The highs and lows of Aaron Ramsey

[pikey2000]

For about three months in his whole Arsenal career.

I really like this guy but I think he doesn't know where his strengths lie. He needs to understand that his strength is the engine he possesses and try to use that to help the team. No point trying to impress with goals and end up looking like a right plonker.

A similar situation with Coquelin, Wenger said he was trying to do too much and it was only when he started to concentrate on his strength's i.e concentrating on defensive side of his game he saw the improvement in his game as we see it now, started at Charlton and we lucked out on it to some degree

Feel the same with Aaron - as you say, he appears to have lost his way a little bit and could do with stripping his game back to his strength's i.e b2b similar to Flamini last night

On his performance last night - thought it was sub par, two through balls that should have been capitalised on but aside from that not much else, the kind of performance Özil gets slated for with a bit more running and a few more stray passes.

 

[bingobob]

Where does Özil fit into that midfield?

Unless we really start building the team around him then unfortunately he doesn't. For what we need and what we have at the moment he is a luxury player, at least that's how I feel. Too many limitations to his game. What he is great at he is great at and what he is bad at he is really bad. Ramsey is good to fantastic at most things. Until we balance the team then Özil should make way.

 

[Gooner n Proud]

Unless we really start building the team around him then unfortunately he doesn't. For what we need and what we have at the moment he is a luxury player, at least that's how I feel. Too many limitations to his game. What he is great at he is great at and what he is bad at he is really bad. Ramsey is good to fantastic at most things. Until we balance the team then Özil should make way.

Cazorla is not good enough in cm either and in the big games his shortcomings will become exposed. I'd rather Arteta deep with Coquelin and Ramsey ahead of him if we were going to use a 433 formation.

 

[ArsenesNO1Fan]

Unless we really start building the team around him then unfortunately he doesn't. For what we need and what we have at the moment he is a luxury player, at least that's how I feel. Too many limitations to his game. What he is great at he is great at and what he is bad at he is really bad. Ramsey is good to fantastic at most things. Until we balance the team then Özil should make way.

Ramsey isn't though, not got near the same vision, technique and eye for a pass and still passes to the opposition too often.

Yes he can tackle better, work harder and is going to be more of a goal threat.

If Özil starts taking more shots he'd be 1 of our top scorers, the lad needs hypnosis to have some confidence in his shooting boots.

 

[Gooner n Proud]

Ramsey isn't though, not got near the same vision, technique and eye for a pass and still passes to the opposition too often.

Yes he can tackle better, work harder and is going to be more of a goal threat.

If Özil starts taking more shots he'd be 1 of our top scorers, the lad needs hypnosis to have some confidence in his shooting boots.

Obviously Ramsey is less technical than Özil but he is the more complete player and I actually think he's better in possession than both Özil and Cazorla who lose it too often along with Sanchez which is strange because usually its these types of players who are masters in possession but when you actually watch week in week out you come to notice the carelessness within them.

 

[ArsenesNO1Fan]

Obviously Ramsey is less technical than Özil but he is the more complete player and I actually think he's better in possession than both Özil and Cazorla who lose it too often along with Sanchez which is strange because usually its these types of players who are masters in possession but when you actually watch week in week out you come to notice the carelessness within them.

That certainly isn't true, Ramsey's pass completion is at 84 percent, Özil's is 89 percent, Santi's is 90 percent. Özil creates more than twice as many chances as Ramsey, Santi nearly twice as many.

And before the complaints about him on the right, he created less when he was in the middle during his purple patch.

 

[bingobob]

Ramsey isn't though, not got near the same vision, technique and eye for a pass and still passes to the opposition too often.

Yes he can tackle better, work harder and is going to be more of a goal threat.

If Özil starts taking more shots he'd be 1 of our top scorers, the lad needs hypnosis to have some confidence in his shooting boots.

Özil is into his third season with us during which he has been an automatic starter and hasn't improved in the areas he needs to improve in. I'd be interested to see how Ramsey would have done given that same opportunity. Like I've said last night he creates two fantastic openings and was involved in both of our goals while helping out defensively. Yes Özil is a better passed but overall Ramsey is solid in pretty much every area of the game whereas Özil isn't.

Either build the team around Özil properly or give his spot to someone who may be a small step down in what Özil is amazing at but a massive step up in areas where Özil is quiet poor to say the least.

 

[Jasard]

Özil would probably have God status if we had a decent striker to put away all of the key passes he makes

 

[ArsenesNO1Fan]

Özil is into his third season with us during which he has been an automatic starter and hasn't improved in the areas he needs to improve in. I'd be interested to see how Ramsey would have done given that same opportunity. Like I've said last night he creates two fantastic openings and was involved in both of our goals while helping out defensively. Yes Özil is a better passed but overall Ramsey is solid in pretty much every area of the game whereas Özil isn't.

Either build the team around Özil properly or give his spot to someone who may be a small step down in what Özil is amazing at but a massive step up in areas where Özil is quiet poor to say the least.

I think all Özil needs is runners, Coq/Alexis to make up for his lack of pressing (which has improved) and the CAM role, start Walcott as striker and he can give Theo 5 chances per game, which he has been doing. Theo gets his finishing on point and we find our 30 goal a season striker (all comps).

 

[redanddread]

Ramsey should be a B2B Cm-he doesn't cut the mustard in the No.10 stakes comparing with Özil imo. He's good but wasteful in possession and his passing isn't on the same page as Özil.

Wenger's been playing Ramsey all over the place of late & that can't help the lad's development imo. However, he's one of the first names on the teamsheet because his workrate at both ends of the pitch is unbelievable.

 

[Gooner Zig]

He's a natural B2B that's obvious - he was good last night but lost the ball too many times for my liking. Needs to be played at CM.

 

[Mastadon]

He definitely needs to be played deeper and absolutely must take on more defensive responsibilities. He's a poor man's Lampard apart from that purple patch getting forward and scoring goals has to be balanced with putting in a defensive shift and dominating midfield alongside the DM.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

If you watch the highlights of the game you'd think he put in a 9/10 performance. Was heavily involved in the key moments of all of our attacks. I suppose that's all you can ask considering he was playing as a CAM.

 

[Rex Stone]

He definitely needs to be played deeper and absolutely must take on more defensive responsibilities. He's a poor man's Lampard apart from that purple patch getting forward and scoring goals has to be balanced with putting in a defensive shift and dominating midfield alongside the DM.

He does put in a shift and he helps dominate midfield, his engine is insane. If he had the scoring ability of Lamps he'd be a better player, Frank never had the defensive skills Ramsey does.

 

[Godwin1]

He does put in a shift and he helps dominate midfield, his engine is insane. If he had the scoring ability of Lamps he'd be a better player, Frank never had the defensive skills Ramsey does.

He does put in a shift, but I think mastadon is refering to Ramsey sometimes pushing to far fowards, which was more a problem at the end of last season I think. Wenger has said something to the effect of he's trying to hard to get on the score sheet.

If he starts scoring again no one is going to notice his defensive deficiencies anyway.

 

[TakeChillPill]

I think sometimes we get productivity blindness here at Arsenal it happens to me too.

We are so obessed with possession we miss the fact that it's all about being productive and a game should first and formostly be analysed on that basis.

Ramesy was sloppy for sure and had a few terrible touches that got us in to all sorts of problems. However He's picked out some magnifcent through balls against Sp**s and 3-4 wonderful key passes in the game. He should have had 1-2 assists in the game for sure.

In that sense he was by far our most productive player (Aside from the Flamini goals, I mean yu'r more likely to see a solar ecplise then Flamini scoring two goals esp the second one).

So Ramesy isn't the most easy on the eye, but he is productive, he works his socks off too. I want to see him in CM, We might not be able to hold possession as well with him in the middle, but I definitely feel we will create more chances and score goals. You feel with his willing attitude anything can happen, usually more good then bad.

Time to give him a chance in CM because he's wasted out wide. I can feel his frustration.

 

[4R5Emaniac]

Ramsey doesn't have Lampard physique or his control to shield the ball. He needs to be disciplined and focus on the basics.

 

[Rex Stone]

He does put in a shift, but I think mastadon is refering to Ramsey sometimes pushing to far fowards, which was more a problem at the end of last season I think. Wenger has said something to the effect of he's trying to hard to get on the score sheet.

If he starts scoring again no one is going to notice his defensive deficiencies anyway.

But that's the point, it's not true that he has defensive deficiencies. He pushes on but he is one of the few footballers who can get back after an attacking run. As a central midfielder he has incredible defensive stats, more than Lamps ever did.

In fact he had some of his best games towards the end of last season, which wasn't the case in the first half where unsurprisingly he was constantly out with niggling injuries.

 

[Big Poppa]

That certainly isn't true, Ramsey's pass completion is at 84 percent, Özil's is 89 percent, Santi's is 90 percent. Özil creates more than twice as many chances as Ramsey, Santi nearly twice as many.

And before the complaints about him on the right, he created less when he was in the middle during his purple patch.

Ramsey is probably the player most over rated by Arsenal fans in Wenger's era at the club. Never seen anything like it. He'd be a significantly better player if he just retained a bit of positional discipline and took no more than two touches on the ball. He, like others though, is not helped by Wenger's insistence on playing Cazorla, Özil and Ramsey himself at the expense of 1 more winger.

 

[pikey2000]

But that's the point, it's not true that he has defensive deficiencies. He pushes on but he is one of the few footballers who can get back after an attacking run. As a central midfielder he has incredible defensive stats, more than Lamps ever did.

In fact he had some of his best games towards the end of last season, which wasn't the case in the first half where unsurprisingly he was constantly out with niggling injuries.

When people talk about defensive deficiencies I think they refer more to positional play and the fact that his drive for goals see's him vacate the midfield to join in with almost every attack, yes he has the stamina to get back BUT its often too late if we are countered quickly (which most teams do against us now) as he can't get back quick enough.

I want him at CM too however all i would ask is that he curbs his forays forward by 50%, chooses them a little more wisely. Its not like its particularly fruitful for him at the moment anyway.

Play the CM role, push forward when there is a space and opportunity but if not, sit, move the ball around, look for through balls, win the ball back and become a all round combative midfield duo alongside Coq.