Aaron Ramsey says he enjoyed playing in the centre of midfield against Sunderland admitting the position complements his attacking instincts.
The Welshman played a pivotal role in the Gunners 3-1 victory, setting up Olivier Giroud with a fine cross on 63 minutes before getting on the scoresheet himself in stoppage time.
“It felt really good today,” Ramsey told Arsenal.com after the game.
“I feel a lot more comfortable and it suited my game a lot better, I could time my runs into the box and get on the end of things and I could have had two or three goals but at the end of the day I’m happy.”
Arsenal’s win put them back up to second in the Premier League table, two points behind surprise leaders Leicester City. With Manchester City, Manchester United, Sp*rs and Liverpool in the chasing pack, Ramsey reckons the title race will be very tight.
“It is really close at the moment. Teams are taking points off each other so it is going to be tight all the way through and it is important to keep ourselves in the race for this busy time and into the New Year and it was a good way to start ahead of December.
“It is quite a surprise Leicester are there but full credit to them, they have been exceptional but it is important for ourselves and what we have done today.”
Of course he is, that’s where he belongs.
That is the Welsh Jesus we all love. Tear Olympiacos a new one
When Rambo’s happy, I’m happy.
He can be great for us in the middle but he definitely needs someone disciplined and defensively aware, who is also composed on the ball alongside him to protect the back four while he roams in order to find some space in the box or on the edge of it.
Arteta was good example a couple of years ago.
I’m not Ramsey’s biggest fan but i think he’s probably best suited to a 3 man midfield along side a defensive midfielder and deeper lying playmaker. That’s probably why Wenger tried the Arteta, Wilshere, Ramsey trio at the beginning of last season.
Ramsey’s problem now is Ozil is playing on another level and can’t possibly be dropped or moved, so he’s going to need to adapt his game to play in a deeper 2, which has to be played as a pair not 2 individuals.
I have to say he was more effective in the middle.
I think if we can get some DM (Reben Neves from Porto or William Carvalho from Sporting will be ideal) and get some injured players back. We can fight for title.
Guys, if you actually think about it, we’re not that screwed up after all.
Cazorla out a huge blow for sure, but he only works brilliantly with Coquelin next to him, and that was proved in WBA and Norwich games.
Ramsey much more dynamic than Santi and work rate would be needed in the absence of Coq.
On the right wing, Ox is a decent option and with Welbeck/SuperTomRosicky returning, it doesn’t look all that bad does it?
Hope Wenger tries to sign a decent DM tho. Flamini is too rash.
Have to disagree with that first sentence.
Were essentially relying on a midfield combo of Flamini and Ramsey for the entire Christmas period. Neither have the best injury records. God knows when Wilshere is back.
Then we have the inevitable slow wait to target and sign cover in the January window.
We’ll be seeing the likes of Ox and Chambers in midfield over the next month or so. Hope they do well, but it’s a big ask.
We could do with a winger who actually loves being a winger. Ramsey, Ox, Wlebz and Walcott all want to be more central and it takes something away from their game to play wide. So a winger and a DM is what we need to win the title in my opinion.
I used to love Anders Limpar!
Me too.
Limpar was something special, some really memorable moments from the ’91 and even ’92 (although we didn’t do so well the season after we won the league if I remember) just checked his wiki page and when he retired he opened a bar called ‘the Limp Bar but its now closed! For a living he now owns a betting site, a plastic box company and coaches!
Anders was my hero. The most two footed player I’d ever seen…
Before Santi came along of course
How many wingers who love being wingers have we had at Arsenal under Arsene? Even during the years when we were the best team by far. It is just not Arsene’s way. At least one full back has been our choice when it comes to width. From Ashley Cole in 03/04 to Hector Bellerin today. Simply there are many ways to skin a cat. Pires, Ljungberg, Rosicky, Hleb, Nasri etc etc have all been at their best in central positions where they can overload the opposition and end up in scoring positions (apart from Hleb obviously) We have never been… Read more »
We may never have put in a lot of crosses however our successful teams would get to the byline and cut the ball back to on rushing players, something our play is now missing in my opinion.
I donno Bobby and Freddy were class out wide for us. Ljungberg used to make those trade mark diagonal runs off of the right wing, he used to bag so many goals for us from wide right positions.
The same goes for Bobby too, he was class off the left flank, I always think of his lob against Villa.
Rambo was delighted when exiting the pitch at the end of the game. Glad he clearly feels so well and ready!
COYG!
Guys does anyone have any info on Sir Gnabry???
Please arseblog could you let us know in the blog if possible?
Last I heard, Tony Pulis stated in an official interview (the cunt!) that Gnabry was not ready for 1st team Premier League football, and questioned how much academy football prepares players for the roughness of the league (fair point tbh). Wenger was later asked if Gnabry would join the rest of the youngsters returning from loans and answered that he won’t. He also encouraged Gnabry to change Pulis’ mind and prove himself ready for the prem. Since then, I might be wrong but I think he hasn’t even made the bench and is playing with the U21 team.
http://paininthearsenal.com/2015/12/04/arsenal-must-pull-plug-on-serge-gnabry-loan/
First result on a quick google search, you lazy bastard 😛 This confirms my fears, he’s been thrown in the reserves.
If he’s only playing with WBA’s U21s, we should bring him back and have him play with our U21s.
His energy and runs into the box will be very valuable to the team.
He is a legitimate goal threat from the middle.
Love Ramsey and he´s great going forward, a real threat and has an engine that´s amazing but he´s pretty poor defensivly. Poor positioning and he is too rash in his decision making. That´s why he´s not suited too play in cm where you have too be patient and calm. I would try Özil in cm along with Flamini as long as Cazorla and Coq is out. He is working hard for the team, he is calm and has the best vision in the world. He would be great dropping down a step and Ramsey would thrive in a more attacking… Read more »
Ozil to go CM with MF? Are you Flamini? 😉 Sorry but that is one of the most ridiculous things I’ve read.
Sorry, meant to thumb down, thats a really stupid idea. Ramsey needs to be more disciplined in his game, he’s very wasteful and too selfish sometimes for my liking. I know he’s a big favourite and he’s been out with injury again, so he needs some gametime to get up to speed, but he’s nowhere near, and I don’t think he ever will be near the level of Mesut Ozil. You don’t mess with the best number 10 there is to fit in a player just because he could do with less defensive duties. Ramsey needs to improve his decision… Read more »
Ramsey is “poor defensively” so your alternative is Ozil. You really are strange
Madness!
Ramsey isn’t poor defensively, but he can’t dribble out of pressure the way Cazorla can. That’s the big difference. We lose control in the middle of the pitch with Ramsey in the team. He’s the sort of guy who’s likely to make a 2-0 scoreline into a 3-1 scoreline. And putting Ozil at CM is a terrible idea. With Ramsey in the team we need to learn to modify our play a bit. We can’t rely on Cazorla to break a high press with dribbling ability, so we need to work more at beating the press through teamwork rather than… Read more »
and the Poo lose to Newcastle…it’s a funny old Prem…
Nope, it’s just funny 🙂
We should sign mahrez so Jesus doesn’t have to play on the wing anymore
Wow just when I thought liverpool are begining to build some momentun they go on and lose to newcastle. Tiny tots are still inconsistent, Van gaal is boring the shit out of oldtraford, City are as inconsistent as ever and I dont even know where chelsea are. This has got to be our season.
Would be nice if Wenger got players for the required positions rather than shunting players into positions they don’t like!!!
you know all this Klopp love by the media and the lfc fans, well LFC had 12 pts from 8 BPL games before Klopp, and they have 11 pts from 7 BPL games under Klopp
when klopp became LFC manager they were 6pts off the top spot, and 3pts off top 4, they are now 7 games later, 9pts off top spot and 6pts off top 4
what a transformation
the Liverpool media hype machine is in full swing
Hype or no hype, I rather face a Liverpool team with Brendan rather than klopps as the manager.
Ramsey would be perfect as box to box CM if we had an athletic, quick, disciplined holding MF – like a Schneiderlin. We all recall how good he was in that role a couple years ago, when he became the Welsh Jesus. If we can acquire such a player in early January things should look a lot brighter. In the meantime I think we will at least see him start scoring goals.
schneiderlin is the sort of CM that needs a defensive midfielder behind him, AFC could do with a DM
Overrated.
Seen United recently?
Schneiderlin is out injured. Is that why you’re suggesting he play for us? I can’t think of any other reason you’d want him, as he’s been absolute rubbish for Man Ure so far this year.
His best position is as the link player where his combination of defensive diligence and creative vision can come to fore. Flamini completed 104 of 108 passes and unless you heed 7amkickoff’s numbers to suit his argument, that should reflect a player who can keep decent possession for us. His pass releasing Ozil lead to the first goal for Campbell. Certainly neither are Coqzorla at the moment but as a second pairing, they are still pretty decent and can improve with more time together and a no nonsense approach (don’t get too adventurous for now) I like Ramsey in particular… Read more »
I would absolutely love to have Illaramendi here. He’s a brilliant CDM, talented and tough. I was hoping we’d buy him when he ended up going to Real Madrid. Now that he’s back at Sociedad we should go after him strongly.
For all the talk about how poor our DM is and how we are so fragile defensively, we are same in GD as City who we are told did excellent business this last summer. Where the team to beat for quality in CHelsea, or the BrendanRodgers sorry Jurgen Klopp revolution or the unbeatable Spurs or United with money well spent on Martial??? Surely they have better defensive cover than us?
Ramsey can make us forgot about Carzola’s absence in that position, but where things will be felt with Carzola being out is on the right side (unless Wenger will look to use Walcott there in combination with Giroud in the middle and Sanchez comes back soon). Ramsey can excel in the middle and will get better each match he plays there, he just needs to stay healthy.
It’s his first game back as a cm and he’s got a well-deserved goal. He got some near-misses in great positions which suggests that he could go on a goal scoring run again if he clicks. Would be timely with Sanchez out. It’s his first game but some observations on his game. He comes to receive the ball, which crowds the area, rather than finding space or a better position. Too many touches and time spent on the ball which allows the opponent to regroup. Runs into a crowded box by a cm are too risky and sets us up… Read more »
Agree with all these observations. Ramsey’s frequent runs forward leave big gaps at the back and good teams will punish us on the counter. He also tends to take too long on the ball, the quick ball movement that is critical to break down a packed defense comes to a standstill too often. He needs to make some significant adjustments to play in the centre, there is a lot more to the position than just always looking to score yourself. I’m also beginning to find his constant comments about needing to play in that position increasingly tiresome.
You gotta stay fit Mr Ramsey
Wherever you tell him to play, from the left, the right or anywhere, Ramsey would bust his gut for the team..that’s why I love this guy..I’m happy he’s getting to play centrally where he wants. Maybe the thinnest little sliver of silver lining to our injury problems is that. Cazorla isn’t getting younger (plus the rumours that he wants to end his career in Spain never go away)..so Rambo and coq as our 2 deeper midfielders for seasons to come is a great prospect..I do hope we sign a proper defensive minded player in January to partner Rambo till coq… Read more »
OG scored twice yesterday…
But agree, it is good to see Walcott offering something different.