Mikel Arteta smartly waited just a few minutes to praise David Raya after Sunday’s full-time whistle. It seemed odd that he would seek out to praise easily our worst player on the pitch – and it wasn’t a coincidence.
Most manager’s choose their words with a longer-term intention in mind. This wasn’t about protecting his players confidence; this was a desire to nip in the bud any debate during the international break regarding who should be our first-choice keeper.
Any hope Ramsdale had that his boss might pick based on form were immediately squashed. To be fair, I think the 25-year-old already knows that.
Because for Ramsdale to ever start in the League again (barring injury or suspension) that would be Arteta having to admit he’s got something wrong.
The best coaches stick to their convictions and don’t get influenced by pressure from the outside.
Yet, the skill of a leader is also to recognise a mistake and put your ego to one side and correct things.
The perfect time to do that is while you’re getting away with errors instead of waiting for one to cost you.
The Spaniard said he gestured for more support from the Emirates crowd because apparently, we were not understanding the tactics, that he had in fact asked his goalie to take extra touches and slow the game down and admired his country man for this because it takes courage.
Now, this is either insulting Gooners intelligence or worse he believes what he’s saying.
What I recall is Alvarez charging him down and only luck making the ball go into the side netting.
The stadium was crippled by anxiety anyway, but the position where you need to bring calmness to everyone else, added to the nerves every time he was in possession. His ability with his feet is meant to be the main reason we have loaned him from Brentford.
The 28-year-old did keep a clean sheet and for some the ends justify the means.
Yet, if you were winning games despite your striker missing chances you wouldn’t ignore that, eventually another forward gets his chance.
Raya looked tentative doing the basics and something crucial to our system.
I’m yet to see this kicking ability that has justified dropping someone we invested 30 million on and who you authorised a contract extension to.
You invested in a youngster in a role you know most don’t peak until they’re in their thirties, so clearly were willing to let him learn on the job, but then have changed your mind.
It’s quite clever of Arteta though. In the emotion of finally beating Man City, where better for fans to not focus on your constant contradictions?
This is the man who said that last season he was considering subbing keepers as an attacking switch.
If we are meant to believe you are willing to alter your keeper as an offensive option, then surely that’s a consideration when your goalie is kicking balls against strikers nearly into his own goal?
If truly the intention was for competition to create the best out of both, it’s yet to work.
Raya was making numerous errors at the weekend, as he did in the Champions League in midweek, as he did in the NLD.
Yet what’s the bet Ramsdale doesn’t start at the Bridge?
If someone’s not telling the truth, what does that make them?
Dan
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I don’t think Raya will be able to handle EPL and UCL alone
If he keeps making mistakes, I guess Arteta will divide the tasks between the GKs, as Emery did to Cech and Leno
Gai, In my opinion it’s still early days to judge between Raya and Ramsdale. It has taken Ramsdale more than a season to improve and showcase his abilities . Raya needs more game time to gel with his team mates and prove what he can offer; his errors nohstanding. Ramsdale made lots of errors tail end of last season too. No goal keeper or player is immune to errors. I do believe the gaffer sees this two keepers in training to make his decision for a match.
lots of error? or just one error proving very costly? I didn’t see him make any error past the Southampton game….in fact he only made 2 errors leading to goal last season and that’s decent enough cos keepers will make errors when you require them to play with that much risk….
Yes, I also think Arteta made the starting line-up based on the training results
Sylva can you please name this “lots of errors” that Ramsdale made at the end of last season, because if I remember correctly Ramsdale only made 2 errors that led to goal last season and that’s good for a goalkeeper required to play out from the back. Raya has made one error leading to goal against Lens he nearly made another against City.
I think its a bit risky to divide matches between 2 goal keepers. It may lower confidence and upset them and decrease performances.
I Hope I’m wrong. I hope it works. I will be so happy if it works
Ramsdale earned the right to play in CL at least…that keeps him fresh if Raya continues poor form
Admittedly Raya made a couple of mistakes in the City game which fortunately did not get punished. He seems a bit shaky with the ball at his feet and hopefully Ramsdale comes back in goal in the next match. Ramsdale is tried and tested throughout last season and I wonder why Arteta decided to switch to Raya. Raya needs more time to get adjusted to the Arsenal way whereas Ramsdale already has proven himself. Raya should get minutes in the Cup games. Agreed, arsenal is winning games in the PL but these sort of mistakes by the GK will be punished sooner or later.
I will not talk about the tactical reasons why I think Arteta prefers Raya to Ramsdale-I realised most fans on this platform don’t really care for tactical analysis of a football game and that’s okay. That said, I will point out one area where Raya does much better than Ramsdale,which is his aerial ability. Many times we’ve seen Ramsdale struggle with crosses and/or corners. Raya on the other hand claims them so effortlessly. He makes it look so easy such that people end up saying ‘he had nothing to do’ . Some of those high claims Raya makes could be trouble for a different keeper; some of the high balls he holds onto are often parried by other keepers,which can create nervy moments in the box. There are real numbers to support this-only Villa’s Martinez did better than him last season in this regard.
The supposed mistakes made by Raya are also exaggerated in my opinion. The over the top comments started with Gary Neville and everyone else has been regurgitating them since. There were a couple of moments where he was put under pressure and that was it.Admittedly, the way he played was due to instructions he was given by Arteta .Raya is bound to make mistakes because he’s being asked to take a lot of risks. A high risk high reward system takes time and effort to perfect but the long term benefits could be well worth it.It is also worth noting that defenders also have a role in the whole ‘play out from the back’ situation- some of the passes Raya received from his teammates were not properly weighted which would make it awkward for any goalkeeper.He was superb in the second half though.
I won’t say much about passing. The numbers say that Raya’s passing is better. I also know that most people don’t like statistics but they have their place in any professional sport. I will quote one final statistic from last season. Of all the goalkeepers who played at least 10 games last season,Raya had the best saving percentage in the Epl at 77%. I quoted this statistic specifically for critics who have been saying Raya has not demonstrated his ability at making saves.For comparison,Ramsdale had a save percentage of 69% . Raya also made the most saves in the Epl last season-154.
Statistics of course need context. That said,opinions from fans based on the eye test are subject to bias,ignorance,personal preference and preconceived notions. You need both statistics and the eye test to make an informed opinion. It is just the same way you go to a doctor and the doctor performs a physical examination but also looks at numbers, images etc from the labs to make a diagnosis.
Finally,I’d say context is important when making any analysis. In the context the City game,Raya struggled when most of his teammates were struggling as well. He was just as jittery as everyone else around him. That changed as they grew into the game. These is how I saw it and I could well be biased in my assessment just like everyone else.
Perfectly put my brother. while there isn’t much to separate the two goalies, I think Raya has a different qualities that fits with what MA wants from his goalies. Raya’s comfortability with a ball at his feet and accurate passing can help overcome the high pressing team like Mancity and pool.
Great anslysis
Yes that’s first thing came to mind when the gaffer made that statement, the lad was one nervous wreck and was only help by our solid defending against a wounded champion.
When the gaffer likes a player more times than not, it will become an obsession, and he will back them no matter what.
Think there is a genuine understanding between the two Spaniards and the gaffer may gives Raya the edge over the Englishman.
Yes in the gaffer mind Raya is his number one and he may have finally got his man
I’ll keep Raya on, can’t make a full judgment on one intensity match and only 45+ minutes. And honestly, the entire team was nervous in the first half. So he can not be isolated in this instance.
Maybe I am reading too much into this post but I feel this post comes from one of our many fans who does not like that Arteta is our coach and thus try to find fault in every little thing he does or says.
Ramsdale was our no. 1 throughout last season and played over 90% of our games even though we bought a goalie from the U.S.
Some fans complained that why did we waste such money on a goalie we would not use that often, so of he went to nott forest, now we get one on loan and Arteta is doing his best to help him acclamtise and assimilate with the team yet more complains.
What bothers me most is the conspiracy theories that are been peddled around, Ramsdale doesn’t look upset, his body language doesn’t indicate that he is been slowly eased out of his no. 1 position, and he is still getting his weekly pay.
Raya made that error in the first half and in the game against lens but it is better he makes them now and learns from them this early in the season than for those errors to happen late in the season when we have like 6-7 matches left to play.
I trust Arteta 100 % in any decision he makes as I’m very sure he and Aaron have spoken about what he is doing.
We are top of the table, second in the ucl group, let’s stay positive.
Coyg.
Raya is better than Ramsdale