Team problem is our Midfield

[backechap]

First let me say, the Uzbak team was a very tough team for us to beat, and hats off to TM for pulling off a victory.

In regards to our Midfield, I've heard many people say we have the best midfield in Asia. But while watching the Uzbak game, it was apparent to me that the main problem we had was indeed caused by our midfield. Specifically, our "main" midfield players were all too non-pyhisical. Yes, with Nekou, Ali K, and Andi T, we have a very good offensive midfield line. However, As we all know offense is only half the duty of the midfield. The other half, which has to do with defensive abilities was lacking a major skill, and that was winning 50/50 balls. If you look at the phyiscs of the above mentioned players, they are all too "shekastani". While Ando and Nekou try very hard in defense, unfortunately their physics was not a match for Uzbak players, and they ended up "winning" hardly any balls, and worse yet losing too many balls to them. In fact, it has been a number of years since we had a good "physical" midfielder. The best in recent history, of course was Karim Bagheri. After him, the only physical one we had was Minavand, who was excellent in that department, but unfortunately, unlike Karim, lacked good ball control skills. A winning team NEEDS a player like Karim Bagheri, and we dearly miss it.

Having said this, the good news is that I think the other Aisan teams are no where near as good as Uzbaks in their physical abilities (with the possible exception of Aussies). Uzbaks had very good physical abilities, an example was their forward number 10 who lloked like a UFC fighter and with body contacts took the ball away from our players many times. He even contributyed to our own goal when he bumped Rezaii from behind as he was getting ready to head the ball to our goalie. SO! hopefully we won't have as much problem with other teams in the tournament, but this problem needs to be addressed in the future. Hopefully we can find someone with physical abilites of Hossieni for our midfield (who at the present time is the only physical player we have on the starting 11).

 

[Finally]

Last I checked both Nekonam and Ando were defensive mid-fielders.
We did have problems in our mid, but that was because of the lineup not the players.

 

[Farsi Zaban]

I know Jamaica sucked really bad but I actually quite liked the Karimi Shojayi combo in the midfield. Having another player who can run with the ball at his feet like Shojayi adds a lot of sting to our attack. Not to mention he seems to be an excellent play maker as well. Particularly good at delivering the final ball.

 

[backechap]

Last I checked both Nekonam and Ando were defensive mid-fielders

Finally, true, that's their responsibility. But if you watch the game again, you'll see how many times the 2 you mentioned lose the ball when they had possession due to Uzbaks bumping them. Worse yet, you'll see how many more 50/50 balls they lost than they won. When you play a physical and yet somewhat sloppy team like Uzbaks, there are many many 50/50 balls in the midfield, and you need to win them if you want to control the game.

Also, by "lineup" you probably mean team formation?

 

[azaad2004]

Good post, I agree with your point. I think Ando will get a chance to get bulkier in EPL, because if he does, he can be that physical player which we need. As you mentioned we need players like Karim. I think players in the calibre of Kavianpoor and Stili will also do the trick because they are tough and can press the opposition with their constant running and aggression. We have too many similar in style players in the midfield and non are physical, because IPL is not a physical league... I can't think of anyone who can currently play in the midfield and create a dominant physical presence, do you? that guy who used to play in TM under Branko and was a foolad player comes to mind, but he was mentally slow or something, and didn't have any skills or speed!

 

[westwienmaskulin]

you have a good point..

i think we should give ando a more defensive/withdrawn/makelele type of role, javad a bit more offensive as he likes that more, and Ali ahead of the two in offense.

I still believe we should have brought Maziar Zare with us..

 

[Zob Ahan]

First let me say, the Uzbak team was a very tough team for us to beat, and hats off to TM for pulling off a victory.

In regards to our Midfield, I've heard many people say we have the best midfield in Asia. But while watching the Uzbak game, it was apparent to me that the main problem we had was indeed caused by our midfield. Specifically, our "main" midfield players were all too non-pyhisical. Yes, with Nekou, Ali K, and Andi T, we have a very good offensive midfield line. However, As we all know offense is only half the duty of the midfield. The other half, which has to do with defensive abilities was lacking a major skill, and that was winning 50/50 balls. If you look at the phyiscs of the above mentioned players, they are all too "shekastani". While Ando and Nekou try very hard in defense, unfortunately their physics was not a match for Uzbak players, and they ended up "winning" hardly any balls, and worse yet losing too many balls to them. In fact, it has been a number of years since we had a good "physical" midfielder. The best in recent history, of course was Karim Bagheri. After him, the only physical one we had was Minavand, who was excellent in that department, but unfortunately, unlike Karim, lacked good ball control skills. A winning team NEEDS a player like Karim Bagheri, and we dearly miss it.

Having said this, the good news is that I think the other Aisan teams are no where near as good as Uzbaks in their physical abilities (with the possible exception of Aussies). Uzbaks had very good physical abilities, an example was their forward number 10 who lloked like a UFC fighter and with body contacts took the ball away from our players many times. He even contributyed to our own goal when he bumped Rezaii from behind as he was getting ready to head the ball to our goalie. SO! hopefully we won't have as much problem with other teams in the tournament, but this problem needs to be addressed in the future. Hopefully we can find someone with physical abilites of Hossieni for our midfield (who at the present time is the only physical player we have on the starting 11).

Good post. I can't remember a physical player like that in TM. Even Bagheri wasn't that kind of player. I think Hamid Estili was the closest we had to that.

 

[Kaz]

you have a good point..

i think we should give ando a more defensive/withdrawn/makelele type of role, javad a bit more offensive as he likes that more, and Ali ahead of the two in offense.

I still believe we should have brought Maziar Zare with us..

You said it brother. Maziar Zare would bring this team together in defense to attack.

 

[Farsi Zaban]

Estili was a work horse. I still think he was the most active player in the history of Asian football. With all due respect to Ando, he doesn't run half as much as estili did in his prime. His fitness was really at a European standard. He wasn't physically strong though.

 

[St_Mark]

First let me say, the Uzbak team was a very tough team for us to beat, and hats off to TM for pulling off a victory.

In regards to our Midfield, I've heard many people say we have the best midfield in Asia. But while watching the Uzbak game, it was apparent to me that the main problem we had was indeed caused by our midfield. Specifically, our "main" midfield players were all too non-pyhisical. Yes, with Nekou, Ali K, and Andi T, we have a very good offensive midfield line. However, As we all know offense is only half the duty of the midfield. The other half, which has to do with defensive abilities was lacking a major skill, and that was winning 50/50 balls. If you look at the phyiscs of the above mentioned players, they are all too "shekastani". While Ando and Nekou try very hard in defense, unfortunately their physics was not a match for Uzbak players, and they ended up "winning" hardly any balls, and worse yet losing too many balls to them. In fact, it has been a number of years since we had a good "physical" midfielder. The best in recent history, of course was Karim Bagheri. After him, the only physical one we had was Minavand, who was excellent in that department, but unfortunately, unlike Karim, lacked good ball control skills. A winning team NEEDS a player like Karim Bagheri, and we dearly miss it.

Having said this, the good news is that I think the other Aisan teams are no where near as good as Uzbaks in their physical abilities (with the possible exception of Aussies). Uzbaks had very good physical abilities, an example was their forward number 10 who lloked like a UFC fighter and with body contacts took the ball away from our players many times. He even contributyed to our own goal when he bumped Rezaii from behind as he was getting ready to head the ball to our goalie. SO! hopefully we won't have as much problem with other teams in the tournament, but this problem needs to be addressed in the future. Hopefully we can find someone with physical abilites of Hossieni for our midfield (who at the present time is the only physical player we have on the starting 11).

Good observation about problem of midfield and physical strength of Uzbeks, it seems this factor for ½ of the game surprised if not paralyzed TM.
TM‘s occasional slow build out or panic defense compounded midfield problem.
Leaving aside Rahman who had a bad day, Jalal was one of best player, bulwark and dependable as he was, most of his transition balls were kicking away aimlessly (understandable during panic). Defense line were unable to either directly feed offense nor was able to blend with midfield effectively . Defense slow build out, was allowed Uzbek midfields to marked and neutralized TM's midfield.
Against such styles of Uzbek, best was direct quick passes , constant move and TM were able to find that out in last 30 minutes of the game.
Reason for Uzbek MF success of first half was their effective plan and tactics.
----When TM had position:
Uzbek midfield players marked TM players and pressed them from receiving the ball.
----When Uzbek had position:
TM MF allowed Uzbek to receive but pressed them after with double press.
As a result Midfield‘s creativities were hampered to some extend , and were hardly were able to freed themselves.
Short, direct transition from defense to midfield was lacking. TM does not have CD with long and precision pass.
I suspect Iran’s opponent especially chiness are making adjustment to their game plan after watching shaky Rahman and trapped midfield

 

[sirabi]

you have a good point..

i think we should give ando a more defensive/withdrawn/makelele type of role, javad a bit more offensive as he likes that more, and Ali ahead of the two in offense.

I still believe we should have brought Maziar Zare with us..

Exactly, especially Zare, but he may have been slightly overweight. I don't understand why Nekounam becomes so adventurous when he plays for TM. It has to be said though that Teymourian should play a little more defensively in the next game. Playing Enayati crippled that left side so Zandi was forced to both play defensive midfield and left back. When he was caught out of position, it was because he was forced to push up because no one was covering the left which just allowed the Uzbaks to play the ball past him and Rezaie had to cover. Good thread because the midfield is our biggest problem. If it's not sorted and I don't have great confidence that it will, we will be punished by the better teams.

 

[Finally]

Finally, true, that's their responsibility. But if you watch the game again, you'll see how many times the 2 you mentioned lose the ball when they had possession due to Uzbaks bumping them. Worse yet, you'll see how many more 50/50 balls they lost than they won. When you play a physical and yet somewhat sloppy team like Uzbaks, there are many many 50/50 balls in the midfield, and you need to win them if you want to control the game.

Also, by "lineup" you probably mean team formation?

Yes, I meant the formation. The reason we lost the midfield to Uzbacks had to do with the 4-3-3 formation. Iran was playing 4-3-3 and Uzbacks were playing 4-5-1. It was too difficult for Ando, Javad and Karimi to cover the mid-field while Uzbaks had 5 players in the middle. Add humidity to it and you will have an exhausted mid-field which will lose most of the battles.

 

[backechap]

Yes, I missed Estili as a very good example of the type of player we need (and by the way, we only need one such player in midfield.) I agree that we were probably caught off guard by the agressiveness and the physical level of Uzbaks. I think their coach had probably specificly instructed their players to play physical and rough us up. As I said, I think we will do better in the next few games because I don't think any other team on our way to the Semis can play the same style as the Uzbaks.

 

[Sly]

Finally, true, that's their responsibility. But if you watch the game again, you'll see how many times the 2 you mentioned lose the ball when they had possession due to Uzbaks bumping them. Worse yet, you'll see how many more 50/50 balls they lost than they won. When you play a physical and yet somewhat sloppy team like Uzbaks, there are many many 50/50 balls in the midfield, and you need to win them if you want to control the game.

Also, by "lineup" you probably mean team formation?

backechap jan, while I agree with you about missing someone like Bagheri, both Nekounam and Ando have already proved themselves in the most physical leagues in the world. Not to talk about Karimi who had excellent defensive work when he played in Bayern. IMO, the reason they lost so many balls were because there weren't many people around in the midfield to pass the ball to when needed. only 3 midfielders were just too few for us to handle, while Uzbakistan's midfield owned ours.

So I have to agree with Finally about the formation. I think if the formation is changed for the next coming games, we will see a much more solid midfield.

 

[ABall]

Last I checked both Nekonam and Ando were defensive mid-fielders.
We did have problems in our mid, but that was because of the lineup not the players.

I believe there was an Iranian writer who did a little study on Nekounam, who is supposed to be our best defensive mid-fielder, but compared to other international defensive midfielders he is sub-par in nearly every numerical catergory, and in some techniques as well. He is more of an offensive player than we make him out to be. Anyone still have the link or know which writer I'm talking about?

Ando will never have that physical presence. Look at him. lmao ... Kazemian is a physical player, why no mentions?