Ainsley Maitland-Niles says it was a great experience to play in Friday night’s 3-3 draw with Liverpool, but expressed his frustration at Arsenal not winning the game having got themselves in front.
The Gunners just about survived the first half, going in 1-0 down, and even though we conceded again early in the second, a three goal blitz in under five minutes put us in front, before Firmino’s equaliser ensured the game finished in a draw.
The 20 year old, played at left back because of his pace according to Arsene Wenger, did well in what’s still an unfamiliar position, and while he was delighted to get the nod, it was obvious he found the overall performance below par.
“We should have won the game because we were ahead,” he said. “There was no reason for us to drop points so I’m disappointed with the performance really.
“It was a great experience being out there and I think we showed real character to come back in the game.”
As for his own performance, he acknowledged that there are still things he needs to work on.
“I think I did alright,” he continued. “There’s a few things to work on but I’m getting there slowly.
“I guess it’s just how to deal with those powerful, attacking players that love to score goals and run past you.
“It’s a learning curve to play against them and use their weaknesses against them.”
For more on last night, read today’s Arseblog: 5 minutes of fun can’t mask the frustration
play him in his position stop messing around with this kid arsene . he ‘s got so much potential ! I don’t get this obsession of shifting young players around the pitch in the false excuse of giving them experience . the reality is it destroys slowly but surely their confidence.
Hey I think the thing that pleased me most was that he was vocal a number of times and not in a shitty Alexis way but in a “C’mon we can do this” type of way
Yeah let’s ditch Alexis ASAP as he really is not helping the team dynamic and he is a liability while Ozil looks like a player that is respected and liked by the rest of the team
Just my opinion of course
Honestly, I would just love it if Niles was given a run in midfield ahead of Xhaka. Irrespective of the system suiting him or not, let’s not kid ourselves Xhaka hasn’t played well enough and if Kolasinac can be dropped, so can he. Niles was caught out for a couple of the Liverpool goals, but hopefully he can learn from this and hopefully do well in our midfield. I have long been a fan of Kos, but he has been desperately bad in the last few weeks. I want to see Holding or Chambers atleast get a chance to prove… Read more »
My thoughts, are to agree with yours.
Xhaka needs a holding midfielder beside him for us to get the best out of him. Would like to see AMN given that chance. Could see a trio of Xhaka, AMN & Ramsey (in the position he plays for Wales, hybrid #10) in the event Ozil leaves.
The issue with that is Xhaka’s offensive quality isn’t good enough for him to be our deep lying playmaker. He can chip a nice diagonal ball into an onrushing fullback, but he’s not the player who will carve a deep defence in the way Cazorla, Wilshere, or Ramsey would; who are all more complete attacking midfielders. We’ve seen how dire it gets when we play both coquelin and xhaka side by side.
Xhaka’s offensive output is exceptional for a DM, but very average for a CM.
AMN is super talent. The boy is so compose on the ball. Unlike xhaka