Can we show ‘cojones’ and beat Watford? Do we play Ramsey? by Konstantin Mitov
Hello lovely Arsenal people! A nice 3pm game on Saturday sees us welcome a certain Watford team at the Emirates. After last seasons defeat at Vicarage Road, Troy Deeney kind of put on a special meaning on this game by labeling that our team lacks balls.
The pain is that there is a bit of truth to this, but once you say something like this it puts a bounty on your head. This alone should be motivation enough to beat the hornets, and a victory means leapfrogging them in the table and knocking on the top 4 door.
Successive wins are breeding some confidence, but we are still a liability in defense. We have the quality to beat teams like Watford, but will we do it? We are over-reliant on scoring more than the opposition, but can we put a solid defensive performance?
I still believe part of the defensive problems come from the lack of help from midfield, and speaking of it, the Aaron Ramsey contract breakdown news broke out and Emery failed to deny them. Some rumours even suggest that Emery had the veto over Arsenal withdrawing the contract.
Very interesting indeed if true, as it’s just a rumour, but it shows demand from the boss. After all’ managers are power-hungry people. Wenger was, Pep is, Conte at Chelsea told Costa it’s my way or the highway, Jose at United is the latest example with Pogba. After all, if results don’t come, Emery will be gone, not the players. Perhaps he’s thinking that we could get a proper winger and spend Ramsey’s wages on that. He implied on his press-conference about players getting his ideas, and if Ramsey doesn’t fit them, then he goes.
We’ve tried Ozil on the wing and Ramsey as a number 10 but it hasn’t really worked. For me we either drop Aaron in CM, or he doesn’t start. If I have to compare Ramsey and Ozil, the Welshman has won us 2 FA cups and I think he is more valuable to us than the German but not as a number 10.
The reason we are here is because of many years of bad contract management (good riddance Ivan) and although we’re trying to be more ruthless lately it will take time. No other top club allows key players to leave without recouping major money for them. Ronaldo was resold for practically the same value he was bought, even though he’s in his thirties. Coutinho was sold for ridiculous money, and so was Dembele from Dortmund. And by the way, Nacho, Cech and Welbeck are also in their final year.
Anyway, the question for me now is, do we start Ramsey? I’d drop him for Iwobi on the wing and Mesut going back to the number 10 role. I want players focused on Arsenal. The squad needs to build a spine and it has to be build around players whose at least mid-term future is at Arsenal. Right now we’re relying heavily on our front three, but it can’t get us through games forever.
I’ve repeated this like a broken record, but either we fit a system that suits the players we have, or we look for new players. The question is how much do we trust Emery and how much will now ‘100% owner’ Kroenke give him in the market? Nobody knows, but Ramsey or not, I want a victory against Watford and a return to Champions League football next year. That’s me done. See you in the comments.
Konstantin
Ozil in CAM . . Welbeck in RW , he can support Bellerin defensively n seem to be in form.
?Lichtsteiner instead of Bellerin at RB improves the defense while maybe slightly reducing the attack.
We lost out on so much money letting Ozil, and Sanchez run their contracts down, that we MUST sell, or exchange Ramsey in January. We really need a winger, so hopefully a swap deal with a pacey wide player would be perfect.
This is Wiggy. Agreed @ thirdman. Hey Dick, swap Ramsey for Zaha.
We need somebody better then Zaha…. not another overrated player just cos his English.
Granted, Zaha isn’t WC, but he’s currently a massive upgrade on what we have on the wings at the moment. I wouldn’t mind him to be honest, although with Aubameyang playing on the left as well, I guess we need a right sided winger.
Zaha would cost 60 mil min which is fantasy land given our entire budget for the summer was 50. He’s so integral to Palace they literally can’t win a game when he doesn’t play they would play hardball so 80+ mil wouldn’t be out the question. Not happening.
You give Ramsey + 20 million to Palace. That will do it. Zaha is an Arsenal fan from childhood.
Ramsey holds all the cards in this debacle. if he doesn’t want to sign, there’s little Arsenal can do to sell him and recoup some money by January. If you attempt to force him out by January, he would simply refuse any offers for him. The most Arsenal can do is to bench him or keep him out of the first team squad. This wouldn’t change anything for him because he can sit it out until May just like a long term injured player would. Besides, there’s no major international tournament like the World Cup or Euro next year so there would be no pressure for him to remain fit.
Benching is a problem of it’s own because it makes players question signing for you in the 1st place if i ever want to leave or not sign they will bench me regardless of performance bad look and why no one does it. That is before you involve the various players at the club who like Ramsey even if they’d rather him stay, they wouldn’t react well either. Only time benching is an option is if the players is playing poor or if they are negatively effecting the dressing room. Neither are true with Ramsey no matter how much people try to pretend the 1st is true.
Ramsey should be benched based on performance alone. He brings very little to the team. Play Ozil as nr 10 and bring Miki back on the right wing.
ThirdManJW……
He hasn’t spent all this time refusing sign a new contract to spoil it by signing for someone else in January. Said it before, this is all about money and for him to get a maximum contract he’ll leave at the end of the season on a free. He’s planned this for the last 18 months to 2 years. I say stick him in the reserves for the rest of the season and hope other clubs lose interest in him then let him leave for a team like Cardiff who’ll pay half the wages Arsenal originally offered. Just pleased to see that Arsenal seemed to have called his bluff.
I just don’t know what Emery is doing with regard to team selection for EPL matches.Commom sense tells me that playing Ozil at RW and Ramsey at No.10 position is likely to cause both players to go off form.I blame him to a large extent for field problems related to these two.These two are also supposed to be part of our best players and should actually be showing that they are on the pitch.
It’s easy to bash Ramsey because he’s not been playing well and hasn’t yet signed a contract but what people don’t know is Ozil’s massive wage is part of this problem.The defence has improved concentration wise but positioning wise they are worse than last season.
It was also funny how Gazidis said “those who speak don’t know and those who know don’t speak” yet ITK’s were able to predict his departure which even sums up the man’s departure.
kev…
honestly how old are you?
Ramsey is the most overrated player in PL.
Time for you and other “lovers” to take his picture(s) from the wall.
His daddy Wenger is gone, now his last big mistake will finally leave… and he won’t even go to Inter Milan how I predicted in the summer.
and please dnt answer with positive stat or broken leg or nice hairdo… just your age please, if possible.
Daddy Wenger left Emery starts him every game. Clearly you know better. Get your badges earn you millions!
It was about a time for Emery to address the Board and ask to withdraw the contract offer to Ramsey. They did!
Enough said.
Bruh I normally keep quiet and let you do your transfer and ITK talks but please shut it this time… I welcome your views concerning the team and stuffs but anything transfer, contract n player management, just bottle it up.. you told us Ramsey was gon sign and no I don’t need you to explain to me the meaning of your own Done deal??
Well it mat not have happened but do not be like those who have a short memory.The same ITK’s predicted Gazidis’ departure.The man who said “those who know don’t speak and those who speak don’t know”.
“It’s easy to bash Ramsey because he’s not been playing well and hasn’t yet signed a contract but what people don’t know is Ozil’s massive wage is part of this problem”.
No shit Sherlock, of course people like us don’t realise that glaringly obvious fact, so thank you so much for bringing it to our attention.
I am sick of this Ramsey thing .An average player taking the club to ransome.Let him go in january and let’s move on.
There are so many players one can go and try to go for, but british players Arsenal have to avoid at all cost. My current fav. would be Lyons Tanguy Ndombele who could even replace Xhaka in time and and PSV Lazano, a player every team needs to have.
As for Emery benching Ramsey now bec of the contract tllks. Naahh, that would be to radical. He is going to play many games till the time of him to go comes. We are not ruthless enough and the chance of Ramsey changing his mind is always a possibility. Very eager to see how Emery will make his choosing now. Ozil on the wing is a wast, and so is Ramsey being a starter in the team. UP the Arsenal.
We need 8 HG. HG players are overrated and overpaid in terms of talent because of this but its still ABSOLUTELY VITAL. It’s why City spent a straight fortune on Sterling/Stones/Walker/Delph but they all play and fill 4 HG quotas! They can buy ANYONE they bought those at higher prices than foreign equals because of the HG quotas its basic squad building. We will never buy a Delph with our financial constraints never mind the better 3 and Ramsey our best HG without doubt leaving highlights how bad we are and likely will be going forward. If we miss top 4 this year we’re done for a very long time.
Lozano and Ndombele would be incredible
additions in January KS, but unfortunately I
think both players current form is pricing them
far beyond AFC’s meager transfer budget.
Arsenal would have to sell Ramsey, Welbeck,
El Neny and Xhaka for there max transfer $$$
to finance such business and I just dont see that
ever occurring.
And can we possibly implement a reasonable
moratarium on Ramsey articles. One would
think after visiting this site recently that the
Mount Rushmore of Arsenal would have to
include this guy. ??
winning games is the most important thing right now, not contracts. If Emery genuinely wants Ramsey in the starting lineup, then do it, even if fans dont like it.
By all the reports coming it was Emery who did ask the Board to withdraw the contract offer to Ramsey. If he will play him it will be like a shopping window with a headless teddy bear on batteries running arround shinny lights.
I think it’s time to let players know that they shouldn’t be holding Arsenal to ransom. I am disappointed at all these players’ contract renewal issues on season basis.
I was rather thinking that Ramsey will learn from Sanchez in Man United and Chambelin long term injury @ Liverpool.
I support Ian Wright who suggested that Welbeck contract should be renewed same to Monreal as they have done well to deserve it.
Emery will not be influenced by the breakdown in the contract negotiations.He will play Ramsay because he is the best box to box midfielder we have at the present time.No doubt the matter of replacing him has been considered by Emery and his Management team and for what it’s worth i hope the young Belgium international, Tielemans is on his shopping list.A tremendously powerful, pacey and intelligent footballer.
Ramsey was holding out for £200-220k a week deal. That’s £10-12 million a year – the type of money that will go a long way in Kroenke servicing the £500 million to buy out Usmanov and the remaining shares. Allegedly the repayment is in the region of £15 pa.
Correction The £500 million debt he took out.
The decision to withdraw the contract offer might have very little to do with footballing reasons.
The way this deal got taken off the table, I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re after making headway on a player Emery and Mislintat both rate very highly. Rabiot comes to mind. One rumour I hope comes to fruition, is Pavon. Raul supposedly has allot of good will out that way. He brought Neymar to Barca and had to sort out a difficult contract. Alexis he brought too. I wouldn’t be surprised if the main reason we nabbed Torriera is due to Raul. If he can get us Pavon that will bode great for our future. His age and there being a huge ceiling on the player, we usually have no shot with the best from out that way, hopefully it comes to pass.
Well, considering cojones means testicles, all they need to do is pull down their shorts
all men have them
we’re born with them you see
women have the other thing
I learned this is biology class and sex ed
Cech
Bellerin-Mustafi-Sokratis-Monreal
Torreira-Xhaka
Mkhi-Ozil-Auba
Laca
I think Emery will use this team, that is assuming Sokratis is fine (which is what I read).
If Emery picks this team then I will guess at a 4-2 win.
i would like to see that line-up for several games on the trot.
Ramsey should be dropped to the bench starting next game. Playing him will be.a.waste of precious time. Hes definitely leaving in January. We honestly dont need him. We need players who have the defending gene in their systems and Ramsey hates defending. He wants to shine, he wants to be the scorer, the one being carried on the shoulders of his mates; and sadly that almost never happens to a mcd, or mc, or box to box; or whatever the name of ramseys position is. Truth is, ramsey is very disorganized on the pitch, he just follows his intincts and goes forward. However, We need to admit that this anarchical style of play takes opponents by suprise sometimes, and he can score or assist. But, I really dont see a talented player in him. I think that we suffer much more in defense with the holes he leaves when he attacks. Lets drop him now and find a way to play torre and guendo. They are our future
Dean Saunders “Arsenal and Unai Emery have lost control of their players. How are these jokers even getting work as pundits? Absolute joke! Ramsey doesn’t sign a new contract so Emery is losing control of his players! Someone should tell that prat Saunders Ramsey is a Wenger signing and him not signing a new contract has nothing to do with Emery, most of our current squad is Wenger signings so their contract situations has nothing to do with our new management team! Terrible punditry and Saunders is another complete anti Arsenal man alongside Shearer, Murphy, Sherwood and that other clown Michael Owen! Punditry should be fair unbiased opinions but every time these clowns get a chance they’re ripping into Arsenal! ?
Ramsey was signed by Wenger not Emiry so that’s why he is playing hide and seek,but Ramsey is not arsenal so we should move on with unai project
KDB 160k, Mahrez 200k, Eriksen 75k, Silva 160k, Sane 60k, Sterling 180k, Aubameyang 200k,Lacazette 100k, Jorginho 102k, Cesc 156k, Kante 120k, Hazard 200k, Martial 65k, Fernandinho 90k, Pjanic 110k, Dybala 60k, Douglas Costa 29k, Verratti 150k, Rabiot 60k, James 120k, Coman 150k, Alaba 130k, Thiago 112k, Kovacic 60k, Muller 150k, M.Dembele 80k, D.Alli 50k, Kane 100k (just renewed). some of these players in this thread play for clubs that are more financially bouyant n lavish spenders, still none pay those miles better players than Ramsey upward of 200k… I stand 200% with Arsenal management on this.
?nicely put in context; I hope for Rabiot as Ramsey’s replacement.
Unfortunately our group of central midfielders don’t know what playing central midfield means. They don’t mark, tackle, track-back and then fans think we have a midfield????? Watch how these rookies (Xhaka, Ramsey & Guendouzi if he’s played) are going to be dominated by Watford. They are the sole reason we are conceding many goals.
Nice article Konstantin. Sound comments. I also hope it was in fact Emery who decided to withdraw Ramsey’s offer. It is OK calling him head coach, provided he is the one who makes the final call on keeping/ buying or releasing players. THAT IS HOW IT MUST BE FOR ANY CLUB TO REMAIN HEALTHY. YOU CANNOT MAKE KEY DECISIONS BY COMMITTEE. YOU DO GENERALLY TALK A LOT OF SENSE, EVEN THOUGH I AM ALWAYS QUICK TO JUMP ON ANYTHING I DISAGREE WITH.
Troy D. and Watford were brought back to earth. So satisfying.