Arsene Wenger says it’s still too early to judge the effectiveness of Arsenal’s ‘new’ 3-4-3 formation but admits that it appears to suit Aaron Ramsey’s qualities.
The Welshman was voted Man of the Match in Sunday’s 2-0 win over Manchester United, arguably his best performance of another injury-hit campaign.
The midfielder has only made 27 appearances this season, including nine from the bench, but appears to be approaching full fitness with game time alongside Granit Xhaka in the centre of the park.
Reflecting again on the use of his new system, Wenger admitted that he’s pleased by Ramsey’s recent form.
“I must say the experience is still too short to say that we are definitely adopting this system for a longer period,” he told Arsenal Player.
“We adapt game by game and at the moment it has worked, especially defensively it has looked more stable and more solid. But the most important thing through the system is that the positions suit the quality of the players.
“Ramsey has a bit more protection behind him and has more freedom to go forward and get into the box.
“When he is at his best physically, he has a huge engine. Also he has a sense for the timing of his runs, so when he’s physically strong he can take advantage of his tactical knowledge of the game.
“You would say the system suits him well, and that’s what you want. Some players maybe suffer a bit more, but what is most important is that the system takes advantage of the quality of the players individually as much as possible.”
On how the formation was working for other players, Wenger added: “Maybe sometimes Welbeck was a bit too isolated [against United] so the runs of Ramsey for example helped him a lot. Also on Sunday Alexis played a bit deep – we want him to be closer to Welbeck and then we can be even more efficient offensively.”
Ramsey is expected to line up next to Xhaka in this evening’s showdown with Southampton – another must-win game for the Gunners if they are to have any chance of securing a top four finish.
Let’s win it !
If I were Arsenal manager, I’d take Ramsey out to a heavy dinner, laved with laxatives, and then take him out on a training pitch and pake him keep turning around and around and around till he puked and shat himself and then say “See blud, I’ll make you do that everytime you go out on the pitch and decide to do a shite-ton of pirouettes, keep it simple, and you’re a good player”
If you were the manager, I’d play for you
“shite-ton” indeed
I think it depends on the opposition really. If it’s like United and they’re just going to sit back then great, Ramsey does an excellent job of exploiting space and making passing options for others. He also likes to press and harry teams. But if it’s against a team that wants to have the ball and wants to press us, like say Spurs and City, you worry about the space Ramsey might leave behind if he’s just in a 2. Looking at Chelsea and Spurs when they play the 3-4-3, their two CMs are usually quite defensive and disciplined and… Read more »
Ramsey always plays and Ramsey doesn’t sacrifice anything, so nothing changes there then.
Whatever we can do to usher in the second coming of Welsh Jesus is fine with me.
ramsey another wenger’s favorites. no wonder we are stagnating.. he would only made the bench in real top teams around europe. watching juventus midfield last night he is miles away from the likes alves, pjanic , marchisio , dybala. wenger has been so indulgent with average players like ramsey and the ox and theo it baflles me. the club should cash on him this summer like the aforementionned lot and upgrade to seasoned and top level technical players. our midfield is so average except santi and ozil. it’s like a disgrace watching ramsey running around with his heavy touches ,… Read more »
I agree to a point. Ramsey is a good player, but only in the right kind of set up, formation, etc, and only after a lot of games to regain top confidence. He’s a goldilocks player in that regard. And I agree his biggest weakness is technical sloppiness, much more than defensive indiscipline, which is what people usually moan about with him. Theo is an even more limited player. The Ox I like and I think he has much more potential, but I agree with the general sentiment. I’d love to trade several long serving players in for more consistent… Read more »
All the Ramsey criticism apart, it’ll be interesting to watch him get involved more regularly in the opponents box. His runs are good but sometimes i can’t help but yell “turn and shoot you fool!”
And then Özil will get bashed for not defending while Mr Ramsey has fun.
Is this the third coming of the welsh jesus? Or just Rambo 3! Keep it up Rambo and 3pts tonight pls COYG!!
He had one good season then believed he was a superstar.
Top players do it season after season
For a so called goalscoring midfielder how many had he scored?
Ok fourth , maybe even fith coming.