It was not an ordinary night in the “Radiant Jewel”, but rather it was moments in which Al-Ittihad stood out in the face of Al-Nassr, achieving a victory in which the three points were part of many gains that the team reaped after an epic performance. Nigerian George was exceptional in every sense of the word, as he scored two goals; The first with follow-up and a high scoring sense, while the second is recorded as an iconic goal in the history of the two teams’ confrontations, after he rose high in the manner of great strikers, and placed his foot where the attackers put their heads, scoring in a way similar to what the Swedish Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the Norwegian Erling Haaland do. George was the hero of the night in the fifth round, after he won the Man of the Match award.
It seems that Jens Vissing was keeping George's weapon in the past rounds, in order to create the appropriate time and place for him to shine, which is what happened against Al-Nasr, which left large spaces in its defense that Al-Ittihad's attack exploited twice, while the team did not succeed in investing in other spaces to strengthen the score, contenting itself with two goals in the first half.
The confrontation, which was attended by more than 47 thousand fans, in which the Jens Vissing team could only expect victory, in order to continue getting closer to the competitors, specifically Al-Hilal, the leader, who achieved five victories, and Al-Nasr and Al-Qadisiyah, who achieved four victories. The loss would have meant that the Union would have moved away from the summit, and perhaps sending a message of losing the ability to compete, in light of the presence of competitors who do not know how to stop. As for the victory, it put Al-Ittihad four points away from the leaders, and only one point away from second place, bringing the team back from the big gate to the competition for the top.
During his preparations for the confrontation, Vissing bet on the ability of his players to achieve victory and a positive result, despite the state of frustration that prevailed before the match, due to what observers saw of the limited contracts during the transfer market. The German coach asked his players to move diligently, and told them: “We can win if we make more movement than the opponent. This will give us an advantage on the field.”
This matter was clearly evident in the statistics, as Sofa Score figures showed that the average distance covered by Al-Ittihad players reached 91.8 kilometers per match, compared to 67.7 kilometers for Al-Nasr players, which reflects the German coach’s good reading of the confrontation, after he made constant pressure and running a main condition for victory, in an image that reflects the German mentality in understanding football.
In the press conference, Vissing spoke about the mentality he wanted to see from his players, in response to Asharq Al-Awsat’s question, saying: “The football we want depends on the group; Everyone defends and everyone scores goals. You saw what Youssef En-Nesyri did in the 92nd minute when he came back and retrieved the ball and saved the team from an almost certain goal. This is the behavior we want.
Speaking of the group, the German coach believes in teamwork and gives a lot of space to his assistants, especially the Saudis, as he did with his Japanese team. This was evident during the confrontation through the intervention of assistant Hassan Khalifa, who pointed out Muhannad Al-Shanqeeti’s ability to play in the left-back position.
Jens responded to the advice of expert Khalifa and the decision came in the 85th minute, after Fares Abdi was subjected to great stress and was no longer able to complete the confrontation with the same strength and vitality, in light of the coach’s running out of substitutions. The technical staff decided to place Al-Shinqiti at left back, with support from Yusuf Al-Nusairi on the wing, and to try to cover up Abdi’s fatigue and his inability to engage in repeated tackles and speed races. Such changes during the match reflect Vissing's confidence in his staff, and his personnel's understanding of the players' abilities and roles.
At the individual level, Al-Ittihad players were remarkably mentally and physically present, but the performance shown by Ahmed Al-Julaidan in the right-back position was striking, as he formed a main front from which Al-Ittihad’s danger on the right side emerged. Al-Julaidan played dual roles, between full-back at times and winger at other times, and contributed to creating the first goal, before completing 50 minutes with distinction and requesting a change.
Al-Julaidan is considered one of the most developed players since the arrival of the German coach, as he showed a clear response, specifically on the physical aspect, which witnessed a significant improvement thanks to working with a special trainer during additional sessions to improve this aspect.
Dion Lobi, too, was one of the decisive factors in Al-Ittihad's victory, thanks to his physical abilities in the midfield. The player can keep the ball in the most difficult moments, benefiting from using his body in a way that makes the task of seizing the ball from him complicated. It is noteworthy that he did not lose any ball during the confrontation, which helped Al-Ittihad to withstand the difficult moments, especially during the periods of pressure exerted by Al-Nasr in search of a return to the result.
One of the negative points in the confrontation remains the lack of exploitation of spaces and rebounds carried out by Al-Ittihad, as many spaces were available during Al-Nasr’s rush in search of a return to the match, but recklessness was present in many moments, which caused Vissing’s anger on the touchline. The German coach said about this in the press conference after the confrontation: “We were not successful in the rebounds we made.”
The young German coach tried to control his team's enthusiasm on more than one occasion, especially with the decisions that the players were making amid the shouts of the fans. Vissing's anger was almost evident when, in the second half, Diome Loubi and Richard Rios advanced to the borders of the Al-Nasr penalty area, leaving a large space behind them, so he asked them to calm down and play more consciously, while maintaining the score and targeting the spaces, without exaggerated rush that might cost the team the equalizer.
