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Steven Gerrard called on Al-Ettifaq's board to be 'ruthless' and make 'significant changes' in the January transfer window, with pressure mounting on him.
Al-Ettifaq are winless in eight games in almost two months and are eighth in the table – one place lower than where they finished last season.
That's despite notable summer investment, with Jordan Henderson, Georginio Wijnaldum, Demarai Gray, Moussa Dembele and Jack Hendry all called up.
However, the four clubs majority-owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund spent even more and Gerrard has urged his club's top management to take the reins to catch up.
He said: 'We have to show in this period, and also in the summer period, that we mean business and that we want to be competitive at the top of the league, not where we are now.
Steven Gerrard has demanded 'ruthless' transfers at Al-Ettifaq in a bid to move up the league
Al-Ettifaq have dropped to eighth in the league and have not won eight games despite their summer spending
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'It's a collective thing: the players here and now have to give more, and people have to step up and at the right time we will hopefully be able to make significant changes to the team and the squad.
'Hopefully you will see a different, stronger and more competitive team at the end of January.
“We've already had important meetings at Al Ettifaq in terms of mid-season updates and where each individual is, and where the group is. In summary, the message we have sent is that we have to be aggressive, we have to be ruthless and we have to make a lot of changes to make this team more competitive.”
Gerrard was speaking after a 3-1 defeat to Al-Nassr, who boast Cristiano Ronaldo, Sadio Mane, Aymeric Laporte Marcelo Brozovic and Alex Telles in their ranks.
He has just one more game left in December before the mid-season break, which will last February 15.
Al-Nassr defeated Al-Ettifaq 3–1 in their last match, leaving Gerrard's team 10 points behind the top four
A reasonable goal would be to improve on the seventh-place finish from the previous campaign and position themselves as the 'best of the rest' behind Al-Hilal, Al-Nassr, Al-Ahli and Al-Ittihad.
Despite Al-Ettifaq's excesses, the Saudi Pro League is not as easy to navigate as some might think.
A host of clubs outside the richest four have signed former Premier League and European talent.
Karim Benzema's team Al-Ittihad are struggling in sixth place and are just four points ahead of Gerrard's team despite winning the title last season and spending the summer in luxury.
A reasonable target for Gerrard's side would be to finish in sixth place, as one of the best teams behind the four biggest spenders.
Al-Taawoun and Damac have had strong seasons and have finished fourth and fifth so far.
Al-Ettifaq has been hampered in recent matches by an injury to top scorer Dembele.
Gerrard said: “We are very pleased with many individuals, both foreign and some local players. But if you look at us, once Moussa came out of the team, the weaknesses in our team came to the fore, as well as the options we had.”