Topic: Saudi Professional League 2023/2024 - page 574. (Read 119037 times)

I quite enjoyed the Al-Ittihad match against Al-Taee but indeed Al-Ittihad had several chances but quite a few were wasted. We can see that Al-Ittihad produced 8 shots on target and they were only able to penetrate through two goals. Karim Benzema actually also had a chance but failed to convert it into a goal and thanks to two goals from senior players at Al-Ittihad they were able to score full points at home. I think Karim Benzema sometimes just needs the right flow of the ball from the other players because he is known for his very sharp finishing even for a 35 year old player.

That's good, at least Ittihad was able to win full points in the two matches when their competitors Al Nassr didn't get any points in the previous two matches. Although Benzema still hasn't been able to make a big contribution for Ittihad, but there is still Abderrazak Hamdallah who can make a big contribution to this team, but indeed I also hope that Benzema can score for Ittihad because he should still be able to do that as the best striker.

Al Ittihad remains the best so far and that way, I personally believe that Al Ittihad has a chance to be able to win the title again this season. Because after all, from other teams that have star players, the fact is that only Al Ittihad is still very consistent with good results. So yes, I personally do not hesitate to say Al Ittihad is still better than other big teams.

Even worse, Al Nassr is expected to be strong when Ronaldo comes, but until now Al Nassr is still difficult to get the results as expected. Moreover, Al Hilal has Neymar and Bono and also, Al Hilal still has great defenders and midfielders. Such as, Jang Hyun-Soo, Koulibaly, Milinkovic Savic Sergej and Neves Ruben. Thus, I will be more confident about Al Hilal than Al Nassr from time to time to be a fierce competitor in the title race with Al Ittihad.

True, they are too young to join the SPL and still have trophy and individual targets in Europe. Such as the best players, UCL top scorers and so on, as well as their current club will try to hold back their departure in the transfer market considering their services are still very much needed. On the other hand at the club now, they also get a salary that is appropriate or quite a lot so they don't feel the need to move for now.

Maybe when their target has been reached and they are entering their old age, I think they will also follow the steps of other players to SPL if there is a tempting offer.

To some players, their future in football is mostly determined by the kind of financial package that comes with transfer deals from clubs who wants their services while to others, playing football in the most competitive and contested leagues in the world is their priority and that also plays a huge role when making decisions that has to do with their future in football.
Saudi Arabian League organizers knew that the only thing that can help them attract European based players who are already playing in better leagues and competitions than what can be found in the Middle East is to offer them very lucrative deals which will influence the decision of these players to join their clubs. Even with their very lucrative deals, it's not all European based footballers that'll leave Europe to play in the Saudi League.

The move made by the saudi arabia league big team in convincing players in the transfer window is the extraordinarily high salary offer to be able to convince players to accept their offer. Some of the players are indeed more interested in choosing a bigger salary in the sense that that is what they are after while they are still strong enough to play and this will provide a lot of money for their lives after retirement.

But some players like Lukaku and Mbappe have refused to join the Saudi Arabian league team because they are still prioritizing their future in the European league and maybe they still have dreams of winning the UCL trophy in their careers. So that big salaries are not able to tempt them to join team saudi arabia league.

That is understandable because I bet we would do that as well if we are on their shoes, money will always be a thing even if they will deny about it, it will be always their driving force why they are giving their best to maximize each season and won award because money and fame will always follow after that. But for the novice players who are still making a name, they don't have much option but to train harder and play harder so that soon, they can also feel the benefits of being a named player that is famous in the sports.

I actually think there is another purpose that makes supporters shout Messi's name in this match. Do we remember in some matches always get the same treatment as in this match? when it happens, Ronaldo can answer the chant by creating goals and even make his club turn to win. I don't know if my observation is wrong or right, but I try to think positively about the supporters' treatment of Ronaldo and interpret it as I said above.
I do however agree that whatever the intention it was a bit disrespectful and shouldn't have been done.

Ittihad FC managed to win in a row in the first two matches of the Saudi Pro League, but unfortunately, the striker they bought from Real Madrid Karim Benzema has not yet contributed a goal, in fact, their old striker Abderrazak Hamdallah who last season managed to become the top scorer who remains productive by contributing two goals.
In two matches Ittihad FC managed to keep the net so well that they are the only team that has not conceded a goal, in contrast to their other competitors Al Nassr who have not won a single win and from these two matches have only been able to score one goal and conceded 4 goals, and also Al Hilal who surprisingly in the second match against Al Feiha only managed to draw even though they controlled the entire match.

Money is important for players because their career does not last long and they can play like 15 or 20 seasons at maximum or if longer, just a bit several more seasons. If they can maximize money they earn from their career, it is nothing wrong. They have due diligent reasons to maximize their income and if they can combine both salary, income and chance to win titles, it's the best for their career.

The first or second priority, it is both fine for those players because they work to earn money so they can do whatever they want with their work. We should not criticize them if they prioritize salary rather chance to play at biggest leagues, tournaments and opportunities to win trophies with their clubs or personal awards.

To be honest, this league at the beginning of the competition was quite difficult to predict. At first I thought that Neymar would immediately play like other top star players, but Neymar was not even on the list of players to play against Al Feyha. besides that, the coach Jorge Jesus always tries to rotate their center forward. but in the first two matches of the season, Jorge Jesus prefers to use Abdullah Al-Hamdan as a center forward. whereas before, Malcom played really well when he played in that position. however, Al Hilal controlled the game. they controlled 76% ball possession, 20 shots, 8 shots on target, 1 big chance. overall, Al Hilal is far superior in terms of tactics.

On the contrary, Al Fatyha really played defensively in this match. they took the lead in the 15th minute, unfortunately Al Hilal was able to equalize to 1-1 five minutes later. until the game ended, both teams no longer scored goals. Al Fatyha really played defensively, but their defense line displayed an underperforming performance. fortunately, the goalkeeper Stojkovic played quite brilliantly, he made 8 saves. in the end, both teams must be willing to share one point in this match.

It's really about your own decisions and desires.
Mbappe realizes that he can get other luxuries especially in terms of popularity if he stays in European competition so he will not take the risk of being in an Arab clan even though the money is very large but the popularity is slightly reduced.

But on the other hand, there are not a few players who don't really care about it because of the lure of big money because their conditions may have reached the golden era or their performance will not develop rapidly in Europe so they look for greater opportunities.
Mbappe has the opportunity for popularity and extraordinary players in Europe and money in Arabia when he chooses the opportunity to become one of the players recognized by the world then his decision to reject the Arab club is very good.

Indeed we can not predict who will win the title but when compared based on the squad Al Hilal is the strongest club at the moment they have brought in 7 European players this season and in the last match they drew 1-1 but only played 2-3 European players while 3 new players Neymar, Bono and Aleksandar Mitrovic cannot be played yet, I don't know the reason but maybe they haven't been registered as players in this league because it takes a few weeks to process maybe in the next match all the players will be in the starting line up. If you look at this squad Transfermarkt.com they don't deserve to play in the Saudi League on the contrary they are more worthy of competing in the Champions League unfortunately that's not possible the Saudi League is outside Europe.


You are right but there must be some other reason behind it like Mbappe he wants to make records/history first before chasing money and he has the ability to do it but in the end money is the next target, the same with Messi we remember how he left Barcelona he did not want his salary cut by more than 50% for regulations reasons and in the end moved to PSG it's one example that he still prefers money but for now he has other priorities which we don't know. Believe me for players, money will always be in 1st place or or 2nd place   

Europe is still a best geolocation for football players and it's their favorite destination but with old players, they have more choices like MLS and Saudi Arabia or other nations in the Middle East or Japan.

Leo Messi chose the USA and MLS maybe because he loves more crowded stadium there and perhaps he thought of his children. In the USA, obviously his children will have more interactions with locals in English which is a global language. They will be grew up with English that is good for their future and if I am Messi, I will make the same decision. The salary offers from Saudi are attractive but if I already earned a lot of money through my career like Messi, I will choose the MLS and USA.

He made great impacts in Inter Miami, scored in 7 consecutive matches and just won a first title with them. It is a first title in history of Inter Miami as well. Messi came recent months but already went into Inter Miami history.

Money cannot entice every player to join the Saudi team. Kylian Mbappe rejected bids from Saudi, because there's alot he will achieved in Europe. Leo Messi turned down offers from Saudi Arabia because he felt it would be an unwise move, instead accepted offers from Inter Miami, who were struggling in their league. In accordance with Leo Messi's statistics, he had a significant impact on the club. Leo Messi is the undisputed GOAT; he put an end to the GOAT conversation when Argentina won the World Cup in 2022. Presently he's doing exceptionally brilliant in his new club and had help them lifts their first ever league trophy.

This is one match that is quite unique how to see Al-Hilal continue to attack but they always fail to finish. In fact, they had to fall behind their opponents, but soon they immediately replied to the goal. Malcom, Savic, and Michael continued to do everything they could to score but they always failed to get in the way of the opposing defence. Al-Feyha's defense also deserves appreciation because they really wanted to put pressure on Al-Hilal not to score a second goal in the game and they managed to do it.

Anyway, I had a funny incident in this match because my friend bet on Al-Hilal to win and he kept screaming when Al-Hilal got a chance but missed.
He took the normal odds bet which was so small that he was very upset because this should be an easy win for Al-Hilal by scoring at least 2 more goals.

thats true and actually there are still a few more teams in the SPL that are spending large amounts of money to get European players who still have good playing qualities and some have been successful in getting them and this is all done not only to conquer the SPL but also have other goals to popularize the saudi pro league to become one of the biggest leagues in the world like the european league so teams from arab teams made large transfers because they had very clear goals. there have been many European players who have joined the Saudi Arabian team with a very high transfer fee and most recently Neymar was redeemed by Al Hilal for a fantastic amount even though in Europe no one has offered such a large transfer amount but Al Hilal has confidence that Neymar can become a competitor Ronaldo, who is currently at Al Nassr.
TBH, since many European players have moved to the Saudi Arabian team, I prefer to bet and watch matches from Arab teams and especially Al Nassr and Al Hilal.

Al Hilal's match against Al Feiha was quite tenacious and each club provided attacks and showed excellent defensive strength.
Unfortunately Al Hilal failed to win the match because he was only able to score 1 goal in the first half at 20 minutes thanks to Alhamddan's goal so the score was a draw until the second half ended.
It seems that there are quite a lot of people who are disappointed and have lost their money for betting on Al Hilal considering that Al Hilal is a club that dominates the League and many people think Al Hilal can win easily.

Now the 2023/24 season is different from last season and of course every club has prepared everything for this season to become a stronger club.
In the Saudi League, I am not sure that Al Hilal can finish the League by bringing home the championship trophy.

I still regret that Saudi Arabia did not bring Messi into their team. We cannot continue to witness the rivalry between the two legends. Let's say they try to convince Messi. Then everyone will have a different view of their league, which is a big step for them. When Messi won the World Cup, Maybe money or titles were no longer essential to him.
On social networking sites, I often read exciting articles. Saudi money can buy all the former top stars. But there's only one World Cup winner that can't be purchased: Lionel Messi.