Arsenal fans have always known that Aaron Ramsey has bags of talent. He joined us in preference to Man United when he was just 18 years old after showing great at Cardiff City. It took three years for him to become a regular in the first team and Wenger used him mostly on the wings as he was learning his trade, but when he was finally given his favourite position in the middle he excelled in 2013/14 scoring 16 goals in just 34 appearances.
Since then he seemed to lose a bit of confidence, except when given a free-roving role for the Welsh national side, and didn’t seem to get so forward into goalscoring situations, and when he did he lacked the cool finishing touch. When Wenger changed his formation a year ago Ramsey was given more freedom to attack and he now seems to be relishing his role and he finally came good with his hat-trick against Everton at the weekend.
Arsene Wenger thinks that this is because he has become calmer and more assured when in front positions. The Boss said this weekend: “I felt always – when I watched the games after on the video – you think always that he is there in a good position in the box and I felt always that he had between 10 and 15 goals at least in his locker,”
“He didn’t do it until now because I think he rushed, sometimes, with his finishing. He looks much calmer. The only difference I see is that he doesn’t rush it. That’s why maybe, that’s the secret to being efficient.”
Obviously calmness comes with maturity, and although Ramsey has been with us for 9 years he has only just passed his 27th birthday, and with the boost to his confidence this week, I am really hopeful he can hit a rich vein of form and be like Frank Lampard was for Chelsea in his prime. He was one of the great box-to-box midfielders of all time and was scoring goals regularly for the Blues until he left at the age of 35. Even then he spent two more years at Man City as a supersub before going out to grass in the MLS. I can see Ramsey doing the same thing for Arsenal and becoming a true legend at the club.
Sap P
I hope he can have Lampard’s shooting boots and Vieira’s powerhouse engine. Now Arsenal have the smart Mkhitaryan that is excellent with crosses and movements, which can give him more spaces and links with Aubameyang.
he will end his carrier as ramsey.a mediocore player who inconsistant n can score some goals againest mediocore teams
Barcelona interested in him again? (Lol)
How many rumored teams are ever in for him?
Not bothered if he goes, far far better out there; Dealer’s choice quite frankly.
Fabinho in Ramsey out, DM accomplished
According to rumors, Ramsey has been fed up with the amount of abuse by Arsenal supporters and Juventus is the frontrunner in getting him next season
I hope that’s true!
would be great!!!
We’ve been talking about his ‘potential’ for about a decade now! Times up folks!
We are talking about his potential for replicate a world class goal scoring midfielder, not his potential to become a good player which he already is. Plus he never really played in a position that maximise what we can get from him except that 1 season.
So you’re admitting he’s had only one good season in nine years and you’re correct. If we can get decent money for him, I’d sell him, not good enough for a Premier League winning side
Bundle him with Jack, two-for-one, and then the British brats are done with!
he’s been an established player for a lonngg time. Has won trophies for us too. So he’s an Arsenal player that has fulfilled his potential, even though he’s not a top class player, he is still really good. Wilshere is the one who we keep talking up, cause the guys been injured for ages.
Ramsey is good, actually great. Reason i will say he can never be Lampard is consistency. He has the skill and football IQ to get to that level. I am going to assume his work rate and effort OFF the pitch is the reason why, again- just an assumption. If he can be consistent, he is world class material
World class? Are you serious.
Disagree.
I think the simple reason is that in this current level of competitiveness almost no player is absolute top quality without any special physical characteristics. Aaron is neither fast nor very strong, so for top quality he would have to have powerful distance shooting or top level dribbling, because to have consistently good finishing is too rare to hope for.
Blame stupid shawcross for his delayed development, before breaking his leg ramsey was way more agile like wilshere and ozil and capable of evading tackles though his 1st touch was worse. After he returned he lost that agility and became a physical beast with plenty of stamina but he never recovered that youth skill level he had. Those irritating flicks never left though and he developed a penchant for flair.
Ramsey before leg break and ramsey after are completely different players, style of play, physical and technical skills. The hamstring injuries will never go as once you completely tear your hamstring it never really heals 100% thus more injuries happens and the hamstring becomes weaker, once that vicious cycle starts there no stopping it.
Lampard regularly scored 20+ goals a season.Ramsey has never got close to that.Lampard very rarely was injured.Ramsey never goes a full season without missing a run of games.
We are sure to strengthen midfield in the summer with (you would think/hope/pray)a top quality holding player which we have been crying out for 10 years.Where will this leave Ramsey?
Whether we play 442 or a 3/5 backline we will have Zhaka and Jack fighting for that place with Ramsey so realistically who would we rather see in the team?
Wenger would do anything to keep Ramsey and while competition is good we could have too many fighting for a single space.
It’s Jack all day long for me.We should get good money for him in the summer and to cash on now prevents the debacle we were in this last summer with Sanchez
But the issue is will Wenger keep him over Jack?
sorry just read this!
yea, unfortunately its ramsey vs. wilshere for that second centre midfield position :/
Obviously Xhaka is trash as a CDM but at least he’s more defensively minded than wilshere and ramsey….
Is he? Evidence please. Personally , I see none at all, since he, Xhaka never tracks opponents who run into our box.
Agree with Phil and Jon, with hopefully new midfielders coming in, I’d release Xhaka, who incidentally can’t defend for his life and Ramsey, Oh and Wenger.
Agree Jon
Unfair.
Lampard scored 60 (!!!) of his goals from penalties.
How many goals would Aaron have if he took 5 penalties per year?
My concern is that: where does wilshere fit in into this Arsenal team? Frustratingly, Ramsey scores very important goals and has a habit of scoring or doing something when its needed. Ideally i would prefer him in the side, but i would also like Wilshere for his leadership skills, creativity and defence-midfield transition. BUT we also need a CDM…arghhh
Could Wilshere be our CDM…?? *sweats*
I’d play both of them. If Iwobii can play certainly Wilshere can be fit in, unless Iwobi has duties working down the wing that is. I’d go with Ramsey and Wilshere to each side of DM. The front three pick themselves I reckon, harsh on Lacazette but you knew that would be the case.
Jack is a leader?
Good God, you English think very highly of yourselves.
Jack could not even clean boots down in Bournemouth.
Jack’s best role has unfortunately (for Jack) been taken by Mkhitaryan.
Ramsey is our only decent box-to-box player, and Xhaka is Wenger’s sweetheart, so it doesn’t matter that he’s the only one Jack can replace in the starting line-up.
We need a DM (or instead — the third CB), then Ramsey playing as box-to-box plus 1 playmaker – Mkhi or Ozil or Jack.
No!!! Get rid of him, he had one great game where he hasn’t skied all four of his wasteful chances and actually scored. Christ, you did the same thing every time Walcott or the Ox scored more than one goal in a game – no, they’ve had their chances and they’re mediocre! Absolute Everton and West Ham fodder. Problem with Ramsay is W*nger will play him fit in any squad despite who bad his form it. Get rid of him now while idiots like this article writer still think he’s worth 30 mil.
He’s a CM player with 6 goals and six assists nearly 7 on sat. He’s our best CM player this season, need to start talking about the other ones before we start on this one.
And he missed over a month this season from injury, making it more impressive. The Ramsey hate here is pretty sad, even if I’m alittle biased
this site is rubbish. Remember why I dont come here. Full of morons that base their opinions on nothining.
You cant even put Ramsey and Jack in the same league. If you look at the stats over the years Arsenal should not be offering Jack a new contract, his numbera are just way too low.
Different positions.
Jack vs Aaron is essentially Iniesta or Rakitic vs Paulinho (Barca’s box-to-box):
Paulinho – 8 goals, 2 assists
vs
Iniesta – 1 goal, 1 assist
Rakitic 1 goal, 4 assists
Of course, I’m not comparing Jack to Iniesta or even Rakitic, but box-to-box CMs score a lot more goals than playmakers.
If you had compared Ramsey’s assists to Wilshere’s you would have destroyed the point you were trying to make ..lol.
not nearly consistent enough
I quite expect Ramsey to have a storming last third of a sesaon and will obviously be pleased if he does. In this new formation he has more freedom to run behind and there is no one else bar P-EA who will do this. But despite this I am realistic enough to recognise that Ramsey has been here oft times before and not kicked on. I would prefer to just see where we are in May before deciding but it is unrealistic to expect a hat trick player to be dropped any time soon. Above all this, I fully expect a new and proper manager to be installed sometime this summer and we must hope and believe that, unlike Wenger, he will find the correct role for many players who have underachieved under Wenger.
I wish I shared your optimism on a new and proper manager being installed this summer. Most of us know this is what is needed if we ever want to get back to the top 4 let alone challenge for the PL. But I just don’t see Wenger leave in the middle of a contract nor do I see the balls in the boardroom to do what it takes. Our board is too old, like Wenger, to understand it is time to let the past be the past and move on in-line with modern football.
You can’t expect a fresh approach nowadays with a manager that has been in place for as long as Wenger has been. We need a manager who is hungry and ambitious and understands the level of detail that is required in coaching and preparing players and game plans.
Nothing changed, I don’t know whether or not you watched Sunday Supplement, yesterday, featuring four well known football journos as it always does, on Sky Sports yesterday. John Cross, from Daily Mirror, and a well known dyed in the wool Gooner with good Arsenal sources was saying he thinks Wenger will go . Reason? The two year contract he was given last summer was ONLY so that last years “will he go or will he stay” nonsense did not happen this season and again disrupt our team, as even Wenger admits it did last year. Crossy thinks that if this season disintegrates then Wenger will be sacked BUT if we win something or make top four he will stay one last year. Personally, I can’t see us making top four, in Prem and unless he sacrifices Prem for Europa League (as Mourinho did last season) , nor do I think we can win the LEAGUE CUP . I would gladly fail as long as it gets Wenger sacked, which I firmly believe it will. Just look at how the balance of power is changing within the club with Sven and Raul instlled. Raul is, effectively , a director of football, even though the club have fudged his true title to appease Wengers sensibilities, for the time being. I think it is at least an 80% chance that Wenger is gone this summer. Please God!!!
I so hope you are right and it makes sense to have given Wenger two years to avoid the same story as last year. So I will be a bit more hopeful. As far as our season, one can argue (I would) that it has already disintegrated. I don’t see us finish 4th or win the EL. In sports, anything can happen but trends usually are reliable and inconsistency has been our trend for the last 10+ years and that doesn’t make for a great chance to win anything.
A midfield player or 2 who can score 10-15 is what we badly need. Ramsey has proven not to be that player and I think it is unfair to him to expect him to score that many goals. At 27 and without the coaching of a new manager I don’t expect much upside to Ramsey’s game. He had, what turned out to be, one fluke season in which he scored many important goals. Now he is back to his best sideways passing ways. I doubt with Ozil being paid what he is being paid, that Ramsey will get a free roaming role in the center.
However, I was happy for him he scored a hattrick but worried Wenger will choose Ramsey over Wilshire. Wilshire IMO is superior to Ramsey in most ways when fit. Wilshire reads the game much better and also has some splitting passes in his arsenal not mainly sideways passes.
Interesting fact. Lampard has a higher IQ then Carol Voderman and just short of Albert Einstein. 150
Not sure if he could be a Lampard because Lampard used to rival the goalscorers up front. He can chip in with important goals though like the FA cup goals. He is more energy driven than Lampard was, and a better tackler than Lampard. He’s a confidence player so when out of it he can miss badly, but when he’s feeling it he’s a right handful. CBs will be trying to keep tabs on our players and Ramsey is one of those that will confuse/unsettle the defence and for me Ramsey doesn’t get enough credit for that part of his game. Hopefully he’ll mature now and never make a run forward if he knows he won’t have the energy to make it back into position.
Oh stop it, please! One good game after 30 basically shit games and all of a sudden he’s as good as Lampard. Unless he kicks on from now,( and it seems him and Alexis weren’t exactly bessy mates), then we can judge. Until then let’s reign it in a bit eh?
Yeah totally… Ramsey has his good spells and good attributes, but he’s not a top-quality player. Also I can’t see him getting any better or becoming any more consistent.
He’s similar to Theo Walcott in that sense, in that he’ll have some good games and score some important goals, but will never be the man you can always rely on.
I never liked Lampard and always though he was a knob, but you can’t deny his consistency in impacting games throughout his career.
*thought
I agree. Wilshere is a better option than Ramsey when fit, and if thats long enough, he actually is consistent. His issue though is injuries- nothing else.
we can play wilsher behind strike cuz of his creativity and ramsey can pattern with xhaka and when ramsey is attacking wilsher can move back to pattern with xhaka
ozil and magetaria play on wing and you will have all the smart players on field
Sorry Jack should be our go to guy when not injured- he can change games and offers us something different to any of our other players.
Play both leave xhaka out go 3-5-2 laca back into the team with ozil behind laca and Abu n bellerin and miki on either side of him behind them in front of the defence Ramsey and wilshere with our defence picking themself. Ramsey and wilshere will do those runs where they arrive in the box as late as possible to Finnish of creative moves from our front runners or even those busting forward runs wilshere is known for we’ll have the attack which will be 2nd to none and our defence won’t have much to do apart from winning balls that will be hoisted from deep in our opponents box
all you gunnars wanting wenger sack becareful wat you wish 4
Ramsey’s great player. Carries his national team many times
Great energy, never hides, always gives 109%, scores goals – great asset to the team!
But he’s still not in Gerrard, Schikes, Lampard category
Breaking news … Barca back in with 200m bid for welsh wizard … No wonder wenger gets away with a decade of underperformance
The amount of negativity about a player who when fit has mostly done well and has recently bragged a hatrick, is quite amusing. When he does not perform in one or two games, people shout for him to be sold. When he plays well for Wales, I have seen people criticising Wenger formation.
It seems this is a habit of Arsenal fans. They like to complain just about anything. They want a reason to complain and mostly try very hard to pick negatives.
Sometimes I wonder if the problem is Fans more than Manager and Players.