Is Maitland-Niles showing why Saints should aim for permanent deal?

Before even making his full debut for Saints, it seemed Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ Southampton career might be dead. Of course, that was premature but having been left out of the squad for the trip to Aston Villa as Ralph Hasenhuttl lamented his readiness, it wasn’t the craziest thought.

Now, just a few weeks later, the Arsenal loanee has staked his claim as a crucial member of his new team and even once Romeo Lavia returns, Maitland-Niles should continue to have a sizable role.

READ MORE: Who's at fault for difficult situation Saints find themselves in?

On Saturday at Selhurst Park, Hasenhuttl chose to leave Maitland-Niles on the bench in favour of the midfield that helped Saints earn a 1-1 draw with Arsenal. But from the offset, it was clear that a beleaguered and stretched team needed the England international’s disciplined positioning and emotional off-the-ball presence.

It’s this combination that has been so impressive thus far. When he finally did replace Ibrahima Diallo at half time, Maitland-Niles immediately made a difference, helping Saints get a foothold in the match while cementing himself as a viable and reliable option to cap a memorable mini-renaissance.

After a brief cameo debut at Wolves, Maitland-Niles’ total absence for the following week’s trip to Villa Park was explained honestly by Hasenhuttl.

"We have with Ainsley a lot of work to do also because he has to adapt to our game and this is something that takes time a little bit," the Saints boss said after the defeat. 

"We see also during the week what we ask him to do and especially in the midfield position it takes a little bit to understand how we want to do it. It doesn’t make sense to throw someone in who isn’t ready for what we want to do. When he is ready and on the level we think he has to be then he will help us for sure."

It was hardly a vote of confidence for a player who was deemed ready a week earlier and then deemed not at all ready after getting his initial opportunity. It was hard to feel optimistic about Maitland-Niles’ chances.

But Hasenhuttl stuck to his word and instead of banishing Maitland-Niles, the Saints coaching staff worked with him over the international break for a renewed shot when Southampton returned to action against Everton.

At first, it didn’t seem that the extra time on the training pitch had helped as a ragged opening period saw Maitland-Niles’ pulled out of position on a number of occasions while getting booked for a late tackle inside the first ten minutes.

But that booking seemed to flip a switch and needing to increase his discipline and decrease slightly in exuberance, Maitland-Niles became the sitting six Saints needed alongside James Ward-Prowse.

Saints were beaten by Everton thanks to a second half collapse but there was enough on show from Maitland-Niles to consider it a step forward. Mercifully for him, he sat out the next week’s doomed trip to Manchester City before returning to the side for West Ham’s visit to St Mary’s.

He wasn’t perfect but another step was taken against the Hammers and if there were any lingering doubts about the temporary Saint, those were answered emphatically 72 hours later at the Vitality Stadium. On an emotional night that had impending apocalypse vibes, Saints were required to dig incredibly deep in order to escape with the three points they so desperately needed.

Maitland-Niles wasn’t necessarily brilliant, but he was fiercely committed and played with the desperation to come out on top that everyone wanted to see from this Saints team with their backs firmly pressed against the wall. This was a player fighting for his new team and that didn’t go amiss amongst the fanbase.

Speaking to the Daily Echo, Maitland-Niles shared some insight into the mentality on display at Bournemouth.

"It is important to have them (the fans) on your side but that’s just the type of player I am," the midfielder said 

"I’ll put my body on the line to try and win the ball back or try to get past someone and be on the receiving end of a tackle, that’s just the kind of player I am personally. But it is of course hard to try and win the fans on your side when you’re not the type of person who gives 100% every time."

Unfortunately, the budding fan-favourite wasn’t eligible to face Arsenal before somewhat inexplicably being left on the bench for the trip to South London. For him personally, that might have been the best thing possible with the ensuing 90 minutes a perfect showcase of why he has become so essential, so quickly.

It’s been impossible to miss the Romeo Lavia-shaped hole in this Saints team over the past two months. Out since the late August victory against Chelsea, Hasenhuttl has struggled to find solutions. None have really worked - at least until Maitland-Niles’ growth.

Ward-Prowse is at his best when given the license to roam in a box-to-box role while Diallo lacks the discipline to sit in front of the back four as a lone number six. In Lavia’s absence Saints have needed someone who operates on the same plane of the pitch; someone who excels in the yards ahead of the defence and before the attacking third, moving laterally to help build attacks and snuff out opposition breaks.

In Diallo and Ward-Prowse, Saints have two midfielders who prefer to move forward and back rather than side-to-side, and as such, there has been little to no protection for Gavin Bazunu and his defenders.

While Maitland-Niles spent his first few Saints appearances getting dragged into uncomfortable areas of the pitch, he has started to show up as the disciplined defensive midfielder Saints need in recent weeks.

His job is to sit behind the ball and follow the play while remaining central and filling in for defenders when needed. All that crucial positioning was on show at Crystal Palace and it was hugely influential in calming his team down and helping provide the structure that was missing before the interval.

Here is one example shortly after Maitland-Niles' introduction.

With Palace on the ball, the Saints midfield set up is clear with Ward-Prowse retreating from further forward and Maitland-Niles pushing up from his deeper starting role.

The positioning - as well as Maitland-Niles' instincts - means he's in place to intercept a heavy touch and launch Saints into a counter-attack.

Below is another example from last Saturday's defeat. Once again, Maitland-Niles is set up in the deepest midfield role with Ward-Prowse in front of him operating as the much free-er pressing midfielder.

As with the previous situation, Maitland-Niles isn't just hanging deep waiting to get involved. He's on his toes looking to react from an area where he can see everything going on ahead of him.

Again, this leads to success as he nips in front of the Palace players ahead of him to steal Olise's attempted pass.

Both these instances occurred in Saints' defensive half but Maitland-Niles' consistent role as the follower continues throughout the pitch. 

In the below image, Saints have just lost the ball and Palace are quick to counter. Saints have as many as five players ahead of the ball including Ward-Prowse.

Stretched, they have the benefit of Maitland-Niles remaining disciplined to cover for his teammates and help break up the attack.

On top of the structural effect Maitland-Niles has on this team as well as his off-the-ball work, he has improved notably with the ball at his feet and become a reliable outlet as Saints build attacks.
After struggling slightly in his first few appearances, the increased positional discipline seems to be helping Maitland-Niles’ passing outlook as well. His first two Saints games saw him fail to reach 90% passing accuracy before hitting that mark three times in a row. Even more impressive is that the increased accuracy has come with increased passing attempts as well.

Most of Maitland-Niles' passes are short-distance but he's been a central cog in linking the team together. Below is Saints' passing network from Saturday's defeat with Maitland-Niles (#3) highlighted in white. 

As can be seen, Maitland-Niles sat in front of the Saints defence and linked up with almost every single one of his teammates. Maitland-Niles' 29 passes went to as many as ten different Saints players.

With Maitland-Niles in the team, Saints were able to move the ball far quicker and more effectively. It's no coincidence that Saints managed just under 50% possession and four shots in the first half at Selhurst Park before racking up 10 shots while holding nearly 61% of the ball.

A relatively stop-start introduction to his time on the South Coast, Maitland-Niles is yet to start three games in a row for Saints. But his importance to this team is now clear to see.

It's believed that Saints have the option to buy Maitland-Niles at the end of his current season-long loan spell and while there is still a long way to go, he's doing all he can to show Southampton why keeping the 25-year-old may well be the right decision.

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