Given his annoying face and silly little run-up, it’s little surprise Arsenal fans took so much joy from Bruno Fernandes’ penalty miss in the recent 3-1 win over Manchester United at Emirates Stadium.
On the pitch, Aaron Ramsdale mirrored the scenes on the terraces. As jubilation and anger came to the boil at the same time, he appeared to briefly lose his mind.
As the Portuguese midfielder held his head in his hands, the keeper launched himself in the air with his right fist clenched. On landing, he indulged in some rigorous double fist-pump action – crouching of course – before rounding off his solo show with a guttural roar and aggressive eyeballing of his vanquished opponent.
In the immediate aftermath, there were comparisons with Martin Keown’s behaviour at Old Trafford – the defender having infamously jumped all over Ruud van Nistelrooy in September 2003 after the Dutchman had missed a penalty of his own in the dying stages of a 0-0 draw.
To Gunners supporters, it was all very amusing and yet another reason to love Aaron following a superb debut season at the club.
Appearing on ‘That Peter Crouch Podcast’, it was put to our goalkeeper that he might be one of the country’s greatest exponents of sh*thousery – a somewhat nebulous term that infers the implementation of various dark arts on the football pitch.
He politely responded of the Fernandes’ moment, “It was good ‘housery, but I think it got blown out of proportion. There were five or six Arsenal players in front of me, so I celebrated with them. It looked like it [I was running towards Fernandes], I probably have had that in my head and then stopped halfway.
“It’s just emotion. It’s nothing to do with him, nothing to do with his football club or anything like that, it’s pure emotion. I find it quite funny how other players and fans can do what they want to goalies who stand there on their own for 90 minutes and get abused.
“I waved at a Chelsea fan the other week who was giving me all sorts in the second half and when we scored the penalty, I waved at him. The security guard asked, ‘Why did you do that? That wasn’t necessary.’
“I said, ‘You’ve listened to him to everything he’s said, every name under the sun [he’s called me], but I can’t simply wave?’ It’s enjoyment for me.”
While denying he was deliberately trying to channel Martin Keown, Ramsdale joked that he might have subconsciously done so because he’d spotted the ex-Gunner before the game carrying out his work for BT Sport.
“I’m pretty sure Martin was the BT man before the game with Rio [Ferdinand] and he was on the pitch. Maybe it just stuck in my head. Subconscious…and I’m going to do it one better.
“I’ve never met him, I’ve never spoken to Martin.”
On why he’s so quick to high-five teammates or react to opponents during matches, Ramsdale went on to explain, “It keeps me engaged. If I’m giving some out to the players or fans, I can’t make a mistake because I’m going to get hammered. After Fernandes missed that penalty, if he’d then scored [later], I know I’m in big, big trouble.”
He also said, if that had happened, “I’d have shook his hand after the game and said ‘fair play’ but I don’t think his level of ‘housery would have took him that far.”
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You can listen to the full episode below…
The best of housery
Ramsdale definitely seems to have his ‘housery in order.
Housery of the highest order
Top man that Ramsdale
Certainly is. I really enjoyed him talking about how Arteta courted him. Paraphrasing but he said as soon as he spoke to Mikel, he did everything he could to get the move done.
I really hope that Arteta is able to use his powers of seduction this summer with new arrivals. He’s a very determined character and I think he’ll be very good at convincing other players that Arsenal is the place for them.
And he’ll need to be. It seems like every player we are linked to are also linked to a plethora of other clubs.
I. Love. Him.
He’s just such a great character. Has definitely contributed to the crowd and fan engagement improvements. And if that was a quality that was identified prior to buying him that is very shrewd. He’s had a great year. Hopefully he just gets better and better. He’s young still for a keeper.
Keepers for the other clubs currently in the top six places: De Gea is 31, Llloris 35, Mendy 30, Alisson 29, and Ederson is 28.
I got the chance to watch Arsenal live for the FIRST TIME in my life in the game against Liverpool. A dream of 20 years was fulfilled that day – I was elated beyond words. The only thing that could top that was if I could watch Arsenal vs Manu – a dream from the days of the great Wenger vs Ferguson era of the early/mid-2000s. Having luckily secured a ticket (MASSIVE shout-out to Pat from her stand at Gillespie Road), sitting right behind Aaron, watching the penalty miss and Aaron’s reaction LIVE, I truly believe that all my dreams… Read more »
And once more, a massive shout out to dear Pat! I am never going to forget what you have done for me!
The best ever Arsenal memory I have is when we got Sol Campbell the capitan of sp*rs joined us for free and then won the double with us🤣🤣. Best feeling ever!!!! Only thing that would top that off is watching sp*rs get religated. Hopefully soon.
What happened to your team of Gabriel’s? Keep your eye on the prize young man.
Ramsdale was winding up the home fans at Elland Road earlier this season, and they were calling him every expletive imaginable. But according to the Leeds fan who posted the video on YouTube, they thought the whole thing was great. Top football isn’t just sport, it’s entertainment!
“…Are you not entertained?”
He’s a great character but not exactly the sort of player you’d describe as “composed”…
He’s got a bit of the Jens Lehmann’s about him (in that he’s absolutely mental).
Fast becoming a fan favourite. There aren’t too many interesting characters left in football, but our Aaron is one.
Without him we would have probably dropped 8-10 points easily this season. He’s made some word class saves. He has a bit of Peter Schmeichel in him when he yells at the defence. Definitely England number one potential.
Obviously it’s ok to wave at Chelsea fans who have been abusing him all game. Football fans can be so precious sometimes.
For me the same rule should apply for Xhaka and his infamous “fuck off”.
People should focus on his ability and not his temper.
Xhaka and his family got 3 years of abuse for him not being Patrick Vieira, he showed restraint waiting so long before he gave some back.
He has literally said previously that when he joins a club, he immediately becomes a fan, he engrosses himself in that club, and gives his all for the club. He celebrated like us fans did, knowing full well that the miss meant the club was odds on to finish the job. I couldn’t get a rats ass what other people think, I’m here for it, and it’s great. I love that he gets it, that he knows what us fans feel and think, and I think we’ve needed that spirit for a while. Don’t ever change!
At the rate that people are having a go at us for (god forbid) CELEBRATING wins, I reckon from now on we should commemorate every goal and win with a sarcastic minute of silence.
That would be brilliant🤐