Former Arsenal star Michael Thomas has tried to reveal how important it is for outfield players to have a special goalkeeper in Aaron Ramsdale as their last point of defence.
Ramsdale joined from Sheffield United this summer, and despite arriving to play second-fiddle to Bernd Leno has swiftly overthrown his counterpart, and is showing no signs of giving that up any time soon.
The goalkeeper has been soaking up the plaudits since breaking into the first-team, and further cemented his place in the team this weekend when putting in a Man of the Match performance against Leicester, pulling off that standout super-save from James Maddison’s free-kick also.
Thomas has now claimed that having a goalkeeper ‘so reliable’ in the team also gives the outfield players a huge advantage on the pitch also.
“Ramsdale had an amazing performance, both with his distribution and saves,” Thomas told CaughtOffside exclusively. “I can’t stress enough how good it feels to be an outfield player and know that your keeper is so reliable and can pull off saves that others can’t.
“I am really happy with the defence as a whole. They seem to be gelling really well and the balance of transitioning from attack to defence is a lot better. They can all be seen barking out orders and words of encouragement. It’s great to see them celebrating a defensive action like a goal.”
On Tomiyasu, he added: “Great start to life at Arsenal. He is a young lad with not that much experience, but takes each game as it comes and it looks like Arteta can trust him. Hopefully this is the beginning of a great career at the club.”
I don’t believe it is any form of coincidence that the team’s form has drastically improved since Ramsdale got given the role in goal, and he clearly has brought the best out of the players in front of him, and that newfound confidence is contagious. We could well be just a few more wins away from the level of confidence that even the top three teams will not want to be coming up against, and Leno should be looking at himself for letting his level slip in recent seasons.
Patrick
Ramsdale was extraordinary, no iota of doubt in that. But we shouldnt allow so many shots on goal or a team like Pool or City will take full advantage. Ramsdale is human after all and mistakes will occur and we should support him no matter what.