Ainsley Maitland-Niles: Midfielder or in deNile?

[Iceman10]

Don’t know what others saw, but I actually thought in this game he showed better at both ends of the pitch than Bellerin has for most of the season. Defensively also in critical moments his positioning wasn’t too bad and he seemed to have a calmness about him, patient against the attacker instead of just diving in. Signs of maturity, no odd brain freeze moment either.

 

[gunner4lyfe]

He was better today at both ends of the pitch.

 

[Big Poppa]

AMN is not often beaten 1v1 (when he's on it) and I think most people would expect Richarlison to beat him at least once, which happened. I didn't have Godfrey beating him on the bingo card but hey ho. He won pretty much every other duel he needed to win.


He's definitely not quite as quick as he was but he's still a very serviceable RB and I think the complicated nature of the RB role under Arteta has made his job quite a bit harder. I've seen him pop up in the inside right channel a lot, sometimes really high up the pitch in an almost attacking midfield role then have to sprint his bollocks off to get back into position. This is literally what happened for Son's wonder strike in the NLD.

I'd argue CM should be more open. Our midfielders are incredibly bad IMO. It's easily our weakest position and even signing Partey hasn't moved the needle enough for us. RB is pretty weak too but that's mainly because Bellerin has had no real competition for years. His competition is Cedric, an aging international who's never been more than adequate, and AMN, who's a midfielder.

If I could embolden this 3 times over I would. If you control midfield you control the game. Within 15 minutes at Old Trafford you could see the difference it made having a midfielder who can bring the ball out from the back and withstand pressure. It allows the whole team to move up the pitch and play more football in the opposition half.

Ainsley can do that too. Ceballos, Elneny and Xhaka can’t

We have to stop treating him as a utility player just because he’s from our academy. He’s better than that.

 

[novar]

I wonder for how long we will overrate that Old Trafford win. Maybe it was a curse in disguise and the lesson we took was playing like absolute **** but still winning because the opposition midfield happened to have a bad day at the office means we dominated? it certainly is in line with what Arteta likes to say.

 

[krackpot]

His baseline is soooo strong. At his worst you get a 6/10.

For me, he is the first or second name on the sheet after Saka. Either WB or CM.

 

[Jack_the_boy]

I don’t quite get the hype about him yesterday. I thought defensively he did a poor job. I think he’s premier league quality but can’t see him being a starting right back for any top 6 side in the league (traditional top 6 with Leicester taking our place).

 

[Big Poppa]

I don’t quite get the hype about him yesterday. I thought defensively he did a poor job. I think he’s premier league quality but can’t see him being a starting right back for any top 6 side in the league (traditional top 6 with Leicester taking our place).

He’s not trying to be a starting right back. He’s doing what Milner does for Liverpool when they play him there.

 

[Gooner416]

I thought he was our best performer against Everton. He must be playing.

 

[GDeep™]

Probably my favourite player.

It’s quite telling, not many play with the drive of AMN, Willock, Saka etc. Even Reiss is showing energy and willingness to make an impact.

 

[HairSprayGooners]

Rarely agree with him but he's right, very much an Ox scenario. Needs to just suck it up and become a wing back.

 

[Maybe]

Rarely agree with him but he's right, very much an Ox scenario. Needs to just suck it up and become a wing back.

I didn't have a feeling that our other midfielders had better passing accuracy yesterday, but I do agree that he got his rare chance and he blew it.
Idk why we experiment with things like that in such a hard game where the manager can't get a clear idea because so many things went wrong, but on the other hand, ESR came in and didn't lose the ball at all and Willock looked fairly confident in a deeper position

 

[MutableEarth]

Rarely agree with him but he's right, very much an Ox scenario. Needs to just suck it up and become a wing back.

He's chatting ****.

 

[Trilly]

Been saying it for the longest. Better physical and technical attributes than Bellerin but something isn’t right with him.

Probably sell Bellerin and get a coach to try and unlock AMM but don’t be surprised if he remains average for the rest of his career.

This is as a RB btw. As a CM I’m not really optimistic either, three coaches haven’t trusted him there but those three coaches have all been crap.

 

[novar]

Still not sure what is there to like. He certainly reminds me of Ox, but Ox provided moments of quality and he had skills that immediately screamed potential, not very surprising he eventually could contribute to a CL win. AMN saving grace is still "Maybe he could make our midfield a bit less ****. Maybe."

Maybe something related with Snapchat or Instagram, and that's why I don't get it.

 

[Coolin]

He didn’t do anything yesterday that he hasn’t been doing for the last 3 years. He’s always been poor on the ball, he’s always lacked intensity and he will never be a CM at any respectable club.

 

[Dennis_Bergkamp_10]

I'm afraid we'll be saying the same things about AMN in three-four years time. Looks too easy going and like it doesn't matter, somewhat like Özil at times.

If he really wants CM this is the time to make your mark. You won't get more mediocre competitors for your place in midfield.

 

[Jack_the_boy]

“As per Sofascore, he lost possession an incredible 20 times over the course of the night, the most of any Arsenal player on the pitch. He also made no successful dribbles, sent no accurate crosses, made just 20 total successful passes, and lost seven of his nine duels too.”

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www....ter-city-mikel-arteta-match-reaction-news/amp

 

[Red London]

Some people seem to think this guy has a very high ceiling, for me he has potential but to be a good player not an excellent one.

A big barrier though is his attitude and concentration issues on the pitch. He has raw talent but needs to refine it, it of course doesn't help not playing week in week out.

If Arteta brings Bellerin and Xhaka back into the side it will probably be the final nail in the coffin for me unless our results pick up. I can't stand them, especially Bellerin who has a serviceable asset behind him, playing week in week out despite their shortcomings. Lets see what Arteta has learnt the last few games.

 

[Jack_the_boy]

He has the tools to be a good wingback if he puts his mind to it. Midfield is not for him.

 

[The_Playmaker]

Does AMN have poor pass completion because he passes backwards or sideways?

Or does he attempt to play forward in tight spaces and between lines?

Tell him to pass backwards for 90 minutes and he will have the same pass completion as our current options.

Our midfield is Elneny and Ceballos. We have the worst midfield in the league and apparently AMN isn't good enough to play in it.