Wolves lost their quarter-final FA Cup clash with Coventry City – but Dave Edwards believes two players can hold their heads high, including Rayan Ait-Nouri.
Wolves missed out on a chance to go to Wembley, losing 3-2 at Molineux.
It was a deeply frustrating result, with Wolves going 2-1 in the 88th minute, after goals from Ait-Nouri and Hugo Bueno.
But Coventry found two late goals to win it, and Gary O’Neil‘s side now have to stew on the result over the international break. The manager refused to let the players take any blame after the game, but he will no doubt have been frustrated with the way his side let the result slip.
Credit must go to Coventry for their performance, but Wolves just weren’t at it.
Despite this, Dave Edwards believes Rayan Ait-Nouri deserves credit for his performance…
Dave Edwards hails Rayan Ait-Nouri who’s ‘going from strength to strength’ at Wolves
Ait-Nouri was superb once again for Wolves at the weekend.
After assisting Pablo Sarabia’s header against Sheffield United, and scoring against Fulham, the Algeria international made two more big contributions on Saturday.
He popped up in the box to fire Wolves level, before then carrying the ball and slipping Bueno in with a perfect pass for the second goal.
In the absence of Matheus Cunha, Pedro Neto and Hwang Hee-chan, it has been important for someone to step up and he has certainly done that in recent weeks.
Writing in his latest E&S column, Molineux legend Dave Edwards said: “When you look at the starting XI and the subs, not many players can come out with a huge amount of credit in terms of reaching their normal level of performance, except maybe Rayan Ait-Nouri, who is going from strength to strength in a Wolves shirt.
“Jose Sa had a good game too, making several important saves, but apart from that, and you have not been able to say this many times this season at all, too many players were well below par.”
What an amazing prospect Ait-Nouri is
Ait-Nouri was decisive again for Wolves on Saturday and it will be important for him to continue being impactful with Pedro Neto and Hwang Hee-chan out for the foreseeable.
The £10 million signing from Angers is in his best moment since he came to the club, with his end product improving all the time. That is something he’s needed to improve, given the advanced positions he takes up.
Watching Ait-Nouri is a joy.
His technical quality and technique – which Hwang has mentioned as being the best in the squad – is incredible for one still so young, and he really does stand to become one of the best left wing-backs around later in his career. That is of course, if he does not wind up playing further up the pitch.