Ryan Shawcross | She Wore A Yellow Ribbon

Stoke City

A bit like Liverpool, you are left wondering, was it two points dropped, or one point gained?

Away to Stoke City is never an easy game. In the 9 games since Stoke got promoted to the Premier League, Arsenal have won just once at the Britannia. Losing 5. So far this season, Stoke have beaten Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United at home.

So a 0-0 draw, when we were without Sanchez, Ozil, Cazorla, Welbeck, Wilshere & Coquelin, in the freezing cold, is not a bad result.

Where it is a bad result is on the back of a draw at Liverpool.

That now puts us without a win in 2 games. With a game at home to Chelsea next up, that could easily become no win in 3. In a game where momentum and winning runs is so important, no wins in 3 would be presented as a bit of a mini-crisis, a dip in form.

Despite that, it is a hard run. Draws away to Liverpool, away to Stoke City, and (potentially) at home to Chelsea are, on their own, decent results. Good points earnt. But put together in consecutive games will change the press narrative.

Look at it another way, our title challengers this season are Manchester City.

They have so far played Stoke City and Liverpool once. They have two defeats. 0 points. We have played both sides twice. 1 win, 3 draws. 5 points. So even if Manchester City win both their remaining games against Liverpool & Stoke, it is only a net gain of 1 points over us. Not too bad when you think who disappointed we might feel over the last two results.

The other positive is that it is one less away game left this season. We not have just 7 away games remaining. Manchester City have 9.

The importance of this can be seen in the home and away league tables this season:

Our home and away form has been excellent. Man City’s away form has been poor. The way games fall could be crucial to the title run in.

Songs

There has been a lot of discussions about songs since the Stoke game.

In the first case, we have Stoke City. Once again, they booed Aaron Ramsey’s name, sung songs about him, cheered Ryan Shawcross, and the sponsors once again named Shawcross as Man of the Match.

I have previously given my opinion on this ‘abuse’ and do not have a problem with it.

The only people it embarrasses are Stoke fans.

Stoke fans actually show themselves up as being a bit of a joke. Firstly trying to start off “Stand up if you hate Arsenal” – it was the only time other than Delilah that there fans actually made any half decent noise. Then way the way they have responded to Arsenal fan’s having a go at them for abusing Ramsey.

They say Arsenal fans are being oversensitive with the issue. That we are being pansies. Yet the reason they say they abuse Ramsey is because he did not accept Shawcross’s apology. His hand shake. Did not respond to his text.

How sensitive do you want to be? It is the footballing equivalent of “I’m not your friend anymore”. Stoke fans need to man up. Admit they abuse Ramsey because they have deep rooted anger issues. Not because Ramsey refused to accept an apology from a player who nearly ended his career.

And if the later is the real reason for the abuse, it is the Stoke fans who need to be a little bit less sensitive over the issue.

The second part of ‘song gate´ is the supposed stealing of a West Ham song which fans sang about Mesut Ozil. I am not going to go into the debate too much, but both sides of the argument can be found quite easily on Twitter. Will be interested to here what side of the argument you all fall down on.

Should we only be coming up with our own, unique songs? Or is it a case of every song in football is stolen from someone else? Whether it be another Premier League side, a lower league side, or Europe?

Stoppers

Back to the Stoke City game, it was a drab 0-0 draw, lit up by the performance of the two goal keepers.

Petr Cech is a world class keeper. It makes me wonder how many more trophies would we have won had we been able to sign him back in 2002 when his work permit was rejected.

At the other end, it Jack Butland properly impressed me. A few have dug out Olivier Giroud for 2 misses (the usual suspects) but it was two brilliant saves to stop him.

Here is a kid who is getting better and better. Still just 22 (23 in March – does that make him 23 now? I get confused). Everyone has known about his talent for years. Anyone who has read the brilliant Nowhere Men would have been well aware of his talent, and what scouts up and down the country thought of him.

Moving to a smaller side like Stoke was good for his career, as it mean game time. But he surely can not be too far from a move to a bigger club. If De Gea leaves Manchester United, I can see him going there, or if Liverpool look for an upgrade on Mignolet, that is another option.

Could Arsenal perhaps to a deal for him similar to what Stoke did when signing him from Birmingham? Pay upfront for Butland now, but he does not join the club for 2 or 3 years? By that time Cech will be 36, Butland 25 and probably England’s number one. It would be an investment worth doing.

Shagging

There was no shagging this weekend. Although I am sure somewhere in Stoke, someone shagged their sister.

Keenos
Follow @KeenosAFC

Back in May this year, after his scintillating end of season form, I wrote an article about Aaron Ramsey. In said article, I nicknamed him The General and said that if he continues his form into the 2013/14 season, he will be up there with the very best in the Premier League. I mentioned that he had a lot of natural talent, yet was often found lacking in confidence. That his good play was often let down by silly back heels, which got fans on his back and ebbed away his confidence more. That he was still carrying the mental scares from having his leg broken in THAT challenge by Ryan Shawcross. the mental scares from losing the Wales captaincy. The mental scares from the death of Gary Speed.

I also mentioned how far he had come in the last 6 months. That he was starting to keep it simple. He was stopping the back heels. And he was covering ground. A lot of ground. That he had added a lot of intelligence to his game. Tracking back to full back if Sagna bombed forward. Sitting into centre back if Koscielny or Mertersacker went on a run. I also presented some statistics:

Pass completion – 88.6%
Average passes – 52.1pg
Tackling success – 91%

That put him up there with the likes of Maxime Gonalons, Arturo Vidal, Javi Martinez and Lars Bender as one of the most complete, effective central midfielders in Europe. My theory then was if he took his end of season form into this season, then we would see big things from the Welshman

And he has carried that form from last season into this. He is now running Arsenal’s midfield. But something has changed. He has got bigger.

He was already the fittest player at Arsenal. It seems the work he did to get himself back to fitness after he had his leg broken by Ryan Shawcross has giving him a huge base fitness. He does not stop running. Covers more ground then any other player. In fact, his energy has not been seen at Arsenal since we let Mathieu Flamini go 5 years ago. And to this base fitness, he has now added power.

At 6 foot, he always had the natural size to add bulk. And he has certainly hit the gym this summer. Looking stronger and more powerful, he is now physically dominating in the middle of the park. He looks a giant in midfield. The boy has become a man.

He always had talent with the ball at his feet. His 88% pass completion in 2013/14 was amongst the best in Europe. Despite many claiming ‘he always passes to the opposition’ the statistics do not lie. He has cut out the silly back heels and is keeping it simple. But as with the pass to Theo Walcott in the build up for Kieran Gibbs’ goal against Fenerbache, he is capable of doing the exceptional as well as the simple.

As with Jack Wilshere, he needs to add a few more goals to his game. 14 goals in 184 career games is not good enough. He does have the ability to score. Maybe not as many as a Frank Lampard or Steven Gerrard, as he sits deeper, but certainly more than he currently gets. 10-12 goals a season from all competitions would be sufficient. Saying that, Xavi of Barcelona has only got over 5 goals 6 times in 15 seasons. So goals is not everything.

The fan’s reaction to him is also changing. Away to Chelsea last season, the boo boys were out. He could do no right in the fans eyes. Against Fulham on Saturday, his was the first name sung. His was the name sung the most. The fans have now fallen in love with the young Welshman. And he is young. We forget he is just 22.

And it seems the fans backing is also helping. He is playing with a lot of confidence. He is strolling around the middle of the park like he owns it. He is commanding. He looks like he belongs.

Aaron Ramsey is becoming such a key man in the centre of Arsenal’s midfield. Played in his correct position, which is as the ‘water carrier’ in the middle of the defensive and attacking midfielder, he has made that position his own for Arsenal. He is the reason we have decided not to sign Marouane Fellaini – who despite some beliefs, is not a defensive midfielder but plays in that similar position to Ramsey.

He has become so important to the club that he is now one of the first names down on the teamsheet. Only Per Mertersacker and Santi Cazorla are more important to Arsenal’s success. He is a long way ahead of Jack Wilshere at the moment – who’s own progress has stalled due to injuries over the last 2 seasons.

Jack Wilshere could learn a lot from Aaron Ramsey, who is certainly ahead of the young Englishman in terms of both ability and form. If Wilshere follows Ramsey, remains injury free, and works hard at his own game, he will improve. He needs to up his fitness, which will result in him getting less injuries. And he needs to keep his profile lower. You never read about Aaron Ramsey getting into bar room brawls. Or stumbling out of clubs. Or having other problems. Wilshere needs to keep his head down more.

Many label Jack Wilshere as the future Arsenal captain. But I do not agree with this. For me, the future Arsenal captain is Aaron Ramsey. He is currently a better player, and a better person. You do not see Ramsey acting like a petulant child. Moaning at referee’s. Or sulking when he does not get his way. He seems to be a much better role model then Wilshere. And with his new confidence, he is starting to lead on the pitch. Directing play. Aaron Ramsey is The General. Aaron Ramsey is the future Arsenal captain.

And what would that mean for the future for Arsenal? Well at 21 and 22 years old., both Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey could be Arsenal’s central midfield for a decade or more. Mimicking the Xavi/Iniesta axis that has served Barcelona so well for so many years. And if Gedion Zelalem continues his development, we could have a midfield trio which is hard working, talented and could grow up together. The future’s bright. The future’s Arsenal.

Now I am not one to say ‘I told you so’ but on this occasion, it seems I have been proved right.

Keenos
Follow @KeenosAFC