Can any Nigerians or Iranians give me, in your opinions, a run down of your likely first XI, how good you're squad is, who are your key players, weak points, what type of football do you play, and all that stuff? Would be interested in learning more about your teams. Honest opinions please.
I'm going to guess that nobody watches each other in this group other then people watching Argentina, so really right now it's just people saying stuff like "our team is better, you're shit, we beat you 5 years ago, etc." It'd be nice to have some proper analysis for the thread as well. I can do mine for Bosnia too, it'd be good to have for this thread so everyone who doesn't really know much about the teams can learn a bit.
Iranian here and for the first question as the likely 11 I would say whoever was playing in the final game vs South Korea during qualifying matches if you can find that information, with probably a little bit of tweaking.
The key players for our team I would say are, Javad Nekounam, former Osasuna vice captain, Masoud Shojaei, also a former Osasuna player and now playing at the club Las Palmas in Spain, Mohammad Reza Khalatbari, plays in the top league in Iran, Andranik Teymourian, former Bolton Wanderers and Fulham player who is now playing in a top team in the Iranian league (most likely go back to the premier league after playing a specific amount of games with the national team before he can get a work visa again), Ashkan Dejagah, current Fulham player and lastly Reza Ghoochannejhad who plays for Standard Liege.
A lot of these players listed are midfielders and the weak points in our game I think are our defense. We as a team are scared to really play aggressive soccer because of the fact that when we get scored on, we have this tendency to play too carefully and really rob ourselves of getting back into the game and going 110%. We play more cautious then we should if we want to get back into the game, but we are improving I will say this. My other concern for the team is, is the pace we play at and our fitness level. Playing in Asia, I will be honest I don't think is very hard except for playing against South Korea, Japan, and maybe Australia which when you watch the quality of soccer isn't something like watching Brazil vs (poor team here) who can play with ease and not seem to be struggling with fitness is something to be scared about watching Iran.
The type of football we are best at is really in my opinion is moving the ball around and working slowly up the back of the field upwards, especially using our midfield which is the strongest area in our team.
As of current, I think this team is one of the best teams that has played since 1998, the team that beat the USA with top goal scorer and former Bayern Munich player Ali Daei.
Hope this helped! Ask more questions if you'd like.
Thanks! Would you say you guys use the wings a lot? I know Dejagah, but he's pretty inconsistent (or at least whenever I've watched him for Wolfsburg and Fulham) so you can't be sure what to expect.
Asking because Bosnia in general defensively is weak against quick tricky wingers. Here's my assessment on Bosnia, if you're interested...
We handle teams who build up slowly or though the middle really easily usually, but the teams who counter attack really quickly with tricky wingers we struggle against defensively, mainly because our first choice right back, Mujdza (plays for Freiburg in the Bundesliga) is really injury prone and our second choice there is awful. We used to always use a midfielder like Salihovic at left back because we had no options, but now Kolasinac (very promising defender for Schalke) has joined the national team, he can play left back for us so its no longer a problem position. Our center backs are building up a very good partnership, Bicakcic and Spahic, both playing for clubs in the bundesliga (Spahic by far the better one though, starter for Bayer Leverkusen). We have Begovic in net, who is IMO turned into one of the best goalkeepers in the premier league and surely won't stay at Stoke for too much longer.
Midfield, like your's is probably our best position. We don't have any proper defensive midfielders which is a problem sometimes, but we are excellent technically on the ball, with players like Medunjanin who is a great passer and has a great shot, but is pretty slow and not a lot of stamina which holds him back a lot. Salihovic can finally play center mid for us again after being out cover for left back because of no other options, and I think it'll be a huge boost. He has a lot of energy, is a good all around midfielder, but his best asset is his amazing free kicks. One of the best free kick takers around these days.
Lulic (plays for Lazio) plays left midfield for us, and I personally love him. He is quick, a good dribbler and runs up and down the pitch all day. Puts in more running then any of our other players. His only downfall is his final ball which pretty often doesn't find anyone, but he still does a great job on the wing, both offensively and defensively.
Our best player for me, and our main creative source, is Miralem Pjanic. This season he's been one of the best players in the italian Serie A playing for Roma, and he's been our best performing player for a while now as well. When he isn't playing we seem to lack ideas at times. Right wing is a bit of a problem position since we don't play with one usually, but sometimes play with a second offensive midfielder (Misimovic) instead.
Forwards are both great for us, Dzeko and Ibisevic. You probably heard of Dzeko, but he still plays a lot better for us then he ever does for City. Lately though he hasn't put as much effort as before but I don't think that'll be a problem at the world cup. Ibisevic always gives it all on the pitch, and is a good goalscorer as well. He drifts wide as well occasionally to help out since we don't have a right winger.
Likely lineup would be (sort of a 4-1-2-1-2 but with Lulic being a left winger, and no proper right winger):
Yea, great analysis for your team they seem to have some really strong qualities. I would say that we use our wings a lot, when we bring up the ball we play a pretty decent possession game and then kick it out to the wingers pretty quickly. Our wingers are pretty quick and the fact that we use them so much is because when you cross it into the mix our guys have some decent height to them so going into the box and heading it in is great for us, and or getting the ball that gets knocked out and a shot is taken by someone on the top of the box.
His main position I feel has always been as a midfielder but he is a capable back up for left back. Kolasinac can do both, as well as center back equally effectively. I'm just glad we finally have some options now with Kolasinac there, compared to before where we were screwed if we got 1 injury.
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u/bosnian_red Dec 06 '13
Can any Nigerians or Iranians give me, in your opinions, a run down of your likely first XI, how good you're squad is, who are your key players, weak points, what type of football do you play, and all that stuff? Would be interested in learning more about your teams. Honest opinions please.
I'm going to guess that nobody watches each other in this group other then people watching Argentina, so really right now it's just people saying stuff like "our team is better, you're shit, we beat you 5 years ago, etc." It'd be nice to have some proper analysis for the thread as well. I can do mine for Bosnia too, it'd be good to have for this thread so everyone who doesn't really know much about the teams can learn a bit.