Topic: Saudi Professional League 2023/2024 - page 220. (Read 112030 times)

There are 18 clubs in Saudi Professional League so this league has only 34 match days totally. It means each club will have 14 more matches till the season ending. Al Hilal actually have great chance to win the league and Al Nassr will have only one biggest chance to reduce their difference with a direct match. Their chance win the title will only be higher if they can win that match. If it ends as a draw or defeat for Al Nassr, their chance will become nearly zero.

Biggest difference between Al Hilal and Al Nassr are their defensive power. I know they have big point difference but let's skip it now and try to explore why there is such big point difference.

Al Hilal and Al Nassr have similar attacking power with 62 goals for Al Hilal and 57 goals for Al Nassr. Now let's look at their defensive stats with 10 conceded goals for Al Hilal and 24 conceded goals for Al Nassr. If Al Nassr have similar defensive power like Al Hilal, perhaps they don't have 7 points less than Al Hilal.

https://www.goal.com/en-sa/saudi-league/table/ea0h6cf3bhl698hkxhpulh2zz

Al Hilal has left Al Nassr. and it seems that if the performance of Al Hilal players is consistent, then they can ensure the SPL trophy this season.
I think Al Nassr will be a tough competitor for Al Hilal this season. but they seemed to really struggle in several matches and had to drop points.
Ittihad is also not that strong this season. so the competition for the Trophy is definitely reduced. Al Hilal clearly dominates. they have not been defeated.

Impressive, right? They're showing everyone they're not a solo act. But lets not ignore Benzema's importance on the pitch. The player has 9 goals and 5 assists in 16 matches this season. You cant ignore those numbers. It illustrates that while Al Ittihad can compete, Benzema adds the magic to make a decent performance great.

And what else? Not playing Benzema isnt the issue. Its about teamwork. Imagine what may happen if they all clicked and supported each other. Benzema is talented, but football is a team sport. Finding that balance and making sure everyone, even Benzema, plays to their strengths is key.

Benzema only seems to be an addition to the team because his contribution can no longer be relied on, but I understand that his productivity has decreased because he is no longer young, unlike when he was young with extraordinary skills, but what I think is that he is one of the star players and at least he can provide a good contribution against a team that is much weaker, for example not being able to score is no problem but providing an assist is more than enough but Benzema didn't do that.
It's a shame that top players like Benzema don't have high productivity and have difficulty working with other players and I think if Benzema is able to show his skills, Ittihad will definitely be able to compete for the title very easily.

It seems a bit difficult to reach 3rd place in the standings because Al Ahli, who currently occupies 3rd place, is in a strong, more consistent condition, while the difference between Ittihad and Al Ahli is 6 points, meaning it needs 2 or 3 more wins, but Al Ahli will definitely continue. trying to maintain its position because as a popular team Al Ahli does not want the 3rd position to be taken by another team.

Al Hilal is too strong for any club, it has been proven this week that they can still continue their winning streak this week when they face Al Raed. I don't even think this season anyone can beat Al Hilal, unless they are very unlucky in that match. I don't think it's an exaggeration when I say this because they have had almost no gaps this season. Their defensive line is solid, their midfield can maintain balance very well and their front line is also very productive, which makes them look much stronger.
20 weeks have passed and they are unbeaten and have only achieved 2 draws this season. So it is very natural that many say they will become champions again this season. Al Nassr, which is their closest club, actually lost when they met Al Hilal.

That has been answered, Neymar did not participate in the match against Al Raed. But Al Hilal don't seem to mind as they continue to top the table even without Neymar. Mitrovic was the star of the day with 2 goals. With this win, AL Hilal are stronger at the top with a 7-point gap to An Nassr. Mitrovic is also the 2nd top scorer with 19 goals in 18 matches. Meanwhile, Ronaldo is currently number 1 with 21 goals in 19 matches. Mitrovic is a serious threat to Ronaldo because it is only 2 goals difference.

I agree if we say that without Benzema, Al Ittihad can still have good results and be able to play well in every match, but on the other hand, there is something that we cannot take for granted, namely that Benzema is an important part of Al Ittihad.
Benzema this season for the Club World Cup competition which was won by Manchester City has also managed to make big contribution to Al Ittihad, for the SPL in 16 matches Benzema also performed quite well by providing 9 goals and 5 assists.
No one is saying that Al Ittihad success will depend on Benzema, but we can say that Benzema has helped Al Ittihad enough to achieve victory and produce better achievements.
Last season Al Ittihad indeed won the SPL and this season experienced decline, but this does not mean that Benzema had bad performance and made Al Ittihad slump, but because several SPL team have developed more rapidly with the presence of various star players.

If only all Al Ittihad players could provide good support for Benzema then we would see how Benzema could play by creating more goals.
Real problem is not on Benzema part as player but due to the lack of good cohesiveness between fellow players and creating stronger quality of play.

We can see that Ittihad FC slightly changed their playing formation by placing Benzema parallel to Hamdallah because usually Benzema would be a pure striker and this change in strategy was successful in bringing Ittihad to win three points even though Al-Riyadh was actually not a balanced opponent for them because both of them had differences in term of the strength is quite far, at least seen from the ranking of the two teams in the current standings.
Karim Benzema may still need time and it is not easy for strikers to always score goals, it's just that his number of goals is not very impressive at all because he is still inferior to Hamdallah who was Ittihad's mainstay striker several seasons before Benzema arrived at this club.

In the middle of the week, Ittihad FC will compete in the Asian Champions League, they have a chance to win.

Whether coincidental or not, in essence in this context Benzema cannot be completely blamed. Because lacking one player will not change a team significantly. Whether it's bad or good, because football is a team. So, for example, in football someone blames one of the players because his team lost, in my opinion that is very unwise. On the other hand, if for example a team wins a match and only praises one player, I think that is also not wise. Because in football, whatever final result is achieved cannot be done by just one person. But of course with the 11 players on the team. That's why regarding Al Ittihad's performance which improved slightly when Benzema didn't play, I don't think Benzema needs to be involved. Because it is possible that Al Ittihad players have experienced better development since Benzema did not play so that the final results that Al Ittihad always achieves will be better.

Because basically Al Ittihad is also a very strong team in the SPL. Because last season, if I'm not mistaken, it was Al Ittihad who won the SPL. So it is possible that the poor performance at the start of the season was absolutely because all the players from Al Ittihad were experiencing a decline in performance and not because it was caused by Benzema coming to Al Ittihad. Because even though Benzema is a bit old now, he is still a very great footballer. Apart from that, he also has a lot of experience, whether at the club or in the national team. For this reason, it would be very wise if Benzema is not always blamed when Al Ittihad loses in every match.

The presence of Benzema in the starting line up in the Al-Ittihad vs Al-Riyadh match did not change anything and luckily the brace scored by Hamdallah secured an additional 3 points at home. It seems like Benzema is still having a hard time adapting to his teammates for the rest of the season and I think he has experienced a decline in quality at this age. If that's the case then it will be difficult for Benzema to make a contribution to the team and currently Al-Ittihad have returned from the bad results they had some time ago. Now Al-Ittihad still sits in 5th position in the standings with 34 points and is only 1 point different from Al-Taowoun which has collected 35 points. The competition will increase in intensity for each team and to be honest Al-Ittihad can still finish in 3rd place if they continue to be consistent.

Al-ittihad has indeed been a strong team since last season when Benzema had not yet arrived. But that doesn't mean Al-ittihad weakened when Benzema came to the club. It's just that all clubs in the SPL have improved their performance this season after being encouraged by the large number of top European players joining SPL clubs. And actually small teams also make European player transfers, only they don't take famous players but ordinary but still quality players. And that's why the competition in the SPL has become more difficult this season. To be honest, I still hope that Benzema will always play for the rest of this season. Because seeing Benzema play is still an exciting sensation to watch.

Al Ittihad doesn't depend on Benzema, they still could get positive results although Benzema was absent. I think it is a positive thing for Al Ittihad, they are still a strong team without Benzema. And Al Ittihad also shouldn't depend on Benzema because Benzema isn't in his good form this season. Benzema also often got injured, so Benzema will get many obstacles to perform with his best.

I thought it was just a coincidence, they didn't get positive results because of the absence of Benzema. When Benzema played, theoretically Al Ittihad will be stronger because they have an experienced striker in their attacking line.

This has probably been one of the luckiest signings any sport as seen from the perspective of the player. He has been impressive during that one year when they won the Champions League and he literally scored every single game and it was unbelievable at some point. I agree that he deserved to win the Ballon d'Or in 2022, but apart from that season he was two levels below his best. Don't get me wrong here, but I can't remember one reason in which he reached the level he reached in 2021/22 and I acknowledge this as it was outrageous. If he didn't play a season like that, I doubt he would have ever been in a position to sign this insane contract. He was still good and he scored his goals, but it wasn't like the year before. You could see how he was less thrilled and the body language changed and if I remember correctly, he got injured.

In the continuation of the Saudi Pro League, Al Hilal once again proved their potential to start their second season. After a long break, Al Hilal played their match against Al Raed. Referring to the comparison between these two teams, it is clear that there is a quite obvious gap. that's why, Al Hilal has very low odds. and it was proven, Mitrovic scored another goal in the 3rd minute and in the 27th minute via the penalty point, another goal was created by Koulibaly. With this result, Al Hilal's position in this competition remains in the safe zone. Even though Al Nassr also won their match against Al Riyadh, Al Hilal's position remains undisturbed at the top of the standings.

Referring to the course of the match, overall the course of this match was dominated by the home team. well, it seems the probability that Al Hilal is getting stronger on the path to winning the Saudi Pro League trophy. in fact, the competition for top scorers is quite serious. Mitrovic with his 19 goals. while Ronaldo, with 21 goals he created. so, there is only a difference of two goals. however, what is clear is that Al Hilal is much more productive in terms of scoring goals. also, the team that has conceded the fewest goals. however, this competition still has enough matches left. in football, anything can happen. If Al Hilal slips in some of its matches, Al Nassr can step on the gas to overtake Al Hilal's ranking. or what happened the other way around, Al Nassr slipped in several of the matches they played. well, let's just enjoy it

Well, I'll say something, if they have a Star like this and they don't use him, I don't know why they bothered to spend so many millions on him , plus he's an EU player or he's out of shape, I know that Benzema has had some problems recently. It's something normal, I don't know if it's because of adaptation or something like that, but it's something that he has to overcome or that I think he's overcome, but I really want to see this player shine like he did in Madrid, I don't know what It's just that he lacks it, but if he is training with the team it means that it is Already Something that is seen with a very Good omen.

The "cat Benzema" has Always been a player who has a lot to Give, for me he is the player who has the best lineup, everyone Says that the best Ferencé is Mbappé and that he is Supposedly Above everyone, but for me it is not Thus, for me, Benzema has Much more Quality than him, however I would like Benzema to be able to score the goals that we are used to, and thus be able to get out more in action.

In fact, everyone in the world talks about Benzema as that Promise who Went to Saudi Football to shine but things still haven't gone as they are, I think he needs a little more motivation, he has a good friend who is CR7, And I'm sure that any advice from that Country will Ask him...

He believed that for now he must adapt to his team that takes his confidence and that can make him different from the others, he cannot put himself in an orbit of low energy vibration again, he has to raise his spirits and I think that if he is gone then It did him good, if so, then we need to see the goals of a Gatic who is always willing to do things with all the love of the world for football and that is something that we hope for, I think it is time for him to show himself. Let's see if Deschamps puts him in for the French National team because he is a guard of experience and great skill.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have dominated football for over the last two decades so I think it's absolutely expected for the
rivalry of the two players to continue till when they'll finally quit football. Those two players were scoring many goals in their prime and despite their current age, Cristiano Ronaldo was still able to finish last year with the highest number of goals by a professional footballer in the whole world.
There are football lovers who has decided to always pick one of them ahead of the other but for me who's been able to watch them since their rise to stardom, I've always maintained my admiration to the two football superstars even when I kinda love one of them more than the other. Football I think will never experience such rivalry again.

When you look like you barely won, that is usually by people who did not watch the game. Al-Nassr missed a lot of chances, they were unlucky and that is normal that happens sometimes. I think we should probably consider the fact that they are not doing all that crazy because they mainly had unlucky results here and there. Ronaldo scored again, which is amazing for his fans and for the team as well because people watch the games mainly for him, and him scoring increases the viewership as well.

Talisca played well too but just had trouble at the last touches. All in all a great win, they have nothing else but to keep winning and expecting Al Hilal to lose games. They are doing their part, and that is what counts until the season is over.

Rakitic was very lucky on his debut to has scored a goal, he's added another record to his footballing career which is very good, Rakitic is a very skilled player with a lot of experience right from his time at Barcelona to Sevilla so adapting to his new club won't be an issue for him, that's why he was able to score on his debut and help his team secure the 3 points against Damac who are above them in the standings, Al Shabab would definitely enjoy Rakitic's presence in their team.

 Al-Nassr is one big team in the SPL that when fixed for a game, they've got some quantuble high chance of being victorious. I'd say for all teams in that league, it's kind of like Al-Hilal being the only team that may give Al-Nassr a tough time. There's still this confidence that they'd still be able to meet up and win the trophy this season. Although Al-Hilal is not a team that should be joked with, they're a good side too as Al-Nassr. Al-Nassr are still standing really out in the league and then the likes of Al-Hilal and the other teams.  The league is still running and race for the trophy is on too. The final table standing is awaited.
 

The interesting thing about Al Ittihad and Benzema in this season is about the performance of Al Ittihad during the time when Benzema was absent in the team.
In the ten recent games when Al Al Ittihad was playing without Benzema, they had better performance than before and god better results than before.
However, Karim Benzema has returned to the team and he is training with Al Al Ittihad but I think this won't be spring if they don't use him in the next games.

He's back but with the different form. I saw that in the latest clip shows if he is getting fat. he was not able controlling his fitness properly. neymar needs more time to get back his fitness again. I think that this is the main mistake made by him. He has been changed a lot.
He was lucky enough caused by al hilal was still willing to accept him back as the player and received a lot of money as his salary. It's not even a year but there are many things changed from neymar.

I hope he can put more respect on his team coz this team was helping him to have a job rather than being a jobless guy after he left from PSG. Neymar can at least show some respects and he can also make reconsiliation to the other players to build the chemistry again.
Neymar is good but i must admit that sometimes he has no respect toward his club. He needs to be even wiser than before.f Neymar is still useful for the club.

It will another disgrace for him if he repeats the same mistake that makes him excluded from the squad. Neymar needs to regarin his true form again. A few months have passed for him and many changes happened to him.