked on the pitch!
Just like ordinary fans, he was banking on the individual skills and glories that kia and karimi could POTENTIAALY bring to the game, not wanting to consider that both those players in addition to hashemian have been at least 4-5 months away from their best days! KIA and Hashemian have combined for a total of 2-3 competetive games in that period!
In summary, yes Nikbakht was missed, but in more accurate way of putting it, the left side was missing!