After Gerrard departure, how Al Ettifaq can flip their RSL fortunes | OneFootball

When Al Ettifaq met Al Shabab to open the season in August, the picture for the Dammam club looked remarkably different.

A new campaign always brings fresh hope and optimism, and so it was for the side from the Eastern Province. The off-season was a relatively quiet one compared to 12 months prior, with Al Ettifaq’s main piece of business the addition of Slovak goalkeeper Marek Rodak from English Premier League club Fulham.

Al Ettifaq also secured the services of promising young striker Abdullah Radif on loan from Al Hilal and signed exciting 19-year-old Portuguese prospect Joao Costa from Italian giants AS Roma.

With a season’s experience under his belt, manager Steven Gerrard was also much better prepared for the campaign ahead with a full and proper understanding of the landscape in the Roshn Saudi League.

An opening round win against Al Shabab, courtesy of a solitary strike from star man Moussa Dembele, only added to the buoyancy in Dammam. Soon making it three victories on the bounce with wins over Al Okhdood and Al Fateh, Al Ettifaq were flying high in third position in the table. They had scored four goals scored and conceded only once.

But rather than carry that momentum forward, their season stuttered. In the 14 games since, Al Ettifaq won two, a run comprising eight defeats and four draws. They also managed only another 15 goals, while their fine defensive record gave way to become one of the league’s most porous: in those 14 matches, they conceded 26 goals.

Ahead of their return clash at home to Al Shabab on Friday night, Al Ettifaq find themselves 12th in the standings, five points above the relegation zone. On Thursday, the club confirmed Gerrard’s time as manager was over.

It was hoped the winter break would have acted as a circuit-breaker, giving the Liverpool legend and the team a chance to reset and turn around their fortunes. But that hasn’t been the case.

With one win from four since the RSL restart, Al Ettifaq have lost further ground to those above them and drawn closer to an unwanted relegation battle.

So how has it gone so wrong and where do their need to improve?

Their attack seems an obvious place to start. For sure, Al Ettifaq boast a strong forward line-up, featuring Dembele, Karl Toko Ekambi, Alvaro Medran, Costa, and Radif.

However, with 19 goals scored this season, they have one of the poorest attacking records in the league, especially when you consider four of those goals came in the opening three weeks. The issue isn’t so much creating chances, it’s finishing them.

Al Ettifaq rank seventh in the league for total shots, but 15th for shot conversion at just 12 percent. For reference, second-placed Al Ittihad lead the league for shot conversion with 26.1%, while champions Al Hilal, top of the table at the halfway stage, are second with 24.3.

The side Al Ettifaq face this week, Al Shabab, who they presumably believe they should be competing with for a spot in the top five, are ranked fifth with a 17.4% conversion rate.

When it comes to shooting accuracy, according to the official Opta stats, Al Ettifaq fare even worse after 17 matchweeks, ranked 16th ahead of only Al Okhdood and Al Orobah. Only 69 of their 158 shots deemed “on target”.

Perhaps no player epitomises Al Ettifaq’s woes in front of goal as much as Ekambi. The Cameroon international made the switch to Ettifaq in the January transfer window last season, and went on to finish the campaign with six goals in 15 games.

But this season, at the midway mark, no player in the RSL had more shots (28), more shots on target (9), and more big chances missed (9) without scoring a goal than Ekambi.

Unfortunately for Al Ettifaq, it’s the same sorry story across the board.

Medran, a stellar acquisition this time last season from Al Taawoun, has been unable to have the same impact that he did in Buraidah. In the first half of last term, he became one of the league’s most dangerous midfielders, with two goals and eight assists. However, this season, Medran has a single goal and two assists.

And, to underline the point, Al Ettifaq are ranked third lowest in the xG differential, with -4.1.

For as frustrating as that is, however, there are green shoots that offer some hope. Despite their conversion rate being so low, the fact Al Ettifaq rank seventh for total shots and big chances created should be seen as a positive as it means they are getting into good scoring positions.

It would be more of a worry if they were not scoring as well as not creating, but with 39 big chances created this year alone, there is reason for optimism. Fixing their finishing should be easier than putting right structural flaws in their game.

Sometimes all it takes is one win to turn around a team’s fortunes. Al Ettifaq, with Saudi coach Saad Al Shehri quickly replacing Gerrard in the dugout, will be hoping that comes this weekend, on debut.