When a team has won three of 19 matches and is rooted firmly in the relegation zone, it’s safe to say there is more than one aspect of their game that needs improving.
That feels especially pertinent when their next fixture is against the league leaders, which is the scenario facing Al Wehda, who on Saturday host Al Ittihad in what was once one of the more combative rivalries in Saudi Arabian football. Which is why it goes by the moniker, the Old Derby.
For now, though, the two clubs couldn’t be further apart. While Al Ittihad stand tall at the top of the 2024-25 Roshn Saudi League, Al Wehda sit second from bottom and stare down slipping into the Saudi First Division League.
Defence is the most glaring area in need of improvement, with the Mecca club having conceded the most goals of any team this season, at 46. However, they also require more from the leaders in the team - and that includes former Manchester United and Nigeria star, and RSL veteran, Odion Ighalo.
In the twilight of his career, now aged 35, Ighalo provides not just quality, but leadership as well with so much big-league experience under his belt.
After three years in La Liga with Granada, he really made a name for himself upon switching to English outfit, Watford. There, Ighalo plundered 20 goals in his first season in the second-tier Championship, in 2014-15, helping the club earn promotion to the Premier League for the first time in almost a decade.
That first campaign in the top division of English football saw Ighalo’s star continue to rise. Registering 15 goals in a side that finished 13th and scored only 40 in all for the season, he came home seventh in the 2015-16 league’s scoring charts.
There would be no letup when Ighalo moved east in 2017 to join the revolution in Chinese football, when he hit 46 goals across two-and-a-half seasons with Changchun Yatai and Shanghai Shenhua.
An ill-fated switch to Manchester United followed and, while Ighalo struggled to make an impact in the north of England – he failed to find the net in 12 league appearances – he was back to his best after again looking east.
This time, Ighalo transferred to Al Shabab in 2020 and has been one of the finest strikers in the RSL ever since. He was a crucial component of the Al Hilal side who captured the league title in 2021-22.
Only once, in that first campaign when he joined mid-season, has Ighalo failed to register double figures in goals, with returns of 24, 19 and 15 across his three full terms to date in Saudi Arabia.
His 24-goal season in 2021-22 was enough to claim Golden Boot honours as well as the top-flight trophy, as Ighalo established himself as one of the continent’s most feared strikers.
Notching at a rate of 0.7 goals per game, it marked an incredibly handy return for any frontman. With it, Ighalo’s RSL legacy was secured.
But it has to be said, this season has been more of a struggle. Nineteen games in, Ighalo has found the back of the net only four times, a poor return for someone of his quality and with his record.
Perhaps understandably given Al Wehda’s present plight, his goals-per-game ratio has dropped to a meek 0.2.
Adding to Ighalo’s frustrations this season is the fact he has missed eight big chances - twice as many as anyone else at Al Wehda, and ninth overall in the league. What the club would give, then, for some of those opportunities to have been converted into goals.
What's more, Jose Daniel Carreno’s side have surrendered the most points from winning positions of any team in the RSL this season, dropping 14 points from nine games in which they’ve taken the lead.
Clearly, those extra 14 points would have Al Wehda firmly in the top half of the table and even eyeing a spot in the top six. But the struggle goes far beyond just one player, and the club remain a curious case statistically this season.
Despite their lowly position in the table, Al Wehda rank 11th for goals scored across the campaign and their conversion rate is the fifth best in the league, at 16.2 percent. While players have spoken about an inability to take their chances, statistically [at least] they’re one of the league’s best at doing so.
Further, their shooting accuracy - which measures how many of their shots are on target - ranks fourth in the league at 50.7%, behind only Al Ittihad, Al Hilal and Al Ahli.
Yet Al Wehda’s leaky defence has been the costliest aspect of their game this season: their 46 goals conceded is a league worst. Through 19 rounds, they’ve kept a solitary clean sheet and faced the third-most shots of any side.
To get out of their quagmire, Al Wehda require a whole team effort and for their main men to stand up and make the difference. To lead from the front.
It’s what Ighalo has done throughout his career, especially in the RSL. Put plainly, it’s what Al Wehda need from him again in the final months of the season if they are to maintain top-flight status.
