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Ainsley Maitland-Niles: Yutility

CJJ

Established Member
So good to see this lad back in training. I still have high hopes for him this season and i hope he gets a proper chance in the midfield next to Torreira with the occasional cover on the fullback position if required.
 

Big Poppa

Established Member
Trusted ⭐

Country: USA

Player:Saliba
So good to see this lad back in training. I still have high hopes for him this season and i hope he gets a proper chance in the midfield next to Torreira with the occasional cover on the fullback position if required.

I’ll repeat it til I’m blue in the face but 2 midfielders aren’t enough with our quality of defence. We’ll be continually exposed regardless of personnel unless it’s a 4-4-2 where the starting positions of the wide men is deeper and the full backs aren’t as high up the pitch.

Despite their age AMN, Torreira and Guendouzi as a 3 would be too much for most teams to handle offensively and defensively. Physicality, balance, technique and speed.
 

The_Playmaker

Established Member
Trusted ⭐
I’ll repeat it til I’m blue in the face but 2 midfielders aren’t enough with our quality of defence. We’ll be continually exposed regardless of personnel unless it’s a 4-4-2 where the starting positions of the wide men is deeper and the full backs aren’t as high up the pitch.

Despite their age AMN, Torreira and Guendouzi as a 3 would be too much for most teams to handle offensively and defensively. Physicality, balance, technique and speed.

Totally agree. I think that is the future, possibly post Emery.

However looking at AMN, I find it really hard to justify why he shouldn't be knocking on the door for a first team position once he is fit.

You only have to use your eyes too see how good he is, and I wouldn't be surprised if Emery saw it as this was his first look at him in a competitive game in a slightly more natural position.

He has two flaws in his game. At times he can be over confident but it's usually once or twice per match in the final third. He also panics in front of goal, but that is due to lack of game time.

He is lightning quick. Probably one of our fastest players. He has incredible balance, know how to use his body in every situation. He is intelligent defensively. Always side on. Never commits. He can dribble and his first touch is immaculate. He always looks in complete control. His passing is also severely underrated. The pace of pass and the speed of which he passes and moves his evident.

When fully fit I would try him next to Torreira. Guendouzi has extremely good passing, but AMN is ahead of him in every other department by quite a long way.

Defensively that two would provide such a silos base and they would move the ball so quickly between them.
 

Mo Britain

Doom Monger
He had a good game yesterday. The way he controlled a long lofted cross-field ball and then passed it quickly was impressive. Shouldn't have come off.

Love to see him play with Torreira and Guendouzi in a midfield three.
 

celestis

Arsenal-Mania Veteran
Moderator

Country: Australia
AMN already technically good enough to play in the centre . Only thing holding him back is temperament . Got a bit to prove in that department.
 

rich 1990

Not A Big Believer In Diversity
He was diabolical yesterday. Looked exactly what he was; somebody that hasn't played for ages. Saying that, I would still expect him to have played better against such poor opposition. I've said it before and I'll say it again. He has done nothing to justify his hype.
 

Mark Tobias

Mr. Agreeable
He was diabolical yesterday. Looked exactly what he was; somebody that hasn't played for ages. Saying that, I would still expect him to have played better against such poor opposition. I've said it before and I'll say it again. He has done nothing to justify his hype.
I'm sort of with you on this. For me I've watched one game (seen him play many times) of his where he stood out. The rest he was just average.
 

Trilly

Hates A-M, Saka, Arteta and You
Trusted ⭐

Country: England
It's more the attributes he has that excite me. Pace/Power+excellent technique means your halfway to becoming a PL star, put those attributes in the middle of the park and you have the potential to tear a lot of midfields apart.

I agree that the performances have been merely ok so far (although he has had one or two v.good ones from what I remember), if we're keeping him he needs minutes otherwise we need to loan him out.
 

truth_hurts

but Holding’s hair transplant was painless
Funnily enough bar a brilliant performance vs United, most of his best moments for us have come at full back. I have a lot of faith in Ainsley, but he's miles away from starting for us in cm. Carabao and Europa for now imo. Ghendouzi plays with a lot more maturity.
 

nick gould

Well-Known Member
I'm sort of with you on this. For me I've watched one game (seen him play many times) of his where he stood out. The rest he was just average.
I am with you guys on this one. I know that he must be good otherwise he wouldn’t have nailed the first team spot at 18 on loan at Ipswich. The only game I remember watching and thought this boy is good was against pogba last season.

He has played in midfield alongside Elneny and he didn’t boss it. But when we tried Matteo with Elneny Matteo takes over and make it obvious that he is the main man. The boy is not young. He needs to show some of that grit that young Torreira is showing.

I’ve got to say he showed some hunger on Wednesday. I saw him sprint to close the goal keeper down. More of the same young man. I sincerely hope that you prove me wrong in the way Torreira did. I am an Arsenal fan after all.
 

Impact

Established Member
Rarely do I compare players that play for the club because I see little benefit in comparing our assets. However, in this case, I will do so with Guendouzi because a lot of people are suggesting that Matteo is miles ahead ability-wise which I think is wrong.

Ainsley has a wide-skill set. The type of skill set that means he can thrive at full-back, in the middle and on the flanks. It's very rare and is to his and our academy's credit.

Similar to Pogba, the difficulty for a player with such varying attributes is developing the decision-making necessary to know which part of his game to use at a particular moment. Game-time and coaching are usually what leads to a player acquiring the nous to choose correctly. He hasn't had the former in the first team setting yet.

Matteo's game/skill-set is much simpler. So when confronted with a decision to make on the pitch, the option as to how to navigate it are a lot less than Ainsley's. It's part of why Matteo has adapted so quickly. His ceiling is not as high as Maitland-Niles because he can't do all of what the latter can do to the same degree. However, that simplicity to his game makes him more likely to reach his potential as he will simply hone his few standout assets.

Glad to have both but I rate AMN the bigger talent. Remains to be seen if he will be able to reach his potential though.
 

Mark Tobias

Mr. Agreeable
I am with you guys on this one. I know that he must be good otherwise he wouldn’t have nailed the first team spot at 18 on loan at Ipswich. The only game I remember watching and thought this boy is good was against pogba last season.

He has played in midfield alongside Elneny and he didn’t boss it. But when we tried Matteo with Elneny Matteo takes over and make it obvious that he is the main man. The boy is not young. He needs to show some of that grit that young Torreira is showing.

I’ve got to say he showed some hunger on Wednesday. I saw him sprint to close the goal keeper down. More of the same young man. I sincerely hope that you prove me wrong in the way Torreira did. I am an Arsenal fan after all.
I just want to see a little more game time before I decide but I do see something in there just hasn't truly surfaced in a game yet.
 

Mraven

Active Member
This guy is Ox 2.0. Showed promise in a big game. Combines power, pace and technique, but can’t put it all together consistently enough to start as CM.

Hope this story turns out better.
 

Sniper Mik

Not a Closet Sp**s Fan
Considering he just came back from a fracture, he was okay. Wasn't spectacular, just keep recycling possession. Had one good cross in the first half.
 
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