Mikel Arteta was, inevitably, questioned about the goalkeeping situation at Arsenal ahead of this weekend’s North London derby.
David Raya was selected for the last two games, keeping two clean sheets in the process, leaving Aaron Ramsdale on the bench. Having been a fixture in the side for so long, it’s a real change for the England international, and the Arsenal boss was asked about his response to losing his place, and the fact he didn’t look pleased sitting on the sidelines.
“I understand that,” said Arteta, “and it’s very difficult with every player.
“I suffer and I care about every player that is not playing but this is the competition and this is my job as well to make decisions in the best possible way for the team.
“He’s been very supportive, he’s been really good around the place and that’s what I expect from every single player because when you are on that field there is someone else that is not.
“So it goes both ways and so far it’s been really, really good.”
Pressed on whether he was comfortable displaying a ruthlessness many feel is required to keep Arsenal competitive and to improve standards, he continued, “Comfortable? Maybe, but in your tummy when you have players sitting, or you have to announce the lineup, is one of the hardest things because you know players feel value and happy when they play and when they don’t is is very difficult.
“You want them to feel loved and to feel trusted and the way to do it is to play them, but everybody understands that is a team sport and there’s always 11 players starting.
“We have seen how important as well the ‘finishers’ are and how important everybody is going to be in the season, and if not look back at the team that have played the first six or seven start games of the season.”
It does feel like Raya will continue for Sunday, despite Arteta insisting he had yet to make his mind up about that particular selection decision. Either way, once we stuff that lot in the derby, this will be a secondary talking point.
Raya is clearly more confident with the ball on his feet. I love Ramsdale, but to be honest I’m a bit worry when he try to play the ball from the back, sometimes it gets frantic.
Spot on
Agree, Ramsdale is much better with his feet than Leno, but this switch to Raya is only a tiny upgrade.
If you’re talking ‘heart in mouth’ whenever your keeper kicks the ball you wanna try watching John Lukic every week (another keeper I loved incidentally).
It was the little shuffle before a goal kick I loved.
Honestly I don’t get this. We finished second playing that way. He was pretty imperious until we lost Tomi, Saliba and 50% of Partey. Raya has good stats for Brentford. Arguably, if I punted it to Ivan Toney every game, my completed forwarded passes stats would look pretty sweet.
I get fans saying they are gutted that a favorite isn’t starting games, but saying that and actually wanting the coach to change the line up he feels is the best possible to secure the W is just wild. I love Ramsdale too. Before him, I loved Pepe. Before him, I loved Laca. Before him, Wilshere. All these are players who have been sold or benched for one reason or another, and even if I wish my favorite Arsenal player played mote minutes, I don’t think I’ve ever had an issue as long as we win games. My favorite Arsenal… Read more »
Spot on, mate. You remained objective and cool-headed, yet you admitted you have the same degree of BS as any other fan out there. Gotta see the team as a whole unit is always harder than picking your favorite from a bunch of great individuals
Start your own blog mate; your comment is more wordy than the article 😂. Anyway, I agree with most of what you said but Odegaard and sterile don’t belong in the same sentence.
I hope that Rambo is able to take this as an opportunity to up his game just a bit more. I do think Raya is a slightly better keeper however I think Rambo has the potential to match him, maybe even better him. It’s not personal, Mikel has to put out the absolute best 11 every match. Knowing Rambo he will come out fighting and rise to the challenge and I hope so to, he is a very likeable character, a cross between Seaman and Lehmann which is no bad thing. And you need likeable characters with personality in the… Read more »
This all sounds great, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Ramsdale at Chelsea within 12 months
He has a new contract so we control where he goes and we definitely ain’t selling him to Chelsea. Reckon if he goes it will be abroad or if he insists on staying in England it would be to a team we don’t consider a title rival, like Brighton or Villa.
Not that we consider Chelsea anywhere near title rivals these days, nor Tottenham tbh. But you can’t be helping either of those lots in any case, even if they’re fighting relegation.
Booooo
Any player who makes us better…plays.. as simple as that, does raya makes us better? Yes.. so he gets the nod… let’s keep sentiment aside, that hasn’t taken us anywhere..
Alternatively, play ramas in goal and play raya as a number 8.. man is that good.. so u know what I mean right…
It’s as clear as day that raya is better… So he plays.. no messing about..
Let ramas fight for he’s place
I do think people are being very, very quick to come to a definitive judgement on the Raya vs Ramsdale situation. Especially off the back of 2 really quiet, straightforward games Goalkeepers, because of the relatively few actions they have to complete a game, should be judged over a longer period of time. You should also know what the performances are like when form and confidence are lacking, because it’s inevitable they’ll hit hose patches. Some keepers when they’re out of form are a total disaster, and you can’t really have that in a no.1 because it can be season… Read more »
I am okay with what Arteta is doing, but I agree with you that it is much too early to be sure about Ramsdale. People are talking about how he looks nervous with the ball at his feet. Maybe he *looks* nervous to fans, but he is very good on the ball–I thought we all were sure of that last season. Raya, as everyone points out, had little to do in his two games. He looks calm on the ball but he put a couple into touch with little pressure (irrelevant and hardly mentioned because the game was won). He… Read more »
In terms of data in 2022/23 (Raya – Ramsdale; [EPL rank]): Shot stopping: Save%: 77.7 [1] – 70.6 [11] PostShotExpectedGoals – goals Scored: +0.13 [4] – -0.05 [12] Verdict: Raya Distribution: Pass%: 61 – 63 (this despite a difference in launch% of 50.7 – 35.4) Launch cmp%: 39.3 [4] – 25.4 [22] (in seasons previous to Arsenal Rammers ranked 19th and 18th in this area – his distribution is short and simple, and league average at best – Raya is elite). Verdict: Raya Aerial and sweeping: CrossStop%: 8.7 [2] – 5.8 [16] SweeperAction/90: 1.42 [9] – 1.13 [15] Verdict: Raya,… Read more »
You haven’t factored in Inaki Cana (Cana): GK coach, Raya’s mentor. They also share the same agent.
Raya was Cana’s choice a few years ago, but we couldn’t agree a deal.
He returned for his protégé the minute he was available.
Ramsdale is done at Arsenal- he’s too good to be second fiddle (to someone who is slightly better at passing).
Bayern need a great goalie for the future. He’s 25, can be their safe hands for a dozen years.
I’m not questioning what will happen, more what should happen. I think the writing is probably on the wall for Ramsdale unless Raya has an obvious extended period of struggle. But also agree he’ll go on to have a fantastic career at that sort of level.
Then we likely sell Rammers for 40-50M squids next season and Karl Hein (an exceptional talent) or maybe another become #2. This is how you become elite. When opportunities to improve come, you don’t get sentimental.
Whilst I accept there is no place for sentimentality at the elite level, I feel we would have beaten PSV with Ramsdale in goal and I think he earned that moment. Would have made this transition easier for everyone. At the moment it just feels a bit rough.
No different than the Leno transition except people like Ramsdale more. Performance relies upon wins to validate managers position. Managers understand this and Arteta knows how close he came to losing his job until ESR bailed him out in that Chelsea game. Arteta will always pick the best players he thinks can win us the game, as keeping his job requires winning. My emotional attachment is to the club and teams, not individual players. It’s a ruthless sport where winning or not determines managers and players levels where the trajectories of both is constantly changing, some going up and others… Read more »
Why on earth do you think Arteta was close to losing his job? Arsenal have never been a club who make knee jerk reactions about managers, and it was obvious from the start he was taking the team to the level.
And just as he looks to have finally become England’s no 1.
I’m not sure why the downvotes.
He had a solid game v Scotland, could do nothing about Harry Maguire’s own goal and I think Sothgate would’ve picked him for the next game if he was still our no1.
Ultimately, through time, a player finds their level with a certain club. Ramsdale has played for two PL teams previous to Arsenal. He will either become the best short and long range passer and shot stopper in the Prem or he won’t, but either way Arteta will always desire having the best player in the Prem for each position and ideally two deep, for the style he wants to play. It’s not ruthless, it’s the only way a club reaches the top of the league, constantly changing each window improving position by position and taking the opportunity to upgrade when… Read more »