Ainsley Maitland-Niles: Midfielder or in deNile?

[boonthegoon]

Think Ainsley will feature a lot more this season than people think as I see Teta deploying mainly a 3-4-3.

View attachment 4490

this is too defensive. Maybe ok against the big 6.

For other teams it should be

Auba
ESR Ode (Pepe alternate for 1 of them)
Saka Xhaka Partey Tomi/AMN
Tierney Gabriel White (Tomi can slot in case of injuries)

In this case AMN is back up only though but for both RWB and CM

 

[OSBK]

I have never been a big fan. I felt he was to casual and not intense enough for cm, concentration was lacking for rb. But when his tweet came out i felt sorry and ashamed that a player felt he had to goto those lengths to be heard. I do hope he gets some minutes and gets a good move away.

 

[bakaboo]

No matter what formation Arteta used, it will not work unless he change the tactics. From what I saw from the past few matches, he over committed his men when attacking. Central passing too slow and full backs to high up. When the ball change over, a few direct passes will slice up our defence.

 

[MikelHadADream]

Think Ainsley will feature a lot more this season than people think as I see Teta deploying mainly a 3-4-3.

View attachment 4490

Our best 11 imo. I'd put Tierney at LCB though and Saka at LWB, with ESR in the front 3. Potentially against weaker opposition (not City) move Ødegaard in next to Partey and play Pepe on the right.

 

[Oxeki]

Not the club. Big Sam is the one that provided this comment.

Despite the fact that AMN has repeatedly said that he's happy to play anywhere he's called upon?

 

[Blankety Blank]

Despite the fact that AMN has repeatedly said that he's happy to play anywhere he's called upon?

Go on i will bite where has he said that repeatedly recently?

All ive seen was ornstein saying he will but tbh that looked more like a briefing from AMN or his agent for damage limitation after he decided to be a child on insta.

Also i go by what i see he went to WBA to play Midfield last season FACT. I know he didnt get many minutes here at FB last season but when he did lets not gloss over the fact that he was poor & it looked like he couldnt be arsed.

 

[Oxeki]

Go on i will bite where has he said that repeatedly recently?

He said it last season. I think someone posted a tweet on it a a few pages back but cba to check.

 

[Blankety Blank]

He said it last season. I think someone posted a tweet on it a a few pages back but cba to check.

OK thats fine im certainly not saying he has ever refused to play there but he obviously wanted to play CM & so its fair to say it looked like he was not committed to giving his all at FB.

 

[Oxeki]

OK thats fine im certainly not saying he has ever refused to play there but he obviously wanted to play CM & so its fair to say it looked like he was not committed to giving his all at FB.

He said his favourite position is CM but he'll play as an RB if the manager asked him to. Last season wolves were signing him to replace Doherty as a RWB and he was keen on joining until Arteta blocked the move.

He player as a RB in our FA cup run last year and was one of our best players.

I think the club is just running a media campaign against him like they did to Saliba and Guendouzi.

 

[Blankety Blank]

He said his favourite position is CM but he'll play as an RB if the manager asked him to. Last season wolves were signing him to replace Doherty as a RWB and he was keen on joining until Arteta blocked the move.

He player as a RB in our FA cup run last year and was one of our best players.

I think the club is just running a media campaign against him like they did to Saliba and Guendouzi.

Ok i get that I dont think 15m was a great fee at the time but it certainly looks it now.
It makes little sense for the club to run a 'media campaign' against him so im not buying that as it will only make his value plummet further.

Dont forget AMN came out with a media interview at the end of last season demanding his future be sorted. You dont do that you go & speak to EDU/Arteta 1st.

Why do you think there were no serious bids for him this summer apart from an insult loan offer?

I will tell you why its because he was average at WBA & it looks from the outside that he kicks up a fuss & is not a model pro.
AMN needs to accept some responsibility for that.
Compare the situation to Willock who did well on loan & conducts himself better.

Sure i totally get AMN being frustrated & Arteta could/should have handled the situation better but its a 2 way street.

 

[Oxeki]

Ok i get that I dont think 15m was a great fee at the time but it certainly looks it now.
It makes little sense for the club to run a 'media campaign' against him so im not buying that as it will only make his value plummet further.

Dont forget AMN came out with a media interview at the end of last season demanding his future be sorted. You dont do that you go & speak to EDU/Arteta 1st.

Why do you think there were no serious bids for him this summer apart from an insult loan offer?

I will tell you why its because he was average at WBA & it looks from the outside that he kicks up a fuss & is not a model pro.
AMN needs to accept some responsibility for that.
Compare the situation to Willock who did well on loan & conducts himself better.

Sure i totally get AMN being frustrated & Arteta could/should have handled the situation better but its a 2 way street.

How do you know he didn't speak to Edu first?

There was no serious bid for him because Arteta benched him. When he got game time last season, wolves made a bid for him.

And he didn't kick up fuss. This is what I mean when I say the Arsenal or at least Arteta runs a media campaign against players he doesn't like. Even Allardyce called him "a great lady" in the video @Macho posted a few pages back but for some reason, it seems our manager wants to demonize any player that have a bit of a personality.

 

[Moleque]

Just look at things on a case by case basis and things make a lot more sense.

Bellerín is going to another league to be a starter (something not guaranteed in AMN's case) and recover value and is at an older age where he needs to get back some value and level now or never, Willian it's obvious why we would terminate his contract because he's of no use and has no sell on value and was just a drag on our wages, Kolasinac the same...what's the big mystery?

Yes, when you look at things on a case by case basis, even going back to Saliba last year, there are reasonable explanations. But you gotta admit, there is a disturbing trend that you also need to question. At a minimum, you need to admit that Arteta's man management skills need work, and that's being generous.

 

[AberGooner]

Reliable source.

 

[AbouCuéllar]

Yes, when you look at things on a case by case basis, even going back to Saliba last year, there are reasonable explanations. But you gotta admit, there is a disturbing trend that you also need to question. At a minimum, you need to admit that Arteta's man management skills need work, and that's being generous.

Yeah, like most things with Arteta and Arsenal it's exaggerated greatly here, but sure, there are some things that I question.

The Guendouzi situation is probably the one I liked the least. I really would've liked to see Arteta develop him as a 6. Instead he made an example of him, that will never happen, and we've also sold a really interesting talent at a poor price, much as a result.

He is coming very much from the Guardiola school of player management, it's clear, and that is not for every player. Guardiola has rubbed not a few players the wrong way with his exigency and demandingness and lack of patience for anything other than what completely meets his standards. I think he's become a bit more intelligent with that as he has gotten older, something Arteta will probably do too, but yeah...it's normal that these things are questioned when the results don't accompany it. If they do, they will be questioned much less, and in a much more reasonable fashion, but for now people will use things to fit their anger-born agendas, and that's just part and parcel of the real problem, which is that the results haven't been quite good enough over his first season and a half in charge.

I don't, though, think he has done much wrong with Maitland-Niles. His mistake was not selling him when the offer from Wolves arose.

 

[Melquiades]

It should be clear now that those who bend over backwards to defend Arteta are also weak little narcissists. If you look at the pattern, the only players he gets tough with are the young ones who don't have the profile to fight back. Willian could leave the country without letting anyone know, during a pandemic mind you and not a whiff of discipline. This lad just wants to salvage a career being held hostage and he's sent to the gulag because the weak manager has to show he has authority over someone.

I definitely have criticisms of how Arteta has handled certain players, but the guy went to war with Özil and benched Auba for being late to practice. He's clearly willing to hold star players to account, the one weird Willian situation notwithstanding.

I don't agree with everything on how AMN has been handled either, but when the team is trying to move him on but the agent is killing moves to quality teams and then the player calls out Arsenal on social media ... I can see where they'd be pretty frustrated. They've been doing everything they can to loan him to good teams last January and then sell him now and the player/agent have done everything to make it as difficult as possible and then whine when their actions cause the result they want to not happen.

 

[Riou]

Hope he puts in a good performance v Norwich, he must at least start right now considering the injuries and us keeping him, so that game will be big for him.

Very interested to see how him and Lokonga do in midfield together, every just for a few games.

 

[GoonerJeeves]

Hope he puts in a good performance v Norwich, he must at least start right now considering the injuries and us keeping him, so that game will be big for him.

Very interested to see how him and Lokonga do in midfield together, every just for a few games.

Do you think he'll play against Norwich? I'm not convinced he'll do so.

 

[AbouCuéllar]

Do you think he'll play against Norwich? I'm not convinced he'll do so.

Hoping he starts as RB as I don’t expect Tomi will get the start with just 2 training sessions with the team.

Thomas-Lokonga midfield surely.

 

[Riou]

Do you think he'll play against Norwich? I'm not convinced he'll do so.

He must, surely.

Partey won't be fit, and I don't want to rush him back either.

While Xhaka is suspended, and won't Mo miss a couple of games due to having to quarantine when he gets back, or something?

 

[Rasmi]

I remember last season how I was going crazy on people saying we should ask for more money. I was saying sell sell sell. Outside 2-3 players I believe we should always sell for any decent bid