Aaron Ramsdale admits he has been “suffering and hurting” after losing his place as Arsenal’s number one goalkeeper to David Raya.
Ramsdale started each of the club’s first four games this season but was benched after the first international break, with summer addition Raya coming into the side away at Everton on September 17th – and has remained in the starting lineup ever since.
The situation has attracted strong interest from fans and media alike, but the 25-year-old believes he is ‘working through it’ alongside manager Mikel Arteta and others at the club.
“Because it’s one of the first times it’s happened (losing his place), it has been difficult,” he told Guardian Sport. “There are times where you’re doing the right thing but it’s the wrong thing and if you don’t do it, it’s the wrong thing. So it’s a double-edged sword.
“There’s a lot … a lot of attention. It’s a position where it’s famously said if you’re not spoken about, it means you’ve done a good job. There’s a lot of talk at the minute.
“Whether it is me or David who plays we just need to focus and play but at the same time, it’s a strange, big headline. It’s one that we’re working through as a club and it’s one that the manager puts in front of us and we have to deal with it. That is what we are doing.”
Mikel Arteta when asked about Ramsdale's quality: [Hayters tv] pic.twitter.com/miGnDb9gR3
— AfcVIP⁴⁹ (@VipArsenal) September 27, 2023
But despite facing those difficulties, Ramsdale insists his relationship with Raya is strong and both players continue to push each other behind the scenes.
“We are with each other for three or four hours a day – there are four or five of us in that [goalkeeper] group so if we don’t get on it wouldn’t work.
“We work professionally really well together. We push each other in training and there’s days where I come in and I’m down because of the situation and he picks me up.
“And for whatever reason there might be a day where he’s down and even though I’m suffering and hurting for not playing I have to stand up and be able to push him.”
Arteta, meanwhile, insists he does not have a number one goalkeeper and has even spoken about the idea of substituting a goalkeeper during a match.
You can read the rest of the interview here.
This makes my heart hurt. What a top bloke.
Raya may be better but I’m sure Ramsdale could be coached and the energy, passion, and commitment he brings doesn’t show up in stats.
But I guess in Arteta we trust. If Raya wins us teh league who are we to complain.
Love you Rambo.
Although I feel extremely empathetic, it is important that Ramsdale puts this all to one side and doesn’t get too emotional about it. Nearly every player has lost their place in a team at some point. Just look at Gabriel at the start of this season. And at a big club like Arsenal you can never expect to be number one indefinitely. In fact, it’s that very mentality that got us into so much trouble. I think Rambo will impress Arteta so much more if he just goes even harder in training and proves to the manager that he isn’t… Read more »
I don’t know why you got that many down votes. You’re on the money with everything you said. I know I’m in the minority here but I still think it’s not the end of the road for Ramsdale. However, the one thing he can’t afford to do is feel sorry for himself.
Totally agree. Any of us would (and should!) be upset when we lose a position we fought hard for, did well in, and thought was ours. Yet we have to understand that someone different (not necessarily “better”) could come along and do the job in a way the boss wants. Like any of us, Ramsdale as three options–1. Figure out how to meet the boss’s expectations and thus get back in the team, 2. Leave, 3. Sulk and moan about it. I hope for his and the team’s sake he has the mindset to get to 1.
Don’t agree.
Gabriel returned very quickly as Arteta did have a ‘favourite’ who was better.
This has happened to other players but mostly for a reason.
I also have a feeling that Ramsdale is one of the hardest trainers in the team but that counts for nothing when the goalkeeping coach has a hard thing for Raya.
Too bad this point doesn’t apply to Eddie.
I know I’m in an ever decreasing minority but I still think Arteta needlessly created an unfortunate situation, which will only be solved by either Ramsdale or Raya leaving. I am not sure Raya is an improvement on Ramsdale and the fact people need to pull out all sorts of stats to “prove” that Raya is the better goalie kind of comfirms my opinion. That first half against Man City was diabolical and much worse than any performance I’ve seen from Ramsdale in an Arsenal shirt Raya’s strength and the reason given for hiring him was his distribution and that… Read more »
One thing I’ll never quite understand is why we didn’t just move for Raya when we wanted him. The rumours were rumbling on for years. I remember once in Arteta’s early days that Brentford wanted £20m for him so we gave up.
If Raya was always the perfect choice, why bother spending money on Rambo in the first place?
The best explanation, I think, is that Raya’s availability was unexpected (Brentford had refused to let him go previously). He would always have been Arteta’s choice and though Ramsdale had played well, Arteta never changed his mind about that.
I think this is it. Manure and Spuds were in for him with Brentford wanting a reported £40m then bought Onana and Vicario instead. We get him for a nominal loan fee and £27m next summer. Opportunity taken, its good business.
I LOVE man united.
Only they could go “£40m for a proven premier league goalkeeper? Madness. We’ll just spend £55m on a Gk we could’ve had for free last summer and who doesn’t have any arms”.
God bless them.
You say only they… there were times we were capable of that nonsense but we do appear well past it now
Arteta wants two top goalkeepers; as he’s said, on countless occasions, he wants a squad with two top players competing for each position. We do not have an unchanging starting 11 this season; the sooner fans accept that, the sooner these petty dramas will dissipate. Ramsdale and Raya will both be here next season, keeping Arsenal at the very top of the game.
I would agree with this if Arteta was willing to have a cup and a league goalie.
CL football would be a big enough stage to keep the 2nd choice content.
But Raya is playing all the games. And it would be unfair on Ramsdale to expect him to stick around. He wasn’t far off usurping Pickford for England. He deserves to play elsewhere if he isn’t playing for us.
So by mid-October of the season, it is game over for Ramsdale at Arsenal? Don’t quite think he suggests anything of the sort in his comments, don’t quite think he suggests anything of the sort based on his mentality, and don’t quite think he’ll be off so quickly to admit that he didn’t make it at a top club.
Fans and pundits really need to catch up. Arteta has completely transformed the culture at the club, and he’s not stopping between the sticks.
It’s not up. So much can happen in football. But he’s definitely second choice now. And this certainly isn’t the job share that Arteta implied it would be. And what’s more, I think it would be a pretty poor usage of club resources to sit a £50m goalkeeper on a sizeable wage on the bench for everything but CC games. Teams win huge titles with pretty poor second choice goalkeepers. Raya has had one injury in his entire career. For a club with a finite budget, it makes far more sense to have a decent 34 year old as back… Read more »
And Ramsdale might become first choice again. You don’t know. So far, Ramsdale has played 4 PL games, and Raya has played 4 PL games. There are 30 to go. Make up your mind if you want to, decide that Ramsdale is gone, feed the dramatic narrative, but I see nothing critical here except to say that both goalkeepers have a fight on their hands if they want to play regularly for Arsenal FC. I thought we bought Ramsdale for 30ish? I suspect the club trusts Arteta when he says he wants two top keepers, so I don’t stress the… Read more »
Yeah, a certain Bernd Leno might tell you different. I seem to remember him playing the first 4 games…
Time will tell. Let’s revisit this at Christmas and if I’m wrong, which I’ll happily be because I love Rambo, then you can take the plaudits.
Until then I’ll keep peddling my dramatic narrative.
It’s a shame you need the drama, Johnny!!
You just can’t beat the sensationalism of claiming a player who arrived and now plays all the games is the first choice.
I agree with the dramatic.
Team Ramsdale all the way!
He is stopping between the sticks, otherwise Ramsdale would have been back in for at least one game by now.
Exactly. Then we’re back to square 1 like all the other teams in having goalkeeping hierarchy.
This is one big lie from Arteta.
Just utter bollox. He will not rotate Raya. Unless it’s a forced one against Brentford or if he wants to rest him.
Agreed. Last thing we need or want is a simple goalkeeper injury bollixing up an otherwise winning season when we have to resort to using Salty the Seal between the sticks.
However much I agree with many of your points *and I do with most of them actually) the part about people using stats to prove something only confirming your opinion that things are the opposite from what those stats say, is the sort of disturbing logic that’s kind of emblematic of what’s wrong with our current society at large, “post facts” and all. How can stats that show Raya is better in some areas confirm your opinion that he isn’t? You can say the stats don’t reflect everything, there are things that can’t be measured and others that there are… Read more »
As I said previously. The statistical sample size for Raya in our team is too small to be definitive and it’s purely personal preference at this point. Trying to pretend it’s some kind of agenda or conspiracy against facts is ridiculous.
The stats people are referencing are also from his time at Brentford, there’s a big enough sample size there. I wasn’t claiming it’s a conspiracy against facts quite the opposite, the same people who tend to have an issue with facts and stats are usually the ones to buy into Qanon type conspiracy theories.
Do Brentford play the same system we do? No. It’s like using ramsdales numbers from sheffield. If we’re comparing apples to apples, we need a larger sample size. When Raya has 20 games in our system a fair comparison can be made.
Those stats are from England, from the same league vs the same opponents. They’re not apples to cactus fruit. They’re not even apples to persimmons, they’re both apples. But no you want to granny smith to granny smith, and they’d best both be organic, oh no nothing less than an exact match will do for you will it… 🙂
All this talk of apples got me hungry.
There’s a big difference between pinging long balls to Toney, than to Jesus or nketia. The stats may say one thing, but only without taking into account the circumstances.
The stats that presumably put Raya ahead of Ramsdale were from LAST season. Not a small sample size, that.
It’s all irrelevant. He’s Arteta’s No1. Sadly.
I think you’ve misunderstood the point I was trying to make about those stats, so I will try and clear it up.
We are talking about very small and fine margins of improvement, if indeed there is any. The fact stats are needed to confirm that supposed improvement, means, in my opinion, that there was no need to cause this situation.
Apart from all that, stats or not, on the actual pitch where football is played and games are won or lost, I don’t see an improvement.
Oh I see, I did misunderstand your point there then, sorry about that. But (and keep in mind I’m not the one citing these numbers) I’m pretty sure the stats say the difference between them isn’t marginal, at least from a distribution standpoint. The fact your eyes or mine don’t see improvement (and I don’t either) is exactly why stats are needed, to circumvent our human fallibility and bias.
👌 🤝
The juiciest apple-to-apple fact is that a significant number of Prem players thought Ramsdale played well enough last season to name him the league’s best keeper. That alone tells me much more than does the rate at which Raya or any other keeper successfully snatches a cross. Nonetheless, I thought Ramsdale’s distribution at the start of the season, including with his feet, was quite good.
Much worse than being under no pressure whatsoever but playing a very simple pass the to a Southampton player? See that thing Raya has been saying about being patient and waiting to be pressed, if Ramsdale listened to the manager and did that in that game, it wouldn’t have turned into the roller-coaster that it became. We need calmer heads all over the pitch. I love Rams and I’m one of his biggest fans, but the stats that you want to ignore is what really made me take his performances into consideration last season. He made fantastic saves, but he… Read more »
Well put.
I’d agree with you. Each have slightly different qualities, but overall I don’t think we are benefitting from it.
Totally agree, I have nothing to add.
Hear hear.
Ramsdale picks up a season-ender in training.
Wanna sell Raya now?
The big squad bit; still bypassing many of you – and after all that happened last season when key players became injured….. 🙄
Nonsense. If that was the case teams like man city and Liverpool would have another No1 as back up just in case. No one has 2 No1s
Who said there are two number ones? Unless Ramsdale ursurps Raya, he’s number two. If City could have our problem, they’d take it. Ortega is also a class goalkeeper by the way.
Arteta saying he doesn’t have a No1 by definition means we have 2. Ortega is good but he’s no Ederson. Pretty much every outlet called him the no2 and you’re kidding if you think Pep would ever drop Ederson
I’m sure Pep would jump at it if he could have Ederson’s quality in goal and also sitting on the bench.
Well said.
you can prove anything with facts
I do trust Arteta but even he is liable to making mistakes. I just hope this doesn’t turn out to be one. Ramsdale seems a good character and not the kind of guy to create unrest behind the scenes but we have seen before that, when players lose faith in the manager, things go wrong. As long as it benefits us in the long run then sometimes we have to let go of players we like. I’ve said it before but I was devastated when Paul Merson left the club but then we became something amazing. I’m expecting we’ll end… Read more »
Wish Ramsdale the best, but what Raya does technique wise comes from early experience, very difficult to learn fine technique later in life. “I started playing when I was four or five years old for my town, but I always liked to play with my mates outside of that. With my mates, I always played outfield. I enjoyed playing further up the pitch and I think that’s why I’m comfortable on the ball. “In Spain we have a lot of futsal pitches. Next to my house, on Sundays, there were always young guys playing on the futsal pitch. Five versus… Read more »
Its a double edge sword when wanting one keeper to start over the other, for Raya to be displaced he would need to make mistakes that cost us a game or two which i certainly do not want to happen so i support Miki’s choice, its down to Ramsbo to be professional, play well in the cup games he will be selected for, it might take an injury to Raya which again i don’t want to happen for him to take his chance to be our number one again, i think it surprised us all given the performances Ramsbo gave… Read more »
I feel the transition from him to Raya could have been better handled. But I’ll defer to MA.
He won’t win us the league and in theory he has no real competition as Raya will not be dropped…er sorry, rotated.
The media jumped on him too quick. They may be able to put some ideas in his head about leaving the club. Hopefuly it won’t happen.
You be brave to put a bet on that if Ramsdale doesn’t get a league game before January.
It’s because of his passport. We’ve had a similar situation like that before when Lehman lost his place to Almunia who wasn’t particularly playing any better but the press didn’t mind apart from seeing it from a comical point of view. Jensen who had even taken over from Khan as the German number 1 wasn’t taking it lightly though, quite the opposite. On this one though I don’t know exactly how I take it apart from game to game. Aaron is one of my favorite players but Arteta too is a favorite and has bought my trust so I’ll see… Read more »
And my phone decided to change Jens to Jensen. Please don’t show it to the mad German
The sheer stupidity of football journalists, rival fans (and some of ours) claiming no top team has ever had two top goalkeepers still hurts my head
I get the tactical preference for Raya, I really do, but I really hope Arteta has some idea for how Ramsdale can win his place back if this is really a meritocracy and that he really stands behind his own words about rotating and subbing goalkeepers and that wasn’t just a charade for the press where Aaron’s destiny as the no. 2 is already sealed. Mainly because I really think he’s a special character, guys like him don’t come along often and we really need those at our club, for the team spirit and leadership. And he’s an excellent goalkeeper… Read more »
I think Ramsdale’s chances of winning his place back or, at the very least, getting more opportunities falls completely on him buying into what Arteta wants from his keepers. And that is to invite the pressure while still playing out from the back instead of quickly going long. It’s a miserable, lonely feel as a keeper to make a mistake that leads to a goal. And as we saw with the Man City game, that danger of being embarrassed is inherent in the system. But the keepers have to trust Arteta when he says he’d rather see an error than… Read more »
You have to take the goalkeeping coach into account too. He has a long history with David, so I guess he already made his choice.
Goalkeeping coach doesn’t decide the team, so not sure what he has to do with it. Though I will say Iñaki Caña is one of the coolest names ever. Honestly not sure what he’s doing coaching, if I was born with a name like that I’d be 100% convinced I’m meant to be a rock star and would go on to learn to play the Spanish guitar as if I sold my soul to the devil
He doesn’t sound so cool after recommending Alex Runnarson.
No offense, but isn’t it the same guy who recommended Runnarson?
Not sure how much I trust him as a talent evaluator.
I feel for you Aaron. No matter when and where you will play, please keep up with your positive attitude. You had won me over since 2 seasons ago and you will forever a true gooner in my mind! COYG!
I feel bad for him, Raya might be marginally the better in some situations but I don’t think Rambo did anything that warranted being dropped.
The optimist in me is hoping that Mikel’s master plan is just having Raya on loan for this year to push Rambo another 5%, make him even better and get the number 1 spot back!
Because let’s face it Rambo would walk into the number 1 keeper spot in every PL team no problem bar maybe Man City and Liverpool.
He won’t walk in to Manchester United as ten hag also wants a ball playing goal keeper. It’s time we all face reality, top bloke yes, right man for the job no!!!
Ramsdale is a very good ball player himself and, from what I’ve seen, Onana is a disaster so far. He would stroll into the Manchester United team. I would take Ramsdale over every other keeper we’ve had since Jens Lehman. He makes very few errors, pulls off some ridiculous saves (remember that one against Maddison), gives the defence a sense of calm, is a great player for team morale and can ping a ball 50 yards at pace to a teammate. If Raya is better it’s marginal. Right now I’m happy we have both and in an ideal world we… Read more »
It’s a strange situation to be in, I must say. As strange as Arteta’s desire to change Keepers mid game! Ramsdale just has to try and keep his morale high and learn all he can from Raya. Things change quickly in football.
It’s not all about keeping the ball out of the net ! This lad through the strength of his personality & talent dragged the Arsenal fans back into believing we could win things ! Saliba got injured & we didn’t sadly but he stood at the front with his attitude & I admired him greatly for it Raya is a great keeper but Rambo is a great keeper & he’d die for us ! So so sad to see his treatment from Arteta at least the Spaniard could be honest with him ! Always my number 1 & it’s a… Read more »
Love Rambo.
It occurred to me that in the Citee game, Raya , under instruction from de Boss, had to “engage”their pressers and it actually wasn’t his comfort zone or put another way “room for improvement”.
With all the talk of Raya being a slight upgrade in all areas, for eg, passer of the ball etc, it’s actually Rambo who is slightly better at “engaging” the opposition as they press.
He actually enjoys it😂
Well maybe that’s part of the problem. From what I’ve seen of Raya, he keeps his head in the game and doesn’t get involved in shenanigans with opposition fanbases. To me that’s the definition of ‘unflappable’.
Much as I love him, Ramsdale was definitely ‘flappable’ last season
I feel really sorry for Ramsdale. He was one of our star players last season and was a key figure in our return to the Champions League. Sure, he has a mistake in him, but he can also pull off great saves too. As for Raya, so far I’ve seen nothing to suggest that he’s an upgrade on Ramsdale: against City he looked as nervous as a kitten that had accidentally wandered into a wolf’s lair. I’m not convinced by him at all. Ramsdale will be off in the summer: he’s too good to be a number two, and there’ll… Read more »
I can’t wait for real football to return. Fuck the interlulls.
It sounds like they’ve been schooled on what to say. Raya produced exactly the same quote.
Well done Aaron for taking it as well as you have when it must be difficult. I really hope we don’t lose in come January.
Definitely a tough situation for him and unlike other positions on the field if you lose your starting spot you at least have opportunities to come in as a sub and fight for more playing time or there could be rotational opportunities. As it stands now with Raya playing in the league and Champions League Ramsdale’s only opportunities will be in the domestic cups for now. The only thing he can do is to continue to train as hard as he can and be supportive of Raya and the team. His chance will come again I believe.
I want them to hurt, I want them to fight. We spent way too much time with mediocre players who had no pressure to succeed. Now, we are a competitive environment, and you can’t have success with being ‘loyal’. IMO, loyalty was what killed Wenger near the end. Loyalty to players who didn’t deserve it. It hurts because Ramsdale got us to this point, but if he wants to get that spot, fight for it. It will make him better. A rising tide lifts all ships. I think Henry said it best when he said, ‘what, a Striker knows that… Read more »
But will it be fair competition? Raya is Iñaki Caña’s protégé, he was our first pick signing in the window we signed Ramsdale, and Ramsdale was dropped over very little.
I don’t want it to be so, but it seems the dice are loaded and the writing is on the wall.
If we had signed Mike Maignan for example, I would have seen it is as positive ruthlessness. But Raya? It’s much more like cronyism.
Quite clear Raya is better than Ramsdale. Sorry but I see Ramsdale leaving Arsenal either in Jan or next season. He is too good for a No. 2 GK spot. Arteta is just doing his usual PR. In his mind, Raya is his No.1 GK.
I wish to ask a question. Can anybody name a great goalkeeper 6 foot and under? Raya is 6 foot. In my experience football games are not decided on statistics. If both teams are high level it comes down to margins, inches actually. My point is that a spectacular save by Raya is a comfortable save to Pope. His wingspan is an extra 6 inches than Raya’s. A spectacular save from Pope is a goal against Raya. In my opinion Spain does not produce top keepers, due to Spanish people being naturally smaller than northern hemisphere people. In football you… Read more »
Imagine it from his eyes. He thought he’d finally arrived. I’m sure he had thoughts about becoming a legend with us, or at least a long term stay which would almost guarantee he would take Pickfords place. Then out of nowhere he’s replaced and the company line is that it’s a competition when it clearly isn’t. Gut wrenching turn of events. He’s handled it with class and humility but of course it’s painful. The way Raya was pinging those balls at the end of City game, and if he keeps improving Rambo has no way back. Will be sorry to… Read more »
Ramsdale’s done nothing wrong, and I can understand why he is hurting. He ought to be playing the the Carabao, FA Cup and some of the CL games. He needs to be playing to be at his best. Raya is a loanee. It isn’t guaranteed that we will sign him. That is all for the future.
I think the main issue is that he hasn’t really “lost” his place. We just bought a more expensive keeper to play instead o him. Not a whole lot he could have done there. I’m honestly not the biggest believer in this plug-and-play view of a football team. This isn’t FIFA, the guy with the better stats isn’t always what makes the team better. If you have a goalkeeper as good as Ramsdale, with a personality like that, you build around him, because guys like that are really hard to find. I don’t know, I think that if a player… Read more »
I’m hurting for him too. He’s a top lad with top personality, so he’ll bounce back one way or another. I hope he gets a chance to stake his claim again, but whoever puts on the Arsenal GK jersey, I’ll be rooting for them 100%. We have two top GKs, we will need them both throughout this season.
Keep your head held high Rambo.
Long season ahead of us and an awful lot could happen yet mate.
Keep putting in the reps and prove to the manager that you’re worth the starting XI.
Whatever anyone else says on the matter is merely peripheral.
Why must Arteta insist he doesn’t have a No1. Even a partially sighted dog with sunglasses sitting in a dark room can see that’s utter bollox.
Ramsdale will move. We will go back to getting a Turner’esque proper No2 and that will be that.
I back Arteta 9/10 times but this is a giant unjustified f*ck up.
Begin thumbing down…..now!
Did raya and rambo just give the exact same interview comment about 4 hours and needing to be mates…?
Word for word…..
Wasted money. Ramsdale is top notch and Raya is about the same. Raya plus Havertz made this a poor summer window.
Maybe being out of the Arsenal starting lineup will boost his chances of getting on the pitch for England. Has worked for Maguire and Phillips.
the clever amongst you realised at some point in march/april that if arteta …actually wins the premier league ….with an action hero type goalkeeper from 2nd division… then the rest of the league should just go home and grow tomatoes 🙂