21 | Rayan Ait-Nouri - 2025/26

Doesn’t seem to have any pace about him and struggles defensively, so he seems an odd signing at the moment.

He may be okay going forwards but Gvardiol and O’Reilly can do that as well.
 
Brewster's millions said:
Doesn’t seem to have any pace about him and struggles defensively, so he seems an odd signing at the moment.

He may be okay going forwards but Gvardiol and O’Reilly can do that as well.
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A lot of room for improvement and needs more game time.

Gvardiol is a CB and needs to be left there. I don’t think the club want OReilly at LB long term so made sense to buy an actual one in RAN.
 
Imo ORielly is our first choice LB. (I don't rate Gvardiol there at all)

So I'd try Ait Nouri as a left winger some time and see how effective he might be as an alternative to our other wingers. They might all compliment each other somehow.
 
TonyM said:
Imo ORielly is our first choice LB. (I don't rate Gvardiol there at all)

So I'd try Ait Nouri as a left winger some time and see how effective he might be as an alternative to our other wingers. They might all compliment each other somehow.
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Gvardiol was the best LB in the league in 23/24 and helped us win the 4 in a row by scoring 4-5 goals in the final months. Short memories.
 
I just can't take to him.
I really hope he proves me wrong and some but at the minute I don't rate him. Yes he's had injuries and is finding his feet with us but he isn't for me.
He loses the ball then hits the deck in the wrong areas of the pitch and whereas before the refs would maybe give a foul now they aren't anymore as they are becoming wise to players feeling minimal contact and falling over.
He looks scruffy too. People might think what you on about but when I played I got told if you look scruffy then you play scruffy. He looks like he's just got out of bed and straight into a game. And he plays like he's half asleep too.

Like I say I really hope he proves me wrong but imho he's a bit of a weak link at the minute.
 
Think we will have to be patient with this lad, like most others on here I think he's been shite, but he has had a rough start and hopefully once he gets used to our way of playing he we improve
 
Ait Nouri is a great dribbler. Going forward/inside he can cause the opposition trouble. But he's not a good defender.

Yet, against Swansea, Pep played him wide and apparently instructed him to stay wide. Robbing AN of his best skillset while simultaneously exposing his defensive weakness.

AN was 80% responsible for Swansea's goal IMO - he allowed the assister to move inside towards goal when he should have, instead, allowed the attacker a path outside towards the endline and should have from that point blocked a cross (or better yet, won the ball in a tackle).

Which brings me to this... based on the way that AN was played - why did we sign AN in the first place?

AN is extremely talented - but we played him to hug the line, not to dribble towards goal, and counted on to defend which is the worst part of his game.
 
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I really like him and was delighted with him signing. he had a truly awful 45 mins last night though. Early days for him, i think he will come good but we should start playing to his strengths. His strengths isnt one of the back three while the right back goes into midfield thats for sure.

long long way to go for him.
 
decmancity said:
A lot of room for improvement and needs more game time.

Gvardiol is a CB and needs to be left there. I don’t think the club want OReilly at LB long term so made sense to buy an actual one in RAN.
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Except he has already shown that he is woeful defensively.

Said in the summer we need two left backs..

For me, OReilly should be first choice at present based on performances btu as you say long term that aint his position.

Our fullback options on both sides are dire
 
manimanc said:
I just can't take to him.
I really hope he proves me wrong and some but at the minute I don't rate him. Yes he's had injuries and is finding his feet with us but he isn't for me.
He loses the ball then hits the deck in the wrong areas of the pitch and whereas before the refs would maybe give a foul now they aren't anymore as they are becoming wise to players feeling minimal contact and falling over.
He looks scruffy too. People might think what you on about but when I played I got told if you look scruffy then you play scruffy. He looks like he's just got out of bed and straight into a game. And he plays like he's half asleep too.

Like I say I really hope he proves me wrong but imho he's a bit of a weak link at the minute.
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Fully agree....big concerns over him....his attitude stinks
 
It's worth reminding those who have forgotten that he has only played one full match while fit since the start of the season, and that was away against his former club. I don't know how anyone can judge his season, which will begin in November.

The same applies to Marmoush and Cherki, and to a lesser extent to Khusanov (all four have been out for about two months).
 
For those seeking to defend him and saying he's only played 1 match this season go back and watch the the WCC against Al-Hilal, the Saudi pro side. He was a total embarrassment even when he was fully fit
 
I think he’s a similar player to Cancelo but hopefully with a better attitude. Expect flashes of brilliance going forward and defensive lapses here and there.
 
This signing worries me because I haven’t seen anything to suggest he is any good for us . Hope im wrong but his defending has been dire
 
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