Arsenal clinched a 1-0 win away at Brentford on Saturday night and it was another hard-fought win for the Gooners, coming away with all three points and sitting on top of the Premier League, Arsenal fans will be stoked at the result, but there seems to be a cloud over the performance, and it’s left Arsenal fans a tad worried about Aaron Ramsdale.
Ramsdale hadn’t started in the Premier League since our 3-1 win over Manchester United and hasn’t had a lot of game time this season. Arteta has made it painfully clear that David Raya is his first-choice goalkeeper but seeing as Raya is still on loan from Brentford, he wasn’t eligible to play on Saturday night and Arteta had to turn to Ramsdale.
A lot of questions have been asked to Arteta about his choice in goalkeepers and it’s had Arsenal fans somewhat divided on the issue. Ramsdale was a huge reason we got so far last season and made it back into The Champions League, and arguably was one of the best keepers in the league last season. So in the summer when news broke that we were looking into bringing Raya into the fold on loan, it had fans a bit confused.
Raya is a great keeper, and has had a reasonably good season in the red and white so far, but it seems to have iced Ramsdale out – but that’s football, your spot should never be safe and you should always be competing for your spot but it does feel a bit harsh on Ramsdale.
Coming into the game against Brentford, the pressure started to build on his shoulders to perform, and I can only assume that it started to get into his head, and you could sense how nervous he was to perform and impress the manager. In the first half he looked shaky and unconfident about everything he was doing, almost like he was overthinking every move he made which led to multiple mistakes. If it wasn’t for his teammates, we could have been 2-0 down at half time.
In the second half he came out looking much better and much more confident, it was like he realised that he just had to do what he does best and that’s keep the ball out of the net. You could tell the pressure had got to him in the first half and it was almost heartbreaking to see.
At the final whistle the squad rushed to congratulate him but there was still a weird feeling around the keeper, but did it look like everyone was saying goodbye to him a well? I’m not sure if I’m just reading into things too much, but Arteta’s body language towards Ramsdale at the end of the game was a bit strange, and I get the sense that things aren’t great behind the scenes. Ramsdale looked nervous and I think some of the blame must land on Arteta, Ramsdale hasn’t had much game time this season and he gets thrown into a big game without any recent minutes, I just feel like Arteta could have managed this better.
Could it have been the last time we see Ramsdale play this season?
Daisy Mae
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