It became a major sticking point in Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ Arsenal career for a while; Mikel Arteta’s tendency to play him as a full-back, rather than in his favoured central midfield role.
But, when speaking to the Southampton website back in October, the Saints loanee appeared to have changed his tune somewhat. The versatility that Maitland-Niles once seemed to view as something of a curse, he was now embracing.
“It is just about what position (then-Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl) plays me in,” the England international said. “There are different roles I can play in the team.
“He just wants me to learn them fully, and I’ve been doing that recently. He is showing more trust in me by putting me on the pitch.”
Perhaps, after managing just nine league starts throughout 2021/22, Maitland-Niles had come to realise that it’s better to play – even if not in your preferred position – than to spend months on end twiddling your thumbs on the substitute’s bench.
The 27-year-old, at Transfemarkt’s count, has featured in no fewer than five different positions since joining Southampton on September 1st. And it will not be lost on Arteta that Maitland-Niles is suddenly producing some of his best performances in years – arguably in his entire career – not in the middle of the park but on the right-hand of Ruben Selles’ re-jigged backline side.
Arsenal’s Maitland-Niles shining on loan at Southampton
“(Maitland-Niles) has been absolutely outstanding,” Arsenal legend Paul Merson told Sky Sports following that stunning 1-0 win away at Chelsea recently.
In addition to that goal-saving block to deny Raheem Sterling, Maitland-Niles also completed a game-high six tackles at Stamford Bridge (WhoScored).
It was a similar story at Leeds United on Saturday, even if Southampton this time found themselves on the wrong end of a 1-0 scoreline. For a man who spent so long rallying against a more defensively-minded role, Maitland-Niles certainly seems to have a knack for it.
‘Fantastic’
Across the entire season, Maitland-Niles average number of tackles per game stands at 2.4. That is better than anyone currently in Arteta’s squad, including Thomas Partey, William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes. And while Southampton obviously tend to spent a lot more time defending than the Premier League leaders, these raw statistics (the best numbers of Maitland-Niles’ top-flight career no less) suggests that Arteta might have had the right idea about his best position after all.
“I thought he was fantastic (vs Chelsea),” former Southampton captain Dean Hammond tells the Final Whistle Podcast. “Brilliant. He almost looks like in cruise control really, he looks so composed and relaxed when he’s playing.”
“I thought he was very, very good on the ball. His distribution was good, the best I’ve seen if I’m honest. He looked very, very comfortable in that right-back position.”
“He was a threat going forward at times, but very disciplined to hold his shape as well.”
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