Hello all, welcome back to the blog. Yesterday, Bob and I watched Al Nassr’s second game of the 2023/24 Saudi Pro League season. After a 2-1 loss to Al Ettifaq, Al Nassr needed a win to keep themselves in the title fight early on. How did they get on?
Al Nassr needed to really get moving early on. Al Taawoun exploited Al Nassr’s offside trap, and Mateus was a real problem for them, but he just couldn’t finish his dinner.
It took 8 minutes for Al Nassr to get their first real chance, when Cristiano Ronaldo got past an Al Taawoun defender with a great step over, and his long shot forced Mailson to a good save.
After the 15th minute, Al Nassr’s started to control the game, with Mateus and Tawamba keeping them honest in defence. However, in the 20th minute, disaster struck. An Al Taawoun corner went into what was seemingly no man’s land, but out of nowhere, it got on the head of Tawamba, and it got past Abdullah in net. It was poor defending to leave 2 Al Taawoun players unmarked in the box, and Abdullah should have done better to save it.
After this, Al Nassr started to dominate the chances. They spent most of the rest of the first half in Al Taawoun’s half. Seko Fofana and Talisca got into the game after 25 minutes of mostly just spectating, and the fullbacks Konan and Al Ghanam were absolutely crucial in the buildup, and Al Nassr were getting a chance nearly every minute.
However, Al Taawoun’s defence was absolutely amazing. They produced at least 2 dozen blocks, last ditch tackles, and interceptions. Mailson was also great when called upon, and the entire back line provided a premium performance.
As we got into the second half, Al Nassr started playing a more put-it-into-the-box-and-see-what-happens style, and Al Taawoun started fouling Al Nassr more. From the 55th minute to about the 70th minute, Al Taawoun tried a possession based game, and it did work to a degree. It spent 15 more crucial minutes where Al Nassr couldn’t score.
After the 70th minute though, Al Nassr started getting more desperate, and Al Taawoun’s defending started getting more reckless, but it worked. Al Nassr got many major chances, with Sadio Mane having a chance with Maislson out of his net, but Andrei Girotto provided a world class block and tapped the rebound out of play for a corner. Mane was wasteful today, and should have got a goal or two. Just before added time, Ronaldo had a major chance from a header, but put it just wide.
Added time was crazy. To start, it was 9 minutes, which was enough to provide another whole half’s worth of action. Sadio Mane seemingly equalised in the 94th minute, only to be just a fraction offside. On top of all that, from the free kick resulting from the offside, Mateus got the ball in the box, and looked like he’d finally get his goal, but laid it off to Bahusayn who had an easy finish. 2-0 Al Taawoun.
Al Nassr had the wind taken out of their sails after this, and they had no major chances as Al Taawoun get a massive victory in Al Nassr’s backyard. Al Nassr need to change something after getting 2 embarrassing losses out of the gate. I’m Jim James, until next time.