Arsenal: Unai Emery says team showed 'spirit' in Vitoria win
Martin Keown tore into Arsenal, and Ainsley Maitland-Niles in particular, during their Europa League clash against Vitoria Guimaraes on Thursday.
Vitoria stunned the Gunners by taking an early lead through former Tottenham academy star Marcus Edwards.
Gabriel Martinelli equalised for the hosts but the Portuguese side scored again through Bruno Duarte after Maitland-Niles had given the ball away near the halfway line.
And Keown was not seeing enough from the Arsenal fringe players to show they should be starting in the Premier League.
You want to make it difficult for the manager when he comes to select the team for the weekend and nobody at the moment is doing enough
Martin Keown on Arsenal against Vitoria
“You need to be right mentally,” Keown said at half time on BT Sport.
“You’re the second-string XI, you’re watching the first-team play, when you play you can make your mark. I didn’t see the hunger.
“This is the goal now, I thought [Rob] Holding could have gone across there, [Kieran] Tierney’s the wrong side, no one getting back in midfield. Far too easy and that will worry the manager.
“It’s not complacency, a lack of hunger. You’re there to make your mark at a football club, you want to make it difficult for the manager when he comes to select the team for the weekend and nobody at the moment is doing enough.”
Martin Keown tore into Arsenal during their clash against Vitoria (Image: GETTY/BT SPORT)
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Keown singled out Arsenal midfielder Ainsley Maitland-Niles for criticism (Image: BT SPORT)
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Maitland-Niles started the match in midfield after spending large parts of this season at right-back.
And Keown singled him out as the worst performer, with the Englishman one of two players to be substituted at half time by Unai Emery.
“Well [Hector] Bellerin’s playing in his preferred position tonight, [Calum] Chambers has taken his first-team berth in the Premier League,” Keown said of Maitland-Niles.
“It looked like he was feeling sorry for himself and there’s not time for that as a professional footballer.