Disasters and excuses: Moroccan magic exposes Ronaldo and Al-Nassr on a horror night for Al-Ain

The mistake may have begun before the starting whistle. Ange Postecoglou chose to line up with a 3-4-3, a shape that clearly exposed Al-Nassr's shortcomings down the flanks.

Lacking defensive cover on both sides, the team left spaces that Al-Ain knew exactly how to exploit, turning the edges of the pitch into open gateways for the hosts' attacks.

The problem did not stop at the tactical shape. A large gap opened up between Al-Nassr's lines, and even when they tried to press, there was no real pressure to trouble Al-Ain.

Timid in the pressing, Al-Nassr allowed Al-Ain's players to bring the ball out and pass it around with ease, as if the Emirati side were playing the match without any disruption from their opponent.

Then came the individual disasters to complete what the tactical errors had started. The first goal said it all. Saad Al Nasser committed a fatal error with a misplaced pass that Hussein Rahimi seized on, firing the ball into Al-Nassr's net. The second came in almost a carbon copy: a pass from the right reached deep into Al-Nassr's defence, and Rahimi exploited it once again to slot home.

The centre was no better than the flanks, alarmingly open. It showed in the third goal, when Soufiane Rahimi received a perfect pass in the space left by Al-Nassr's defence and placed the ball into the net to deepen the collapse.

The fourth goal summed up the whole scene. Al-Nassr pushed forward with all their lines in search of a way back, so Al-Ain broke away on a quick counter that Soufiane Rahimi exploited, serving his Greek teammate a decisive pass from which he scored.

Postecoglou has returned to the same theme ever since Al-Nassr's 2-1 defeat to Al-Ittihad: the pressure of fixtures, the lack of signings, the circumstances stopping his team from performing to the required level. He repeated it after the draw with Al-Khaleej. Then he wheeled it out yet again following the disaster against Al-Ain, once more pointing to a punishing schedule.

Nobody can pretend fixture congestion has no effect on a squad, and Al-Nassr did fall short on strong signings in certain positions before the season. But the excuses have started to lose their power to explain what unfolds on the grass. When the same mistakes keep resurfacing, the identity fades and the style vanishes from match to match, you can no longer pin everything on the calendar or a thin squad.

Read also.. "Pathetic".. Al-Nassr fans stun Ronaldo and demand Postecoglou's head

Against Al-Ain, this was not merely a tired side. The whole system was suffering. The defence left gaping spaces, the pressing lacked organisation, the lines sat too far apart, and the attack barely troubled Khaled Eisa's goal.

Fatigue alone cannot account for a four-goal hammering that stemmed from a long run of tactical and individual errors.

Worse still, the endless excuses risk becoming the problem rather than the explanation. Al-Nassr do not just need their players back or fresh recruits through the door. They need to rediscover an identity on the pitch. Postecoglou has to find answers with what he has now, because the title race will not wait for his squad to find its best circumstances.

Al Ain's four goals laid bare another problem, and perhaps a more sensitive one: Cristiano Ronaldo himself. The Portuguese still has the quality and the finishing to make the difference. But treating him as though he can deliver the same pressing and movement across the full 90 minutes now needs a rethink.

Gone is the Ronaldo who could hunt the ball down as he did in his earlier years, and that made Al Ain's play out from the back far easier in many situations. 

Watch some of his sprints and it is clear the Portuguese can no longer control his pace the way fans grew used to. That is natural as he advances in age. It becomes a problem, though, when the system around him has no solutions to compensate.

Al Nassr, then, are not just suffering from defensive errors. The whole system is fragile. When they lose the ball they do not press enough, when they defend they leave spaces, and when they attack they lack continuity, while Ronaldo finds himself a long way from the version who could rescue the team single-handedly.

The night against Al Ain may amount to more than a four-goal defeat. It could be a genuine alarm bell for Al Nassr before they face bigger clubs, ones far more capable of exploiting those spaces.

You can discuss these topics and news in greater depth on the "Kooora" forums

 Al Ain exposed the flaws one after another. Hussein and Soufiane Rahimi punished almost every mistake. And if Postecoglou does not find real solutions instead of excuses, these four goals could prove just the beginning of bigger problems.