Maitland-Niles didn’t have a good night as the Gunners barely saved a win at home due to Pepe’s world-class performance.
Despite the bad team performance, Arsenal took the 3-2 win against Guimaraes at the Emirates.
However, it wasn’t all roses as the hosts were in inferior position for most of the match, with the Portuguese team creating a lot of chances.
One of the worst performers for the Gunners is Maitland-Niles.
Martin Keown spotted this, and talking to BT Sport, said:
“Maitland-Niles was really sloppy in the first half missing tackles.
“[Hector] Bellerin was playing in his position tonight and [Rob] Holding has taken his position in the Premier League,” Keown said, according to Football London.
“It looked like he was feeling sorry for himself but there is no time for that as a professional football player.
“He was all at sea for the first goal. It was lazy. He has great ability but he’s wasting his talent at the moment. His career is slipping away now.”
The youngster is facing some strong competition with Bellerin coming back from a rough injury.
The blame doesn’t fall completely on Maitland-Niles, as Keown pointed out:
“They had plenty of warnings. They are second-string eleven and they needed to be right mentally.
“Holding should have gone across to stop the cross for the first goal and Kieran Tierney was the wrong side of the player.
“There was nobody getting back in midfield as well. It was far too easy and it was poor preparation.”
