Arsenal’s hard fought 1-0 win over Burnley at Turf Moor today was due in no small part to incredible defensive commitment, and a commanding performance from new signing Aaron Ramsdale.
Facing a Burnley side who get big men in the box and plenty of crosses aimed towards them, the Gunners back four made 25 clearances in all, while the goalkeeper’s safe hands and willingness to come for corners and set-pieces helped relieve some of the pressure.
The stand-out man in defence was Gabriel, who marked his second appearance of the season by helping his team to second successive clean sheet, and afterwards Mikel Arteta was effusive about the performance of the 23 year old.
“We know that he’s a player with an incredible future and is already giving us a lot,” he said.
“He has adapted really well to the league. That’s why we signed him. He is stepping in, his language is much better and he can coach and communicate much better with with his teammates.
“He understands what we want and I don’t think it gets much harder than playing here in the Premier League.
“He was terrific today.”
The back four as a unit drew praise from the boss too, who said, “I think the back four in general was really solid. We didn’t concede much, even though they put us under pressure.
“I thought they were really good.”
It was another solid day for Ramsdale after his £24m move from Sheffield United, and once more Arteta was impressed by how well he fared against an imposing Burnley side.
“That’s his character and his leadership,” said the Spaniard. “That’s how he presents himself as a person as well and that’s what I like.
“He has a presence and he dominates his area.”
When trying to guess whether Ramsdale would be good at playing out the back short, I think a lot of people (myself included) underestimated how much his long ball accuracy helps relieve the pressure and makes it easier for the team to play it short when they want to.
Did you see the range on some of his kicks? Goodness me!
Just finished watching delayed. Great effort. No soft narrative today. Got stuck in and gave it to them. Was a bit worried about the connection between partey and esr/marty ahead of him and there were control and connection issues, but we did enough. Then sambi came on and bossed it with partey and then when partey was done with AMN (he was excellent too). Adding the 2nd proper CM changed the game and really took Burnley out of it. Defense was fantastic. Really good win at that shitpit. At this point xhaka should be 5th choice (arguably 6th behind Mo… Read more »
Was about to go on a rant about the ‘soft narrative’ that has seen it deemed ok to maim our players but i think i will just relish the hard fought win. Poor game to watch but i was just happy to see us fight, scrap and give as good as we got. It was almost like watching the fellowship in the mines of Moria. I want AMN to excel and really grasp CM because if he can step up and Sambi and Partey stay fit we will undoubtedly see less of Xhaxa and Elneny. Ramsdale ended the very short… Read more »
I’ve also been surprised at AMN’s quality performances in midfield, long may it continue if the result is keeping Xhaka and Elneny off the pitch. The Sambi/AMN partnership is the future if AMN and the Manager can develop a relationship or we sell AMN for a chunk of money. Either way, good for the club to get the most out of him. His performances will continue to improve with more time on the pitch. We now have the players to be competitive, let’s see how far this group can take us this season.
Ramsdale has definitely impressed me so far! I can’t really remember us having a keeper that commands so well ever since maybe Jens?
Having said that – for me, I haven’t seen enough of Aaron’s shot stopping yet to make a definitive judgement, and I don’t want to throw Leno away just yet because I think he has been (and still is) fantastic in that particular department.
Takes more than being an elite shot stopper (which he is) to be an elite goalie (which he isn’t).
Yeah you’re right – also not what I said 🙂
I thought Martínez commanded his box well enough.
Irrelevant?
There is no team in England that plays out from the back more successfully than Man City. There is no keeper in England better at long ball accuracy than Ederson. Hmm.
Exactly! compare it to a great midfielder like Paul Scholes.. (I may get some downvotes here aswell now). If the defender can’t predict your moves; a simple dribble, one touch passing, a 60m cross right on the foot – its much harder for the opponents. Arsenal has been far too easy to read.
You have to be good enough to put a run of gritty performances. The difference this window made is making us able to be in games like this.
I feel that way as well. Last year’s team would have capitulated…in fact they did at Burnley last year!
Tomiyasu was also immense for us today. This picture (and these stats) make that pretty clear:
https://twitter.com/Squawka/status/1439260425711988749?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
He looks fucking amazing.
“He has a presence and he dominates his area.” choice words as these are the areas Leno is weak. Ramsdales place is his to lose now
Who the fuck has been coaching Ramsdale on coming for aerial balls?
Looks like a combination of Mr Miyagi and Kung-fu panda.
Love it!
I love his technique. It’s like he’s saying “sure you can contest me for this ball, but you’ll get a chestful of studs for the trouble, so think twice” 😂
Let’s take one game at a time boys and get the three points each time.
True that…no more..no less
Really wished we had saliba as part of tt central defence. Would form a solid partnership with Gabriel/White. Instead, we have Mari and Holding as our backup.
Yeah, yeah. Next season when we (hopefully) have Europe.
Hope we can continue this run against other than the two bottom teams in the league.
We have some good signs but would love to see more success upfront.
Still think the answer is: partey and lokonga in CM. Marty o at #10 ESR and Saka on the wings Pepe up top (he is showing huge improvements in build up play and in the air and we know what he can bring in and around the box). Auba just doesn’t being enough contributions apart from find channels and off the last man. That setup is the ultimate balance IMO. Sambi turned the tide when he came on and we controlled the game at that point. I think a sambi – partey combo but flip the soft narrative totally in… Read more »
Dunno man, I can think of a few scenarios today where if Pepe, Saka and ESR provided a better ball Auba would have been 1 on 1. And I generally still back Auba when he’s 1 on 1
Pepe could do the same.
9 goals conceded in 5 games does not look like it but we have our defence sorted out.
Midfield is still a work in progress.
Our strike force is why the goal difference is – 7.
I hope that will sorted out.
It is surprising that where we’ve had the most changes is where we have more cohesion and where it is largely unchaged from last season we are playing like strangers.
Many of us are looking quite wrong on Ramsdale. He is very impressive in claiming crosses and that cost us so many times in the past.
i can’t help but wonder how strong we would be if the White money had gone on Bissouma and we kept Saliba though.
Are we really looking to turn on White after like 2 games? He did grand yesterday. He could be more convincing in places, and that will come in time as he gels with the team(he’s basically a kid ffs!). And he was a big part in that clean sheet, don’t let one backpass blind you to that.
Not turning on White and I will support him as an Arsenal player, but I must admit to preferring defenders to defend.
With at least one Arsenal midfielder always hanging around the back four, so why can’t they distribute the ball. It is a compromise to only have one tall and physical central defender.
Fantastic comment..bang on.give him a chance
I think we had nearly forgotten how good Gabriel was when he first arrived. I think Covid might have hit him harder than we thought & he is only now able to be back to his best. He was excellent.
Watching AMN, I can understand his frustration lately. Loads of flaws in his game still don’t get me wrong, but miles more to offer than Elneny ever has.
You’re right about Gabriel. On Sol’s birthday, he did a half decent impression of the old powerhouse.
His performance actually reminded me of Koscielny. I am calling him the Black Boss now.
Take the knee lad.
No.
Nowhere near them yet but AMN has those qualities that Song and Diaby used to have. The languid composure.
Completely agree! I read an article recently (that was probably horseshit) that was saying the reason we want to play White and Gabriel together is because of Ben’s passing and Gabi’s willingness to mop up behind. They made it sound like Gabriel doesn’t know how to pass.
I swear when we signed him it was because he is a ball playing defender – like has the world just forgotten those mahoosive cross field switches he used to play to Pepe for Lille?
No not me. Since he arrived, I’ve always known he’s our best defender
Mikel forgot, I guess he just needed to Mari
Mari was better than Gabriel in second half of last season, that’s the point. Gabriel was in terrible form, but there was probably a good reason for that.
Fair play. His performances since he got Covid weren’t backing that up though, that was my point. He was struggling badly
That’s true. My point is, poor form didn’t make me forget he’s our best centre back, while most here were saying Mari is a better defender.
Hmmm….’most’ ? Some maybe, certainly not most.
Defensively and positionally he’s outstanding. He might have a role suring things up over the course of the season. Sambi and AMN controlled them and shut everything down during the last 30mins (bit les for AMN, but he had a great cameo).
A performance like this really show how much we have missed him on our team. A power house, strong on the air. Same with Partey we missed there presence in the team even though they are not 100% fit but u can see what they brought to our team. Ramsdale was superb. Tomiyasu a warrior. Martin was doing his thing and ESR get game but should work on his finishing he need to add goals &assist to his game. Saka and Auba still not convincing. 3point the most important thing a win at Wimbledon and spurs will give us momentum.
The long grass at the Moor was one of the reasons I think we had problems with ball progression
I wonder what that portends for Bernd Leno. I also can’t help dreaming of a Gabriel/Saliba partnership.
We just spent $50m on Ben White. He’s our first choice centre back unless he fucks it up big time.
Yes, we didn’t score from open play and have two goals in five games, but we also have two clean sheets in two games. Barnes looked frustrated by the middle of the first half and Wood was subbed out on 78 min, after being a pretty marginal figure throughout. Gabriel is an immense defender. He won Arsenal Player of the Month last year in each of his first three months in the Prem. The complexion of the team, and of the season, has changed with him and Partey in the side. Still a lot of room to grow for this… Read more »