Al Raed appoints Takis Lemonies (Greek) as there manager. Wehda signs South African striker Katlego Maphela and Tunisian Zouheir Dhaouadi and Uruguayan Adolfo Lima.
Sacking a manager after just 2 rounds in the league, which were against Shabab and Ittihad nonetheless ... what a joke.
Results - Hilal 1-0 Raed Ittihad 1-2 Faysaly Fateh 1-1 Hajer Ahli 2-0 Wahda Tawoon 5-1 Qadsiya Shabab 0-0 Khaleej Tawoon is getting some eye catching performance with there new coach. There managment has invested a lot in the team . I hope this continues and finally we would have a team like Ittifaq who used to give headache to the big 4 of Saudi League.. Completely hopeless performance by Ittihad . Specially with selection of line-up . Noor is no 90-minute player , playing him in the starting line-up decreases the pace up front and the team lacks attacking power. The coach has so many attackers in the team and still opts to play with almost 36 old player. I dont have problem with Noor, but you can bring him on after hour mark when the team is leading so that he can hold the ball well pass the time. Hamad Monthashiri is waste now. We need to bring Osamah back to the line-up . And obviously , after a long time I have seen a local recruit getting a much better player than I tought. Yaseen Hamza is terrific in the field. He needs a decent partner to support him. May be Osamah will work. Overall, another one or two same performance from Ittihad, we will see a new coach soon.
Yeah Taawon is the top scoring team in the league now, impressive stuff. I only watched the 2nd half of Itti's game. The commentator's words suggested Itti were wasteful in the 1st half and they are paying for it, and from what I've seen Faisali played really smart game, and it was obvious that players like Muntasheri are passed it. BTW, Faisali's 2nd goal was fantastic although it looked offside to me. Hilal barely wins vs. Raeed with a underwhelming performance, but this 3 points could be vital by the end of the season.
Ahli wins against Nasser 4-2 declaring them serious contenders for the league along side Hilal. If Ittihad and Shabab picks up the pace it will be tight racee between these four..
Nassr's fans aren't happy with da Silva, and there are some reports that Husain Abdulghani and Faisal Bin Turki showed their disapproval to da Silva's early substiution in the first half. I think his sacking got closer.
He was already under scanner after the Kings Cup and Super Cup loss. They chased the Chile NT coach but I think he refused.
A wonderful game between Ittihad and Hilal ended 4-3 in favour of Ittihad. Hilal # 5 is a liability of the team. He scored own goal in the very first 2 minutes of the game bringing his own team under pressure from the very start, he was also a culprit in Ittihad's 3rd goal when he was in the Centre of the Defense and again, played Ittihad's forward onside whereas they should have had been offside, and then did not reacted quickly to clear the ball once the ball fall near him & Fahad Al Muallad chased the ball to score... Hilal should clearly look to replace # 5 with any other better player. He's too slow as well in making passes and breaks the rhythm / string of quick one-two or other fast passes... Also, Sudairy seems to be out of touch and not in form... he's clearly having a bad patch...
I liked Donis' system and his disciplinary actions towards those who think they are above the team, but what I didn't like so far is how he dealt with the absences of missing players due to injuries/suspensions or by his request (Shamrani, Nawaf Alabed ...). His 3-5-2 (3-6-1) worked with a set of players but you don't have to play with that system in every single game, especially when you miss someone like Digao in the back line. I don't know why he sill thinks he can throw #5 (Sharaheli) and expect everything will be the same. And Salman Alfarj shouldn't play as a lone DM, someone like Faisal Derwish will help him immensely in this game or vs. Ahli UAE. It was fun game, but the fans, players, and the board won't be happy with more slows starts and then fail to comeback like this game, or Ahli. Donis needs to step up his game. BTW, Abdulaziz Aldawsari is terrible. I don't how he is still in the club after all these years.
I did not knew the result will be so different. The team is backing up the coach well and the coach backing them back. Yassin Hamza is turning out to be beast in the defense. We haven't seen such defender in years after Osamah Hawsawi form. Anyways, Ittihad have re established there credentials for title contenders with Ahli and Shabab . Hilal have to pick up to get there chances back on track.
Jeddah Derby Today - Other results - Tawoon 3-3 Nasser Hilal 7-0 Khaleej Qadsiya 0-1 Shabab Najran 2-0 Hajer Fateh 2-0 Wahda Faysaly 2-2 Raed
Hilal received good news as they won very convincingly without Almeida and Eduardo but what seems better is that Nasser Alshamrani looks getting fine with the manager and the fans, having Yasser Alqahtani back could add something positive too to Hilal's attack if he finds some form quickly. Taawoun continue their impressive performance. I think they would be a few ranks up in the table if the league wasn't stopped 3674848 times. I'll be certainly interested in watching their games vs. the big 4.
I saw a picture the other day where the stadium pitch looks to be fixed. I hope it wasn't Photoshopped.
Ittihad thrashed by Ahli 3-0 . The fans threw bottles and cans on the coach and asked for resignation. @Aimar 21 - The pitch is new and finallly looked to be played on..
So Ittihad sacked the coach huh? I wonder when they will get out of this endless cycle. The pitch looked better than before but in my opinion it's still worse than what is expected from the nation's best and newest stadium.
Its not confirmed yet but close to sack..This will happen untill we get a good coach. Boloni was not fit for club from starting. His profile did not match expectations from before....No specific game plan even though having a huge no. of players in every position to fill.. Its also said Noor might take up coach cum player role if Boloni is asked to go.
Hilal defeats Shabab 1-0 and remains at the top of the league and 3 points away from Ahli. Hilal was by far the better side but Shabab's GK had an incredible game. Waleed Abdullah said he won't be satisfied with sitting on the bench, but I think he should get used to it because no way Shabab will bench the GK Al-uwais if he keep up these performances.
The league is getting a two way now.. Hilal and Ahli will fight till.. It will be interesting to watch this two play .. Ittihad draws with Khaleej 2-2 which actually sums up our season. I know its early to say, but when you have weak team plus egoistic players, sacking of coaches frequently this will bound to happen....
You may not like Piturca, but still I think if Ittihad were to stick with him and continue for another season the club will probably be at better state right now, instead of this hiring and firing cycle which I'm pretty sure will make the next coach (whoever might he be) another "incapable manager" who will be sacked too in half a season at maximum.
Hilal & Ahli may look far ahead of the rest but only 8 rounds have been played, which is less than 1/3 of the total league matches and Hilal still have many tough games to play vs. Ahli, Nassr, Taawon, so I think it's not too late for Nassr to get back in the mix. I'll be glad if Taawon can make another miracle like AlFath's, but I think miracles don't happen too often.
The only thing Ittihad is lacking now a coach who connects to player rather than be a Commander. South American coaches have done good before for this.
So, our season got icing on it after Mohd Noor is banned by anti-doping committe which subsequently ends in career.
He ends his career in the worst way possible. I was hoping he will retire after winning a title with Ittihad, or at least play for Wehda for a season or two, which will make a beautiful story, but I never imagined this will happen to one of the most significant players in Ittihad's and SA's history.
Hilal defeats Taawon 2-1 in what looked to be very entertaining game. I couldn't watch the 1st half but in the 2nd one Taawon showed why they are considered one of the top team in the league at the moment. I hope they continue their form in the league.