{"id":1101343,"date":"2019-08-13T15:10:40","date_gmt":"2019-08-13T14:10:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1101343"},"modified":"2019-08-13T14:47:53","modified_gmt":"2019-08-13T13:47:53","slug":"ainsley-maitland-niles-arsenal","status":"publish","type":"features","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/ainsley-maitland-niles-arsenal\/","title":{"rendered":"How Arsenal’s Ainsley Maitland-Niles is beginning to ‘get serious’ in right-back role"},"content":{"rendered":"

It didn’t take a rocket scientist or tactical analyst to figure out who was Arsenal’s man of the match against Newcastle on Sunday: Ainsley Maitland-Niles.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 21-year-old’s brilliant interception and assist for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s strike alone was befitting of such an award and after some pre-season struggles, including a bizarre own goal against Barcelona, you can’t help but feel good for the guy.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/audioboom.com\/posts\/7336082-10-predictions-for-the-2019-20-premier-league-season<\/p>\n

But while manager Unai Emery, always one for detail, did praise Maitland-Niles’ “serious” performance at St James’ Park, he did call upon his stand-in right-back to do more to bring consistency into his game.<\/p>\n

“He played very seriously,” the Arsenal head coach said<\/a>. “He’s improving, he can do more and we are speaking with him every day, watching movies with him every day, individually and collectively.<\/p>\n

“I say to him congratulations but your challenge is to be consistent today, tomorrow and the next week.”<\/p>\n

That level of critical analysis, along with an apparent pep talk in the tunnel from David Luiz<\/a>, and the congratulations he received from his teammates upon providing Sunday’s assist shows just how well-liked Maitland-Niles is in the Arsenal dressing room and, more and more, we’re starting to see the signs of a player flourishing.<\/p>\n