Al-Hilal's Performance Raises Concerns Despite Win

Nasser Al-Shamrani did not let the scoreline fool him.

Al-Hilal opened their Roshn League campaign with a 4-2 win over Al-Faisaly, but the club legend believes the performance fell well short of what “the Boss” should look like. For him, the three points simply covered up problems that refuse to go away.

Speaking on the “Dawrina Ghair” programme, Al-Shamrani was blunt: this Al-Hilal side is not playing to the level its star-studded squad demands. He pointed to familiar flaws, the same mistakes that have surfaced in recent weeks, and warned that Simone Inzaghi and his staff now face a serious early challenge.

Bono the saviour, Koulibaly under scrutiny

One man escaped criticism. Yassine Bono.

Al-Shamrani highlighted the Moroccan goalkeeper as a decisive factor in the win, stressing how his interventions kept Al-Faisaly from turning the game into a shootout. Bono, he argued, made the scoreline kinder than the performance deserved.

“Bono’s beauties are too much for Inzaghi,” Al-Shamrani said, underlining how the keeper’s saves repeatedly dragged Al-Hilal out of trouble. With a goalkeeper of that calibre, he suggested, the team enjoys a wider margin for error than most.

Attention then turned to Kalidou Koulibaly. The Senegalese defender, Al-Shamrani explained, is not just another name on the teamsheet; he is central to the entire structure. His level does not affect only his own reputation, but the balance and confidence of the whole side, especially for a club intent on challenging for every title available.

Same mistakes, same warning

Despite the four goals and the opening-day win, Al-Shamrani insisted Al-Hilal showed nothing new from a tactical standpoint. The same errors, the same gaps, the same vulnerabilities. For him, the result cannot be allowed to mask what is actually happening on the pitch under Inzaghi.

He stressed that these issues must be corrected quickly. The Roshn League race will be brutal, and stronger opponents will punish any repeat of the sloppiness seen against Al-Faisaly, regardless of how often Al-Hilal manage to grind out victories.

So Inzaghi has his first real test, even with three points already on the board. The message from one of the club’s greats is clear: winning is not enough this season. Al-Hilal are expected to dominate — and they will be judged on whether their performances finally match the weight of their ambition.