Ainsley Maitland-Niles has admitted he finds it ‘difficult’ memorising Mikel Arteta’s tactical demands because of the various roles he plays for Arsenal, as posted by BeanymanSports.
The 23-year-old has been used at full-back, as a winger and in midfield during his Arsenal career and that theme has continued ever since the more-demanding Arteta has walked through the doors in North London.
Maitland-Niles has mainly thrived at fullback for Arteta, where he has pocketed and done a stellar job against some top-performing wide players, as he proved in the FA Cup semi-final and final last season – not forgetting their Community Shield triumph over Liverpool.
Ahead of Arsenal’s Europa League encounter at Rapid Wien tonight, Maitland-Niles was asked about Arteta’s demands of him and the various roles he has to play.
“It’s hard, it’s difficult because I have to memorise maybe one, two, three positions in the same game,” said Maitland-Niles.
“Try to adapt it all into the right places and the right timings on the pitch to be in certain places.
“But it’s nothing that I haven’t had to fight for before and try to tune my mind in the right way to understand it all. Yes, it’s difficult but it works very well.”
Playing various roles in a team can be spun into a negative because it’s then deemed that the individual is unable to cement a regular spot in the starting XI.
But someone like Maitland-Niles should thrive in such situations because it has made him technically more efficient and in this crazy, obsessed tactical football world, it certainly makes him more tactually aware than others.
Not only that, this road has also seen him become an England international, so Arteta isn’t the only one seeing his talents.
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