العربيةSeason2025/262026 · this seasonAll seasons
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Player reportSerie A 2025/26

Neil El Aynaoui

RBL
Ball-winning 6 (destroyer) DM
12.1 defensive actions/90
defensive midtempo controllerpress resistancescreening
1099
minutes
25 apps
603
passes
88% completed
88%
pass completion
603 passes
45
progressive passes
3.7/90
148
defensive actions
12.1/90
37
tackles + interceptions
50% tackle win
53
recoveries
4.3/90
30
line-breaking passes
2.5/90
Overview

The player

Who he is and how he compares with his peers.

01

What Patterns Define Him?

His repeatable signature. A step only appears if its reliability score (sample size × match coverage) reaches at least Medium confidence — pattern mining, not anecdotes.

RECEIVE
drop between the centre-backs — mostly in the middle third (60% of his 603 passes)
88% completion · 603× in 25/25 matches
↓
ESCAPE PRESSURE
turn out of a tight central area
45% won · 20× in 14/25 matches
↓
PROGRESS CENTRAL
break a line through the middle
3.7 prog/90 · 30× in 16/25 matches
↓
SCREEN / WIN BALL
protect the back four
7.4 ball-wins/90 · 90× in 25/25 matches
↓
RECYCLE / PROGRESS
keep it ticking, feed the final third
3.4 f3-entries/90 · 41× in 17/25 matches
Signature: drop to receive → escape the press on the turn → progress centrally or recycle → screen the counter. Block the central lane and press his first touch to force him backwards.
17

Where is he influential — vs where is he merely present?

Red fill = raw touch territory. Gold rings = zones where his influence (xT added, progression, line-breaks, key passes) outweighs how often he's actually there — one combined map instead of two separate maps to compare by eye. Red with no ring: present but not dangerous. A ring on faint red: rare touches, outsized impact.

own goal left, attacking →
24
passes / match
12.1
def actions / 90
1–54
pass range (matches)
16
clearances
Pass range = his fewest and most passes in any single match this season (1 at the low end, 54 at the high) — a measure of match-to-match involvement, not pass distance.
In possession

In possession

What he does with the ball: build-up, progression, creation, carrying and finishing.

11

How dangerous are his carries?

Real ball-carries

151 tracked carries (12.4/90, 30 progressive, 1343m total) — the ball moving with his touches, a different signal from dribbles below (beating an opponent 1v1). even a player who rarely dribbles past a man can still carry the ball forward constantly in build-up; this is that.

1%5%6%9%5%1%12%15%11%2%1%3%10%11%5%3%
progressivelateral/short% of his 151 carries originating in each zone · own goal left, attacking →
Every carry, exact path — median 6m, longest 49m
By zone — where the carry started → where it ended
11Outside → Inside
109Inside → Inside
18Outside → Outside
13Inside → Outside
First (42)Second (40)Third (38)Fourth (31)grouped by carry pattern (start + end position), largest group first
startendown goal left, attacking →

Beaten in the tackle

How often an attacker gets past him in a 1v1 defensive duel — the closest signal the data has to "dribbled past" (no attacker-beat-defender field exists directly, so this counts tackles he attempted and lost).

20
tackle duels
10
won
10
beaten · 50%
brighter band = more tackle duels · own goal left, attacking →
INSIDE 65%
OUTSIDE 35%
Tackle-duel location — 13 inside · 7 outside
Right Wing
5 · 25%
Right Half-Space
3 · 15%
Central
8 · 40%
Left Half-Space
2 · 10%
Left Wing
2 · 10%
Vision AI beaten in 10 of 20 tackle duels (50% loss rate) — a real defensive leak worth flagging.
Every tackle duel, exact location
wonlost — dribbled pastown goal left, attacking →

Dribbles (1v1s)

Can he escape pressure on the ball? His carries/dribbles in tight central areas, by channel. Season rate: 1.64 dribbles attempted /90.

brighter band = more dribbles · own goal left, attacking →
INSIDE 70%
OUTSIDE 30%
Dribble location — 14 inside · 6 outside
Right Wing
5 · 25%
Right Half-Space
2 · 10%
Central
8 · 40%
Left Half-Space
4 · 20%
Left Wing
1 · 5%
Vision AI 70% of his carries are central — he receives and turns in congested midfield zones rather than out wide.
02

How does he build & move the ball?

How does he escape the first line?

13%
vertical passes
38×
3%
switches
10×
32%
carries
97×
52%
short circulation
156×
Answer: he escapes the press primarily through carrying — stepping out with the ball.

How he moves the ball — his 4 busiest progression routes, not where every pass starts and ends separately. Arrow width = how often, colour = xT gained, dashed = switch of play. The full breakdown is in the lane matrix below.

own goal left, attacking →
Lane transition matrix — when he receives in a lane, where does it go?
TO →RWRHSCLHSLWRW9059%5322%2019%17RHS13441%5524%3225%3310%14C12320%2524%2924%3020%2511%14LHS1222%214%1728%3418%2239%47LW6018%1128%1753%32FROM
Rows normalised: each row sums to 100% of that lane's completed passes. Grey number = passes from that lane.

Primary route: the right wing in the middle third → the right half-space in the middle third — 4 progressive passes (9% of his progression) at 0.020 xT each. He moves it inside.

His progression is inward: 52% of progressive passes move the ball toward the middle versus 2% going wider — he cuts in rather than holding width.

10% of his passes are cross-field switches — he changes the point of attack often.

Quality behind the volume: 13 line-breaking passes and 41 final-third entries, 5.3 total xT added.

Origin and destination are measured on the same event row — no receiver inference. Receiver identity is not recoverable from this data source.
All passes — origin zone share
Filter: from to
1%6%10%10%7%2%0%7%11%11%4%0%1%8%11%7%2%2%
completedincomplete603 passes · any zone → any zone · own goal left, attacking →
603
passes
88%
completed
74
lost
Vision AIIn line with his 88% season completion rate.
03

How does he progress play?

How much he drives the ball forward. Progressive = completed pass advancing ≥15 toward goal.

45
progressive · 3.7/90
41
final-third entries · 3.4/90
8
box entries · 0.66/90
17
progression index /90
Progression index: one composite number — progressive passes + progressive carries + 2% of total distance progressed + 8× positive xT added, all per 90. Weights VOLUME and THREAT together rather than counting progressive actions alone.
12

How does he create chances?

12 key passes (0.98/90), 0 of them assists — where his chance creation specifically comes from, 18 zones (6×3), showing his share of key passes originating there.

Chance creation — key pass origin zone share
Filter:
10%20%10%40%10%10%
chance creation (10)assist (0)% of the selected group's key passes originating in each zone
05

Where does he become vulnerable?

85 times he gave the ball away. For a defender the danger is where — a loss in his own third can turn into a chance against; higher up it costs little.

23
attacking third (cheap)
47
middle third
15
own third (dangerous)
Vision AI 27% of losses are in the attacking third — a notable share happen deeper, which invites transitions.
Mistake danger (proxy): 2.29 danger-index/90 · 0.329 avg/turnover. Weights each loss by threat conceded at that location. True xT-conceded needs the opponent possession model; positional proxy.
06

What is his passing profile?

603
passes attempted
46%
mostly forward
53%
mostly medium
Direction
Forward
277 · 46%
Sideways
186 · 31%
Backward
140 · 23%
Length (completed)
Short (<15m)
224 · 42%
Medium
279 · 53%
Long (>30m)
26 · 5%
07

Preferred Progression Routes — xT-weighted

His progressive passes as zone→zone routes, weighted by expected threat (xT) added — arrow width and the number are the total xT generated on each route, not just how often he plays it. This is where he actually moves the needle.

0.360.300.260.190.170.15
own goal left, attacking →
Highest-value routes (xT)
0.36
Right Half-Space Mid third → Right Half-Space Att third
1 passes · 1 to a shot
0.30
Right Half-Space Mid third → Right Half-Space Mid third
3 passes
0.26
Right Half-Space Att third → Central Att third
1 passes · 1 to a shot
0.19
Right Half-Space Att third → Right Half-Space Att third
1 passes
0.17
Left Half-Space Mid third → Left Wing Mid third
4 passes
0.15
Right Half-Space Def third → Right Wing Mid third
4 passes
09

Where Does He Receive?

The zones where Neil El Aynaoui gets on the ball — his top three ball-collection areas highlighted (gold = primary). Reception is proxied by where his on-ball actions begin (no explicit receiver is recorded).

123
1 = primary, 2 = secondary, 3 = third · own goal left, attacking →
His collection zones
15%
Primary
Central, Middle third
14%
Secondary
Right Half-Space, Middle third
13%
Third
Left Half-Space, Middle third
These are the zones where he collected the ball most.
10

Where Does He Operate? — Every Zone

Every on-ball touch (pass, dribble, shot) binned into a 6×3 grid — raw counts of where Neil El Aynaoui actually gets on the ball. Hover any zone for its breakdown by action type, its share of all touches, and the exact coordinate range it covers.

Filter:
84868421211242666928683763634412
own goal left, attacking → · brighter + higher number = more touches

Passes only — completed vs incomplete, by zone

Same zone grid, restricted to passes so completed/incomplete and match filters actually mean something — a shot or a dribble has no "completed" in the pass sense.

1%6%10%10%7%2%0%7%11%11%4%0%1%8%11%7%2%2%
own goal left, attacking →
08

Every Pass This Season — completed vs incomplete

Every pass this season, plotted individually — green = completed, grey (dashed) = incomplete, gold = key pass. Filter by outcome or isolate one match below.

12Key pass
3Cross
1Cutback
45Progressive
30Long ball
17Switch
By zone — where the pass started → where it landed
65Outside → Inside
236Inside → Inside
85Outside → Outside
143Inside → Outside
By direction
277Forward
140Backward
186Sideways
own goal left, attacking →
04

Tactical patterns — how his football actually looks

Three clustered sequence diagrams from his own event data — his three busiest routes: the way he progresses, the pattern behind his chances, and where a turnover turns dangerous.

own goal left, attacking →
How does he progress the ball forward?
His most common route for progressing play: he plays straight through the right hs, advancing it forward in the middle third — 1 passes worth 0.36 xT.
Where do his chances come from?
Of 12 key passes, his busiest route is a delivery where he plays straight through the central in the final third — 4 times. The receiver isn't identifiable in this data, only where the pass started and ended.
Where does he lose the ball most?
This is a RATE, not a raw count — the share of his touches in each zone that end in a turnover, so a zone he simply plays in more often doesn't automatically look riskier. His weakest zone is the left wing in the final third: 44% of his 16 touches there are lost (7 times).
19%3/16 lost3%1/36 lost17%5/30 lost7%3/45 lost20%3/15 lost16%9/57 lost11%10/90 lost10%9/91 lost8%6/76 lost15%7/46 lost15%5/34 lost17%4/23 lost11%2/18 lost0%0/10 lost44%7/16 lostRWRHSCLHSLWDEFMIDATT
Out of possession

Out of possession

Where and how he defends and presses.

13

How & where does he defend?

148 defensive actions across the season (12.1/90). Where he wins the ball, and how — the core question for a defender. Aerial duels are not recorded for this competition, so aerial dominance is not measured here.

click a card to isolate that action type · own goal left, attacking →
20
tackles · 50% won
17
interceptions · 1.4/90
53
recoveries · 4.3/90
16
clearances · 1.3/90
8
blocks
42
avg action height
24
won high (att 3rd)
69
middle third
55
own third
Vision AI A mid-block defender. He wins the ball mainly by stepping in — tackles, interceptions & recoveries outweigh clearances. 90 proactive ball-wins (7.4/90), tackle success 50%. He defends high, stepping out to intercept — suits a high line.
14

Can he play under pressure?

Split by how hard the opponent pressed (opponent PPDA — lower = more intense press). Can Neil El Aynaoui still play out when the opponent presses high? His build-up quality split by press intensity — the key question for a ball-playing defender. Tiers of ~8-9 matches — directional evidence, not proof.

press tier
completion
prog /90
line-breaks /90
xT /90
High press (PPDA 5.7, 8m)
84%
2.9
2.7
0.84
Mid press (PPDA 7.2, 8m)
88%
1.5
2.7
0.65
Low press (PPDA 9.1, 9m)
91%
5.7
2.1
1.30
Team

Team context

How much of the team runs through him, and what changes without him.

15

Impact on the Team

RBL's output per match with Neil El Aynaoui (25 matches) versus without him (13 matches). What his own defending should move — goals conceded and results — leads; attacking output (largely out of a defender's hands) is shown after, for context. A proper on-off model needs many more minutes.

WITH (25)
WITHOUT (13)
Δ
goals against /match
0.72
1.00
-0.28
points /match
2.04
1.69
+0.35
goals for /match
1.52
1.62
-0.10
xG for /match
1.36
0.47
+0.90
16

His Share of the Team

Of everything RBL produced this season, the categories where the biggest share ran through Neil El Aynaoui specifically — his share of the team total, not a per-90 rate.

category
share
him / team
interceptions
6%
27 / 475
tackles
4%
33 / 811
successful take-ons
4%
14 / 357
Recruitment

Style and verdict

Style profile, closest comparables, and the summary.

18

Playing-Style Profile

Not raw event counts — football style scores: weighted models scored 0–100 against the 260 defensive mids in the pool (min 450 min). This is what separates players who post similar numbers but play differently. Proxy dimensions are inferred from on-ball data; true off-ball running / under-pressure context is not measured.

Tempo controller82%Deep-lying playmaker78%Ball-winning 669%
Why Tempo controller 82%: a weighted blend of retention 83 (weight 35%) + build-up 83 (weight 30%) + press resistance 72 (weight 20%) + progression 55 (weight 15%). The score reflects how distinctively his profile SHAPE matches this archetype vs his peers.
Elite
—
Strong
retention, build-up, carrying, dribbling, press resistance, crossing, box threat
Average
defensive aggression, transition, ball-winning, receiving zones, final-third threat, progression, passing directness, through-balls, territory (wide vs central), creativity
Weak
line-breaking
Unknown
aerial ability, marking, off-ball running — not in event data
Retention
83
Build-up
83
Carrying
76
Dribbling
74
Press resistance ~proxy
72
Crossing
71
Box threat
70
Defensive aggression
65
Transition ~proxy
62
Ball-winning
61
Receiving zones
60
Final-third threat
57
Progression
55
Passing directness
53
Through-balls ~proxy
51
Territory (wide vs central)
51
Creativity
49
Line-breaking
39
19

Similar Players — in style space

Closest comparables measured on the style scores above, within the same position family — so it separates how players are alike, not just how much they touch the ball. Each line explains the shared strength and the divergent mechanism. A light physical-profile term (height / weight; this player: 185 cm / 80 kg) is included at a quarter of one style axis's weight — enough to break ties between stylistic twins, not to override style. Scope: pooled across the Serie A, Bundesliga, La Liga, Ligue 1 and Premier League, percentiled within each player's own league before comparing — a match from another league is marked with its league name.

Style, not quality: a high match here means two players tend to produce the ball in similar ways — it is not a ranking, a scouting recommendation, or a claim that they are equally good.

Shea Charles Fulham · Premier League · 189 cm / 87 kg
82%
Driven by: build-up (26%), retention (18%), press resistance (13%). Different mechanism — Aynaoui more via territory (wide vs central), passing directness; Charles more via final-third threat.
Himad Abdelli Marseille · Ligue 1 · 185 cm / 81 kg
73%
Driven by: carrying (17%), box threat (14%), retention (12%). Different mechanism — Aynaoui more via passing directness; Abdelli more via final-third threat, line-breaking.
Samir El Mourabet Strasbourg · Ligue 1 · 187 cm / 72 kg
71%
Driven by: build-up (22%), press resistance (18%), retention (17%). Different mechanism — Aynaoui more via territory (wide vs central), box threat; Mourabet more via line-breaking.
Ellyes Skhiri Koln · Bundesliga · 185 cm / 74 kg
67%
Driven by: build-up (32%), retention (20%), carrying (14%). Different mechanism — Aynaoui more via box threat, dribbling; Skhiri more via through-balls, creativity.
Pierre-Emile Højbjerg Marseille · Ligue 1 · 187 cm / 81 kg
61%
Driven by: retention (18%), carrying (13%), press resistance (12%). Different mechanism — Aynaoui more via ball-winning, territory (wide vs central); Højbjerg more via passing directness, line-breaking.
Pape Matar Sarr Juventus · 185 cm / 80 kg
60%
Driven by: press resistance (18%), carrying (17%), retention (15%). Different mechanism — Aynaoui more via build-up, through-balls; Sarr more via receiving zones, creativity.
20

Summary

Neil El Aynaoui is a tempo controller / deep-lying playmaker: 88% completion, 30 line-breaks and 3.7 progressive passes /90, resisting pressure with 45% dribble success. A central controller. [Off-ball screening position and scanning need tracking data.]

Based on 25 matches (1099 minutes) — a reasonable read, still building toward a full-season sample. He profiles as a tempo controller / deep-lying playmaker — best used in a system built around that identity. His biggest room for growth is progression — even a modest improvement there would meaningfully lift his overall tempo controller profile.
✨ This report is interactive

Click any stat card to filter its map, hover a dot for the exact match, and use the dropdowns to slice passes zone-to-zone. Nothing here is static.

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