Arsenal: Ainsley Maitland-Niles may be a wingback yet

Arsenal shook things up a bit against FC Koln, but Ainsley Maitland-Niles retained his place and it’s clear why – he may yet become a viable wingback.

Losing 1-0 to FC Koln may, on the surface, want to feel demoralizing, but we have to look at it practically. Arsenal didn’t lose anything. Other than a chance to see their young stars mesh together a bit more.

There just weren’t a lot of positive performances to take from the match. There was a whole of of bang average all together in one place at one time. Except, of course, for Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who, deployed at left wingback as he has been in the past, continued to live up to the part.

What we should be looking for in these midweek performances from this entire cast is characters is consistency. That’s it. Talent and ability is cool and all, but none of that matters if you can’t do it consistently.

Thus far, there hasn’t even been consistency between subsequent matches. Even from the veteran guys that want to be in the first team.

But the one guy that has proven his consistency is Ainsley Maitland-Niles. Granted, he’s had a few hiccups along the way, he has been remarkable in his calmness and composure on the left hand side, despite his future being pegged at central midfield.

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All things considered, if the young man is okay with it, why can’t we start thinking of him as a wingback? He has all the quality to do so. Reiss Nelson has a lot to learn defensively, but Maitland-Niles is growing by leaps and bounds on this end. He led the team in completed tackles, tallying more than the rest of the back five combined.

And this hasn’t been a surprise performance. He has been playing this well throughout the Europa League, averaging nearly five ball-winning plays per appearance. Which is kind of a big deal for a 20-year old prospect playing out of position.

He’s also creating a chance and a half per appearance, more than most of the “fonts of creativity” that are supposed to be powering this attack.

We worry a lot about who can fill in at wingback if something goes wrong with our current two. I have to go ahead and say I’d be fine with this young man filling in. Mostly because he is so calm and composed no matter the circumstance.

Next: Arsenal vs FC Koln Player Ratings

The trick now is figuring out if he actually wants to play the position or not, because as we found out with Nelson, the initial reports aren’t good.

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