Andy Thompson has been speaking about Rayan Ait-Nouri – and believes there is one way in which he can take his game to the next level for Wolves.
Ait-Nouri made headlines again last night, as he scored an equaliser against Burnley at Turf Moor to help Wolves take a point.
Wolves went 1-0 down, but the Algerian popped up just before half-time to score a great header from Pablo Sarabia‘s free-kick, which Ait-Nouri had earned – albeit a bit fortuitously.
Aside from his miss in the second-half, it was another great performance from Ait-Nouri. He showed fantastic footwork as usual, and carried the ball really well, both down the left wing and through the middle at times.
Ait-Nouri was playing further forward due to key players being absent. Former Molineux full-back Thompson really enjoys him playing there – but believe there is one thing he needs to improve…
Andy Thompson challenges Rayan Ait-Nouri to become more clinical for Wolves
Ait-Nouri scored his third goal of the season for Wolves against the Clarets, taking his tally to seven in total for the club, along with 11 assists.
But the youngster could easily have more to his name.
He should undoubtedly have finished the chance he had when Max Kilman played him in, but his effort went straight at Aro Muric.
He also had a golden chance against Aston Villa, but produced a similar finish straight at Emi Martinez.
After yesterday’s game O’Neil raved about Ait-Nouri, but did also say that he sometimes ‘looks like a left-back’ in those situations where he should score.
Thompson feels the 22-year-old has to become more clinical, saying (as quoted by Wolves official): “Don’t get me wrong, he’s still flamboyant with the way that he plays and the drag-backs and everything else, but if he’s at the top end of the pitch, I can understand it, but he’s just got to get clinical in front of goal.
“He’s got to make sure that when he’s got that chance, he takes it, because in the Premier League, you can be punished, but you also win the game and get three points by scoring that. I watched him the other day at Villa Park in the warm-up and they were shooting, and he was putting them all in the top corner – driving them, left foot, right foot, everything.
“I know it’s a different pressure cooker when you’re in the game, but he does look better when he’s going up front. How many times did he get away from them because of his pace and his ability to run with the ball? They couldn’t catch him and he did it numerous times.”
Ait-Nouri will add millions to his price tag if he becomes more clinical
Ait-Nouri has done fantastic recently having moved further up the pitch, and his haul of three goals in four games is good going, considering he is a natural full-back/wing-back.
If the £10 million star is able to become more clinical, then he is undoubtedly going to become even more sought after.
We’ve already been hearing some suggestions he could make a similar transition to that of Gareth Bale.
Most Wolves fans would probably agree at this point that he is better utilised higher up and so, he is going to need to become a bit more clinical if he is going to become a regular winger.