Al Nasr and Al Ain teams excelled in several statistics during the ADNOC Professional Football League this season, the most important of which was the number of passes, which Al Jazira had dominated in previous seasons.
The two teams topped the “most passing and possession” figures after the end of the second round of the tournament, which is currently suspended due to the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. Statistics issued by the Professional League also indicated that Al-Nasr outperformed in the number of passes in the last third of the field, outperforming all other teams, including Al-Wasl, the champion of the “league and cup” double last season.
After two rounds of the league, Al Nasr leads the standings with a full score of six points, tied with Sharjah, Shabab Al Ahli and Al Wahda, while Al Ain and Al Wasl, the title holders, come in fifth and sixth place respectively, each with four points.
Al Jazira was the team that dominated the passes the most in the Professional League in the past seasons, which is the method that Al Jazira had previously relied on and won the league title under the leadership of Dutch coach Marcel Kaiers, so Al-Nasr snatched the most prominent factor that was the reason for Al Jazira’s brilliance and led to its crowning with the league title in the 2020-2021 season.
Controlling the passes is one of the most important factors that reveal the game plan that Al-Nassr’s Dutch coach, Alfred Schroeder, relies on, which is based on a lot of ball possession and passing.
Statistics also showed that Al Nasr had the upper hand in goals, having scored nine goals in two matches, and had the upper hand in the number of passes in the final third of the opponent’s field, with 345 passes. Sharjah came in second place with 343, Al Wasl third with 289, Al Ain 259, and then Al Wahda 259 passes.
As for the number of passes in general, Al Ain was superior with 1153 passes, followed by Al Nasr with 1063, and Al Jazira came in fifth place with 865 passes, so Al Jazira, which relied on ball possession and the abundance of passes, which were its most important features when it was crowned league champion, fell behind with the same school that Al Nasr currently relies on, which is the Dutch leadership.
In terms of possession, Al Ain also topped the average with 62%, followed by Al Wasl with the same percentage, and Al Nasr came in third with 60%. As for Al Wahda, it also has the most important factors that may help it in the competition, which is keeping a clean sheet in the first two matches, and it is the only team that has not conceded any goals so far.
It is worth noting that the first two rounds did not witness matches between teams competing for the top spot, which means that these numbers could change in the coming weeks, especially from the third round, which will witness three heavyweight matches between Al Wasl and Al Nasr, Shabab Al Ahli and Al Wahda, and Sharjah and Al Jazira, in a strong start to the matches after the end of the first two rounds of the competition.
Regarding Al-Nasr’s position and strong start, technical analyst Khaled Obaid confirmed that the Al-Nasr team appeared in a wonderful way and a start that had not happened in nine seasons by achieving two wins in the first two rounds, but at the same time he confirmed that this is not enough to announce the competition for the league title, as the journey is still long and Al-Nasr needs to continue the victories and present the same performance against the competing teams.
Obaid told Emarat Al Youm: “Al Nasr has tough matches ahead of them starting from the next round. Certainly, the change is present and apparent, and there is great harmony between the players, in addition to giving the opportunity to more than one player and preparing the substitutes. All of these things are credited to the technical staff led by coach Schroeder, but the road is still long and the league journey requires a lot of work, and the substitutes’ bench is ready to compensate for any absence.”
He added: “It is clear from last season that coach Schroeder relied on a lot of possession and passes, and he succeeded in that by adding players who achieve what he wants, by contracting two distinguished wingers and a distinguished striker, who is the historical scorer of Emirati football, Ali Mabkhout.”
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