21 | Rayan Ait-Nouri - 2025/26

Couldn't get a game for nearly 12 months and Pep played anyone there ahead of him. Now starts every game. Riddle me that.
He's doing well for the record.
He’s been with us for 6 months of matches.

He was injured for 2 and at AFCON for 1.

He had to earn his spot in the team as NOR had been outstanding.

NOR moves to midfield and hey presto, he has his spot back.
 
Couldn't get a game for nearly 12 months and Pep played anyone there ahead of him. Now starts every game. Riddle me that.
He's doing well for the record.
We signed him last summer? Not sure where you got 12 months from. His defending, we could arguably say, has been better than his attacking.

 
Well played very tidy on the ball and his athleticism got him his assist. Looks up for it and allows Nico OR to play in midfield. Game on.
 
We signed him last summer? Not sure where you got 12 months from. His defending, we could arguably say, has been better than his attacking.



Do they have someone with a clicker watching every challenge to come up with these figures?
 
His touch on the ball is pure Mahrez
Agree. He seems to be the only one in the team I've noticed actually trap the ball,,retain possession, travel with it. A very useful skill.

I'll watch Cherki more closely next time to see if he does the same.

I'd bet a £ to a P that both Rayan's can execute marvellous Cruyff turns.
 
People still will. There are some really unhinged takes about him
Why unhinged? I've pointed out multiple times (because he does the same thing every game, more than once) that he's drawn out of position too easily. Yesterday it took just 3 minutes, leading to Calvert-Lewin's glaring miss.
Screenshot_20260301-161229.png

At the the point of the above snapshot, Ait-Nouri is out of shot back on the halfway line and the ball has just been played towards Leeds' #2. The circle isn't even visible, to give some perspective.
Nevertheless, RAN starts running towards the Leeds man, totally ignoring the space behind him.

Harrison, the eventual crosser of the ball, is the one nearest to the ref above.
RAN is oblivious to him, he just runs towards #2 then does his normal thing of stopping 5 yards short - neither challenging nor even affecting the guy looking to make the pass.

RAN has just played himself out of the game.

This is not anecdotal - he does this every game more than once. Leeds were waiting for it, and within 4 seconds Harrison was beating down upon our area whilst RAN was just crossing back over the halfway line. He's been lucky that these lapses have been ending up with either tight offside decisions, or glaring misses.

To show some balance, I must say that he was brilliant in the part he played in the goal - the point at which he decided to run, then to continue on, showed a natural attacker's instinct - in complete contrast to his lack of defending 'nous'.

Love him at one end, hate him at the other.
 
Last edited:
Why unhinged? I've pointed out multiple times (because he does the same thing every game, more than once) that he's drawn out of position too easily. Yesterday it took just 3 minutes, leading to Calvert-Lewin's glaring miss.
View attachment 185135

At the the point of the above snapshot, Ait-Nouri is out of shot back on the halfway line and the ball has just been played towards Leeds' #2. The circle isn't even visible, to give some perspective.
Nevertheless, RAN starts running towards the Leeds man, totally ignoring the space behind him.

Harrison, the eventual crosser of the ball, is the one nearest to the ref above.
RAN is oblivious to him, he just runs towards #2 then does his normal thing of stopping 5 yards short - neither challenging nor even affecting the guy looking to make the pass.

RAN has just played himself out of the game.

This is not anecdotal - he does this every game more than once. Leeds were waiting for it, and within 4 seconds Harrison was beating down upon our area whilst RAN was just crossing back over the halfway line. He's been lucky that these lapses have been ending up with either tight offside decisions, or glaring misses.

To show some balance, I must say that he was brilliant in the part he played in the goal - the point at which he decided to run, then to continue on, showed a natural attacker's instinct - in complete contrast to his lack of defending 'nous'.

Love him at one end, hate him at the other.

Why are you immediately relating yourself to being unhinged?

To be honest, I'm not going to delve into an analysis that is one screenshot which by the sounds of it is just explaining that he, and Nunes, are asked to press up.
 
Why are you immediately relating yourself to being unhinged?

To be honest, I'm not going to delve into an analysis that is one screenshot which by the sounds of it is just explaining that he, and Nunes, are asked to press up.
¹) lifelong habit, I suppose :-)

²) it's not a one-off, as I explained. The first time was on his debut at the CWC and he's been doing it ever since.

Absolutely no way that he's being coached to 'sell yourself at every opportunity'.
 
¹) lifelong habit, I suppose :-)

²) it's not a one-off, as I explained. The first time was on his debut at the CWC and he's been doing it ever since.

Absolutely no way that he's being coached to 'sell yourself at every opportunity'.

It's not an explanation, it's your opinion. I didn't state I thought it was a one-off, just that a single screenshot isn't proof of anything, and there's no point making your own quote to argue against.

What I was stating, here and elsewhere, is that both fullbacks are asked to push up to provide width & jump in the press. If you think Pep would keep him at LB if he was that detrimental, ineffective and individual in defence then I'm really surprised.
 
It's not an explanation, it's your opinion
It's also my opinion that we won 1-0, because I saw that with my own eyes, too.

So you think that his brief is to maraud forward at all costs? Unlikely, yet that was what he did, again.

As a matter of interest, how would you justify his role in that Leeds attack, without saying 'Pep instructed him to do it'?
 

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top