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Ainsley Maitland-Niles: Midfielder or in deNile?

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9jagooner

Well-Known Member
This is what I have always said about our young players but you guys keep using sentiments. Players should go on loan rather than sit on the bench waiting for opportunities. Yes there are chances that the loan won't work well but that's why loans are short term. If it doesn't work, move to another one.
 

Maybe

You're wrong, no?
This is what I have always said about our young players but you guys keep using sentiments. Players should go on loan rather than sit on the bench waiting for opportunities. Yes there are chances that the loan won't work well but that's why loans are short term. If it doesn't work, move to another one.
Yeah, sending him out on loan while we are giving minutes to Elneny is definitely not the greatest thing, but I'm already so used to poor management decisions and wouldn't expect anything else at this club
 

scytheavatar

Established Member
AMN has always been more comfortable as a winger drifting centrally than the other way round, so why he is so obsessed with being a central mid I will never understand.
 

9jagooner

Well-Known Member
Yeah, sending him out on loan while we are giving minutes to Elneny is definitely not the greatest thing, but I'm already so used to poor management decisions and wouldn't expect anything else at this club
We have had three managers since AMN moved up from Academy. All three have constantly not trusted him with playing in midfield (yes he played a few games in midfield but he has mainly been played on the RB/LB/RWB/LWB role). He has also gone on loan at least once (before current loan) and I followed him at Ipswich Town where he mainly played from the right too.

I am happy that he has now taken his career by the horn now and moved albeit on loan to West Brom where he is playing regularly. This is much better for him IMO than sitting on the bench at Arsenal (something many here won't agree with).
 

Mrs Bergkamp

Double Dusted
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It's a shame he doesn't look like working out here and best of luck to him if he does leave. I'm not sure he's got enough in him to play CM for England where that position is stacked but he can have a good club career. It was interesting to read the reviews of Newcastle v WBA where Willock seemed to come out more favourably and I'm leaning towards him more as well. Will watch how he gets on until the end of the season.
 

Maybe

You're wrong, no?
We have had three managers since AMN moved up from Academy. All three have constantly not trusted him with playing in midfield (yes he played a few games in midfield but he has mainly been played on the RB/LB/RWB/LWB role). He has also gone on loan at least once (before current loan) and I followed him at Ipswich Town where he mainly played from the right too.

I am happy that he has now taken his career by the horn now and moved albeit on loan to West Brom where he is playing regularly. This is much better for him IMO than sitting on the bench at Arsenal (something many here won't agree with).
Think you're misunderstanding what I'm saying. I'm not saying that AMN is great playing there, I just know that Elneny is a worthless bum with no contribution to the team, which makes it more reasonable to play AMN there giving him the same minutes. One will give you some 25M in the summer, the other guy will just drain the wage budget until the end of his fcking miserable contract.

Both are not good enough, but we should at least profit on it instead of wasting money on that piece of ****e that we've kept at the club
 

El Duderino

That's, like, your opinion, man.
Moderator
Doubt he will make it here. Took a gander over at the wba forums, and some advocate for sticking him out on the wing :lol:

But is it because he's not good enough or because WBA wing options are not up to par and he can play in that position?

Granted I'm only going by what the people who said they've watched him play for WBA and posted on this thread....
 

Macho

In search of Pure Profit 💸
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Country: England
But is it because he's not good enough or because WBA wing options are not up to par and he can play in that position?
More the wing options are not up to par although some of their best players are wingers so that's odd to say.

Feedback I've seen on AMN is complimentary usually- they are more remorseful if anything as it just a bit too little too late. I think if he wants to play midfield he will realistically have to play at that level and he seems more than willing to do so.

If he embraced rightback fully, well he'd be starting for us or one of the better midtable/upper mid clubs in the league already in my opinion.
 

GoonerJeeves

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Country: Norway
But is it because he's not good enough or because WBA wing options are not up to par and he can play in that position?

Granted I'm only going by what the people who said they've watched him play for WBA and posted on this thread....
Partially their wing options, but some say the same as here, that he isn't a central midfielder...

I'm afraid this is perhaps his problem, unlike Willock, he does not have a fixed position where it is generally accepted he will play. This might be a perception problem, from both the player and people watching him. He seems clear that he is a central midfielder.

Some might remember, but we had a youth prospect that had the same issue a few years ago? Jay Emmanuel-Thomas? or is it someone else I am thinking of.... I guess @MutableEarth got the overview of players that have struggled to nail down a position.
 

AberGooner

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Player:Gabriel
I've watched a few games since he went to WBA and he's played well particularly with his runs through midfield on the counter but when it comes to his final ball once further forward it's really lacking. Whether this develops over time or not I think ultimately if he wants to be a CM it may be as a number 6 which would suit him more. Willock is by far more an 8 of the two of them.

I still think it's a shame he won't commit to being a RB as he could have saved us so much money on having to buy one as he has all the capabilities to be a great player there for us as he has shown already. I don't think Arteta sees him as a CM so at least he's had 6 months in the shop window where we can hopefully get a decent fee being that he's homegrown but I'll be sad to see him go.
 

MutableEarth

Reiss' Dad
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Partially their wing options, but some say the same as here, that he isn't a central midfielder...

I'm afraid this is perhaps his problem, unlike Willock, he does not have a fixed position where it is generally accepted he will play. This might be a perception problem, from both the player and people watching him. He seems clear that he is a central midfielder.

Some might remember, but we had a youth prospect that had the same issue a few years ago? Jay Emmanuel-Thomas? or is it someone else I am thinking of.... I guess @MutableEarth got the overview of players that have struggled to nail down a position.

JET was pretty much settled as a forward by the time he was ready to start playing. But prior to that he had definitely played a lot of positions and Steve Bould wanted him to be a CB in fact (this is according to JET himself) but JET proved he had good goalscoring ability and trickery on the ball to end up being more of a CF. It's a shame he never pushed himself beyond that point. Could have been a great player IMO.

As for AMN, it's clear really that he's better centrally IMO. He doesn't have the 1v1 ability of a top class winger, although he's capable, and he doesn't overlap the way a traditional full back does. I think at a push he could be used in that more inverted spot, but that's still a relatively limiting role for a player like AMN who's capable of more. Concentration issues aside, playing as a more defensive #8 or #6 is his best role.

I'm very happy to see him getting midfield minutes, even though it's for such a bad team. He's improved lately aswell and had a couple good performances in their last 2 games. The game against Willock's Newcastle was a very interesting one actually, in which both players came out favorably but perhaps showed that they are just short of the required quality at this current point - mostly owing to the lack of football they've played in their actual positions (AMN moreso).

AMN is definitely leaving IMO - it's clear that the club (as well as the fans) are heavily determined to shoehorn AMN into this role that he not only doesn't want but ultimately doesn't suit him the way people think it does. And he will push for a move just like last year. I hope he gets it.
 

GoonerJeeves

Established Member
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Country: Norway
JET was pretty much settled as a forward by the time he was ready to start playing. But prior to that he had definitely played a lot of positions and Steve Bould wanted him to be a CB in fact (this is according to JET himself) but JET proved he had good goalscoring ability and trickery on the ball to end up being more of a CF. It's a shame he never pushed himself beyond that point. Could have been a great player IMO.

As for AMN, it's clear really that he's better centrally IMO. He doesn't have the 1v1 ability of a top class winger, although he's capable, and he doesn't overlap the way a traditional full back does. I think at a push he could be used in that more inverted spot, but that's still a relatively limiting role for a player like AMN who's capable of more. Concentration issues aside, playing as a more defensive #8 or #6 is his best role.

I'm very happy to see him getting midfield minutes, even though it's for such a bad team. He's improved lately aswell and had a couple good performances in their last 2 games. The game against Willock's Newcastle was a very interesting one actually, in which both players came out favorably but perhaps showed that they are just short of the required quality at this current point - mostly owing to the lack of football they've played in their actual positions (AMN moreso).

AMN is definitely leaving IMO - it's clear that the club (as well as the fans) are heavily determined to shoehorn AMN into this role that he not only doesn't want but ultimately doesn't suit him the way people think it does. And he will push for a move just like last year. I hope he gets it.
As always a thoughtful reply, thank you.
 

MutableEarth

Reiss' Dad
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Really interesting analysis of how AMN is doing at CM for West Brom.


Early days, but he doesn't look to have the attributes we need.
I'd say this is close to accurate. I honestly think it's a combination of lack of time as a CM, not being a good fit for West Brom and his concentration issues still being prominent. Outside of the latter, we really hampered his development by trying to make him a RB, now he isn't close to as good as he could be in either position (and he was/is never going to be a RB). We killed his CM dream before it even got a chance to flourish IMO.

I still hold out hope that he can get a decent move to a team where he can get good CM minutes going forward.
 

CaseUteinberger

Established Member

Country: Sweden
Really interesting analysis of how AMN is doing at CM for West Brom.


Early days, but he doesn't look to have the attributes we need.
Read the article and think it points to basically two options: 1. We sell him to a team that is willing to offer him a CM role. Loaning him out will just start decreasing his value once he gets closer to the end of his contract. 2. We give him a backup role as CM behind Partey and what ever else we decide to keep as CMs. Rather have him as a backup than say Ceballos. At least I can see an upward trajectory with AMN which I cannot with Ceballos. Of the two options #1 seems easiest and best value for Arsenal at the moment especially as Arteta really doesn't seem to rate him as CM.
 

Football Manager

Copy & Paste Merchant
Read the article and think it points to basically two options: 1. We sell him to a team that is willing to offer him a CM role. Loaning him out will just start decreasing his value once he gets closer to the end of his contract. 2. We give him a backup role as CM behind Partey and what ever else we decide to keep as CMs. Rather have him as a backup than say Ceballos. At least I can see an upward trajectory with AMN which I cannot with Ceballos. Of the two options #1 seems easiest and best value for Arsenal at the moment especially as Arteta really doesn't seem to rate him as CM.
AMN and Willock are shxt. Ceballos is so much better.
 

scytheavatar

Established Member
As for AMN, it's clear really that he's better centrally IMO. He doesn't have the 1v1 ability of a top class winger, although he's capable, and he doesn't overlap the way a traditional full back does.

The whole point of playing AMN as a right back is precisely because he doesn't overlap the way a traditional full back does........ he is perfect for the right back underlapping and playing as a pseudo center mid that modern managers love. That guys like Bellerin are struggling to play as. If AMN was willing to play as a right back he would have easily become Arteta's favorite player.
 

Football Manager

Copy & Paste Merchant
The whole point of playing AMN as a right back is precisely because he doesn't overlap the way a traditional full back does........ he is perfect for the right back underlapping and playing as a pseudo center mid that modern managers love. That guys like Bellerin are struggling to play as. If AMN was willing to play as a right back he would have easily become Arteta's favorite player.
Not good on the ball, not enough football intelligence.
 
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