All is well at Wolves, after the team recorded their fourth Premier League win over Tottenham Hotspur.
Wolves have pulled clear of the relegation zone in recent weeks, despite the four-game suspension of Matheus Cunha.
Wolves were rocked when Cunha got a red card against Bournemouth in the FA Cup last month.
But to many people’s surprise, Wolves have managed just fine without the Brazilian. Alan Shearer even feels Wolves looked better without Cunha.
He made a goalscoring return though against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, but it remains to be seen how much Vitor Pereira will lean on him for these remaining games.
But one player who looks set to continue playing a lot for the rest of the campaign is Rayan Ait-Nouri, who has impressed former Wolves defender Lee Naylor.
Lee Naylor suggests Rayan Ait-Nouri has become a more mature footballer
Ait-Nouri had a bit of a shaky start to the current season.
Wolves were hopeless defensively under Gary O’Neil, and the Algerian struggled positionally in the opening weeks of 2024/25.
He had been superb last season.
But there were concerns about Ait-Nouri’s defending when Wolves started the season with a back four.
But since Wolves switched formation and he started playing as a wing-back, he has been much better. And, like a lot of his teammates, he’s improved a lot since Pereira arrived.
Against Spurs, he scored and assisted, meaning he now has 10 goal contributions this season – no Premier League defender has more. Ait-Nouri’s assist also now means he has 10 for Wolves in the Premier League, a club record for a defender.
Lee Naylor was left impressed by Ait-Nouri’s display, and believes the youngster as been more mature lately.
He said (via Wolves official): “He’s gone away from the madness – the flicks in areas that he shouldn’t be doing stuff. Whether that’s maturity or the manager’s influence, you can see it in his play.
“He hasn’t been getting forward as much as he normally does, but he’s been right at it the last few games.”
Gary O’Neil said he was trying to take a bit of the madness out of Ait-Nouri
Ait-Nouri’s technical ability is extremely impressive and always has been.
But previously, he has been criticised for overplaying, not simplifying his game and choosing the wrong option.
Gary O’Neil said Ait-Nouri was ‘mad’, but that the sky was the limit for him.
The former manager had said: “Love Rayan. He’s mad, firstly, and you can see he’s mad in the way he plays. We’re trying to take some of that out of him. First job was trying to get him through 90 minutes. We’ve improved his fitness levels.
“But he’s one you can improve. I don’t think he’s done too much work in understanding the tactical side of the game. He’s a great one to work with. He’s fully committed to everything. There’s a lot of room for improvement with the raw talent he has, if we can just harness it a little bit.
“If we can give him a little bit of understanding and calm down some of the craziness, the sky’s the limit for Rayan.”
Perhaps we are now seeing Ait-Nouri – who Jean-Ricner Bellegarde thinks is now the league’s best left-back – harnessing his madness a bit.
Certainly, over the past few weeks he has not looked weak defensively or frustrated people in terms of overplaying.
The fact that he’s looking more well-rounded can only be a good thing for Wolves.