After a disappointing defeat to Aston Villa in the first game of the season, Arsenal have moved into top gear, winning all but one of their last 11 games in all competitions. Such top form must be by some distance attributed to the blistering performances of the Premier League’s man of the moment, Aaron Ramsey.
Such is the nature of football that it creates no permanent enemies. Ramsey, not so long ago, had the Arsenal fans calling for his head, and had Arsene Wenger listened to them, the Welshman would have been plying his trade elsewhere. Fortunately though, the Frenchman had other ideas. He tied the 22-year-old down to a long-term contract despite his wretched form. He was right.
When Jack Wilshere got injured in the second half of last season, Ramsey got the opportunity to operate in his favoured position and set up a formidable partnership with Mikel Arteta and Tomas Rosicky, enabling the Gunners to pip arch-rivals Spurs to fourth in the table, keeping the virginity of Wenger’s Champions League qualification record in his 17-year reign as Arsenal manager intact.
This season though, Ramsey has added another dimension to his repertoire, scoring goals whenever he pleases, something that had eluded him in the past. He currently sits top of Arsenal’s scoring charts with eight goals to his name. Add to that his 35 tackles-won stat and as well as his ability to cover every bit of grass makes him the most complete midfielder in the Arsenal engine room. Without a shadow of a doubt, Ramsey is Arsenal’s Mr. Untouchable. With Mathieu Flamini performing what Wenger described as the ‘dark role’ admirably, there’s definitely no better partner for him than Ramsey.
This therefore brings me to our last game against West Brom. I was greatly disappointed when I saw Ramsey being played on the right, with his central midfield slot being occupied by Arteta! For me, this was the strongest reason why we didn’t win that game. Arteta sat too deep leaving Mesut Ozil too isolated to cause the kind of impact Arsenal fans have been used to since he joined on transfer deadline day from Real Madrid. By playing on the right, Ramsey was restricted to operating in a small space where he could not express and forge himself space to shoot at goal. Consequently, he was substituted after failing to find his old self. Wenger was definitely to blame. Let’s face it; Arteta had no business in that team. Yes, they played well together against Napoli but let’s not forget that that was the first time in five games that Ramsey failed to find the net.
What do we take then? The passes of Arteta or the goals of Ramsey? Of course, I’d take the goals as they win games. Don’t get me wrong, Arteta is a very good player, but Ramsey is the man at the moment. He should play, and in his favoured position.
Let us wait for Theo Walcott to return because when he does, I’m sure Ramsey won’t play on the right anymore. Then Wenger will have no choice but to play Ramsey and bench Arteta, who will then have to wait for his chance. The injury the Spaniard suffered towards the end of pre-season cost him his place in the starting 11, and forced Wenger to find a new balance, a perfect balance, and there’s no reason to change it. Remember, Wenger, NEVER CHANGE A WINNING TEAM!
Let Ramsey play where he operates best.
Wenger should play line up against the norwich city giroud,cazorla,ozil,ramsay,arteta,flamini,gibbs,ko’,per,scezny.
What an intelligent observation.my views are the same.I strongly think arteta does not suit our game-too rigid for my liking,even in the absense of ramsy, rosicky is a better option while flamini is covering the back four.he(rosicky) is more flexible and a model for arsenal kind of play.In conclusion I’ll like arteta to be benched permanently or sold at some point.
What do you mean by too rigid??
I mean he does nt fit our swift change of play…it takes him a whole day to and locate a team mate even when urgency requied in my play.also u’ll agree with me that,among our midfielders he’s least good at going front yet he’s nt best in defensive midfield,he can’t match flamini’s hard tackles and forceful break of opponents’ play not even the vital interceptions of Ramsy…I hope this help
Afc sorry for the typos:
Corrections
*1.Takes him a whole day to turn
*2 when urgency is required in our
*3 the least good at
You pick the right players from the squad to deal with the particular task at hand. We can change up our style now to deal with each team we play. Every opponent has different qualities.
The team against Napoli could have done with our wide players against West Brom. A winning team can adapt. The only reason Ramsey went out wide, was because the OX, Podolski, Santi and Walcot are injured.
i like ur observation since ramsy is on form he should be given that role while arteta should come in weneva d midfield is gettin porous
i really don’t see the logic in playing our best player out of position, no more ramsey on the right please, gnabry should’ve played against swansea imo.
I respect your opinion but respectfully too I think your argument is wrong. A manager dont usually pick a team per game basis but considering the next 10-15 games forward if not the whole season. Arsene’ s choice makes sense because 1) how well the team pressed and won the napoli game, 2) flamini is one yellowcard away from suspension thus need to prepare arteta for the anchor role and 3) a learning curve for ramsey. I have played professionally before so I know playing in the wings will improve your stamina, technique, discipline and best of all your acceleration in short distances. And I whoop ass when I played in the middle after that because I became more direct. Remember your title says dont change the winning team not winning players. A winning player can win matches but a winning team wins titles. Why not see a winning team of 25 players instead of the starting eleven? Its a long season and Arsene is preparing all the 25 players. Players are not robots or CM entities. They are humans after all…
I agreed with you Micheal, the winning team is not first eleven. The problem we have has fans is that we don’t want our teams loosing and even a draw. Arsenal has done incredible job with their two best players of last season “Santi Cazorla and Walcott”, as fans we have to appreciate that and give credit to the manager. Arsenal team is strong no doubt about it even those Arsenal heaters knew it, for the first time players like Wilshere, Arteta, Podolski, Vermelean, and Walcott will be fighting for positions. When I mentioned Walcott someone will say he will automatic be our RF, come on if you we Ox or Gnabry a chance aftet ten games, you won’t be talking about Walcott so that is the strong team Am talking about…… I just can’t wait to see Cazorla and Ozil linking up with those players!
The argument I am interested in is, will Wenger go for new striker in January? I personal think the board and Wenger should move faster to re-enforce our team. We have history of loosing titles within a week, if you can remember we lost FA, Cl, Carling cup now Capital one and premier League in difference of ten days. I personal want to see Robert Lewandowski and Reus in Arsenal and I believe those are the players that can cause damage to our opponent…… Arsenal now just needs a finisher and I think we can’t depend much on Giroud, Arsenal has history of injuries. I wish Lewandowski joins us coz this is what we are missing.