Topic: Saudi Professional League 2023/2024 - page 400. (Read 112513 times)

It will be an interesting match in the SPL this week, both clubs are in the top half of the table and the result of the match will have a lot of influence on the standings. Both Al Fateh and Al Hilal are in good form, they have both recorded 4 consecutive wins. Al fateh will play the match and have home status, it is their advantage indirectly because they will play the match in front of their own supporters. But Al Hilal are a strong club and it won't be easy to beat them. A draw could happen in this match because both clubs are equally eyeing important points in this match.

Al fateh is still very consistent at this moment. If we are talking about the possibility of al fateh to beat al hilal is pretty small at this moment. I would like to mention how al hilal is right now. Al hilal was able consistently beating some strong clubs like al ahli or even ittihad.
Al fateh will not be a seriuos problem for al hilal at this moment. It's considering that if al hilal is consistently winning some hard matches. Al fateh's level was still below al ahli or ittihad. I have not seen possibility for the fateh to give a tough game against al hilal.

Mirovic and savic will become the key players to win the upcoming game. Al hilal will face hazm first in the king of champion. Mitrovic and friends will try to use it as an opportunity as a training session before the match against al fateh.
Fateh was placing at the 4th place. It still becomes a threat for al hilal. Hilal needs to win this game to make sure its position will be safe. I don't even expect a lot from this club but seeing the consistentcy of al hilal made me believe hilal will beat fateh with huge scores.
My prediction if al hilal will be winning the game with 2-0 or 3-0 as the final score.

Al Fateh is a team that cannot be underestimated, currently they are in fourth position which is better than Al Ahli and Ittihad and also currently managed to maintain their winning streak by achieving 4 wins in a row, so this is still not a safe bet, because even Al Hilal is unbeaten but they has drawn twice against Damac and against Al Feiha, which can be said to be weaker than Al Fateh.
In H2H, Al Hilal is more dominant by successfully winning in many matches, but Al Fateh may be motivated to maintain their current winning streak, but unfortunately if Al Fateh does not improve their weaknesses on the defensive side then Al Hilal will easily break through their defense, because even though they are in the fourth position but they are the team that has conceded quite a lot of goals in the 11 matches they have played, so Al Hilal is very likely to take advantage of their opponent's weakness at the back.

Well, you're right i feel they didn't bring Neymar only for his talent  cause him being an injury prone should've discouraged them not to sign him, i feel it's mostly for his influence on the club on and off the pitch that attracted them to get him, we all kmow that Neymar is very influential and big on social life therefore he'll attract alot of fans and viewers to the club, and in as much as they spent alot of money to get him, they could easily recover if not all but half of it from Shirt sales.

 Well there's a little possiblity of him playing in European football again cause no top club would consider signing him because not only he's an injury prone player, he's getting older and would demand a huge wage bill therefore it won't be very beneficial to their club cause they'll be on the losing ends, therefore i agree with your statement that Neymar might continue playing in the Saudi Pro League.

at the beginning I also said that Al Hilal bringing in Neymar was not just about the quality of the player talent or not just about money but as a driving force to increase the popularity of football in the SPL, just like what Al Nassr and Ittihad did. so it not be a problem for Al Hilal to spend a lot of money on this player even though he is currently injured when he has recovered a little Al Hilal only needs Neymar to appear on the field for some time to attract the attention of fans so that the SPL becomes bigger.

and regarding Neymar future, I might support your opinion because it is impossible for Neymar to return to a european team with an injury unless there is a small team that offers a very low salary for him, but I believe more that Neymar will continue to stay in the SPL.

I didn't say that Al-Hilal would break the contract. There is no reason to do that and considering how much money the whole league is paying to some of the European players, I am quite sure that they don't care about Neymar being injured for financial reasons. I guess as you said that the effect they were hoping for is mostly marketing related and also legitimization of some other things. It is true that Neymar is an iconic player although I would never see him on the same level with Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima. For Neymar this contract with Al-Hilal was the best that could have happened to him. He was still injured when he signed the contact, he gets hundreds of millions and is injured again. I think he would never consider going to Europe, playing for maybe 15 million a year while dissolving the contract with Al-Hilal. I also doubt that any European club would want him. Like all of the renowned clubs.

Al Hilal will still be loser if they break the contract with Neymar and they will have to pay him compensation fee for breaking the contract. Neymar will lose nothing if this contract ends sooner than expected as he already received good money from Al Hilal.

He also can find opportunities to return to Europe or clubs in Brazil. I believe even he plays in Brazil, he will still be given a spot in Brazil national team because he is an iconic player there and his quality, performance is still good enough.

I don't think Al Hilal bought Neymar because they want to rely on the player but it is more about marketing for their club and even bigger, for the whole league as part of PIF and Saudi Arabian government plan. Neymar is a player who can give us sexy football with magical moments so I really hope he will be able to return healthy after all.

I think this is also about patience and this game without Neymar was probably as good as it would have been with him. Relying on a player who is unlikely to play the majority of the games also sucks because as soon as you have established some system, the most important player is gone because of injuries again. I can understand when coaches try something else because it isn't really helpful if a team aligns their game play with one player like Neymar and that player misses most of the season. But again, Al-Hilal is doing well without him and Al-Nassr is still working hard to get closer to them. Maybe these two teams are the candidates for the title this season. In December they play against each other.

The next match for Al Hihla in the Saudi Professional League is going to be against Al Fateh and just like the other matches we saw from Al Hilal recently, they got much higher chances and lower rates for the people who bet on Al Hial. Maybe the 1.35 is not high but it is worth it when we know this can be a safe bet and the chance of winning the bet is pretty high,

It is very real that Al Hilal does not depend on one player because Neymar's absence does not have a bad impact on them because Al Hilal is able to achieve victory without Neymar strengthened them. But for Al Nassr, of course their good performance this season cannot be separated from the role of Ronaldo who is able to contribute through assists and also scoring goals. But as we know, Al Nassr spent a lot of money on Ronaldo, of course it was not in vain because Ronaldo was able to make many big contributions to the progress of the team.

But for Al Hilal, they may not be strengthened by Neymar for a time because the injury suffered by Neymar is quite serious. So they can't get energy from the players they bought quite expensively last season. I think that's a significant difference for them and of course their strengths at the moment are equally strong in the Saudi Arabian league.

Sure, the match will last until the end of the season. But the match Al Hilal vs Al Nassr in matchday 15, seems to have a big impact on the performance of those teams. Which team to win the match, probably will boost their morale, they will have a bigger motivation to win the title. Honestly, I really expect Al Nassr to win the match. If they can win the match, the point gap will be 1 point only. The competition will be more interesting if the point gap is getting smaller.

It is true, Al Nassr started this season with bad results. They got 2 defeats in the early season. People started to doubt how Al Nassr will face the situation. But Ronaldo and friends know how to improve their performances. Now, they are in 2nd place, they still have a chance to win the trophy. 

The difference between Al Hilal and Al Nassr is mostly because of the players they have.  Al Hilal got Neymar and they lost this player but this team didn't change at all because they are at the top of the table without problems many because of the teamwork they have. But Al Nassr is performing well mostly because of Ronadlo and if they lose this player in this season I think Al Nassr can't even race with Al Hilal at the top of the Saudi League table anymore.

Yes, these two teams have been very consistent this season where they have both shown better performance this season. For Al Nassr, of course they have found their best form so far because they managed to maintain every match to get points after at the start of this season they experienced an unimpressive start, but slowly they were able to improve their performance. The victory that Al Nassr achieved when facing Al Feiha was certainly quite impressive because Ronaldo et al managed to steal full points at Al Feiha headquarters.

With an additional 3 points in this match, Al Nassr succeeded in reducing the points behind Al Hilal who are at the top of the standings. For Al Hilal, they are increasingly under pressure from Al Nassr because if they are not consistent in achieving victory in the next match, then Al Nassr has a big opportunity to shift their ranking.

The two teams you mentioned in the first point are teams that have a long rivalry in this competition. apart from that, these teams have a long history, especially Al Hilal in the last decade. It would be very natural for Al Nassr and Al Hilal to hunt for top European players who really have big names even though they are aged 30+. But so far, Al Nassr is the most generous team in terms of bringing in top European star players. they have Ronaldo and Mane, supported by other players who can still be relied on to compete in this competition. for example, Talisca, Brozovic, Fotana, Otavio. plus, defensive line players Aymiric Laporte and Alex Telles. In other words, this team can be said to be a star-studded team in the Saudi Pro League. It would be very natural, as top European players would be interested in joining Al Nassr.

Unlike Al Hilal, they don't have many big name stars. The only star they have is Neymar, even though he is suffering from injuries. The rest are only players who have played in European competitions with mostly mediocre teams. Even though there is Bono the goalkeeper, Koulibaly, their names are not as big as Neymar, Ronaldo and even Mane.
Nevertheless, this team is solid and strong, with the right selection of players. plus, the coach seems competent so far.

As for Karim Benzema, this team needs new ammunition that is much more competent. for the midfield, Al Ittihad has brought in the right players. But to help Benzema, Al Ittihad inevitably has to have a winger who is ready to use and worthy of being Benzema's partner. One more thing, it would be appropriate if Nuno Santo should be replaced with a coach who has a proven track record, especially one who uses an offensive system. Thus, Benzema can be creative with the remaining skills, talents and abilities that he still has, even with his experience. also, Benzema is an established player.

To be fair both Al Hilal and Al Nassr are looking might great compared to other teams in the league, there are some teams which are a little closer, but it looks like those two are the best. All Nassr started terrible and now they are only 4 points behind, if they didn't lose those two games at the start which they should have won easily, they would have been at the top. There are still 19 more games left and 4 point difference in 19 games is nothing that can't be closed, I think they could handle that.

I believe that we are going to end up seeing Ronaldo keep playing the way he did and he will take this team to championship if he keeps this up. Obviously, at his age it's not easy to play like this, so the only possibility of things going terrible would be Ronaldo getting an injury, when you are that old, and playing at such high level professional athlete levels of sports, there is a bigger chance that your body may not handle it as well as it did when you were younger and get injured easier.

Of course he is on a different level, Ronaldo has 5 golden balls and plays at a high level every season, his numbers hardly ever drop and at times grow at all. Ronaldo will be able to play for a couple more years, which is not the case with Benzema, who could end his career at any time and he certainly won't be performing at 38 like he is now

It seems that Al Nassr has found its best form after stumbling at the start of the season with two defeats, and is now in second place in the standings. Even though in the last match versus AL Feiha Ronaldo didn't score a goal, it's not a big problem, what's more important is the three points to improve their position in the SPL standings. Al Hilal has not been touched by a single defeat, and is leading the standings for the time being. The level of competition in the SPL continues to increase, as evidenced by Al Ittihad position as defending champions who were knocked out of the top four of the standings.

The potential to overtake Al Hilal at the top of the standings is still very open, the point difference is not too wide and it is possible to do this in future matches. On the other hand, next week Al Hilal, Al Ittihad and Al Nasr will play matches in the Champions League (AFC) competition, for now the three of them are leading their respective groups.

Apart from that, Al Ittihad is also not that great when it comes to scoring goals at home. Al Ittihad's 21 goals this season, they were only able to score 9 goals at Prince Abdullah Stadium.
Only able to achieve a draw against Al Hazeem, Al Ittihad's performance in the competition for the standings is less convincing this season.
Al Ittihad's next match will be against Al Shabab. But before facing Al Shabab, Al Ittihad will face Al-Fayha in the King Cup tournament. Al-Fayha has just been defeated by Al Nassr 1-3 at home. Against Al Ittihad in the King Cup match will be a serious test for Al Ittihad.

The Saudi Pro League has been running for 11 weeks and Al Hilal is the only club that has not been defeated, Neymar absence has not had any impact in terms of a decline in the team performance. Now they have collected 29 points and are at the top of the standings, while Al Nassr shadows them in second place with 25 points, followed by Al Tawoon with 24 points and Al Fateh with 23 points. In terms of top scorer, Cristiano Ronaldo still leads this list with a score of 11 in 11 SPL matches, even though I already thought he wasn't finished yet.

The competition for the top four in the standings has become very fierce, with Al Nassr consistently gaining points and pushing to second place in the standings, and the points gap is not too wide. I think Al Hilal can still maintain its winning trend in the future, and other hand Al Ittihad is currently in unstable performance.

Al ittihad with 4 games without a single win... really abd run for them considering the strong team they have, and they are starting to see a gap between them and the top teams in term of points that its not gonna be easy to cut, i think they cant cut that one already.