Why is Inzaghi doing Ruben Neves an injustice at Al Hilal? A gem in the wrong place!

The Italian coach does not know how to use the Portuguese star in the required manner!

Al Hilal have one of the finest midfielders around at controlling a game's tempo and carving out chances with exceptional passing. The paradox? Simone Inzaghi isn't getting the best out of Ruben Neves in a way that suits his abilities. The Italian has shuffled the Portuguese through different roles and positions, well away from his natural slot as a holding midfielder, where he could wield far greater influence in building play and running Al Hilal's attacking system.

Neves has kept delivering eye-catching performances since Inzaghi took charge, yet the way he's being deployed raises questions about how much the team is actually benefiting from his best qualities. Rather than being handed the freedom to control midfield and thread the passes that break opposition lines, he sometimes finds himself in the back line, papering over problems in building out from defence. The cost is obvious: he's nowhere near the areas where he makes the difference.

Neves in the back line: a solution to a problem or a waste of his potential?

Al Hilal's build-up from the back is the root of it, especially against sides who press high and squeeze the space.

Neither centre-back is consistently equipped to play out or pick out an accurate long pass into the final third, so Inzaghi has turned to Neves to beat the press from deeper areas.

That fix comes at a technical cost. Drop Neves in alongside the defenders and Al Hilal lose the man who sets the midfield tempo and dictates from deep. It also drags him away from the zones where he feeds the forwards and manufactures chances. The Portuguese offers more than passing accuracy. He reads space superbly and knows exactly when to shift the ball from build-up into attack.

Granted, he can still ping accomplished long balls into the final third from those deeper positions. The holding role, though, hands him a far wider menu: vertical passes between the lines, switches of play, or taking the ball under pressure and reshaping the attack.

So the issue isn't whether he can handle the defensive side of it. It's that he's being used too often away from the area where he hurts opponents most.

Neves' numbers expose the paradox

None of that makes dropping Neves into the back line a mistake. Against certain opponents it can be exactly the right call, particularly when Al Hilal need someone who can pass cleanly under pressure.

Make it a recurring option, though, and the risks pile up. Al Hilal lose their grip on midfield, and Neves ends up patching over build-up problems rather than giving them a numerical and technical edge further up the pitch.

Inzaghi has to find the balance between the quality of his build-up and what Neves offers in midfield. That could mean returning him to the holding role more often, or finding other solutions that let the defenders start attacks without dragging the Portuguese back. Used in his natural position, Neves gives Al Hilal far more scope to break down defensive blocks and dictate the tempo, with his vertical passing and chance creation thrown in.

So no, Inzaghi isn't failing to benefit from Neves. The numbers show a player who has been a major addition. The question is whether the coach is squeezing everything out of him.

This is not just a man who can shift the ball from the back. He's a pivot who can control a match and decide it from deep. Deploy him better and the Portuguese becomes an even more dangerous weapon in Al Hilal's system, rather than spending half his energy mopping up build-up problems.