Al-Ittihad drop Lopy and Simic for Al-Ettifaq: Wissing picks eight foreigners and prioritises control

At midday on Monday, the Al-Ittihad travelling party left for Dammam without Dion Lopy and Karlo Simic. According to Arriyadiyah, coach Jens Wissing has cut both from his plans and is taking exactly eight foreign players to Tuesday’s 9 p.m. meeting with Al-Ettifaq in Roshn League round 10. The eight are Predrag Rajkovic, Danilo Pereira, Houssem Aouar, Steven Bergwijn, Georginio Wijnaldum, Youssef En-Nesyri, George Ilenikhena and Richard Rios. Ahmed Al-Ghamdi is back after a calf injury that kept him out of the 2-1 defeat to Shabab Al-Ahli in the AFC Champions League Elite. A travelling list that looks like paperwork maps Wissing’s priorities: one fewer ball-winner, one fewer reserve centre-back, more ball-carriers and more runners into the box.

Al-Ittihad arrive in Dammam under close scrutiny. They lost 3-2 to Al-Hilal in the Clasico and 2-1 to Shabab Al-Ahli in Asia in their last two matches, scoring three and conceding five. In the Roshn League they are fourth on 17 points, five behind the leaders, with a postponed game against Al-Shabab still to play. When football stops rolling, I begin to hear the breathing of data: 17 points is not a fatal gap, but five goals conceded in two games is a signal about defensive structure. Al-Ettifaq at home will pose a different test: less ball, more transitions, and the kind of moments a big club must control with positioning rather than reputation.

The starting XI is a photograph; the real picture is in the tempo of the first thirty minutes. With eight foreigners, Wissing can set a clear vertical spine: Rajkovic in goal, Danilo Pereira at centre-back or dropping into the No. 6 role, Aouar between the lines, Bergwijn and Wijnaldum providing width, En-Nesyri as the spearhead, Ilenikhena as the speed option and Rios as the ball-carrier. That selection suggests Al-Ittihad want more possession, to push Al-Ettifaq into a low block and to win second balls around the box.

Lopy’s absence leaves a gap that is hard to cover: there is no specialist defensive midfielder to win the first screening challenge. Rios can duel, Wijnaldum can read situations and Aouar can drop deep, but none of them has the exact profile of a ball-winner. Wissing is likely accepting a trade-off: better control, fewer tactical fouls, but more risk in the space behind the midfield. If Danilo has to play centre-back, the midfield becomes even thinner in its ability to absorb counter-attacks. That is the point a team conceding five in two games must solve before thinking about how many it can score.

Simic’s omission tells a similar story in defence. Al-Ittihad lose a reserve centre-back, but can cover with Danilo and domestic options. Wissing is not cutting quality at random; he is cutting duplication. Wissing’s eight-foreigner list is a design for a match that requires control, not a verdict on Lopy or Simic. Al-Ghamdi’s return supports that reading: a domestic midfielder back from a calf injury can fill the rotation gap, allowing Wissing to keep foreign slots for positions that change the final third.

Over years of watching training sessions and travelling lists, I have seen coaches rarely leave out the worst player. They leave out the least suitable player for the match script. Lopy is a midfielder who needs the ball to show his duelling; Simic is a centre-back who needs a deep block to protect the space behind him. Away to Al-Ettifaq, Wissing may want a higher line, longer spells of possession and fewer open-space defences. In that game, a ball-playing midfielder like Aouar and an off-ball runner like Wijnaldum are worth more than a pure destroyer.

People remember goals; I remember the Tuesday afternoon training session before a big match. In those sessions, coaches usually test two scripts: a possession XI and a pressure XI. The list for Dammam shows Wissing has chosen the first as his default, on condition that the domestic players hold their distances when the ball is lost.

Al-Ettifaq will not need much of the ball to cause problems. A home side facing Al-Ittihad often concedes territory, keeps a compact block near the box and waits for midfield turnovers. In that moment, Lopy’s value lies in his ability to break rhythm before the opponent transitions. Wissing can use Rios there, but Rios is a carrier; if he drops too deep, Al-Ittihad lose a link in midfield. The task is to keep Aouar in the receiving position between the lines without leaving space immediately behind him.

The schedule is another variable. Al-Ittihad have just played in Asia, have travelled, and still have the postponed Al-Shabab game ahead. An eight-foreigner list reflects not only the next opponent but also how Wissing manages load. He needs players who can deliver 90 minutes at high intensity while keeping a few game-changers on the bench. Ilenikhena is the speed option; Bergwijn is the one-v-one option; Wijnaldum is the experience option. Leaving out Lopy and Simic may be a way to reduce the number of players learning a new role in an away match.

In their last two games, Al-Ittihad scored three and conceded five. That ratio tells a clear story: they can still create, but they cannot hold their shape after losing the ball. Wissing is trying to change that by adding ball-players and removing pure clearers. That is why Aouar, Bergwijn and Wijnaldum are in, and Lopy is out. With Simic, the story is defensive depth: Al-Ittihad need a centre-back who can play long passes, but Wissing trusts the domestic options and Danilo more than a reserve foreign slot.

From a squad-management view, keeping eight foreigners is also a way to protect the dressing room. The players left out are not on the bus, but the message to the group is clear: minutes are allocated by match script, not by reputation. A coach in a high-pressure league needs that consistency, because every round can turn a small choice into a large debate.

From outside, dropping Lopy and Simic will be read as instability. That reading misses a fact: on an away trip, the foreign list is a risk-allocation tool. Wissing is not saying who is better; he is allocating eight slots to the positions hardest to replace. Rajkovic cannot be replaced by a domestic goalkeeper of equivalent level. En-Nesyri is a spearhead with no domestic substitute. Aouar and Bergwijn produce the kind of moments Al-Ettifaq’s defence struggle to predict. Rios is the only one who can duel and carry the ball at speed. Keeping those eight names shows Wissing is protecting the spine rather than the depth.

The real risk lies elsewhere. If Al-Ettifaq sit deep and counter with long passes behind the defence, Al-Ittihad will need a screen in front of the back line. Lopy is that option; Rios can do it but loses his ability to push higher. If Danilo plays centre-back, Aouar and Wijnaldum must share the tackling duty, and one midfield turnover can become an Al-Ettifaq chance. The blind spot of this list is that it looks attacking, yet it places heavy trust in the positional defending of the domestic players.

Al-Ittihad do not lack foreigners; they lack a low-rhythm organiser. In their last two defeats they scored three and conceded five. The team can create, but cannot keep structure after losing the ball. Wissing is trying to fix that by adding ball-players and removing pure clearers. It is a rational tactical gamble, but it only works if the domestic players win their duels in the middle third.

The match in Dammam will be decided not by the eight-foreigner list but by the first 30 minutes. If Al-Ittihad hold their distances, force Al-Ettifaq into long balls and win most second balls, Wissing will be seen as a good reader of the game. If they expose the space behind Rios and Aouar, the list will become the explanation for a defeat. I will set a conditional forecast: Al-Ittihad win only if En-Nesyri touches the ball at least six times inside the box and the team do not concede from a direct counter-attack. If either condition breaks, the game falls into a chase, and people will remember Lopy more than the neat possession spells.

What matters after the match is whether Al-Ittihad can turn that list into a positioning-based defensive system, rather than who was left out. A big club learns to win without the ball; that is a more durable measure than any foreign list.