33 | Nico O'Reilly - 2025/26

[Damanino]

try him more in midfield going forward. he is ok going forward from LB but not impressed at all with his defensive work at LB.

 

[clarion]

Never a left back. Overhyped on that position.

 

[kanovic]

try him more in midfield going forward. he is ok going forward from LB but not impressed at all with his defensive work at LB.

To be frank non of our defenders look great with a high line and other players running in behind.. which is why I don’t get why we keep doing the highline. 2+ season now. Anyone can see we get outran butttttt pep

 

[WallyA]

To be frank non of our defenders look great with a high line and other players running in behind.. which is why I don’t get why we keep doing the highline. 2+ season now. Anyone can see we get outran butttttt pep

A highline with a constant change up of defenders is a formula for disaster.

Highline needs chemistry and consistency, and usually pace as well which today lacked.

 

[Blue-Ghana]

very casual in possession, and in defence. He did not overlap with Doku like he usually does. Most of the team was too afraid of losing

 

[waspish]

very casual in possession, and in defence. He did not overlap with Doku like he usually does. Most of the team was too afraid of losing

This is what happens to a young player remember he is 20 and is one of our players who has played most minutes this season! There is context for every player on the pitch that you need to take into consideration!

 

[.db.]

Rubbish when he came on. No better than Aké had been first half, got ran past with ease, I think that stat about him being our fastest player is a mistake.

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

I've been saying the same thing for a while (as per my post after the West Ham game) and I keep waiting for a left footed right winger to come inside and rip him to shreds, as he can only tackle with his left foot.

However, we're almost halfway through the season so perhaps they don't exist anymore.

Answering my own point, but there was a move today when Diallo cut inside and O'Reilly just wafted his left foot at the ball

He should also have blocked the cross for the 2nd goal, albeit they still shouldn't have scored

 

[eversince 76]

Imho you can sense he has been over-used.

 

[WallyA]

This is what happens to a young player remember he is 20 and is one of our players who has played most minutes this season! There is context for every player on the pitch that you need to take into consideration!

Yeah I was gonna say his performances have definitely dipped but he has no legs to overlap.

I said this earlier in Jan, O Reilly and Nunes are super important and have to play a lot but we can't have them bomb down the wings.

They are midfielder, just have them invert into a 235 and remove all attacking responsibility and have them just focus on helping our build up with passing and controlling counters.

This would free up the attackers too.

No more 316 especially in big games like this, its suicidal against decent teams to have a 4 man rest defense

 

[bluebanana83]

Rubbish when he came on. No better than Aké had been first half, got ran past with ease, I think that stat about him being our fastest player is a mistake.

Khusanov is clearly our fastest player followed by Nunes i’d have thought.

 

[ninjamonkey]

He's been a revelation that's just seeing his first natural dip, he'll pick up again soon, hopefully he doesnt have a second dip as the england starting spot is his for the taking, be a shame if he just drops off at the wrong time and misses out.

Don't currently see any improvement in his weak points though. You'd hope he would be picking these things up a bit quicker but the same issues with his defending remain. His distancing is all over the shop, he's either too narrow and cant intercept or get instantly tight enough to challenge for a cross field ball or he's too wide and flat footed when the ball is on his side and a simple give and go wipes him out of the game.

 

[Flawless020]

He’s slow. The number of times I seen him being outpaced by a winger are more than enough. He gets past by easily

 

[Mike S]

I fear his honeymoon period is coming to an end at left back or he at least needs a good rest. Very slow and casual when he came on yesterday which immediately got him a yellow card. Got done easily for their killer second goal (which Lewis should also have done better) and he was also culpable for Chelsea’s late equaliser the other week.

 

[waspish]

Yeah it comes to all young players he will come through this period

 

[rodrizontal]

very casual in possession, and in defence. He did not overlap with Doku like he usually does. Most of the team was too afraid of losing

Yeah, that casualness is probably why Pep does not trust him in midfield. He holds on to the ball too long for a LB. Gvardiol is a lot better at LB than O'Reilly.

 

[Manchester_lalala]

He’s slow. The number of times I seen him being outpaced by a winger are more than enough. He gets past by easily

He isn’t slow by any means. Wingers have that ability to gain a few yards with drops of shoulders, Kyle Walker often got beaten by players doing this.

 

[super_city_si]

He’s slow. The number of times I seen him being outpaced by a winger are more than enough. He gets past by easily

Hes far from slow. Maybe off the mark but at stride he’s rapid.
Hes done incredibly well in a new position. He seems to have hit the wall a little as happens with all young players suddenly introduced to regular first team football.
No worries at all with this lad being a star

 

[super_city_si]

He's been a revelation that's just seeing his first natural dip, he'll pick up again soon, hopefully he doesnt have a second dip as the england starting spot is his for the taking, be a shame if he just drops off at the wrong time and misses out.

Don't currently see any improvement in his weak points though. You'd hope he would be picking these things up a bit quicker but the same issues with his defending remain. His distancing is all over the shop, he's either too narrow and cant intercept or get instantly tight enough to challenge for a cross field ball or he's too wide and flat footed when the ball is on his side and a simple give and go wipes him out of the game.

As pep mentioned when asked about Alleyne, we don’t have time for any actual coaching right now. It game to game to game with recovery in between.
He had max watch videos to learn some patterns.

 

[stan bowles]

Prefer to see him in CM if Nico G is injured. Gives us that physical presence and more often than not, we need it.