Topic: Saudi Professional League 2023/2024 - page 595. (Read 127346 times)

Another morale boosting win for Al Nassr after the horrific start they had for this season. They lost the first two matches (against Al Ettifaq and Al Taawoun), but made a strong comeback after that by defeating Al Fateh and Al Shabab. And the margin of victory was huge. Defeated Al Fateh by a margin of 5-0, while Al Shabab was destroyed with a margin of 4-0. And the good thing is that the combination of Sadio Mané and Cristiano Ronaldo appears to be working really well. On the other hand, Al Ittihad is still wondering how to include Karim Benzema to the squad without impacting the performance from Abderrazak Hamdallah.

Sadio mane was a nice acquisition by Al Nassr team and if they have signed Hakim Ziyech as they initially wanted to sign or another player with his level of quality that means this Al Nassr team would had been the best team in Saudi Pro league because right now they're looking unstoppable and that's because the of the introduction of Sadio mane to help Ronaldo in the attack. Ronaldo is getting more assist now because he has a finisher like himself in Sadio mane in the team and most ball given to him won't be wasted like last season that their was no one with his level of quality excluding Talisca that had his back but still it was just one player but now Sadio mane has added to that list and if the Al Nassr side keep playing like this they'll be unstoppable.


This new Al Nassr attacking side has been scoring over 4 goals in the last couple of matches and if this continues we might see Ronaldo'l netting over 30 goals again at this age and Sadio mane scoring close goals as well because this two has been on fire lately. I feel Al-Shabab didn't expect Al Nassr to dominate the game as they did and they felt overwhelmed because they didn't look like they would cause any harm all through the game. Al Nassr dominated everything from the possession to the shots at goal and that's why they were able to convert this much shots at goal into goals. The two early Ronaldo penalty did play an impact in the game but that's no excuse for them to lose with this much margin after holding Al Nassr to a draw most recently.

Regarding Al-Ittihad, their most important player, Benzema is very important for this game, and since the match between Al-Ittihad and Al-Hilal is going to be an important match they are trying to make this French superstar player ready for this match but nothing is clear yet and when they asked Benzema about his situation for this game he said I don't know which can make the Al-Ittihad fans worried.

 

Cristiano Ronaldo has opened well this season, scoring comfortable goals. Even though Ronaldo won the match in the 22nd minute of the match, the rest should have come easily and it did. Al-Nassr looks pretty strong this season, with new player reinforcements, Ronaldo is 38 years old, but he has no problems with finishing as long as there are strong players behind him who can play him. I saw the team's motivation very high. They got their second win in the 4th week. This win was very important. For Al-Nassr, they should not easily lose a match with this squad quality.

Ronaldo got good level players to help and this raised his performance, but I don’t think he will take first place in the scorer race (at least it won’t be easy) - other teams also have good bunches of players and sometimes against the weakest clubs in the League they will do hat tricks and even pokers. It is unlikely that Neymar will be in the race, but Benzema most likely yes, the main thing is that injuries stop bothering him.

Yes, right now CR7 has even scored 5 goals this season in the SPL. which made him occupy the top score while temporarily. And Sadio Mane is not much different because he has scored 4 goals this season. And I'm starting to be impressed with the combination between Mane and CR7. Even Assist CR7 for Mane in the match against Al-Fateh last week is really an assist which I think is very beautiful and quality to watch. Which proves that the style of play of these two players is really at a very high level. And well these two players started to have a good relationship on the field. Both of them increasingly understand each other's game. So it's no wonder CR7 is back providing quality Assists for Mane in this match (against Al-Shabab).

Whenever I read the Ronaldo news in the internet and I see that the man is still at the helms of affairs in his club. He is still scoring goals and still contesting with young players like Mbappe and Haaland, I begin to imagine the kind of man Ronaldo is.
Honestly speaking, that guy is a model both on pitch and outside the pitch. Mane  is another dedicated footballer who Liverpool carelessly left to leave the club. With the combination of this good and determined players more things will be achieved in that club. Ronaldo will likely be the highest goal scorer of the season.

It will take an extended period of time for the league to change the global public perception for the better and as influential as Cristiano Ronaldo is, he won't take the league anywhere with just his presence. There has been so much culture developing in Europe from so many nations with soccer being their number one national sport that even if it is also the number one sport in Saudi Arabia, it doesn't mean it has the same gobal recognition as European soccer.

But one more important ingredient is needed and that is the intention of the Saudi officials to push this league for a very long time beyond 2030. This is what I am not sure about. For now I believe they want to give the sport everything it needs until the World Cup 2030, but then what?

Ronaldo should be aiming at winning the top scorer in the league this season with how much the competition has increased. He has already started the season well scoring goals. His combination with Sadio Mane looks very promising and they both look like they will become the best attacking duo in the Saudi league this season with the kind of understanding that is developing between them, we saw that in the assist from Ronaldo for Mane to score. It will be very good for Al Nassr if Ronaldo's and Mane connection in front becomes very strong because it will influence how this season will turn out for them. They have to win the league this season.

It looks like it will be difficult against Al-Hilal who is also in his best form so far, but I'm pretty sure even without Benzema being strengthened, Al-Ittihad will still perform well later. If the news is true then we could see Neymar debut in a big game and I think he will score his first goal for Al-Hilal but one thing is for sure in this high intensity game I hope he doesn't get injured again.

Regarding the Al-Nassr vs Al-Shahab match, it even exceeded my predicted score and currently Al-Nassr is ahead with a score of 3-0 in the first half. I can't stop thinking whether Al-Nassr will feast on goals again today, considering that Ronaldo has scored 2 goals and needs 1 more goal to make it a hat trick. Sadio Mane also contributed 1 goal in this match. Let's see the second half later because it seems like there will still be a lot of goals created.

The first half of the Al-Nassr vs Al-Shabab match is almost over and it is very surprising that Al-Nassr has won 3 goals in this match. And the current temporary score in the Al-Nassr vs Al-Shabab match is 3-0. CR7 scored 2 goals via penalty kicks in the 13th and 38th minutes, and Mane scored 1 goal in the 40th minute. I think Al-Nassr already owned this game. It seems that Al-Shabab really didn't get many chances in this fight. In fact, Al-Shabab has only been able to make an attack once, which has resulted in a single kick. I think Al-Nassr is really unstoppable. At the start of the season Al-Nassr had lost two straight. It seems that now they want to get back on track they should be in the Saudi Pro League.

To be fair Al-hilal and Al-Ittihad played teams that were much lower than them and that is how they ended up getting so easy wins but also we need to remember that not all favorites end up winning their games, if it was so guaranteed then there wouldn't be betting on sports, there are times when the favorites lose too. This was a good job by them, got the win, got my profit as well thanks to them and I think it is quite obvious that they played just like they should without having any trouble or drama.

I like these kind of weeks, there are weeks where all the favorites just win and the bets are so simple and you suddenly make money like it was a free giveaway, then there are weeks where favorites all start to lose and remember why it is gambling.

I don't think it's comparable to the squad but of course Gerrard has tried hard in his matches as a leader but will still be outperformed by Al Hilal.

LOL - it won't be that easy I know Al Hilal have the ability above them but look and compare between them, it's definitely not going to be easy for Gerarrad but at least Al-Ettifaq in the last 4 matches are not bad for them.

Steven Gerrard fail to find any better club in Europe, so he moved here in this Saudi League for the revival of his career which is surely good move from him because here he can take good positive turn for his career even this all is not easy because completely different conditions and atmosphere but still a good job for him with good salary is also available the start of his job is good as his team able to won first two games and now have first lost in fourth round, but he is looking for the development of his team which can bring better results for the future.

Now it's not all about money quality is also improved with many quality young players are also moving which is bringing good development and if they keep things on this way most chances this league could be in better position and have better quality in coming years as well.

Even this is completely different topic to talk and surely going to have big impact on Champions League as well even this will be negative because with tactics like this surely they could be on backlash and things will be brought down many positive aspects of this prestigious league with it's all too early how things will be gone and can UEFA authorities allow this all or it's just personal view of SPL officials because most chances they will be not accepted any offer like this.

As we have few examples which are given in this article it's all completely different story but right now we have to wait for the last move from these both parties about this all.

Saudi League having good history but first time they are spending huge funds like they spend in last few months and with mutual understanding mostly feeling it's not for the UEFA they are going to be big for the World Cup hosting which is also not easy, but all is done good for the development of this game.

I think Gerrard needs to work more and dont talk and dont demand for players, yesterday game was really bad for him and his players, and he doesnt have a bad team.

You cant have only 34% of possesion. I know Al Hilal its a mega team now, but come on you have some good players. So like i said put to work.

Benzema injury is very detrimental to Al Ittihad, because in the future Al Ittihad will meet the runner up in the Al Hilal standings. There has been no word yet on Benzema injury, and whether he will be able to return to action next week. Benzema has become a key figure this season in Al Ittihad attack line, contributing two assists and one goal. There is news that Neymar will make his debut with Al Hilal in the meeting against Al Ittihad, this will be interesting to watch.

For Al Nassr, I agree with your prediction, seeing their big win last week, it is very likely that Ronaldo and his friends will be able to secure full points again.

In the last match on July 29, the two teams only play drew without goals but Al Nassr did not play with the main squad, Talisca in as a substitute in the 46th minute while Ronaldo in the 62nd minute replaced Abdulfattah but still no goals. For this match we have to wait for the lineup and make sure Ronaldo & Talisca are in lineup if both players wait on the bench then I doubt Al Nassr will win, there is a possibility both teams will draw like in the last match. Less than 1 hour this match will start and the lineup usually appears 10-20 minutes before the match starts so let's wait.

In the three matches they have played so far, actually Al Shabab also only got two draws and one defeat. With these results, it is certainly difficult for Al Shabab to be able to hold Al Nassr to a draw in this match because after all, Al Shabab will also be playing away. What's more, Al Nassr still has to quickly get up and improve his position in the Saudi Pro League standings and with a target like that, of course Al Nassr has the full target of winning. Because maybe, with the previous victory with 5-0 it will make Al Nassr performance more consistent to get a win in every match.

Even this is big news but still having not big impact on Al Ittihad because they already have few big names which can perform in absence of Karim Benzema with their next big game needs full strength for the better result as they have to face Al Hilal which beats them in ACCC few weeks back, but hopefully things will be much better for them.
Currently, we have four teams on same level with Karim Benzema was just for the purpose of intention from the fans instead of the having any playing impact because we all know Al Ittihad is defending champions of the Saudi League which they won without Karim Benzema.

Their defense is impressive as they concede no goal and score 12 goals and Karim Benzema contribution is only just one goal from these 12 goals their attack is capable of giving his best without this star player.