HT-KSA 0-1 Australia I am having battle with my sleep to watch a this boring match.Its just like watching legends playing a charity game.
I really think this is where a tall powerfully built goalkeeper like say..... Waleed Abdullah? I don't know, I think Waleed Abdullah would have saved that despite how accurately Kennedy placed that Header. I see that Rijkaard has Saudi Arabia playing lots of short passes and passing triangles and such ala Barca and it looks nice but who do we have in midfield? Tayser Al Jasem, Saud Kariri and Ahmed Atef... all defensive midfielders not a single natural playmaker between them like say....Mohammed Noor? We're just not getting that ball into the final third! Also, when does Shuhail come back? Al Zori is a liability.
More needed from the Austrlian side.The players are playing as if they travelled all along from Australia.
Seriously speaking the match was toooo boring and both teams did not deserve win.A draw was fare result.No chances created from any side.Two soft mistakes costed the team. The Saudi players did not play for win indeed they were looking more tired and fatigue.They also lost in the physical battle against the huge aussie players Rijaard did a big mistake by fielding only Hazazi up front and Hassan Muath in midflied.The players were also not looking so serious to play for.You can just take penalty for example.It might be that players are finding difficult to adapt to Rijkaards stlye of play. Another mistake was Rijkaard was not given the job earlier to manage the team against Hong Kong so that he could understand the team well.Now its do-die situation for KSA,any result another than win against strong Thailand that too in away conditions will decide the teams fate.
Mohammed Noor, agreed. But we can also play Abdouh Autef and Ahmed Alfraidi. I think Frank Rijkkard didn't let Ahmed play as probably he might have got scared of his beard... Zori plays well in Al Hilal but at the national team level, he is just not in his natural best. So, agreed as he is a liability in the team...
Seriously, I agree with you in the above point ... You were blaming me to be negative about this match and now, you know what's the difference between reality and hope against hopeless cause/matter. The thing is: Saudi Arabia never played any meangingful friendly match on FIFA days against any good team. As Saudi never played any game under Rikkard, so he never got to know our players quality & skills and even at what partnership and phsical level they play. In both the games, Saudi lacked Creative Mid-Field players such as Fraidi, Abdouh Autef ... This costed Saudi dearly in today's match against Australia Also, Saudi was not counter-attacking at fast pace, and the Saudi movement (if there was any good movement) was very slow ... Saudi was trying to play the game on slow pace ... Saudi defenders passed the ball from side to the other side and wasted valuable time for any good move upfront by the mid-field Saudi lacked any good forward and playing with 1 forward in the first half was a big mistake. I will not blame Rijkkard for this loss !!! Saudi lost valuable points in "HOME" game and now, Saudi must win all the Home games and at least one Away game ... Again, Saudi in trouble !!!!
Well I guess analysis time: Despite the loss I still think there are positives to take out of the match. But first the negatives: 1. Get rid of Hasan Al Oteibi. What's he doing in there? Waleed Abudallah I feel has the reflexes and arm length to parry Kennedy's first goal. And the second goal? What was he doing? 2. Why Rashad Al Raheeb in right back? Hasan Mauth is better but we was played on the wing and then substituted! Put him back in there and substitute Al Raheeb. 3. There has to be someone better than Zouri at left back. Anyone. Kamel Al Mousa. I don't even think Kamel Al Mousa is that good but I'll take anyone over Zouri. 4. Playing a midfield consisting of Ahmed Autef, Kariri, Jasim and Nawef Al Abed? 3 DMFs and one dribbler? How did Rijkaard expect to break down the Australian defense? Crosses into the box with only Naif Hazazi against the likes of Sasa and Lucas Neil? Anyway, let's see the few positives: 1. I like the passing style Saudi Arabia are employing. Quick short passes and passing triangles. Now we need someone to play through passes like Mohammed Noor or even Al Shalhoub or Abdoh Autef. 2. The Hazzazi-Shamrani strike partnership looked okay in front. When Nasser came in there was finally some room for Naif to breathe. I'm glad that git Yasser didn't come on. All in all, the main problem was that Rijkaard came in too late. He doesn't know the players and most likely his line-up was based on the advice of the Saudi FA. I hope now he has a couple matches under his belt and with the regular season starting, he can form a better picture.
hopeless. This organization does not know how to fix a problem...because they are the problem..its sad because i know you guys are just ignoring it because its not like there is a way to fix it..
Hi, I am from Iran and this is my opinion about your team. I think Saudi Arabia need introduce new players because players like (Noor,Yasser, Shalhoub etc) are very old, and the result is very clear Saudi Arabia Failed in the Asian Cup and is failing in this games.