Although it has seemed at times this season that Arsenal just cannot catch a break, especially with the injury situation, sometimes things have gone right for the Gunners. And I think you can put the return to full match sharpness of Aaron Ramsey in that category.
The news about Jack Wilshere damaging his ankle ligaments and perhaps facing surgery and a three month lay off is a real blow for Arsenal, but it would have been much worse if we did not have the young Wales international to step in. But we really need the Ramsey of last season back again, not just for his goals but for his all round game.
And that is what we have according to the player himself. In an Arsenal.com report Ramsey explains the reason why Arsenal fans have not seen the best of him so far this season. The central midfielder feels that his game has suffered because of his fitness levels, which have not allowed him to cover the ground as much and so he has not been able to recover quickly enough after making the bursts forward that mark his game.
Ramsey also said that his fitness is now at the level it used to be and so he believes that Arsenal fans will now start to see the benefit of that, starting with the visit of Borussia Dortmund tonight, and not a minute too soon. The 23-year old has also taken on board what Arsene Wenger said about him trying too hard to score and he vows that he will just let that come back into his game naturally instead of forcing it.
Ramsey said, “Maybe at the beginning, yes [I was trying too hard to score]. Now I’ve put that to the back of my mind and I’m focusing on other things. That will come naturally again.
“I still believe in my qualities, and I’m confident that I can show them again this year. There will be plenty more opportunities.
“I had a hamstring injury and it takes a few games to get back to your best. In the last game it was the first time in a long time that I felt sharp again and felt like I was physically there. Hopefully I can continue that and have a very successful season.
“I’m still going to make my runs into the box. That’s my game. I also can get back and defend, and that’s what I mean by saying that’s the best I’ve felt [in a while against Manchester United]. When I got forward, I could get back in time as well.
“It was very frustrating afterwards because we felt like we played a good game and had plenty of opportunities to score. On another day they may have gone in, but I think it is important not to get too down about that.
“We played well and we have to continue to play in the way we believe we should. We are looking forward to the game against Dortmund now.”
If Ramsey really is getting back to his best then maybe the rest of us can start looking forward to games as well, but I for one am not there yet. How about you guys?
Its time to play rosicky/poldi/Campbell a chance, what we have to lose? all we’re risking is more injuries by playing Sanchez (who’s played every single game) and Ramsay who has a history of being in the treatment table. Dortmund already expects us to play the same XI and if AW fields the same players prepare for a big score, KOS or no KOS.
The below statement is a wager I’d pay to lose :
No trophy this season. I think Chelsea will make a double this year (and maybe even League Cup). I don’t see them though beating Real, Bayern or PSG though.
I hope by being fully fit we don’t mean when he starts scoring goals. Look, I don’t care if Ramsey scores 20 goals in a season. What I want is a Ramsey who tackles, switches play from defence to attack and helps us keep possession. If he does that, even if he ends up with only 2 goals, I can confidently say Rambo is back.
His hamstring hasn’t been the cause of his poor form, it has been his mindset. He came into this season thinking he was invincible and could smash goals in for free, which led to him shooting from ridiculous angles and ranges when there are better options available. With the formation change his responsibilities change and he needs to stop bombing forward when he isn’t needed up front.
Just imagine if we had the Sanchez of this season, the Ramsey of last season and the Cazorla of 2 seasons ago, all in the same team. BVB would have been very scared tonight 🙂
We would be amazing.. But what I just don’t understand about these players is that they all have one good season in them and then off the pace they go..
Wilshere was amazing 2010-11 was amazing and he has not been the same, I can give him the injury excuse..
Cazorla, 2011-12 season he was amazing, never been the same..
Ramsey 2013-14 season was amazing but all of a sudden is off the pace..
It seems no progression at all, one step forward and 2 steps back.
Giroud at least is consistent 😀 He’s as strong as an OX as well 😀
That’s a good question. In order to win title we need our whole team to be on form at the same time. Unfortunately we do not have that luck yet, injury play a big part in that, players like Walcott never hit top form if we can not have a decent run of game together.
I really hope Ramsey is right. He is actually not great but had been much better for us at the beginning of the season – friendly games, the charity shield and the a few first league matches.
The old Ramsey + Arteta will give us the strong foundation allowing Sanchez and Walcott to cause havoc up front. If Ox can have better composure in his final pass, we will have an awesome front three.
seriously, if we can not WIN today it will show how much wenger is clueless for football tactics.
dortmund without Reus means BVB attacking option is Aubumeyang speed with Mkithariyan through pass.
i watched enough BvB games, and they are currently very poor. their weak link are Subotic and Weidenfeller positioning. if wenger can exploit this, it would be okay, if not… smh
How come Chelsea is basically injury free all season long although their fysio is really hot? Shouldn’t it have the opposite effect? Or maybe the players WAGS know this and don’t let their hubbies get injured? Or maybe John Terry has something to do with it..?
I mean she’s like DAAAYUM! Would make Diaby a lot happier though we still wouldn’t see him play.
It’s basically because we are still playing time taka style football when everyone else is now playimgvthe pressing game. We are getting injuries through trying to hold on to possession, when other teams are just going direct, they are shooting from everywhere whereas we only shoot if we pass the penalty spot. Our short passing game is being punished leaving our defence exposed and our keeper with no chance.
Obviously we are replicating our match play in training which is why our players are frequently getting injured there also and then when they go on international duty, the change of style in training and matches simply causes more problems.
Wenger, needs to seek a fresh approach if not the board need to see that he can’t or won’t and do something about it.
*time = taka*
I’ll get me coat – tika
Wenger said in the press conference for the Dortmund game, that he is willing to bet money that our squad will have a good season.
How much money?
They were on here in the summer going on about how we did not need Cesc… We have Ozil, Ramsey, Wilshere, Cazorla, Rosicky, Zalalem, The Ox, Diaby blah blah. And that most of these players were better than Cesc, we were told….
I said that Ramsey had a very good first part of last season and was not a finished article, I was not sure he could push on so we should not take that gamble.
Cazorla had a very good first season and has just been disappointing ever since..
Ozil has done nothing since coming to Arsenal.
Wilshere is hot and cold and has not done anything since he had Nasri and Cesc around him..
Rosicky is one of my favorite player ever but he is 35 year old.
Now they are asking for Ramsey to be dropped, Cazorla to be sold, Wilshere poor guy has taken on Giroud’s position of the “Scapegoat”, everything that is going wrong with Arsenal this season has been Wilsheres fault, they want him to be sold or loaned out. smh..
Signing Cesc would be a bad move as it would affect the development of Ramsey, Wilshere, Zalalem blah blah..
smh
Half of this stuff we didn’t know. We didn’t know that Ramsey would drop in form, we didn’t know that Ozil was going to get injured, we didn’t know how awful Cazorla was going to be. Cesc was not what we needed in the summer and I stick by Wenger’s decision on that one. If Cesc came Wilshere, Ramsey, or Ozil would have left the club, and frankly I’d rather have all of them rather than a back stabber.
IF the manager does anything short of spectacular in the January window(“signing two defensive mids and a cb”) than arsenal fans who support him for the club than i guess patience is going into thin air by the time it will be in jurgen’s front desk which will be music to his ears cause he will get money,best players and a team he can give tactics to use unlike Wenger who likes his ideology better than the club.
There is still some Ozil bashing going on. Unfairly. He has not been playing in his best position. When he played in the middle against Villa and Galatasaray he was very good. Assist and goal.
if you want to know How good he is in #10 just check out his stats with Madrid
Also, he plays lw for Germany only because they have so many good midfielders. He plays well because it’s for his country and has top quality supporting him. Furthermore, he doesn’t play for Germany every week. If he is not playing in his best position for his club not only does it reflect in his physical performance but it affects him mentally also.
Now that we have Walcott and Sanchez there is no excuse for playing Ozil on the wing.
I swear, even without more signings, if Wenger had played Ozil in the middle, Chambers instead of Monreal as CB and Bellerin at RB we would have more points.
Despite his position Ramsey is one of our best strikers of the ball alongside Sanchez, Walcott, Campbell, Podolski (and then), Welbeck, Giroud right down the perking order to Per. I believe Ramsey is mature enough to realize the team’s striking problems, and that in recent matches they only had one striker up front (Sanchez) to depend on for goals. I believe behind the scenes he is working extra hard to return to his lethal best. The return of Walcott and Giroud is a big plus which will take the load off Sanchez,s shoulders and allow Ramsey to silently sneak in to his best without the critical pressure of some sections of fans. And one thing I like about Ramsey-no matter how much you vilify him, he silently gets back up and work on correcting his errors without even flicking at your jibes.
On today’s game, if Wenger plays 4-4-2 picking (Podolski and Welbeck) to start up front. (Sanchez, Ramsey, Arteta and Campbell) in the middle we can be smiling at the end of today
Garay 15mil went to Zenit what a signing he would’ve been for us alongside Koscielny in Defence.
Also many if you might disagree but I think we should’ve signed Javi Garcia for around 14mil who also went to Zenit these two in our team and we wouldn’t be suffering defensively right now
Yes because all the amazing players go to Russia……
Money Talks these days that’s why they go Russia… Your telling me Garay isn’t better than Mertesacker???? And Garcia isn’t better than Flamini or Arterta Lmao…
We will see what Russian Club comes in for our mediocre players… None!!! Why’s that because they ain’t good Enough for a champions league club…
Flamini past it and getting old
Arteta he is okay but not quite fabregas
Mertesacker slow but his okay, shouldn’t be a regular starter tho
Our weakness in through the middle the spine our team everyone can see it but why can’t that old fart wenger it’s so frustrating….