Topic: Saudi Professional League 2023/2024 - page 74. (Read 111540 times)

You're right Alnassr defence cost them the title last season,  they conceded easy goals, I think with Bento in goal post next season is another added advantage,  Bento is a good keeper but he needs a good defender to help him. I believe Alnassr will definitely buy quality defenders for next season,  the transfer widow is still open till September for Saudi Arabia, so they have to wait for Europe transfer widow to close before making move for good defenders, because without it they can't win the title next season, if Ronaldo like, lt him score 100goals, without good back four those goals won't win title.

Ivan Rakitić legend of Barcelona and Sevilla having not good time here in Saudi League because he was able to play only 8 games which was not enough, so this is good turn for him because as mentioned now he is 36, and he is having just one or two seasons he needs to spend these at home.

No doubt if he stays here we will have another luxurious package for him because he is good and legend player and Arabian Leagues are looking for players like him which can give them good performance and also good experience for the next generation. All is set for his return to Hajduk Split where he will play his first game soon as all negations are already finalized between all parties because Al-Shabab is also looking forward for better options.

Looking at the results and performances of Al Nassr last season, it's obvious that the team wasn't lacking in the attacking line but was poor in their defense which was why they weren't able to win any title last season despite having the highest scorer in the league in the club. Al Nassr was very prolific in front of goal last season but were also conceding a lot of goals so to make the team more formidable than it was last season, the club must make significant signings in the defense line of the club. I'm yet to see any news that suggests that the club is making any strong move to get a world class defender so maybe they don't want to make their moves open until deals are finalized. I started watching Saudi Pro League games because of Cristiano Ronaldo and as such, Al Nassr became my Saudi club of interest so I'll want to see them winning all the big trophies next season.

Last season Al Hillal managed to dominate the SPL so easily even though actually the squad owned by Al Hillal was not better than Al Nassr, if we look at their squad last season dominant was filled with local players but Al Hillal was able to play better and even the mentality owned by the Al Hillal squad looks better than Al Nassr even though Al Nassr has Ronaldo in their squad,  As you said, if indeed the teamwork shown by Al Hillal last season was the main factor in their victory, I think the main reason for good teamwork cannot be separated from the role of Al Hillal coach who is able to unite every difference that has occurred in the squad so far, so that the chemistry created between Al Hillal players is actually a strength and also the main factor that makes Al Hillal able to maintain an unbeaten record in the league last season.

Really enjoy the excitement. Its nice to see Al Nassr signing these excellent guys. However, talent alone doesnt win championships. Someone must lead. A coach who can use that talent is needed. Look at that draw with a lower-tier Portuguese squad. Thats not a skill issue. Coaching issue. If they dont play together and follow a strategy, all the stars in the world are useless. Examine Al Hilal. Their success goes beyond outstanding athletes. A superb coach helps them win. A person who can unite a group. Needed by Al Nassr. Indeed, sign big stars and make headlines. Dont forget the coach - the most crucial signing. Find someone who can win and convert this great team into a champion. Yes, its the only way to win.

Yes, in my opinion Al Nassr's weakness lies in its defense line. If you look at last season, their front line was actually quite good, but their defense conceded very easily, making it difficult for them to compete with AL Hilal. Another mistake that caused Al Nassr to fail to compete with Al Hilal was because they started the season badly, causing them to lose a lot of points.

Currently Al Nassr has not made any moves to bring in new players, if that happens before the league starts I am not sure Al Nassr can compete for the league cup next season because a weak defense will make them inconsistent every game. Coaches are very influential in a team, especially as Al Nassr has many stars who have their own egos, so the coach's role in creating a good atmosphere in the dressing room is important so that the team can work together well and gain chemistry.

The most important thing they need to have in Al Nassr to have better performance than Al Hilal is the better teamwork they need to have. Al Nassr has enough players like Al Hilal and they have even more superstar players than Al Hilal like Ronaldo in their team. But still, they lost the games against Al Hilal because in Al Hilal has a better team and better teamwork which came from their coach and that's why maybe having a better coach can improve the team in Al Nassr to have better performance than last season.
  

Adaptation is an important factor that a player will definitely go through, especially since we know that the weather between La Liga and the Saudi Pro League is different, not to mention that the majority of his teammates are players from here who have a different style of play compared to his previous team. It's clearly not easy for a player, but even so, Benzema is still able to make a contribution, even though it's not as big as expected.
Al Ittihad is reportedly eyeing several new players to bring in next season, these are players from Europe. There is also news that Casemiro is one of their targets, although this is still just a rumor because Casemiro himself will part ways with Manchester United. Competition for players is also interesting, because several teams have the same target. They compete to convince the players they are targeting to join them.

Well, I hope Al-Nassr can become even stronger in the coming season. And I'm quite happy with how this team is hunting for players in the current transfer market. Because it seems like Al-nassr is well aware that their back line needs to get more attention. And they have now succeeded in bringing in a goalkeeper from Brazil who actually has quite promising qualities. Bento has officially signed a contract with the Al-Nassr club which is fresh news for this club in preparation for the upcoming season. I hope Al-nassr can also bring in several other quality defenders. Because last season I felt that Al-Nassr's defenders did not perform well.

It would be a shame if Ivan Rakitic left Al Shabab, because he only played half a season there. However, if he does choose to leave, then nothing can stop him, especially since Ivan Rakitic will move to a club from his home country. In fact, according to several reports circulating, Ivan Rakitic rarely lives in Croatia at all. Because reportedly Ivan Rakitic grew up in Switzerland and not Croatia. So if, for example, Ivan Rakitic officially joins Hajduk Split, maybe that means Ivan Rakitic can actually stay in Croatia.
Apart from that, it is natural that he would want to spend his old age in his home country. Even though he basically left the opportunity to make big money from clubs in Saudi Arabia. However, comfort will indeed be Ivan Rakitic's priority. Therefore, Ivan Rakitic chose to move to Hadjuk Split.

Apart from that, Ivan Rakitic's departure means Al Shabab has to look for another player in the central midfield position. Because it is certain that if Ivan Rakitic really leaves for Hadjuk Split, then Al Shabab will no longer have a central midfielder they can rely on. Because when Al Shabab brought in Ivan Rakitic in the middle of last season, Al Shabab's performance improved slightly. So now that Al Shabab really loses Ivan Rakitic, I'm sure his performance will drop again. That's why Al Shabab really has to find a replacement for Ivan Rakitic quickly, because if not, it could have an adverse impact on their team.

Ivan Rakitić, the former superstar player of Barcelona who played for Al Shabab during this season is now ready to leave Al Shabab. Ivan Rakitić could get a higher salary and play for the other teams in the Arabian countries to earn more money there considering the offers he had. But It seems since Rakitić is a 36-year-old player, he wants to end his career in his own country.
Hajduk Split is the next destination for Rakitić they had some negotiations and Al Shabab doesn't have any problem letting him go.

   

In the end Al Ahli was able to win this match and I won my bet


Basically this match is quite easy for Al Ahli because the opponent is a weak club, Al Ahli has a strong performance in the Saudi League almost on par with Al Nassr and Al Hilal so even though this is a pre-season match he will try to do his best and not disappoint.

Losing Saint Maximin will not have a big impact on Al Ahli because they also have other players who are no less good. Moreover, this player was also not very productive in scoring goals last season, he only scored 4 goals in 30 appearances, but yes, he was very helpful in providing assists. goals and helping his teammates, but no matter what, Al Ahli can't continue to depend on these players.

Yeah the coach might be one factor but I think there are other factors too for example, Al-Nassr's defense line is weaker compared to Al-Hilal who was consistent and undefeated throughout the season therefore, Al-Nassr must bring in defenders and goalkeepers if they want to compete with Al-Hilal next season. In this transfer market, Al-Nassr does not appear to have carried out any activities so far there has only been one player transfer from the Brazil league.

We know that money is not the main problem for Al-Nassr in bringing players but they are waiting for the right moment and paying attention to European players who do not renew their contracts so it will be easier to negotiate. Last season Al-Nassr spent 166 Million so it doesn't make sense that they only spent 18 million for this transfer window, I think at least Al-Nassr will spend around 100 million.

In my opinion, Al Nassr will not come back stronger because they do not have a good coach, see that a few days ago, Al Nassr played a friendly game in which the result was a draw against a team from a lower division, but even so, Al Nassr did not managed to beat this Portuguese team that is in the lower division



I have constantly said that Al Nassr's problem lies in the coaches that the club has chosen, if Al Nassr's management had chosen to choose a foreign coach who has a good record of achievements in Europe's big leagues, I believe that the club's performance Al Nassr would have been much better because they have good players, but they lack someone with great experience to guide them well during the games and also add players who can further improve the team's performance, we saw last season how Al Hilal managed to win easily any team in the league, that's thanks to Al Hilal's good coach, we just need to look at the history of achievements of the Al Hilal coach and compare it with the history of achievements of the Al Nassr coach to conclude that there is a big difference. today Al Nassr will have another friendly game against a Portuguese team

Maybe Al Nassr couldn't spend too much money and that's why they had to hire Bento, otherwise, they had some other options than hiring Bento. First, they wanted to hire Ederson from Manchester City but they couldn't do that because the money Ederson asked was much more than they could pay him.
However Bento is not a bad goalkeeper, he was playing for Paranaense in the last season and he was a 25-year-old player was Ederson was 30.


 

They need more than one defender to step up the team to be able to stand this season's challenge with their opponent team, even to me, their team needs total overhauling in order to have a formidable team. They need to be able to contend with Al Hila and Al Ahli their major rivals in this season's trophy. I wasn't happy with how they were conceding lots of goals during the last season's competition that made all of Ronaldo's effort to amount to nothing.

Al Nassr will come out stronger than never before because they're adding more prominent players in the transfer window. There's definitely going to be improvements for these clubs next season, these perspective coaches will managed top duties and handles without stress. Al Nassr ended the 2023/2024 SPL campaign in good position that makes them competitive for the SPL title next season. This season was probably in favour of Al Hilal that won the major trophies with eliminating the Knights of Najd in most games faced.

In his first season with Al Ittihad, Benzema's career did not go as smoothly as expected because he experienced many problems in his first season. But all of that has been resolved well and he should be able to show changes in his second season with Al Ittihad. Apart from that, we know that Benzema is a striker who is hungry for goals, but in the previous season he was only able to contribute 9 goals in the 21 matches he played. Of course, this was a big setback for him considering that Saudi Arabian football is not as fiercely competitive as Laliga.

Whether Benzema or other European players are of course an obstacle for them, they need time to adapt and perhaps that is what makes them fail to give their best in the first season. Al Ittihad of course have quite strong finances and I think they will be targeting many of Europe's top players in this transfer window.

Definitely an improvement, they lacked so much defensively that was why they couldn’t go head on again Al Hilal last season and it was also the reason why they couldn’t get any trophy. They were good performance wise but their defense department was poor that they would easily concede against any team they face and Champions must be disciplined enough not to concede to just any team.

The attackers did their job well by scoring enough goals but the defenders couldn’t cover well for the attackers but i believe the management is well aware of the situation and is doing everything possible to strengthen the defense. They have gotten a new GK i hope he is able to prove himself and perform better than the previous goal keeper, adding more defenders should be looked into as well (including full backs because i don’t think only Central defense is the problem).

I just found out that Al Ittihad is currently handled by Laurent Blanc, this information comes from transfermarkt, where previously I thought that Al Ittihad was officially handled by Stefano Pioli. Apart from that, Al Ittihad has not done much to get new arrivals from European League clubs, especially in the winger sector which they need to help Karim Benzema up front. Plus, it was previously rumored that Mohamed Salah would be brought by Al Ittihad to the Saudi Pro League with a quite fantastic transfer value. However, I am not following further developments, whether Al Ittihad still has interest in this Liverpool striker or not.

Talking about Al Ittihad next season, we can confirm that perhaps they have targeted several top European players to deepen their squad, none other than to make Al Ittihad much more competitive. The goal is for Al Ittihad to compete closely with other elite clubs in the Saudi Pro League. Moreover, several clubs, whether shaded by the PIF company or others, are currently focused on bringing in several European players to prepare their performance before this competition begins. So you can be sure that Al Ittihad will do the same thing, especially since they also have a very healthy budget. What is certain is that next season the Saudi Pro League competition will be quite tight, because several teams are preparing their squads to be much stronger in the fight for the League title.