Even though there have been numerous calls from Arsenal fans to drop David Raya, Mikel Arteta appears to be confident Raya is his first choice goalie. Hopefully, his outstanding performance against Sheffield will have Gooners starting to trust the Boss’ choice.
In the summer, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta added David Raya to his squad. Many questioned why the gaffer pushed for the move because Ramsdale has been brilliant since his arrival. It was the Englishman while in goal who pulled them back into contention for the league title and back competing in the Champions League. Many Gooners would have been fine with him being Arsenal’s first-choice goalie for the foreseeable future.
But it appears that Arteta was attracted to something special in Raya and was compelled to bring him on board, despite the potential clash in his goalkeeping department over the battle to be No. 1.
That first time claim of aerial ball followed by a long pass are the two biggest qualities of Raya and why he will keep starting even though he tends to be jittery with the short passes. https://t.co/R1Sg7QtN5T
— Sakanell! (@Sakkanel) October 28, 2023
Ramsdale began between the posts at first (in the early games of the season), but as the games piled up, things changed. After the September international break, Mikel Arteta gave David Raya his debut, and he hasn’t looked back since.
That has seen Ramsdale relegated to the bench (since the September international break), playing only once in the Carabao Cup, when Arsenal beat Brentford 1-0.
Raya hasn’t had an easy time as Arsenal’s new No. 1. prior to the Sheffield win, I thought he was unimpressive. Against Sheffield, his performance was outstanding, and he displayed class in his distribution. He put up brilliant numbers, as seen below.
People will say "he didn't do anything" because he didn't have to shot stop…
David Raya vs Sheffield United | Full Match Statistics:
– 3 High claims
– 88% Acc. passes
– 3/6 Accurate long ballsIt's 2023… keepers do more than shot stopping https://t.co/QbvsVHyxBh
— Arsenal Archives (@ArsenalArchives) October 28, 2023
There was talk in the build-up to the Sheffield game that Arteta would change his starting lineup and rest some players. The Arsenal manager did that, giving certain fringe players like Emile Smith Rowe and Jakub Kiwior minutes, but Ramsdale was overlooked. I think that surely means he’s Raya’s deputy.Some Gooners may sympathise with Ramsdale, but they must trust Mikel Arteta; everything he does is for the greater good.
Daniel O
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No No No. This one has no justification. Ramsdale made countless saves to keep Arsenal in the points since joining us.. A few gaffs are part of a goalkeepers resume. If he is looking for scapegoats for last season’s collapse he should look in the mirror.
Hmmm Joe, Is that what Arteta does all day? Looking for scapegoats?
It appears to me that he picks the best team to make sure Arsenal get as many points as possible, and, strangely enough, it seems to be working!
What about Haavartd then! when you have Smith Rowe twiddling his fingers on the bench?
@Paul
Oh yes of course. Because we have lost every game that Havertz has played in so you are obviously right.
BUT other than that. It is my understanding that Smith-Rowe started yesterday’s game, while Havertz twiddled his thumbs lol
Raya didn’t need to make a save yesterday
J
Just don’t see how he improves us.
I love Ramsdale because he was immense for us last season. But I can’t really fault the gaffer’s choice of Raya. So far he has done his bits and besides Arteta sees both keepers in training. Arteta meant well for Arsenal as a club he wants to win things.
I guess kia Havertz is also one of them right
Have we lost a premier league game yet with Raya? Just trust the manager
Did we loose any premier league match while Ramsdale was keeping this season? That your team is winning matches doesn’t mean all the players on the pitch are better than those on the bench. I feel Arteta blames Ramsdale for the late collapse of last season.
I have long known the gaffer see Raya as a carbon copy of Man City Ederson.
So he genuinely believes Raya is capable of something beyond the Englishman.
A think the Spaniard ball playing abilities or preciseong long balls are more important than the occasional lapses , that even the world’s best Ederson is guilty of at times.
Unfortunately no cigar for the young Englishman
The problem is not Raya not being capable in my opinion. The problem is where does that leave Aaron, a very good goalie. Do you think he will accept playing back up yet he knows there are many top teams that would gladly welcome him including Chelsea. We are losing a very good goalie in my opinion who to be honest is better than Raya if not for this modern player goalie fade.
Aaron won’t be the initial or final player departing Arsenal; there are several others who have departing the club in a similar manner
Raya may have been a good keeper for Brentford, but at Brentford they were always punching above their weight and if he blundered it was quickly forgotten, if mentioned at all.
At Arsenal it is back page news, and everyone notices.
He looks a very nervous player to me.
Goalkeeping was not the reason we choked out in the Premiere League last season. We missed Saliba and our midfield let us down badly as key players ran out of steam . Raya and Ramsdale have nothing to do with a midfield which allowed itself to be over run, particular in the second half of of games.We needed Rice badly. If you think one game against one of the worst ever teams to start in the Premiere League justifies the back stab on Ramsdale, then good luck to you.
Goal keeping was why sporting Lisbon knocked us out of the Europa League, YES!!!!!!
It was not, but is probably part of the reason we lost home and away to City. We just couldn’t keep the ball with Ramsdale kicking everything to city defenders to come back at us. Raya’s game will improve as the defenders and midfielders understand positioning better. He dares to make the risky passes while Ransdale plays safer.
Good win after a wonderful controlled display. That’s without 4 first teamers. We now got 4 tough games in 10 days. Are the boys ready?
In my opinion, Raya is only better at handling crosses and his distribution is as inconsistent as Ramsdale’s. His ball-playing ability is also as shaky as Ramsdale’s
Ramsdale got beaten too many times from tight angles, so let’s see whether Raya is better in that aspect or not
Ramsdale was one of the reasons why we ended up in the second place last season, but Raya played well against Man City this season
Losing Partey and Jesus was why we became second
Ramsdale was quite solid
No Sablia, the world cup and players like Saka coming back knackered and not scoring like he had previously done. We stopped scoring as many goals, but I suppose it all down to Aaron.
Gotanidea! Did Ramsdale stuff up against Everton, Liverpool, West Ham, Brighton and Manchester City??? Please.
Am going to invite all armchair managers to watch the game between Man United vs Man City this afternoon.
What we will be seeing is the same elements of Raya game, you will be experiencing between these respective goalies, risk, prolonged delaying with the ball at their feet to lure attackers from the opposing teams.
These two Manchester goal keepers take playing out from the back to a different level.
It is these traits that which the gaffer is obsessed with.
@Gunsmoke, i also watched the game. Can you see that that Ederson is the one actually taking or should i say too “playing from the back to the next level” and not Onana? There you go bruv.
Why did he change to Ramsdele to crash out of Carabao?
If Ramsdale is not chosen to play in goal against West Ham, I would understand if he considers submitting a transfer request. It’s worth noting that many goalkeepers who have departed our club have gone on to become regular starters at various Premier League clubs. He is too young to be rotting on the bench whilst an inferior keeper starts before him.
Raya’s distribution may be better, but I don’t think that is enough to qualify the relegation of Rambo to the bench. It’s OK by me if Arteta prefers Raya, it’s his call, but what I don’t like is the masquerade. Arteta made it about competition when his intentions where always to make Raya number one.
In this case it is primarily Arteta’s judgement as to who is the preferred GK that counts most. Most of the stats also suggest that that Arteta is right. The difference may not be huge but even with highlighted errors Raya appears to be a better all round GK despite what so many on JA appear to think.
There is no “masquerade”. Ramsdale will also get chances. He needs to then demonstrate that he can put in a top level performance whenever he is called upon.
Of course it’s a masquerade, Arteta said when Raya came in there is no number one for any position in the team, and we all know that clearly isn’t the case.
In the beginning, maybe Arteta wanted to be fair to both of them so he said there was no no1 but then after working on certain things in training he decided that Raya was more suitable to his needs and only then decided between the two
I’ve yet to see how Raya performs under intense pressure for us. Ramsdale was excellent in this respect last season, even though he wasn’t so good as a shot stopper.Let’s just see how this pans out before judging either of them.
No, I’m still not convinced he’s the better of the two but I’m not party to Arteta’s thinking.
I think Arteta was looking for a goalkeeper who is willing to take risks and Raya is doing that. The thing with risk taking is that there will always be mistakes and I think Arteta doesn’t mind the errors as long as the rewards the team reaps from Raya’s ball playing benefits the team. Raya also seems to be quite adept at handling high balls such as crosses which we’ve struggled with previously.
Raya must have incredible mental strength because his own fans, opposition fans and pundits have been on his case , harassing him, yet that doesn’t seem to have negatively impacted his game; that is strength in character from where I sit. Most fans probably feel nervous whenever he is passing it around at the back dangerously and project that nervousness on him. Fans are craving safety and I get that, but to reap big rewards you have to take big risks.
Raya could have easily had an assist yesterday and sometimes that can be the difference between 0-0 and 1-0 win. I may be in the minority but I prefer Raya to Ramsdale. Perhaps many fans will change their minds with time, like it happened with Xhaka. I imagine many City fans weren’t happy when Guardiola benched their then star keeper,Joe Hart, who had won them trophies, but it is a decision they understood with time. Sometimes to move to next level, sentiment has to be put aside and pragmatic ruthlessness embraced.
By the way I came across these Raya vs Ramsdale stats(excluding the Sheffield game). The stats are computed per 90 minutes.
Raya makes 10.4 ball recoveries per game to Ramsdale’s 7.5
Raya attempts 39.6 passes per game to Ram’s 24
Raya has 77.8% pass accuracy to Ram’s 77.1%
Raya attempts 15.2 long passes per game to Ram’s 8.3 – I think this is what Arteta likes the most about Raya. He’s attempting nearly twice Ramsdale’s
Raya’s long pass accuracy is 43%.Ramsdale 33%. Raya is only second to Ederson in the league re long passes.
Raya averages 0.7 clean sheets per game to Ramsdale’s 0.3
Raya is conceding 0.8 goals per game to Ram’s 1
Raya is making 1.6 saves per game to Ram’s 1.3 – this stat proves wrong the claim Raya hasn’t had a save to make.
Raya has 67% save percentage to Ramsdale’s 56% .
Raya’s stats will have improved if you factor in Sheffield.
At the very least, these stats prove that many are biased on one hand in their evaluation of Raya and sentimental on the other hand towards Ramsdale to be objective; it makes sense because he’s a fan favourite.
You are daftly comparing a tiny amount of stats over a very short period.
RAYA has only been here “five minutes” so any stats in OUR shirt are meanginless as yet.
And his stats when at BRENTFORD ARE ALSO MEANINGLESS, AS BRENTFORD ARE A FAR LOWLIER TEAM THAN US.
Unless you compare like with like, which you have not done, then stats are meaningless.
The data cannot ‘prove’ which goalkeeper is better. However, they are relevant in assessing how they have performed to date; whilst recognising the data’s limitations.
Raya is a good all round goalkeeper and there are sound reasons that Arteta has been playing him which Onyango has pointed out.
Think going one game without an error isn’t enough
Especially against a newly promoted side
SADLY, I haveto now predict that RAMSADLE , being rightly confident in his own ability, is bound to request a transfer, at latest, by next summer.
I think that a tragedy for our club and for RAMSDALE too.
But for him, disgracefully dropped as he is , he would be correct to go to a top club where the manager appreciates his excellent ability and not to stay where the manager foolishly rates him only second to the plainly inferior Raya!
Double sigh!!
That’ll be the biggest mistake of his career if he made such decision and not wait for his time. That would mean he’s forgotten where he came from, he leaves us he goes back to the level in which he was brought.
No way! He has amply proved, since he came to us, that he is way better than most of our fans thought back at the time he came.
If we tranfer listed him there would be a queue for him and he would fetch a top fee. Which for us would be a tragedy.
Observe the many fans who rate him and say so on JA as evidence thst my view is true!
Nah, you seem to underrate manager’s influence on players. He will only remain a top goalie if he leaves us with the gaffers well wishes otherwise not much will be of him in the football scene. anyway, i think he’s a top bloke,trust in his boss,mentally strong and has’nt got an inflated ego so i believe he’ll wait for his chance rather than seek tranfer elswhere cos he’s well aware that there is nowhere else greener.
I take your point Vamos but what if Ramsdale IS usurped by Raya? I doubt he’s going to want to play second fiddle at Arsenal- feeding on scraps. I like him, but when it comes to what is best for the team then I won’t be relying on that to call for Ramsdale’s return. However, it is up to him to fight his way back into contention
Ramsdale needs to demonstrate to the manager why he should be in the team.
Raya is a good solid goalkeeper and is better than Ramsdale in certain aspects IMO.
I think Arteta will bring on Ramsdale against westHam in the Cup game and see how he performs.
Fans. Most of you can’t let go of you sentiments or feelings and look at what’s in front of you. The past is important, but we have to keep attaining greater heights.
I see some comments and i’m pretty sure many have not learnt to be objective. How some of you know the intentions of the manager for two competitive players from the get-go is beyond me, or how you think dropping a player for another is disgraceful. And, all of this without objective data or facts. just feelings and sentiments. Someone gave a data, and hardly changed anything.
Many don’t seem to have learned from the Ozil, aubameyang debacle. Even from the purchase of certain players today, like White and even the Ramsdale himself. Left for may of you, they would not be in this team. You have to trust the manager. He can’t have that much emotional attachment to players. Even if he does, he must be ruthless, if he must lead the team to where it desires.
Its his job on the line, if the team misses its targets. More times that not, he has been proven to be right.
Ramsadale usurped someone, now he is about to be usurped unless he proves to be better at the metrics important to the coach. Its the little extra margins you bring that matters.
Brilliant comment
What goes around comes around. Some of us are getting emotionally attached to a player as if we brought him to the team in the first place. That fine margin is an upgrade which we should embrace
Arteta should not loose Ramsdale. He is still a better goalie than Raya. I don’t know what Mikel is doing. But he is the manager. I hope it works for him.
When the strikers or forwards score early goals it gives the keeper more confidence but if the forwards miss easy opportunities and the keeper concedes then the keeper is to blame. I think both keepers are perfect and should be alternated equally. But who am i but a fan.