This season, I have consistently made 3 points that I have continually been hammered on:
David Raya is better than Aaron Ramsdale
Kai Havertz will have a huge impact for Arsenal
In the first half of the season, we were holding back to ensure we peaked in the 2nd half
Aaron Ramsdale
I am not going to go into Aaron Ramsdale too hard, just like I did not go into David Raya hard when he made mistakes earlier in the season.
What I would say is hopefully this is a lesson learned for some Arsenal fans who have overly criticised Raya since he joined, and acted like Ramsdale never made a mistake for us and would never make one in the future.
During his tough start for The Arsenal, I kept pointing out that Ramsdale was not the perfect keeper that some made him out to be, and that he had made bucket loads of errors since joining the club, just not all of them were punished. So it baffled me when some fans acted like he was immune to making a gaffe.
The mistake by Ramsdale was horrendous. We now need to move on, stop the debate over the two, and back Raya.
Kai Havertz
When we signed Kai Havertz, I thought about the games he will have the greatest impact in.
One of his greatest abilities is finding space in the box, when teams are defending deep, and scoring. “Goals against the likes of Brentford” was what I blogged early in the season. And low-and-behold he pops up with the winner, just like he did in the away game.
Havertz now has 8 Premier League goals in 27 games. That equals his highest total for Chelsea in a single season. He also has 4 in the last 4.
£60m down the drain? Don’t think so.
Peaking for the second half
The best teams start slowly, doing just enough to stay in the title race in the first half of the season, and then find an extra couple of gears for the 2nd half of the season. They peak in the last 15 games, not the first 15.
From Ferguson to Wenger, Guardiola and Klopp, all their teams get better as the season goes on.
We started slowly and some fans got on Arteta’s back for it.
“Not as good upfront as last season”
“Been found out”
“Tactically inept”
“Gone backwards”
“No longer as attacking”
The truth is Arteta has learned that you need to be at 100% in the 2nd half of the season. And to do that you need to make sacrifices in playing style in the first half of the season. We are now reaping the benefits!
Keenos Knows
At the beginning of the season, I could see what Arteta was doing, why Raya and Havertz were recruited. It is all documented in my blogs. And whilst many agreed, more disagreed.
Maybe after years of writing, thousands of blogs read by millions, I do actually know what I am talking about?
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 
Thanks for the sensible views Keenos
1. Raya is currently doing what we need but … I hope Ramsdale stays and learns from him and gets the gloves back in the future when he has improved
2. LOVE #60MillionDownTheDrain … it is so nice to have several players in the middle of the park who can stand their ground and not just fall over when they feel the opposition’s breath on the back of their neck
3. Hence not rushing players back from injuries … let them recover properly so they can slot back in when we need them i.e. Martinelli and his cut foot
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