The second half of Mikel Arteta’s pre-West Ham United press conference focused almost exclusively on Aaron Ramsdale.
The England international is in the spotlight after a series of breathtaking saves at Anfield last weekend and the media were keen to find out more about the boss’ relationship with his goalkeeper and how the player has improved since joining the club as an unknown quantity.
Here’s a transcript…
On Ramsdale’s importance to Arsenal’s defence…
He’s been really, really good and probably against the odds because when you look at his past and where he was coming from after being relegated twice it was difficult to imagine it. But we saw that he had that character, charisma and personality to play for our club. And he had the potential and the qualities to fit into our way of playing and when you see the development that he’s had in the last two seasons, I think it’s exceptional.
On whether he’s surprised by Ramsdale’s confidence…
The first day, I was on the phone with him and I said, “Let’s do it.” Let’s do it because you have that feeling, you sense it when someone is mentally [ready] and any question you ask him to see how he’s going to answer it, he’s ready for it. He’s seen ahead, he knows what is coming, he knows what he wants and he feels capable of doing it. He has no fear, he was just looking ahead at the challenge and that’s what you want.
On Aaron giving his dad Arteta’s phone number…
I called his dad because he’s very close to him and I wanted to understand that relationship and how Aaron is and how to get the best out of him. That’s their environment and we need to understand their environment to get the best…
On whether his dad told him how to play…
We haven’t got to that point yet, thankfully!
On whether he had to persuade anyone inside the club that Ramsdale was the right keeper to sign…
We had many discussions, we had many possibilities and in the end, we made the decision together and we were comfortable and happy to do that.
On whether there was a specific moment that persuaded him Ramsdale was the one for Arsenal…
When we played against him. Obviously, I watched him a lot. That presence and that energy that he had, I thought “This is the one.”
On speaking to Ramsdale after he received abuse following his signing…
That abuse was happening just before he played his first game, you haven’t even played and you’re getting that abuse so you need to separate that, understand where that is coming from and now start to do your job. Then you’re going to be judged for what you’ve done on the pitch and that’s a different kind of judgement than the previous one. Yes, it was tough and he needed some support and we had to protect him but he was ready to handle that, he knew that was going to happen, we discussed that before. You are coming from this situation, you’re coming to Arsenal, you’re going to have a lot of question marks over your head and you have to do that. If not, obviously, you go and pay £85 million for a goalkeeper that has won everything and you don’t have those questions. But that’s a different story, we weren’t in that position.
On what he did to protect Ramsdale…
First of all, talk about it. This is coming, don’t react, be proactive and discuss it. Expect it and get away from it, don’t read it. That’s not going to help him.
On whether he looks at how individuals cope with abuse before signing them…
The individual, for sure. Yes, you have to have certain characteristics and a certain personality to survive in this environment, that’s for sure.
On how Ramsdale has improved…
His consistency, number one. His ability to be decisive in key moments, especially in our way of playing. There are key, key moments to be able to play the way we want to play, defending and attacking. And then what he transmits as a keeper to the rest of the team and to the outside world.
On whether Ramsdale’s saves last Sunday were his most important yet…
It’s another day. Not it’s about the next Sunday. That game was important and he had some important saves but that’s what you did last week. It’s about 38 games in this league and how good you’ve been.
On having to pick Ramsdale up in difficult moments…
No, we’re always aware of the players and we always have to be cautious that when they are on that cliff that we bring them to our side and don’t allow them to be there because picking them up afterwards, it takes much longer but, again, Aaron doesn’t need a lot of that to be fair. He needs support, yes, like anybody else but sometimes he needs to calm down a little bit and take things with a different perspective.
He saved us against Liverpool, great performance.
Incredible how good he is given his history of demotion.
And it shows how good our recruitment is, to pick up unknown gems like this.
it’s always the same, sadly. not many knew much about ramsdale and people were all losing their minds over his signing. no one neither knew anything about mudryk and everyone was so desperate to have him and convinced he would take us to the next level. i really don’t understand how people come to these conclusions. humans can be quite boring…
One win in our last 8 matches will give us St Totteringham’s Day.
Tough but I think we have a chance….
I think we’ll be celebrating it tomorrow.
Guaranteed we will get it, they will throw away at least one more match. But best is getting the 3 points tomorrow.
Sometimes I honestly don’t get why some Gooners think about that lot so much. They had an ok run for a couple of years but for the vast majority of my time on this planet they’ve been almost completely inconsequential, just like this season where as I look down from our position in the table I can barely make out if that brown-coloured speck is them or just dirt on my binoculars.
I used to think Ramsdale was a very good goalkeeper but not an elite level ala Ederson or Alisson. I no longer think that. The only area I feel he could improve is penalties. Apart from that, he’s the complete package. And best of all, he loves the Arsenal. The fact we could have so many of our amazing players for really long periods of time is so exciting. What the hell is the ceiling of Arteta’s Arsenal? We truly could be one of the greatest sides in the modern era of football. And I know that sounds like hyperbole.… Read more »
What’s with the downvotes on this article, guys? They make no sense to me!
A lot of Numpties on here who wouldn’t know a good player if he handed them a winning lottery ticket.
One of the things that’s so remarkable about Ramsdale is – in almost two seasons – I can’t think of an absolute howler he’s made.
Yes, he’s had some questionable moments. But when you think of De Gea, who is apparently world class, Ramsdale hasn’t really got a blooper reel to speak of.
Now that’s a jinx if ever there was!
You must be new here.
People think I’m a prick.
And they are partly right…
I think you’re wonderful
😘
I think you have questionable taste in men.
might be the beer
If you’re a prick, surely your moniker should be “Johnny 4 Skins”?
*gets coat, sees himself out.
Haha! I like it!
I used to be Johnny 4 Play until I was informed that watching Andrey Arshavin youtube compilations was not especially arousing…
For them.
Ramsdale is amazing but comparing him to Ederson seems like a disservice to Ramsdale. Ederson reminds me of Victor Valdes, an average keeper playing for an amazing team.
Back to Ramsdale, he has improved leaps and bounds since signing and isn’t as error prone as in his first season but there is much room for improvement.
Anyone who has watched some of Ederson’s long passes (not clearances–these are intentional passes) would never say that. Alisson and Ederdon are both crucial to the way their teams play; you need that sort of keeper when your attacking play inevitably leads to dangerous counters. And, pretty clearly, that’s why Arteta wanted Ramsdale.
We need more goals!
2018 – buy Aubameyang
2021 – buy Ramsdale
Arteta is literally turning the world upside down
Arteta certainly has the potential to have a trophy laden career like Pep, Ancelotti.
Hopefully all those trophies come at the Arsenal!
Fantastic one on one superb shot stopper and distributor but it’s his attitude and confidence I like ! He has an aura about him and it’s spread into the team Everyone had their doubts but young Mr Ramsdale really is as good as anyone and has been since he broke into the side ! And to boot he seems a thoroughly nice lad !
He’s quite simply the best goalkeeper we’ve had since Crazy Jens – by a country mile and some.
That, alone, is reason enough as to why we’re currently in a genuine race for the title.
I absolutely love that this Arsenal squad has a ‘Hero of the Week’ after every weekend, with most of the focus on that particular player for the following week ahead. But most satisfyingly of all, it seems to be a different player each week.
This week it’s Ramsdale after his Anfield heroics.
After Leeds it was Jesus with his 2 goals on his first start after injury.
Palace it was Saka.
Fulham away, Trossard after his hat-trick of assists.
Bournemouth obviously Nelson.
The Everton 4-0; Martinelli.
Nketiah against Man United.
And we can of course add Odegaard, Saliba, Zinchenko, Gabriel, Partey, White and Xhaka on countless other occasions too. Just about says it all about the quality of this squad.
He’s been a fantastic signing and I’d all goes in the trajectory it appears to be, that’s the position taken care of for the next ten, fifteen years. Great talent and strong personality.
On a separate note, Was at a toddler music class with my kids yesterday and one song inspired me to open sone lyrics:
‘The Tottenham trophy cabinet’, Sung to the tune of ‘The animals went in two by two’:
The tottenham trophy cabinet has Fuck all inside.
Their shitty club last won the league in black and white.
The trophy cabinet of the scum’s as empty as they Fucking come.
Cos the scum get battered everywhere they go.
(Don’t rip me too hard)
* to pen some
There’s a video on YouTube, taken by a Leeds fan on their phone during their match with us, Ramsdale is winding the Leeds fans up, and they are calling him all the f’s, b’s and c’s under the sun. But, in the poster’s caption is saying what a great bloke Ramsdale is, that you have to like him for giving as good as he got, and it added to the entertainment. Or something, it was a while ago I saw it.
Win tomorrow and we can celebrate st totteringham day and the return to champions league football 🥳
Best keeper in the English game at the moment!
In a related development, if we win at West Ham tomorrow, Ramsdale would have played his part in leading us back to the Champions’ League and the return of St. Totteringham’s day.
COYG!!!
Ramsdale is turning into an excellent goalkeeper.
Come to think of it, there is a possibility of going 9 points clear before we play Man C.
The league might just be won on Man City’s home turf! Because I see us defeating City.
COYG!!!
9 points after we play City…
Before, because we play West Ham and then Southampton before they play their next match which is against us. So if we win at the Etihad having won these next two games (a big “if” as none of them will be easy) we’ll be 12 points clear, albeit with City having 2 games in hand.
A boy can dream can’t he…
My mistake, though 9 points after playing City would still be pretty good. Though hoping for 12!
Yeah if someone offered me right now a guarantee that we’d be 9 points clear after Etihad I’d sign da ting right now