Apart from the late goal, the future of this generation of team looks bleak.. Iraq played better on counter attacks and could have score multiple times.. I hope this is the last time Mustafa Malaeka plays professional football, his mistake led to the first goal. Striker issue still unsolved, defence seems to be stable but overall there is no final game plan. They just keep passing the ball around and do some individual dribbles but there is no end product. With this performance, I don't see the current team reaching semi's of Asian Cup
I must say that Abdulaziz Al Bishi (No. 20) and Al Aadam (Striker) are very good find of Pizzi and these two players really impressed me in yesterday's match whereas Al Bishi impressed in both matches. Now only if Pizzi can find a replacement of Osama Howsavi and a more confident and skillful Goal Keeper then it will be fantastic. Al Balehi made some mistakes in both matches and I still prefer Jahfli over him.
What I feared the most happened, the injected the U-19 players in the senior squad.. Common give them breather, don't let them loose there confidence so early if they fail to perform in the senior team..
Abdul Fattah Asiri - missing in this squad Sairi is a reasonable choice as lone striker but should have considered any other "Saudi" striker like Islam Siraj to say the least if not Nasser Al Shamrani.
Mohammed Sairi inclusion came as surprise to me..He was good choice last season too but failed to cut the half.. He will be most likely back-up for Fahd Muwallad. Most likely line-up - Mohammed Owais Yasser Shahrani Omar Hawsawi Ali Bulahi Buraik Abdullah Otayf Salman Faraj Yahya Sehri Hattan Bahabri Salem Dawsari Fahd Muwallad 4-2-3-1
I still believe Mohammed Owais is over-rated / over-hiked. There are far more better goal keepers than him in Saudi league like Al-Fateh Goal Keeper caught they in last match. Also, Al Hilal needs to find a better "Saudi" goal keeper since AlHabsi is non-Saudi while Al-Mayouf is now old to play for that long. Why Saudi Arabia is no more able to produce Bright Goal Keepers and Sound Strikers is a worrisome situation. Youth programme not working ?...
Wait for some more time, we wont be able to produce any good local players too . But I don't see any shortage of GK currently, Ittihad GK's Assaf and Fawaz Al Qarni are pretty decent. Owais is pretty fleixible I believe compared to Waleed Abdullah who's reaction team is bit slow in catching the second balls.
Good Match, ended 0-0 while South Korea missing a penalty in the 2nd half around 80th minute. But, the problem with Saudi Arabia persists i.e., lack of striker... I don't think Saudi Arabia has any clinical striker / forward in this generation after retirement of Yasser Al Qahtani.
It was good match but said we lack strikers & defence is still clumpsy too. What I I felt looking at the line-up, we don't have game changers in the bench apart from Yahya Sehri . This will hurt us big time going forward in the cup.
So Asian Cup started today & the NT will kick the ball on 8th Jan against North Korea. So far looking at the performance post WC and the team selection , I won't be surprised if we exit at any stage. The team is too young to rely on and they have not accomplished so far to give the fans some hope. The team will have to rely on Salem & Fahd to get them pushing forward. Hattan is outside chance. The defence looks shaky as the coach has yet not found his best pairing CB's. Abdullah Otayf has best chance to catch some eyes at Europe with his midfield anchoring position. Lastly, my prediction is we escape the group with 5 points drawing with Qatar and North Korea and beating Lebanon. Might get lucky in QF's or get beaten . Semi's will be the best target. Then the FA will come out with same old statements of building the squad getting scouts on the streets schools etc etc & the process continues.
How good is Fahad Al Muwalid atm? Going through your list I can see few familiar names from ACL or WC like Shahrani, Shamrani, Berik, Faraj, and Hawsavi. What did happen to Al Enezi, he was a decent GK few years bback.You had a promising player at your youth level named Al Yami. What did happen to him?
Fahd is being shuffled between Striker and winger position . He's good so far performing the best for the club but still needs to get mature & keep up the consistency. Al Enezi retired & Yami too young to play ..
I recall he was a good player at club level (ACL). A lot of teams are plaqued with injury in this tournament.
Another bit of unfortunate news that came through today is that Abdullah Al-Khaibri has suffered an injury on his left thigh, hence he is pulling out of the tournament. His replacement will be Sultan Al-Ghannam. pic.twitter.com/NL1AvlITD7— Saudi National Team (@SaudiNT_EN) January 7, 2019
Why you predicted like this when Saudi really dominated the game and crushed NK with superb victory. The only thing that lacks in Saudi NT is a natural striker (no. 9) up front. Though Siari is there to fill the gap but he's not experienced at NT level. This is what happens when clubs play international strikers upfront while nationals are either not given chance or not scouted at all. Saudi FA should make a rule that on the pitch during local matches, there should always be 1 striker, 1 defender, 1 mid-fielder, 1 winger and 1 goal keeper on the field that has to be 100% Saudi national. Only this way you will find talent otherwise, clubs will keep on recruiting and playing with foreign players for getting glory and totally rejecting Saudi nationals at key positions.
Not so great start to be honest. NK was weak & the goals came from defensive error's from the NK defence. We had very few clear cut chances in the game & many disjointed passes. This won't work against better organised teams coming up in the tournament. . The team's over reliance on Salem is also worrying me. Lastly, a natural playmaker is also missing after Tayseer has left a huge gap. Ahmed Fraidy is option but he has got his own issues. Yasser Shahrani injury is huge concern btw.