Mikel Arteta has again defended David Raya as the goalkeeper continues to have to justify his spot as Arsenal’s first choice.
Raya has delivered some heroic performances for the Gunners since he joined the club in the summer, but not all Arsenal fans have been happy with the way he performs.
Some still wait for a mistake or a shaky moment from the Spaniard to criticise him.
He saved one big chance in Arsenal’s last match against Wolves, yet Arteta has had to defend his number one again.
The Spanish gaffer said, as quoted by Mirror Football:
“David was outstanding in that moment to make the save that we needed and then we took advantage. I think he’s been very consistent throughout the whole season. The numbers are proof of that.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
Raya is not a popular signing because he replaced Aaron Ramsdale, who most of us liked, but the Spaniard has been impressive and deserves more respect than we are giving him at the moment.
He has pulled off some stunning saves and is a major reason we are still fighting to win the Premier League.
Now is the time to accept that he is our first choice and give him all the backing he can get.
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I think Raya is doing OK, though not particularly an improvement on Ramsdale. However we let the best keeper go in Martinez. We would have beaten Aston Villa but for him; that bad decision has come back to bite us
Can we just bring Martinez back? I mean, it’s happened with Luiz, Matic, Pogba, C Ronaldo🤷🏼
I would agree that Martinez was the best among Leno, himself, Ramsdale, and Raya.
Raya has not been bad, but rather average IMO.
He seems to always have a mistake in him much as Ramsdale did as well.
Raya’s distribution is slightly better than Ramsdale’s but nothing elite or top level.
As far as shot stopping, I would give the edge to Ramsdale as a better shot stopper.
Overall, IMO I don’t think spending 27 million for another keeper was necessary, we may have slightly improved in distribution, but lessened in stopping shots.
Martinez is an interesting character from what I saw from the World Cup and the more recent Conference league
He was a first rate keeper – one I wished we could have kept – but there are certain traits that have come to the fore which may have annoyed Arteta sufficiently then, to decide to let him leave. Only a guess but his actions during the penalty shootout were stupid and I believe he has received a ban
Raya has spells of being commanding and others when he looks nervous. I used to get the same nervous feelings watching Leno play out from the back