So? I was speaking about Taawon's performance especially playing vs. big team, which what people want to see whether it was a league or a cup match.
Hilal defeats Najran 2-0 to remain 3 points ahead of Ahli before their big game on Thursday. Hilal was comfortable from the start to finish but maybe the best news is seeing Abdullah Autaif back on the pitch after his ACL injury. Yasser Alqahtani played ~10 minutes too after Khaleej's game but I believe neither of them will feature in Ahli's game. However both can offer some good competition in their roles in this season.
Didn't watch the game, but I guess Ittihadies are happy with Mukhtar now?[emoji16] I don't think either team will challenge Ahli & Hilal for the title but I rather see them finishing 3rd and 4th above Nassr, but they need to take advantage of Nassr's poor form before they improve their team in winter and recover the injured players.
He comes and scores. But if he starts its difficult for him to score. Also , Gelmin have overshadowed him a lot which makes Mukhtar and Ghamdi not best enough to play for ... Hilal and Ahli will fight , but slowly Ahli is becoming too dependent on Somah. They did not have him and they drew there last match..If Ahli drops points like this , then Hilal might go and seal league much before the closer, untill Ittihad makes a comeback to scare the pacesetters..
Rivas looks very good so far. If he was surrounded by better players he may have had similar effect to Somah's and make Itti a real challenger to the league title, but the club needs get it together and build a team for than a season first. Any news on the coach? Deservedly so. On a serious note I suspect Hilal will go into the match overconfident and blow a very good chance to extend the lead to 6 points, but we will see how it plays out.
No news..Some say Piturca might be back..But again, there are few who are saying Itti is going to face financial crisis again...
Don Piturca is back to coach Ittihad..Lots of members were opposing his re appointment. Hope this works well, if not I dont mind or shock if Ittihad perform in much low steam..
Shall we start "when will he be sacked" countdown? As I said, Ittihad management are no different than many of the others, no planning/patience, what makes Piturca good option now when they thought he isn't in last season?
Al Ahli vs Al Hilal ended 2-1 in favour of Al Ahli. Both teams are equal on points after equal matches played i.e., 24 pts with 10 matches played... Al Hilal has +2 goal difference more than Al Ahli but the question is, Is goal difference counted for deciding the team on top OR does head-to-head result counts ?... If it's goal difference then Al Hilal is topping the league but if it's head-to-head result then it's Al Ahli topping the league (after winning tonight's match).
It's a strange game. Ahli was by far the better side in first half (Donis doesn't help his team by insisting to play with a lone CM in Salman Alfarj in yet another big game), but Hilal was completely different side in the 2nd half until the missed penalty, which was the turning point of the game. Ahli deserves the win in my opinion. Donis made some very questionable calls, no CM with Alfaraj, switching Alshahrani's & Alburaik's positions (which killed Alburaik's contribution on the offensive side, you don't do that to the player who leads the assists in your team), making Almeida shoot the penalty when he missed the last one and wasn't in-form for several games now, counting on the passenger-for-years that's called Abdulaziz Aldawsari... The good thing for Hilal is they are still the leaders, but they have a lot of work to do to beat the good sides and win the title especially with ACL coming soon.
Ittihad trashes 5-0 Hajer which keeps them closer to leaders.. Now big question..Any one in league to Ahli ??? Its taking on nerves now..
They for sure made the league more interesting especially with the big games scheduled in this month. I'm impressed with how they handle the absence of Omar Alsomah, but I'll wait and see if they decide to go for all the competitions again or will just focus on the league (which will be the smarter but not the easier option). Ittihad have to win vs. Nassr now to not be too far away from the two. I don't see Nassr or Taawon catching up but I think they are capable of snatching points from Hilal & Ahli which will help Itti if they do their homework.
Just heard the official response: the league is decided by head to head result, so Ahli are in fact in top of the league now.
Now with Piturca coming, I hope things remain same with Itti..But for now it seems two way battle btw Hilal and Ahli..
Gr8 to see Ahmed Alfraidy back in action and scoring a goal as well... Hope to see him Saudi National Team as well. Al Nasr is back in form... Also, even though Al Raed lost the game, Al Raed played impressively against Al Ahli... Al Ahli's 2nd goal killed the momentum by Al Raed and the penalty awarded for this 2nd goal was not 100% correct... Bad & harsh Referring ...
Yup I admit it was good to see Alfuraidi back and scoring from his first touch too. I'll be just as good to see Ghalib too because these guys play good football and makes it more enjoyable. By the way, Ittihad's coach was upset that Piturca's arrival was announced the same day as the game, as he thought the players didn't really care or listened to manager who they 100% know he will be gone as soon as it ends, which is a valid point to be honest.
I dont know how it effects the players. They might already knew that the coach has to arrive a day or tomorrow and take over the team. And also , the players are playing for club or coach sake for them to give up three points easily?? I think Adel Abdul Rahman took it too personaly or emotionally about the loss. Anyways, it is crunch time for Ittihad now, Piturca taking over the team from the next match. Mansour Balawi and Noor is out of the club and team. I dont know how these two will effect and try to manipulate the players approach towards coach as both did not like Piturca...
I think if the players didn't know when Piturca will arrive,or there was no announcement about which game he will start in, some players may think: "I have 2 games before Piturca takes the charge now, if I played badly in this vs. Nassr I may sit on the bench in the next one, and if Piturca sees me on the bench there is big chance I may not start with him too for this season". I think this what Adel meant or I understood by his words, which is something I agree with. Why is Albalawi out now? Was he against hiring Piturca?
In middle of criticizing Ittihad players, I forgot to add Yaseen Hamza as to player to watch in the league and NT. He plays with his heart out and gives the best in the team. Yesterday , he was having a great game untill , last they screwed it. If Osamah is back and Piturca tests him on the field, these two can be beast in the defence above Asiri and Montashiri.
Unfortunately I think Osamah is done. He doesn't look fit at all and I'll be surprised to see him get a regular playing time or perform up to Itti's level since he is ~31 years old who missed a whole year of football. I'll be happy to be proved wrong though, I've always liked him.
Yasser Alqahtani scored a very, very late goal to give Hilal a win against a defensive Faisali side. It looks like he isn't finished yet. Shabab vs. Nassr is about to start. Nassr needs to win this game too to join Itti and chase the leaders.