Arsenal beat Brentford 1-0 to move to the top of the standings in a game decided by one magnificent moment when Saka’s cross into the area was headed in by Havertz in the 89th minute.
That game provided an opportunity for two Gunners, Aaron Ramsdale and Kai Havertz, to break into Arteta’s starting lineup. Given his fantastic cameo on Saturday night, Mikel Arteta may be tempted to start Havertz the next time Arsenal plays in the league. However, I don’t believe Aaron Ramsdale did enough to earn a starting spot against the Wolves next weekend.
Ramsdale, fresh off a difficult international break in which he had to deal with the backlash that arose from his father criticizing Arteta for not playing him more, had to play and dazzle versus Brentford because David Raya, on loan from Brentford, couldn’t face his parent club (due to Premier League rules). He had to dazzle, but he certainly didn’t in the first half.
He wasn’t calm and collected, and he made several mistakes. He appeared to be giving Arteta reasons to bench him further instead of playing him more.
Of course, he’s rusty, and after shattering his confidence (by benching him like that), it’s unrealistic to expect him to simply turn on and become impressive after such a long time on the bench. That said, if I were his personal counsel, I would tell him to keep battling, to keep giving his all in training, and to hope for a Harry Maguire-type transformation.
Watching the game, the commentator stated that the Arsenal goalkeeping position is currently David Raya’s to lose, and I can’t argue with that.
Nonetheless, Ramsdale guided Arsenal to their current position and kept a clean sheet thanks to interventions from Zinchenko and Declan Rice. We already know he’s a good keeper. He simply needs to regain his confidence. But after this game will Arteta give him another opportunity?
Darren N
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Ramsdale is rusty. I hope he’ll play when Lens are at the Emirates
I once mentioned that my worry for Ramsdale is that he might become rusty after staying longer on the bench. Ramsdale will have to move if he wants to keep playing England. Modern day coaches preferred “a sweeper keeper” this days and unfortunately that’s how Arteta wants his keeper to play; Ramsdale can offer him that. He will continue to be no2 to Raya.
Darren, goalkeepers cannot get “rusty”, they have to be ready to step in to the first team at any given time…think: Martinez…and it’s not as if Ramsdales been out for months, he’s played seven times this season.
I wonder what his mouthy dad will have to say about the first half yesterday.
Couldn’t agree more Jax
Arteta would not have brought in another no.1 keeper if he had felt fully comfortable with Ramsdale especially as there are other areas that needed attention
It would be easy for me to blast MA for upsetting the apple cart, and I’m sure he didn’t make the decision lightly.
Being described as rusty or blaming Arteta for benching Ramsdale is no excuse. As you so rightly put it, Martinez stepped up and AR needed to do the same.
I’m sure nerves did come into play and if I remember correctly, Raya looked decidedly off for a while in the City game, before regaining his composure.
I have generally seen a positive lad in his time at Arsenal and hope AR regains his confidence. I don’t necessarily care who is the goalie, just as long as that person is the best available.
Jax goalkeepers can get rusty like every other players. I bet, their training are a bit demanding. Trust me I know what I am saying out of knowledge I have
Sadly Ramsdale looked like a shadow of his former self. Jittery and low on confidence. His mind is not in the right place. Seems distracted and feels like someone walking on eggshells.
The most worrying part is that I don’t think he is going to recovery from that without a run of games to help him regain his composure. A luxury he most likely won’t be afforded
Spot on top4. Sadly, I suspect Aaron will be leaving sooner rather than later and may have even played his last game for us.
“Ramsdale looked like a shadow of his former self. Jittery and low on confidence.” Are we talking about this season or the back end of last? When he was number 1 🤔🤔
Obviously he hasn’t played for a while so he’s not going to be on his best form. Arteta benching him has made an impact on his confidence too I think
When AR first came in to challenge Leno for the no.1 spot it was like a breath of fresh air. Unfortunately fresh air goes stale at times and there were times he cost us a few points .
Love him to bits and he is one of us. Really hope he has the character to step up and make himself better and go back after the no.1 spot
He’s definitely got the talent
Has the attributes to step up
Has he got the cojones and aptitude
Really hope he stays and fights for it
Right now
Top of the tree
Best defence in the league
MA decisions of change is proving correct for now
Onwards a d upwards
I don’t believe Aaron was rusty or lacking in confidence; perharps a little nervous but that is nothing unusual- many professional sportspeople have admitted to experiencing nervousness ; the best of them just learn to cope with it. What I learned from that game is that he is not comfortable playing out from the back in the way Arteta wants. I get the impression that the coach wants his goalkeeper to take risks at the back by baiting the press before releasing a pass,to create space – clearly Aaron struggles with this. In the second half,however,I think he was instructed to go long,rather than pass it at the back the way Raya usually does. Consequently,Aaron looked more solid,but we lost a bit of control of the game,simply because if you go long,the odds of turning over possession to your opponents increase,unless your goalkeeper is considerably accurate with his long passing and/or you have a capable targetman like Giroud who is able control the ball,hold it up and link up with teammates to progress the ball. Our ball possession percentage dropped in the second half,which supports this premise.
One thing fans need to accept is that building play from the back is risky and is always going to result into errors,but well worth it because the tactical advantages outweigh the disadvantages. I watched the Liverpool-City game yesterday and the City goal came from a mistake from Allison. Many times I’ve seen Ederson make errors too trying to play out from the back(I’ve observed the same from Onana and Villa’s Martinez)-sometimes these errors are punished,sometimes they are not. The defenders in these systems have to position themselves to deal with such mistakes when they occur e.g. Rice’s goal-line intervention.All the big sides now build play from the back ;we can’t be left out because then our rivals will have an advantage over us. Even the smaller sides now play out from the back when going against equal or lesser opposition. This,fellow fans,is why I think Arteta prefers Raya-he is more adept at passing it around the box,and going long whenever necessary. Mistakes will continue to arise no doubt,but I sense the coach is willing to put up with that,including the odd goal from these errors,if it means having more control of the ballgame.
What a wise post Onyango and I concur with most of what you say.
Ramsdale, at the moment and for all his other qualities, is not a keeper who can play out from the back.
MA wants a keeper who can do that and, for all his other faults, Raya can do just that.
The manager has shown in the past, that he is ruthless in what he wants and there was the picture of him turning away in frustration when Aaron nearly gifted them a goal in the opening exchanges.
The question is, not who is the No. 1,but if Ramsdale will stay and learn from Raya…. in my opinion.
Another thing I have observed,which I find interesting,is that some fans are okay with saying the benching of Ramsdale has impacted confidence,yet disagree when that same argument is made for other bench players such as Viera,Eddie,Nelson,Jorginho etc when they don’t play well. Is it double standards? Or is it something deeper? Perharps something in our psyche that blinds us to the flaws of those we like/love(to the point of making excuses for them and rationalising their faults) while often magnifying and exaggerating the faults of those we don’t like . Or is it cognitive dissonance?. It is abvious that we all have our favourites and can be quite irrational when it comes to them.Something to think about.
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No Onyanga It is simply because keepers are very different from outfield players, in tht KEEPERS are almost always, inevery club , a number1 and a number 2 and both accept that until, like with MARTINEZ , when here he became better than Leno, as he himself and most fans knew too.
But that is not tth normal case and outfielders know they are always under pressure, but keepers, generally do not.
THAT is the key difference you either overlookked, or at least did not mention, for whatever reason,
Spot on. I’m more for the team and not the player. At least in the second half his performance improved.
One player at the moment IMHO who is playing his socks off and his price tag is justified is Declan Rice. What a player.
Quite frankly neither Ramsdale nor Raya are top quality keepers in my opinion.
OT : Zinchenko has played really well in the past couple of games(both defensively and offensively). Perharps the little competition has brought out the best out of both? Long may it continue.
Not sure the writer is really aware when one is ring rusty, the Englishman has found himself in the most difficult spot a goalie could ever in and none of it having anything to do with him
He’s trying a little too hard to play Arteta ball, a skill he’s not far from developing.
Hope’s his dad pour him a little red wine, it will helps him forget the wrongs committed against him
the backpass he received from Gabriel was a shocker just clip it across to Saliba the slip throwout shit happens still a better keeper than Raya
Don’t agree, he had plenty of time to pass it, but got his feet muddled up.
Two different keepers, one who does what MA wants and the other who can’t…. at the moment anyway.