Al-Hilal face new Saudi season without sidelined Neymar

LONDON: When reports emerged that Steven Gerrard was leaving Ettifaq, it wasn’t much of a surprise.

The Liverpool legend, appointed in July 2023, lasted 18 months, and while there were a few highs, the returns given the money invested were, on the whole, quite low.

The same can be said of the club’s current 12th place, just five points clear of the relegation zone and a full 16 behind Al-Nassr in fourth.

The 2-2 draw at Al-Wehda on Saturday left Gerrard clearly disappointed with his players, and on Thursday night social media reports suggest that he was quitting for “personal reasons.” In hindsight, it was only a matter of time.

Getting into the top four was always going to be a tall order, but to at least challenge was the target. It’s clear that Ettifaq don’t have the financial power of the Big Four — Al-Hilal, Al-Nassr, Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli — who have attracted the megastars, but with the talent available they should have the ability, however, to be fighting it out with Al-Shabab and Al-Taawoun in the next level below. At the very least, the two-time champions should not be four and five places, respectively, behind Al-Riyadh and Al-Khaleej. 

Last season there were some hiccups but Gerrard was handed a contract extension midway through and steered the team into sixth, an improvement on the previous campaign. There were more new faces incoming and this season started well with three straight wins and a lot of enthusiasm. But just two more victories came in the next 14 games. 

There is little doubt where the problem did lie — scoring goals. In the first 12 games of the season, they managed just nine and were too easy to defend against. Opposing defenders knew that if they could stop Moussa Dembele then there wasn’t much of an attacking threat from elsewhere. Former Liverpool midfielder, Gini Wijnaldum, has chipped in occasionally but Cameroonian forward Karl Toko-Ekambi, who scored six in 15 starts last season, has yet to find the target in eight appearances this time. Going forward, Ettifaq have too often been predictable and one-dimensional.

Yet there were recent improvements, with Ettifaq scoring 10 in the last five. In an attacking sense at least, there was more fluidity and rhythm. Was this another blip or a turning of a corner? We will never know. 

There is plenty of talent throughout the squad. Gerrard brought in midfielders such as Wijnaldum, Seko Fofana (since departed) and Alvaro Medran. He also has Saudi Arabian internationals such as defensive midfielder Abdulelah Al-Malki and forward Abdullah Radif, and defenders such as Madallah Al-Olayan and Abdullah Madu. 

Gerrard has not quite managed to deliver and his tactics have come in for criticism, not helped by a King’s Cup defeat against Al-Jabalain in October, a team then struggling in the second tier. His ability to manage matches was called into question. 

Results are always paramount but he wasn’t helped by comments he made to English media earlier in the season about arranging training so he could watch Liverpool’s games. “Both myself and John (Achterberg, goalkeeping coach) have got one eye on it. We put all our schedule around the Liverpool games. The players are on to me now; we’ve been training at 9 or 10 at night!”

Gerrard moved quickly to refute any suggestion that he was not fully focused on the Dammam club.

“I was asked if I still followed Liverpool and I said, ‘Of course I still follow Liverpool,’ they played a huge part of my life and shaped me as a player, person and coach I am today. I want to make it abundantly clear my priority is Ettifaq, I have a contract with Ettifaq and I am in a real privileged position.”

The comments may not have been serious but they didn’t go down well. Gerrard should have known this, as fans of his previous club Aston Villa sometimes wondered if he was there just to warm up for a future move back to Liverpool.

His performances in Saudi Arabia won’t make that any more likely but that is no longer Ettifaq’s concern. At least there is the example of Villa, who, after Gerrard, brought in Unai Emery and have not looked back.