I know that Aaron Ramsey has been excellent for Arsenal at times, and I have also seen him in a terrible run of form at other times, (and he also spends his fair share of time in the treatment room) so I am of the opinion that he needs to build up his consistency first and foremost.
The Welshman is right to have great ambitions, but he has set himself a very high bar to reach in a short space of time. “I think a top-class midfielder needs to be able to tackle, get up and down the pitch, pass, create opportunities and score goals,” Ramsey said in Bleacher Report. “That’s why I try to do everything, that’s what I judge my game on.
“If you look at someone like Steven Gerrard, he combines all of those elements. That’s what I want to [emulate]… so that’s what I base my game on.”
There is no doubt in my mind that Ramsey has the potential to become world-class, but in the meantime he is struggling to even get used by Arsenal as a central midfielder, with Wenger preferring to use Santi Cazorla or Ozil in that role for the Gunners, with Ramsey usually being pushed out to the wing. The 24 year-old has not been shy in telling Wenger that he is not happy with the situation: “Playing on the right is not my preferred position,” said Ramsey. “I am a central midfielder and that’s where I like to be. I like to be involved a lot more in the game.
“But the manager’s asked me to do a job out there, and I do have the licence to drift in and get involved.
“When we are defending, I have to stay in position but when we get the ball I can drift. I am not a winger, I can’t knock the ball beyond my man like Theo does.
“I prefer to get in the little pockets of space, get involved and play the combinations but it is important to do a job for the team.”
So he has made it clear where he wants to play, and exactly how good he wants to be, but in my opinion he should stop talking about it and just work his socks off to actually be in a position to achieve his aims. As he said about Arsenal at the end of his interview on Bleacher: “We can start the season on the front foot and with greater ambitions,”
“We are going in the right direction. We have improved as a team defensively, and obviously we’ve shown we are able to create and score goals so it’s just about getting that consistency throughout the season.”
He should take those words and make it into his own private personal target as well. Start with the consistency and the est will follow, for Ramsey as well as his team…