Why Arsenal Need to Move Ramsey Back To Midfield! by AT
Following the game at Old Trafford in which Arsenal came away with a point, the Gunners star Aaron Ramsey has once again earned a lot of plaudits for his performance. The midfielder was at the heart of Arsenal’s renaissance in the second half and it was his long ball that sent Theo Walcott through to score the equaliser. But on close analysis of the game, it is not hard to notice that it was when he was moved into midfield that he truly established his influence on the game.
In addition to playing splendid passes from midfield, the Welshman was also putting his foot in to win the ball and was also seen making those late runs from midfield and getting into great positions, attributes that were so characteristic of him last season. Now although his failure to produce more such performances this campaign can largely be put down to injury, I do feel that Wenger playing him on the right flank takes a fair bit out of his game.
While I do acknowledge that Ramsey is also effective playing out wide, an even stronger opinion of mine is that his best position is in central midfield and his best attributes come to life when he is deployed there. As we all saw last season, Aaron is very capable of scoring 15 goals a season and notching up a handful of assists to go with it.
When Arsenal play big teams such as Manchester United, perhaps Wenger is justified to deploy him on the flanks because there is a great need for work-rate, something that other options like Theo lack when compared to Rambo. But in matches where the onus is on us to attack, I’d really prefer to move Santi out wide or bring in Walcott or Welbeck in order to slot Ramsey next to Coquelin in the heart of Arsenal’s midfield.
It may have been an entirely different story if Ramsey had started in midfield in last week’s defeat to Swansea…
Anurag