Cristiano Ronaldo, widely considered one of the greatest football players of all time, recently made a surprising move to Al-Nassr after his explosive interview with Piers Morgan.
The transfer was met with mixed reactions from fans and experts.
Ronaldo’s first move outside of Europe in his illustrious career sparked widespread discussion about the state of football in the Middle East and the motivations behind Ronaldo’s decision to move there.
Some questioned the quality of football in the region, particularly in Saudi Arabia, where some quality players like Odion Ighalo, Hélder Costa, Éver Banega, David Ospina, Cristian Tello, Anderson Talisca, and others ply their trade.
The Saudi Pro League also has great coaches, such as the former Tottenham Hotspur manager Nuno Espírito Santo, Ramon Diaz, and Rudi Garcia, the leading man of this article.
Garcia brings a wealth of experience and success, having managed some of the top clubs in France and Italy, including Marseille, Roma and Lyon.
This tactical analysis will be a team scout report on Garcia’s Al-Nassr and how the manager changed his tactics after Ronaldo’s arrival.
Rudi Garcia’s Tactics At Al-Nassr
Garcia has followed the same recognised principles of playing across Europe and Asia.
The French coach values technical and tactical discipline and organisation yet encourages his players to express themselves.
Garcia doesn’t have a strict system but rather a dynamic approach demanding individualistic levels through the system which we can call systematic and individuality with discipline.
He’s known for principles such as forward-vertical attacking play, triangles, wing invasion, positional rotation, quick transitions, and compactness.
Throughout his career, he has shifted between many shapes.
This season, he has operated Al-Aalami in structures 4-2-3-1 for 59% of the games, 4-4-2 for 23%, and 3-4-3 for just 6% of them.
Rudi Garcia’s In-possession play
Under Garcia’s command, Al-Nassr has the dynamism in the first line of the building to adapt to the opposition’s pressure style, and one of the midfielders has the freedom to join the backline to create a numerical advantage if needed.
Yet the team wants to constantly keep the wingers inside, which gives the fullbacks space to advance.
Furthermore, frequently, one of the forwards could drop off to combine to have a clear penetration.
These actions illustrate the dynamism within the structure and its diversity on the strength of the opposition.
Al-Aalami’s building varies between 2-2 or 3-1 forms, with the fullback’s dynamic movements and a mindset of vertical and wing-attacking approaches.
Here, the wingers move inside, positioning themselves between FBs and CBs, dragging the opposition’s FBs inside and then pinning the backline, which gives the fullbacks space to exploit.
Meanwhile, Talisca drops deep to open an extra passing option.
Below, against their rival Asia champion Al-Hilal, under the same principles, Gustavo dropped to the first line, and Talisca dropped deeper.
Meanwhile, the winger-fullback dynamic movements gave the left fullback immediate space to exploit.
Generally, in the penetration phase, the midfielders’ dynamic motions are vital for vertical play and wide triangles.
Below, while one of them is dropping to get involved in a triangle, the other is closely opening a passing option as a relay player, which is important for circulation and maintaining possession.
Furthermore, the overlapping FB in this triangle is gaining a dynamic advantage over the opposition’s winger due to his body direction.
In the current season, the most utilised partnership in midfield is Luiz Gustavo and Abdullah Al-Khaibari.
Per game, Gustavo averaged 53.91 passes with 90.8% accuracy, 10.95 passes to the final third with 85.4% success, and 14.3 forward passes with an accuracy of 81.2%.
In the meantime, Al-Khaibari averaged 55.71 passes with 94% success, 8.18 passes to the final third with 87.3% success, and 15.69 forward passes with 88.6% accuracy.
Abdullah Al-Khaibari Heat Map & Luiz Gustavo Heat Map
Not only do the midfielders operate wide triangles, but they have frequently been ordered to make various vertical runs behind the opposition’s backline.
This attitude of forward long passes in behind against the high lines is repeatedly initiated from wide areas.
Below, Gustavo, after receiving from the right back, plays a long pass behind the high backline to the inside winger, who is running vertically in the blind side of the defender, also gaining the dynamic advantage.
In the final third, Al-Nassr uses wide triangles, positional rotation, and vertical plays while seeking the quickest way to the goal.
Furthermore, they use vertical and diagonal runs to the box to achieve numerical superiority there.
Here against Al-Batin, which is considered a low block team, to beat the large defensive existence, Al-Nassr’s players were active and involved in a triangle and different runs, such as movement and counter-movement, to confuse the block.
At the same time, there is a decent existence in the box ready for a cross.
Both fullbacks are prominent in Garcia’s approach to stretching the field and usually deliver crosses from early or advanced wide areas.
The right-back Sultan Al-Ghannam and the left-back Ghislain Konan averaged crosses of 4.62 and 4.93 per game in the 2022/23 campaign.
Indeed, they need to improve.
The graphic below shows their crosses’ positions and accuracy.
Ghislain Konan & Sultan Al-Ghannam Crossing Zones Map
Furthermore, at the time of this writing, we can see Al-Nassr’s shot assists and xG map in the Saudi Pro League.
Al-Nassr Shot Assits Map & Al-Nassr xG Map
How significant is Talisca?
As covered before, Rudi Garcia’s style of play requires a high level of individualism throughout the system.
There, Talisca’s impact arises, and it is huge.
At this level of football, individualism clearly has a massive influence.
For many this season, Talisca is the best player not only in his team but in the league.
Talisca Radar Map
Alongside his aerial dominance and scoring abilities, he usually has the freedom to drop off to combine and then make sudden deep runs toward the backline, receiving a cross or creating 1-2s combinations.
Or to have a space to create from deeper positions.
Rudi Garcia’s Defensive Approaches
Before focusing on Ronaldo’s joining the team, let us first speak about their out-of-possession approach under Rudi Garcia’s tactics.
The team doesn’t remain at its half waiting for the opponent, but it has the flexibility to vary between mid-block and high-block according to the opposition’s power.
Rudi Garcia formation seems to utilize a compact 4-4-2 mid-block structure, minimising gaps between the lines and waiting for any pressing triggers to move higher up the pitch to press.
When they are pressing high, Garcia’s teams use the same pressing principles to gain the central numerical advantage, which forces the opponents to build in the wide channels, where they press hard, using the sideline as an extra defender and occasionally implementing pressing traps centrally.
In this aspect, this season, Al-Nassr have averaged a lower PPDA (9.09) than their opponents (15.2).
Their defensive approach is highlighted by the defensive territory below with their high regains map.
They concentrate on high-pressing to recover the ball high and counter.
With Rudi Gracia, they have 168 high regains and 237 counter-pressing recoveries.
73 are dangerous recoveries, which are all defined below.
Al-Nassr Defensive Territory & High Regains Map
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Style Of Play At Al-Nassr
What do you expect from the arrival of one of the greatest footballers of all time?
It undoubtedly has a significant impact on the club, the league and the country, both on and off the pitch.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s arrival off the pitch is expected to attract increased attention and excitement, which will help grow the league’s brand and global reach.
His popularity and reputation will attract more fans and sponsors, bringing in additional revenue and helping Al-Nassr to become a stronger and more competitive club in Asia.
Additionally, having Ronaldo will likely attract other top-quality players, further strengthening the league and creating a positive culture of success.
On the pitch, as has been said before about individualism and its impact, Ronaldo is a proven goalscorer and possesses a winning mentality.
Ronaldo’s speed, agility, and dribbling skills at this level will bring a new level of excitement and unpredictability to Al-Nassr’s play.
Tactically, nothing great has changed in his first three matches yet, but the change in the striker’s type would make a difference.
Vincent Aboubakar, a box striker who remains most of the time on the last line, to Ronaldo, who is a dynamic striker.
As mentioned before, Talisca is dropping to support the dynamism, so this role has been split.
Here, below, during the progression, Talisca was on the last line, while Ronaldo dropped deeper to combine.
This attitude from Ronaldo is frequently used in the final third to be involved in 1-2s combinations to attack the backline suddenly.
Cristiano Ronaldo Heat Map At Al-Nassr
Below is Cristiano Ronlado’s xG and heat map in the first matches.
His agility is giving the team more dynamics.
Conclusion
Under coach Rudi Garcia, Al-Nassr maintains a dynamic, diverse playing style and prioritises vertical and wing-attacking approaches that value technical and tactical discipline, organisation, and individual expression.
The arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo at Al-Nassr is expected to have a significant impact.
His popularity and reputation will bring increased attention and revenue to the club and league.
Let’s see what the team will achieve with him at the end of the season.
