Open Letter to Ali Daei

Team Melli is in an extreme situation, and extreme situations need extreme handling. Iran has been present in the final qualification stages of World Cup and Asian Cup since 1990, and Iran might never ever have had such a big attacking problem. The team hasn’t scored for over 360 minutes, and it’s not just a coincidence. Vahid Hashemian who by far is Iran’s best striker is missing from the squad, and the other strikers in the team have shown that they can not fill in his shoes.

If we didn’t know it before, Ebrahimzadeh made sure we know it now, that Samereh and Khalili probably aren’t the solution to the problem (Samereh today is only a shadow of the Samereh who played in Serie A). Enayati and Khatibi weren’t the solution either as Ghalenoie insisted on. Hashemian is the solution, and his will to warm the Hannover bench and practice with Hannover while Team Melli is playing 90 crucial minutes doesn’t help. Amraei and Mosalman aren’t any good solution either, at least not yet. Then what could be?

Daei, did you watch Real Madrid against Roma return game in the Champions League recently? If not you must have seen or heard about Roma’s revolutionary football?! I want revolutionary football in Iran too!

There will be one single opportunity to try this out and it’s against Bahrain in the friendly game ahead of the crucial Kuwait clash. Since there are no good solutions for the striker headache, Daei, you could try playing without strikers, you could try playing with the Roma model! On paper it’s a 4-2-3-1 (formations are described after a team’s organisation in defence) just as you are thinking about implementing, but take the next step, in practice, it’s a 4-6-0. By now you must have seen the similarities between Totti and Karimi, and you must have seen the advantages of placing Karimi as close to the opponent goal as possible. Ebrahimzadeh showed an embarrassingly bad tactical touch by playing the out-of-shape Karimi, who lacks stamina as one of the two central midfielders, this new pioneer solution should be good for both the midfield and the attack. Playing Karimi upfront leaves room for Mobali or Shojaei in central midfield. If Nekounam is absent then that could give both of them a chance to play together with Karimi.

Let’s have one bright soul study the Roma model inside out and drawing out a Roma inspired Iran model. The players need to know how to act in every situation, how to attack and how to defend. They should know how and where to win the ball and what to do when they win possession. The first and the second pass are vital when the team has won possession.The list goes on; make sure you and the players have the answers.

Ps. The name of the left back and the goalkeeper weren’t left out for no reason.