Arsenal loanee Ainsley Maitland-Niles had a moment to forget for West Brom yesterday during their goalless draw against Newcastle.
Highbury legend Lee Dixon told Amazon Prime during their live coverage of the game that Maitland-Niles made a ‘blatantly terrible’ pass when he had an ample chance to help his team score.
Whilst hitting Steve Bruce’s side on the counter, the Baggies had outnumbered the opposition heading into the final third with Maitland-Niles on the ball and several options to choose from ahead of him.
If his decision-making and weight of pass is correct then his teammate is through on goal, but as Dixon shared, the Arsenal man has ‘more quality’ than the actual pass he made.
“You can talk about sticky pitch all you want,” said Dixon. “But that was a blatantly terrible pass from him.
“He’s got more quality than that. If you are going to hit a ball, over hit it rather than under-hit it because it just kills the move.”
In the end, West Brom, who are eight points from safety, missed a huge chance to close the gap on 16th-placed Newcastle.
Maitland-Niles was brought in to remain calm in those situations and bring that added quality that was missing in this West Brom side at the start of the campaign.
Interestingly enough, the Hale-End star is playing in the middle of the park for Sam Allardyce’s men, a position he has wanted to play for Arsenal.
But a number of games into his tenure, a selection of West Brom fans feel he should be pushed out wide in a more defensive or attacking role because they don’t think he’s suited to a midfield position.
That’s interesting from an Arsenal perspective because if Maitland-Niles cannot cut it in midfield for West Brom then it will well and truly shut down any talk of him wanting to play in that position in the near future.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
