Arsenal: Ainsley Maitland-Niles throws Reiss Nelson under the bus

Arsenal again deployed Reiss Nelson and Ainsley Maitland-Niles at the two wingback positions, but the victor, by a landslide, was yet again the latter.

No one came out of Arsenal preseason looking better than Reiss Nelson. Not a soul. Everyone (myself included) was saying sell whoever you need to sell at wingback, because Nelson has us covered.

This continued in the U23s, where Nelson shot off to six goals in the first four matches. Again, the call went out there he would save us.

But we had to wait for the side competitions to get him up with the first team again. The first came against Doncaster Rovers and Nelson was, well… terrible. He looked flashy on the ball but in terms of defending and maintaining the ball, it just wasn’t there.

On the other side, Ainsley Maitland-Niles was outstanding. Mostly in that he was cool, composed and mature. It didn’t look like he was trying to save the world, he was just trying to do his job, which he did splendidly.

Round two of the bout came against BATE Borisov yesterday and, to Nelson’s credit, it was closer this time, but still massively lopsided. Nelson proved that he simply was not a wingback. He drifted so far out of position that he was essentially another No. 10 next to Jack Wilshere. He looked marvelous over the ball. He may have broke a few ankles in his fancy footwork.

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Meanwhile, Maitland-Niles was the consummate professional again. I’ve started calling him the Ice Man because he is simply unflappable.

Compare the numbers: Nelson lost the ball five times to Maitland-Niles one. Nelson completed three defensive actions, Maitland-Niles completed ten. They created the same number of chances too.

The only category where Nelson won was dribbles.

I’m not saying this to put down Nelson, just like everyone else, I think the world of him. I am saying this to draw more attention to Maitland-Niles and how fantastic he has been. Not in that he has been a dazzling game changer, but in that he has taken to the wingback role and proven that he is a consistent performer.

Nelson’s side of things is a bit foggier. He doesn’t want to play wingback, he has made that perfectly clear, but it’s hard to ignore how effective he could be there if he could learn to defend and stay in position.

Next: 5 Things Learned Against BATE Borisov

In the meantime though, Maitland-Niles is the man, and he keeps proving that every chance he gets. And each time he takes the pitch opposite the golden boy Nelson, he has proven himself the superior.

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