And regarding Al-nassr it is clear that they really weakened when Cristiano Ronaldo was absent. I don't know what happened but everything was different when Cristiano Ronaldo wasn't there. And actually Al-Nassr also has a strong squad. It's just their level of consistency at the start of the season that makes it difficult for Al-nassr to compete at the top. If Pioli had arrived sooner, maybe now Al-Nassr would be in second place. And I'm sure there wouldn't be a big difference between Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal points if Pioli was brought in sooner.
Al-Nassr seems to lack the motivation to fight harder when Cristiano Ronaldo is absent. But that's not the only problem, but in the match against Al Kholood we saw that Al-Nassr's defense level was slightly lower than usual. And for the attack line, actually scoring 3 goals against the opponent's goal can still be said to be quite good even though Cristiano Ronaldo is not there. But it seems that when Cristiano Ronaldo is not there, we see the players are more enthusiastic about going forward to score goals but are always too late to help the defense. Meanwhile, when there is Cristiano Ronaldo, we can see that the players simply entrust the attack line to the legend and several players. And all the other players can focus more in the midfield and sometimes help in defense. So in several matches before yesterday we saw that the AL-Nassr defense line was quite strong. But I am optimistic that Stefano Pioli will overcome this problem. And bring balance back to the Al-Nassr squad.
indeed, when Cristiano Ronaldo was not there, Al-nassr's performance always dropped, of course it was different from rivals Al-nassr (Al-hilal) that I remember, such as when Mitrovic was injured, Al-hilal could play well and they always won when they competed. I think this is Pioli's task which must be improved in Al-nassr.
Yes, Al-Nassr does have a strong squad and indeed, if Pioli had arrived earlier then of course there is great potential, as you said, Al-Nassr would not have a big difference in points with Al-Hilal. but I'm sure Pioli will improve everything and will definitely learn from the Al-nassr match against Al kholood.
Yes, I also saw the same thing as you during the match against Al Kholood, namely that it happened like that where the Al-Nassr defense line decreased, and indeed when Cristiano Ronaldo had the back line there was more focus, yes, the point is that everything was orderly and neat which made the enemy team facing Al -nassr always finds it difficult to score goals. Yes, now we'll see what Pioli will do. I'm the same as you because I'm also sure Pioli will be able to overcome all this. and surely Al-nassr fans want to see Pioli make Al-nassr even better.