Gabriel Agbonlahor believes that Aaron Ramsdale will ‘100%’ be the number one at Arsenal, and that Bernd leno will have to ‘suck it up’.
The German has conceded nine goals in only three Premier League outings this term, while summer signing Ramsdale has two clean sheets from his two competitive appearances, as well as another shut-out against Brentford in a behind closed doors friendly matchup.
You can’t help but believe that there is now pressure on the German who has been our first-choice since displacing Petr Cech in the ranks, and Agbonlahor goes as far as to state that he will have to ‘suck it up’ as Ramsdale will be the first-choice.
“100 per cent. Ramsdale’s going to be the number one,” Gabi told the Footaball Insider. “If you sign him for £30million you’re going to play him.
“Leno will have to suck that up. Ramsdale will be number one, for sure.”
There can be little complaint about our new signings performances thus far, while some reservations will need considering when you analyse the opposition the two goalkeepers have taken on thus far, with Leno conceding seven of his nine against last season’s Champions League finalists Chelsea and Man City, while Ramsdale has only come up against Championship side West Brom’s reserve side and bottom of the Premier League club Norwich thus far.
Does Leno deserve some credit or is he already falling behind his younger team-mate?
Patrick
We’ve been here before!! One EPL appearance against Norwich is too early to judge whether or not he is our No. 1 keeper. Leno has better EPL stats, 24 clean sheets in 100 games whereas Ramsdale has 11 clean sheets in 76 games. However it does look as if he will be our 1st. choice, you don’t splash out £30m for him to warm the bench. Leno will probably move on in January.
I agree that Lenno might be probably moving on if Ramsdale is consistently selected ahead of him. Having said that, the next 2 PL games will be the first real tests for him, against the burly Birnley forwards and the pacy Spuds attackers. Hope he manages to keep clean sheets in both these games and future games.
Comparing clean sheets with Leno at Arsenal and Ramsdale who was keeping at the bottom end is hardly fair. He is often talked about as if he was a lower league goalkeeper
As mentioned above, there are bigger tests ahead and we’ll know soon enough if the no1 spot changes hands permanently. Ramsdale must retain the confidence of those in front of him.
We aren’t exactly at the ‘top’ end are we?I was just making the point that it was too soon to judge whether or not he would make the grade. We don’t have a great record of buying good goalkeepers, remember Mart Poom, Vito Mannone, Almunia, Runnarson etc.
Comparing like for like Burnley’s keeper Nick Pope has 37 clean sheets from 109 PL matches, superior to both Leno and Ramsdale. Burnley finished 17th last season. Personally I hope that young Ramsdale develops into a top class keeper because, in the modern game, we will not win a major trophy without one. You also need a a quality defence to back up the goalkeeper not to mention the attack. Looking at the strength in depth of the top 3, Man City, Chelsea and Liverpool (my opinion) it’s going to be a long haul to even get into the top 4.
Andrew
I was making an independent point regarding our two keepers and certainly wasn’t taking a pop at your opinion
Or you suck it up and WE have 2 very good keepers with perfect age profiles