Tag Archives: Aaron Ramsey

REVEALED: Who is Arsenal’s most influential attacking player?

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Quiz time: Which Arsenal player has the most combined goals and assists this season?

OK, it is a trick question as there are two players that currently lead the way.

Alexandre Lacazette has 8 goals and 1 assists – 9 in total. Alongside him is Aaron Ramsey with 3 goals and 6 assists.

No Arsenal player has more Premier League assists than Aaron Ramsey this season. An incredible statistic considering he does not take corner and free kicks.

He comes in for a lot of criticism, and it is often justified. He has had an up and down career at Arsenal, but his good form this season has gone under the radar.

Now you could argue that his job is to not get goals and assists. That by him bombing forward, getting into advanced positions, leaves a hole in behind him that Granit Xhaka has struggled to fill. But then he also leads the way in tackles and interceptions per game (excluding the defenders).

His problem is that he is not a naturally defensive player. He needs someone in behind him who will cover the ground, someone like N’Golo Kante would have worked perfect in tandem with Ramsey.

For much of his career, Ramsey has been a square peg in a round hole. Expected to do a defensive role in the team, when he actually wants to bomb forward and get involved.

His assist for Alexandre Lacazette against Manchester United was a great example of his ability to make perfectly timed runs into the box. His awareness to head back to the Frenchman was world class.

With both Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil to leave, maybe the time has come for Ramsey to move further up the field – his more natural position where he plays for Wales.

When I see that someone like Leon Goretzka is available on a free transfer, it makes me think that we should go all out for him to play central midfield, and move Aaron Ramsey further forward.

It is not about being cheap, it is about being sensible. Goretzka will become one of the best central midfielders in world football, and Ramsey has proven what he can do in more advanced positions. It would also leave us even more money available to buy someone to partner Ramsey behind Lacazette in the future.

Aaron Ramsey’s good form is probably a surprise to you all.

Keenos

Aaron Ramsey, David Dein, Sead Kolašinac & Alexis to Everton?

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Aaron Ramsey

Against Swansea, Aaron Ramsey became the 50th Arsenal player to score 50 goals.

A man who has divided opinion over the years, we should be forever grateful of 2 of those goals, which won us 2 of the 3 FA Cups in recent years. In years gone past, he would be labelled a legend for winning us two FA Cups. I imagine this status will only come once he retires, in years too come.

He will always be remembered as that guy who scored the winning goals in the FA Cup finals.

It is easy to forget that he is still just 26 (27 in December). He still has a lot of years to go at the top level. As long as he remembers to keep it simple, and play to his strengths, there is no reason he can not go on to score 100 goals and play 500 game for The Arsenal.

Well done Aaron on your 50 Aaron.

David Dein

Once again, the name David Dein is being spoke about for a return to Arsenal. Like Aaron Ramsey, opinion is split on the former Arsenal director.

I am of the opinion that we won a lot under his stewardship, but these trophies covered up the discord he had between the fans at the time.

There is a clear split between fans on the matter of David Dein. Those under the age of 35, or who were not going to games regularly in the late 80s / early 90s, think he is a messiah. That he can walk on water. They see the league titles, the FA Cups, the world class players who joined. It was a successful period.

But then those who are of a certain age, going in the late 80s / 90s, will remember the North Bank Bond fiasco. They will point to the moment the club chased the money instead of protecting its long term fan base.

The Bond Scheme was fairly similar to the Club Level season tickets that came on the market when we moved to the new ground in 2006. By paying a big chunk of money (back then it was £1,000-£1,500), fans could secure themselves a season ticket for Arsenal for the next 150 years.

The following is an extract from the book Fanatics: Power, Identity and Fandom in Football:

There were protests, a Ban the Bond campaign involving the release of balloons. There was as much anger at David Dein at Highbury than there is at Stan Kroenke now.

Also under David Dein, ticket prices rose at incredible rates.

In the 10 years from 1990 – 2000, the average Arsenal ticket price rose 289%. From 2006 – 2016, under Stan Kroenke, prices rose 18%.

Whilst this is not to justify Stan Kroenke, it is too highlight that David Dein was certainly not a man of the people. He only cared for maximising profitability at the detriment of loyal working class fans.

On top of this, he also introduced Stan Kroenke to the club, before selling to Alisher Usmanov. He created the current ownership problems we have.

Dein profiteered from the club to the value of nearly £100m. He was in it for himself, for his own pocket.

All of this is forgotten about because we were successful under Dein’s stewardship.

It does make me wonder, would many of the current fan base who moan about ticket prices soon be quiet if we won a league title? Probably.

Dein did a lot of good for the club. But he was also the man who kicked off the current PLC mentality of maximising profitability at the detriment of match going fans. He we the catalyst for many of the problems we now face.

Sead Kolašinac

What a player this boy is turning out to be. He does have a bit of a poor injury record, so I hope the slight strain he picked up against Swansea does not turn into a season long thing.

He is a sharp reminder to us all that it is not what you spend on a player, but what player you buy.

It is laughable to remember some fans in the summer moaning that he was a typical Wenger signing. Cheap.

Manchester City spent nearly £150m on full back this summer, and Kolasinac is better than them all.

Alexis Sanchez to Everton

Bit of laughable transfer news this morning.

Everton are interested in signing Alexis Sanchez from Arsenal this January for £30m as former Arsenal shareholder Farhad Moshiri looks to splash his cash.

If Sanchez does go to Everton, it will be for huge wages and show that the Chilean is interested in money, not trophies. Hope he enjoys playing in the Championship next season.

 

Have a good week

Keenos

Arsenal’s square pegged midfield

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Arsenal have massive problems in the middle of the park.

Even after beating Everton 5-2, the problems are clear to see for everyone – bar Arsene Wenger it seems. Our midfield is extremely unbalanced.

This season, a lot of goals have been due to errors in the middle of the park. Players either giving the ball away in dangerous situations, or not tracking their man. A lot of the blame can be put on Grant Xhaka. But the problem is deeper than one man, it is the fact we are playing midfielders in positions that are unnatural to them.

Grant Xhaka

When we signed Grant Xhaka, I was excited about the prospect of him joining the club.

A man who I had rated for some time, he was brilliant on the ball, but also had a bite in his challenge. He looked to be the ideal man to sit in front of the back 4.

At the time, we had a choice, Granit Xhaka or N’Golo Kante.

Kante was clearly stronger defensively, and the ability to cover more ground, whilst Xhaka was a better footballer, better with the ball at his feet.

Having chased Xabi Alonso a few years back, Wenger went for Xhaka, a man who could win the ball and start the attacks. But it is clear now that he is the wrong sort of player.

A few years after missing out on Alonso, we signed Mikel Arteta. Another deep lying midfielder known more for his ability on the ball, rather than his defensive strength.

We have lacked a midfielder who defends first since the first incarnation of Matheiu Flamini, and have not had someone who was World Class at that job since Gilberto Silva.

Whilst some point to Xabi Alonso as one that got away, for Liverpool he did not play as the out and out defensive midfielder – he had Javier Mascherano behind him. And at Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, he played for sides where his deep lying play making ability was more important than his ability to win the ball.

In Xhaka, we got perhaps the closest thing to Alonso in the modern game. It looked ideal, but is has turned out to be a disaster.

Granit Xhaka would be more comfortable further up the field, as the box to box midfielder playing between a defensive midfielder and Mesut Ozil. Where Aaron Ramsey plays.

At the time we signed Xhaka, I made a case that we could have accommodated Xhaka and Kante. We went for Xhaka, in hindsight we should have signed Kante.

For Switzerland, Xhaka is brilliant. For Monchengladbach, he made the Bundesliga team of the year. Both times he plays next to a more defensive player.

Granit Xhaka would be more comfortable further up the field, as the box to box midfielder playing between a defensive midfielder and Mesut Ozil. Where Aaron Ramsey plays.

Aaron Ramsey

Like Granit Xhaka, Aaron Ramsey plays better for his country than his club. And this is down to one reason. For Wales he plays in his favourite position.

Ramsey is brilliant when he plays in an advanced position, just behind a striker. He is like Frank Lampard. He has the ability to make late runs into the box, to score goals, to drift in unnoticed.

His best season to date for Arsenal was 2013/14, he scored 16 goals in 34 games. The majority of these games were playing behind Olivier Giroud. Picking up the loose ball and scoring goals. He had finally found his position.

But with Alexis Sanchez coming in, Ramsey soon found himself playing deeper once more, where he just does not have the positional discipline or passing ability to control games.

I look at the goals Frank Lampard scored. The goals Dele Alli is scoring for Spurs behind Harry Kane, and Aaron Ramsey can do this, he just needs to play further up the field.

If / when Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil leave Arsenal, playing Ramsey higher up the field is an option.

The closer to the opponents goal he is, the less of a liability he is (and more likely that he will score goals).

Jack Wilshere

In recent weeks, Jack Wilshere has been brilliant against lesser opposition. This has lead many people to state that he should be starting in the first XI instead of Granit Xhaka.

This is a case of the fans calling for a square peg in a round hole.

For the B team (is that what we are calling the Europa League / League Cup side?) Wilshire has been playing behind the striker, as the most advanced midfielder. He has basically been doing the Mesut Ozil job.

He has done well. Very well. But we still need to take things slowly with him.

Fans calling for him to replace Xhaka have failed to understand the role he is currently playing.

Now if they were demanding him to replace Ozil (or Sanchez) or maybe even Ramsey, I could understand.

But Wilshere has impressed with his creative displays, his work on the edge of the opponents box, not for his defensive work.

Wilshere has never been a defensive player. Like Granit Xhaka, he can play deep but does not defend. Put him next to a Kante and he will excel. Play him instead of Kante and we will be exposed defensively – just like we are with Xhaka in the side.

When Wilshere does come in to the Premier League side, he should be doing so to replicate his B team performances. That means playing higher up the pitch.

Arsenal’s midfield has been a problem for many years. Whilst Granit Xhaka was a good player, he has turned out to be the wrong player and is clearly facing a crisis in confidence.

Moving forward in the short term, maybe it is time to return to Coquelin and play Xhaka close to him to start the attacks. Or as Wilshere regains fitness, allow him to go a little deeper, but not full-defensive.

At Manchester City, Fernandinho has given the side great balance this season. Putting in a defensive shift allowing the likes of Kevin de Bruyne and David Silva to drift around the pitch, find space, and start attacks.

Arsenal need to find their Fernandinho. But then we have needed one for over 10 years.

To be a competitive title chasing side, we need to play the right players in their best positions

Keenos