"Today we deserved to win but we missed many chances, and we missed a penalty kick, but overall we deserved to win,” said Mancini.

"If we had scored the penalty kick against Indonesia and in today's match as well, we would have had nine points. I tried everything I could, and I used all the attackers but we were not successful.”

Mancini said Saudi Arabia’s forwards are currently not at the level he believes they should be at.

"Offensively, we are not at the required level. I used all the strikers with me to improve the situation but we were not lucky. This is not a matter of the moment, it is from a past moment and continues until now.

"During this year, we had many players at young ages, and some of them unfortunately do not play with their clubs. We developed as a team, but more work is required from the attacking players Abdullah Radif, Firas Al Brikan, Salem Al Dawsari and Saleh Al Shehri."

Up next for Saudi Arabia are Australia away with both teams - tied on five points with Bahrain - needing victory to boost their hopes of earning automatic qualification to the FIFA World Cup. 

Bahrain and head coach Dragan Talajic took plenty of encouragement from the draw, which was secured thanks to goalkeeper Ebrahim Lutfallah’s heroics which included denying Al Dawsari from the penalty spot as well as showing resilience despite playing the final 20 minutes with a man less after Sayed Hashim Isa went off injured.

"I congratulate my players for this performance and for fighting on the pitch, they faced a strong team, but my players played with spirit,” said Talajic.

“We got a valuable point, and the race is still long to qualify for the World Cup, and I hope that both teams qualify together for the Finals.”

Bahrain’s bid for a first FIFA World Cup Finals appearance continues with a home tie against China PR on November 14.