· 2 min readIn this Al Khaleej vs Al Nassr match, I analyse the key tactical moments, individual performances and turning points of the game.
Al Nassr needed to keep winning to stay in the fight for the top of the Saudi Pro League and had an Al Khaleej side in front of them that, with all due respect, is not a strong team. José Gomes had still not won any of his seven games since taking over the club and this was another difficult challenge.
Nassr were coming off a 2-1 win against Abha, but continue to be far from convincing. The team have been getting results, but without consistency, and still have problems that were not solved in the transfer window. And in goal, Bento continues to be in a horrible run of form.
Al Nassr started with more of the ball, but could not create. In the 10th minute, Ronaldo dropped deep and found Saad Al-Nasser with a run in behind. The full-back put in a low cross, Félix controlled it badly inside the box and still tried to shoot, but only caught it with the tip of his boot. The ball went weakly wide.
Straight afterwards, Al Amri almost made things very difficult by trying to pass back to Bento. The pass was short and misplaced, inside his own box. Shortly after, Saad Al-Nasser had to make a great clearance to prevent danger from Khaleej.
Nassr had 61% possession and, despite having more of the ball, could not turn that into chances. Khaleej were defending in a compact block and it was working. The home side were limited offensively, but Nassr were being even worse.
In the 38th minute, another absurd mistake appeared. Iñigo Martínez passed back to Bento and once again put the ball too short. Nawaf Al Saadi took the ball away from the Brazilian goalkeeper and shot towards a practically open goal, but Al-Nasser appeared on the line and prevented the goal.
Nassr’s first half was very poor. Offensively, little or nothing. Defensively, a chaos. The best chances belonged to Khaleej and Nassr had still not even managed to get a shot on target.
And in stoppage time, the punishment arrived.
From a corner, two Khaleej players appeared completely unmarked at the far post. Mascarell headed the ball down and Bento still seemed to get a touch, but could not prevent the 1-0. The defending was not easy because the ball bounced off the pitch first, but Nassr had allowed far too much space.
At half-time, Al Khaibari came off and Simakan came on. Nassr started building with three at the back, while Boushal and Al-Nasser pushed forward and Mané appeared more centrally.
The team started pushing Khaleej back, but still could not get a shot on target. In the 49th minute, Mané had little angle, had Ronaldo available, but forced the shot and did not even hit the target. In the 59th minute, Nassr had already taken eight shots and none had been on target.
In the 70th minute, Al-Nasser came off for Al-Hamdan, putting two forwards on the pitch alongside Ronaldo. Two minutes later, the equaliser arrived. A Khaleej player seemed to think the game had stopped, Iñigo Martínez took advantage and found Al-Hamdan. The forward shot from outside the box and scored a beautiful goal. 1-1.
Nassr continued to look for the win. Félix forced a great save from Moris in the 86th minute, but in the final minutes the team could not even keep the ball in the attacking half.
Post-match
The draw is embarrassing for Al Nassr. If they want to win the league, they cannot drop points like this against easy opponents.
