Arsene Wenger has defended his decision to field Aaron Ramsey on the left side of midfield claiming the Welshman adds balance to the Arsenal line-up when a winger is deployed on the right.
Making clear that educating the young midfielder in a new position would aid his future development, the boss stressed that fielding the schemer on the wing was not likely to be a long-term state of affairs.
“I don’t think it is a long-term option for him because he is more a central player in the way I see him developing,” Wenger told Arsenal.com.
“Sometimes to balance the team, especially considering on the other side we have a real winger, I put a midfielder in there. That’s why in some games like at Everton I played him on the left. It worked then but at QPR we lost and it didn’t work.
“It is not linked with one position, it is to balance the team. I think in the education of a player it is important that he plays in different positions.”
Ramsey has come in for some very unfair criticism (predominantly via social media) in recent weeks, with his failure to convert chances against Everton, Manchester City and Wolves regularly highlighted. The player himself, has already spoken openly about a need to improve in and around the box, and the boss thinks it’s merely a case of relaxing.
“He always looks like he will score but doesn’t score at the moment. Once that will be done I think he will be more relaxed in front of goal and score more. He has played many games this year and for a first [full] season [at Arsenal] that is tremendous.”
Hoping people will have more sense when talking out loud about Ramsey.
Ramsey will come good, its not like he has the attitude of Denilson.
Its not like he lacks talent like Denilson
Harsh there.
How is it harsh? Very few people have enough talent to play for Arsenal, Denilson is one of them.
Whenever there is criticism of Ramsey, I remember that priceless goal he scored at sunderland. The boy will come good.
and marseille
And Man U.
Well, not priceless.
But satisfying.
and Sunderland
and at WHL. 😛
I don’t agree with all the harsh words said about Ramsey but let’s be honest, he simply hasn’t been good enough for the starting XI at Arsenal this season. It’s not his fault that he has been played out of position as an attacking midfield player or as a left winger, but his ball retention is poor when under no pressure. I believe he will improve and become a very good player but Wenger’s failure to buy an attacking midfield player and the poor form of Rosicky early in the season has killed Ramsey this season. The boy is clearly… Read more »
Erm our resuts early on were due to the the suspensions of Gervinho and Song, an out of form Arshavin, and a injury ravaged defence. Ramsey was one of the bright spots in our start to the campaign.
Our 7 game undefeated run up till January was partly due to him playing to his potential. It was during January where he suffered a burnout and all the naysayers were jumping on his back. So why don’t you stop undermining his ability and trust in Wenger?
for what its worth Ben I completely agree. As awful as we were back then Ramsey seemed to be the only one demanding the ball and trying to create. I don’t understand the critisism of him one bit. He was definately overplayed by the end of that bad run, and it hit him badly.
He’s 21 years old for christs sake! He has class and fight, and good technical ability. Still plenty to learn.
Completely agree, Ramsey was one of our better players early this season. The reasons for our poor results were our injuries, particularly in the full back position. We’ve all seen the difference since Gibbs and Sagna have been back. Ramsey picked up an injury and fatigue from the early part have just taken the shine off him. Rosicky has been resurrgent and he cannot get back in. Remember how young he is and how little experience he really had top level. He is a good player to keep, if we can, but if he doesn’t get the games I do… Read more »
But the only thing that sits in my mind at the moment is, should Wenger be playing little games at this vital stage of the season and what is up for grabs
Yeah, cos obviously, Wenger has no interest in securing third for us, right…?
he’s got so much potential this lad! Honestly think next season he will be killer alongside jack wilshere. The talent we’ve got in the middle of the park is unreal! Rosicky, arteta, song with the experience, ramsey, jack wilshere, song, coquelin, frimpong, henderson and the other youngsters, thats some serious serious talent in there!
you just said song twice….
song deserves a second mention , as does arteta and rosicky and the whole lot of them 😀
People tend to forget he is just 21 nd still cutting his teeth in the game nd when Arsene says someone is still being educated, then he is being educated nd he will come good in the end am sure. Just ask Alex Song
Let’s be honest Ramsey’s inablility to score goals is a blessing in disguise for many celebrities.
Cesc was goal-shy as a young player. Wilshere wasn’t exactly prolific in front of goal last season either. Composure comes with age – and games.
Looking forward to him standing in for Szczesny. Wenger is right though, playing in different positions will help his all round understanding of the game.
Wenger IS right , He is not some dude sitting behind the keyboard.
I can sympathise with Ramsey – he’s been asked to step into a very important role and the pressure has, rather understandably given his age, got to him. I don’t think playing him out of position on the left wing at a point where we pretty much HAVE to win every game is doing him any favours, either. Wenger shouldn’t be messing around by playing someone out of position on the left wing when Ox/Gervinho/Benayoun are all far more suited to the position. I can udnerstand where he’s coming from, but it’s something he should really experiment with in pre-season… Read more »
Its not an experiment its a tactical switch for teams with tough midfields, when we get dominated in mid we seldom win, hence trying to overwhelm the midfield with for mids is a strategy to make sure we dominate possession. If people take one second to analyze the game (this is offcourse assuming people have the ability to analyze it from a purely tactical perspective) its not that hard to see the merit in playing him there. Unfortunately a lot of fans don’t actually have the pre-requisite knowledge of the sport and some end up coming out with, sorry to… Read more »
Wow that education cost the team points
Why didn’t he experiment on the Reserve or Training
Not on crucial away games
This arrogant attitude have turn this into seven consecutive trophy less season
He never learn
go support Tottenham or Man City then.
Did you suffer an injury to your head as a child or smth?
wait we are out of the FA cup and UCL because of Ramsey?
..and what has 7 trophyless season have got to do with Ramsey ? this is his first full season and we are third
refer to my statement above for explanation of why he was not experimenting and why you have no clue about the sport and tactics. All you fans with superficial understanding of the sport shouldn’t be so quick to critisize a man who has more experience and intelligence in his little toe then people like stephen can ever even hope or imagine having
Yeah, I thought as much. Really like the lad too and he’ll be a great player for us. I do question Wenger’s decision to try this experiment while we’re still in a somewhat desperate race to win a CL spot (a race I think we’ll win, but why take chances regardless?), but Ramsey’s still young and just needs a little more confidence.
I’d prefer to see him play understudy to Arteta, Rosicky or Wilshere, though, rather than only having one winger on the field.
Its not experiment its a tactical move to shore up midfield against opponents with dominant midfields i.e Everton with Fellaini
Personally I’m not surprised that Ramsey is has been off the pace at times. Eduardo never recovered his spark after his leg was broken. Poor Diaby has had injury after injury as a knock on from his horrendous break. I’m impressed with how Aaron has done. Didn’t he score the winner in the home game against Manure last season? He’s young, getting stronger and, bar further injury, by the time he’s 27 he’ll be fekking awesome. The problem we’ve had is battling against attrition in our players. Keeping the squad together. If Adebayor wasn’t a mental twat, if fabregas wasn’t… Read more »
Eduardo lost some mobility in his leg. Ramsey, has tahnkfully made a full recovery.
As for Diaby, it seems that we will have to rebuild him. Never fear though! We have the technology!
“Unfair critisism” you having a laugh blogs…this guy is average at best. Smh
and you’re a retard if you think Ramsey, who is just 21, plays out of position and has just come back from a horrific injury is average.
Calling him average is unfair..no?
There is nothing about this current squad that is average ,they have done a good job ,Worst start EVER and we will finish in a higher position and have more points than last season. Liverpool spent 100Mill to be in a position like us , we just played this kid and another injury prone old midfielder . Our midfielder are not very flashy but they are a very good..at best
G4L, it’s okay, we’re all having laughs, while you’re the poor sod who can’t understand who’s being laughed at.
Firstly, you need to check the byline.
Secondly, criticism of his finishing and some aspects of his play is absolutely justified, I think he’d be the first to admit that. It’s people who write him off so quickly and often throw some mindless abuse into the mix that make some of whats directed at him ‘unfair’.
Off topic: Match Of The Day voice over on the BBC by the blogs last night. Take a bow son 🙂
Not me, what was it you think you heard?!
The voice over for the into the the piece on QPR (about 25 minutes in). If that isnt you, you have an admirer in the profession. He has definitely ripped a lot of your style
Ahh ok, definitely wasn’t me though!
Another one thats become an arsenal fan this season, you guys do know that ramsey had a very good season with us 2 years ago, prior to the horrible injury, right….
Many years ago a young midfielder, full of talent but raw, came into the Arsenal midfield. At the time the team was very much in transition and lacking direction and genuine leadership. This young man was slated; described as talentless and lacking. The management team of the time saw something in him that the terrace sages just couldn’t and persevered.
That young man was Paul Davis and he went on the be a superb player and Arsenal stalwart. The naysayers would do well to learn some lessons from history.
What a load of complete shit Wenger is talking. The bloke’s fucking mad. We need to WIN games, he should test players in different positions in training not during a fucking match. God knows what runs through his mind sometimes.
Funny how dumbass people like AndyR above are the angriest and loudest, they have time to critisize and get mad but no time to think why the manager, a genious, is making the decisions he’s making. This is why people like andy will always be fucking stupid, they can’t think beyond the obvious. This is probably a good thing, society needs more people in the working class than more intellectuals like wenger unfortunately
Bloody hell u made me laugh with RVP’s above picture….. 😀 😀 😀
That’s what we call holding the ball….ha ha ha ha ha
Love Theo in this. What the fuck is he thinking?
“Pint of milk……couple of cartons of OJ…….Coco Pops…….ooo and I must remember to get some of those squeezy yoghurt things…”
@Nigerian Gunner waoh are you my clone? *smile*
‘Ramsey oh Ramsey’ am not gonna go there because le professor has spoken, and that’s final, end of discussion.
did he ever put wishere,song,denelson on wing as a kind of education?
He played Diaby as a left sided midfielder many times. He played Wilshere, a natural attacking midfielder, as a defensive midfielder.
Furthermore, Wilshere was used on the left wing in his time with Bolton, so he had education there at the top level. Oxlade-Chamberlain is supposed to end up playing in midfield but he is being played as a winger, too.
Denilson was chucked on to the wing a few times, if I remember rightly. It was always hard to see where he could fit in the centre of midfield when we had Cesc. Plus, Wenger’s experiments with Songs position have made him the player he is. He came to Arsenal as a centre back. Remember? I also reckon that there’s a good chance Song’s role will change even more next season, particularly if we buy M’Vila.
I appreciate that I don’t have the tiniest bit of experience that Arsene does, and this is not a criticism, but how does playing a central midfielder on the left balance a team when there is an out-and-out winger on the right? Wouldn’t that make the team a bit lopsided, especially if the player on the left kept coming inside?
He’s not talking about balancing right with left. He’s talking about balancing attack with defense. One winger (attacking) is balanced by having a less attacking player (ie Ramsey in this instance) on the other side.
I seem to remember Tony Adams always talking about how you couldn’t play Ljungberg and Pires away from home in big games – he felt you needed Parlour or someone like that who would provide defensive balance.
The Ramsey idea is a similar thing.
In my opinion it’s less to do with putting in defensive shifts (although Gervinho and AOC can’t track back that well compared to Benayoun for example), the common pattern is always the left midfielder drifting in and helping ball retention in the middle of the park. Benayoun often moved into the space between the lines, while I’ve never really realised anything profound watching Ramsey play left (because I don’t notice), but having a 4-man midfield is a bit beneficial for possession isn’t it? Some will point that play is stretched when Walcott’s on the right and playing well, so putting… Read more »
Many people talk complete nonsense when it comes to this squad, and especially Aaron Ramsey, me included. I said I didnt see the benefit of playing him on the left of midfield, but in this article Wenger has it spot on. We forget these players are still pretty young and still developing. That development will be substantially greater with an underatanding of what is required in all positions across midfield now just his own.
I must say that Wenger runs a risk doing this in EPL games though, cant Ramsey learn this in training lol
Benayoun’s role in that position is pretty much a personally-altered model of what Arsene wants from Ramsey in that position. Both have different tendencies on the pitch, with Rafa Benitez hailing Benayoun for his between-the-lines positioning (and this has held true for a while now) while Ramsey looks more like a workhorse to me (for now).
Would be a better idea to compare the formations using the team where Benayoun is playing, as we can see that Ramsey is more frequently dropped for Benayoun after Arsene saw his effectiveness there.
At least he’s getting into good scoring positions, and as the boss said, once he relaxes a bit more and gains more composure, he’ll start banging it in.
People need to layoff Ramsey. Criticism is okay but when abuse starts to show, then that’s going to far. I’m sure other have mentioned already but he’s 21 & it’s his 1st season back from a horrific leg break and I’m certain that if he didn’t have such a long injury layoff he would have been on a higher level than he is now. What happened to the support for Ramsey? You know the “One Aaron Ramsey” that people would say during his injury lay off? We need to, collectively, get back to that support & Ramsey cause it’s what… Read more »
I don’t like Ramsey or rate him. His work ethic is poor and he’s got no bottle. Very good technically, but that’s not enough in the Premier League. He should go out on loan.
You’d question his workrate, really? He’s always got energy, always wants the ball. Granted he doesn’t always do what he should with it but I don’t think you can question his attitude or ‘bottle’.
There’s a reason why Wenger sold off Eduardo soon after his horrific injury but has still kept Ramsey. He just needs a bit of time. Arsene knows.
His work rate? Are you f*cking mad, mate? Ever check those stats for the CL games? Ramsey is ALWAYS the midfielder in our team that runs the most, by far. The guy has got a fantastic engine. Things might not be coming off for him, but calling him lazy, which is what you are doing by calling his work ethic poor, is pure and utter bull.
sounds like you got it the other wat round. he likes running thats for sure,,effective or not , that up for debate. Technically, he’s no rosicsky (not yet at least).
Nonono, Ramsey is ALL work rate, but not much else.
It is indeed very strange that the same guy who had the full weight of public support during his injury lay-off now polarises opinion. We footy fans are an impatient (or forgetful) bunch. I for one have no doubt that he´ll make the grade with us, he´s shown both quality and composure prior to his injury and guts and determination to get back where he is now. True, he´s been more miss than hit this year, but with the niggle he picked up a couple of months ago, he appears to have returned to the team refreshed and ready to… Read more »
there are three types of critics 1.the ones say his finishing sucks ,he slows the the play ,he lacks in decision making etc etc , You know the kind that get specific on the part of his game that lacks . Those are the good kind 2.The ones that say he is Rubbish,shit,sucks etc etc , the ones that just say some stuff and no need for explanation. 3.The ones that write him off . I personally hate this kind , they lack patience , they smell of plastic ,they are the transfer market gooners . they’d say shit like… Read more »
1. fans
2. cunts
3. le-grove cunts
WRT the third type, you’re being very selective here. Gibbs has a truly wretched injury record and its not entirely unreasonable to suggest we may be better off with a LB who isn’t injury prone. IMO Gibbs shouldn’t be sold, but to say that logic says we MUST keep Gibbs is going too far. There is a reasonable argument to selling him. We sell players every season. The overwhelming majority of players at any club are sold at some point or the other. We sold JET, and according to Wenger JET had all the ability in the world, but didn’t… Read more »
Aaand above me, you will see a cunt.
It has been said many times on this blog but I will say it again. Ramsey is a good player. He is required to pick out that very complex pass to unlock the enemy in his attacking midfield role. Sometimes the end product is not there but he is doing something that is very very difficult to do so we should give hime some lattitude. I respect Wenger a lot but with Rambo on the left we lose our balance. What is wrong with bringing Ramsey on at 65 minutes to “develop”? How can Wenger be developing Ramsey when there… Read more »
2-3 years before Ramsey really recognizes his potential. I think this season with the re-emergence of Rosicky and Arteta being added is a very good thing because it will push Ramsey more. He’ll be more worried about losing his spot in the squad and it will make him a better player. I think all the calls for him to loaned out are fairly unrealistic. How do you take a player who’s been a starter 2/3 of the season and then loan him out the next? To me that’s like saying you don’t believe in him and you want to sell… Read more »
I mean, he pretty much HAS lost his spot. And I do think it’s good, because if he wants more playing time in HIS real position, he’d better step up. I want him to regain confidence, because I do believe in him, but sometimes feel he’d regain confidence quicker on loan at a club w/ less pressure to perform.
Big clubs will want Ramsey on loan and we will miss a good back up to Rosicky..oh and Rosicky won’t have competition
Tonight’s game is an ideal opportunity to rotate Ramsey again…this time to the bench.
I want to see the Forehead start.
Sigh. 100% agreement again with FG again. I am beginning to think someone has hacked FatGooners account.
Literally anyone with an internet connection can type “Fatgooner” in the “name” row.
So it could actually be someone else 😛
BTW I think Wenger implied that Zhervinyu isn’t fit enough to start.
That makes sense. I thought I was losing my mind. 🙂
The real FG will soon return and it will be business as usual.
Ramsey reminds me of pre Tottenham Walcott, a lot of talent but had issues with pressure. I think Ramsey’s form has been poor all season but he’ll get there. Potentially he could be great. Its just confidence. Like Theo.
What does strike me as odd though is how people are quick to right Theo off but more than eager to wrap Ramsey in cotton wool, apart from the media but who gives a fuck what they think?!
all people put thumbdowns on ramsey’s critics. i believe it would have been thumbups if we weren’t in top 4. ppl would just shite-ing on him.
you are totally right , if we were shit ,he would have been shit
O What could have been if Fabregas stayed.
O What could have been if Diaby and Wilshere were fit.
O What could have been if we had bought Ronaldo (CUNT).
O What could have been if Szczesny was number 1 for the past three seasons.
O What could have been……………….
We’re third, Ramsey played a big part in that. Any Gunner who says they wouldn’t take a top 4 (never mind third) trophyless season after the summer from hell is a plastic cunt.
Okay, to say that Ramsey played a “big part” in us being third is going too far.
TBH I would have preferred Ronaldinho over Ronaldo, he had more talent and Wenger would have turned him into a monk ^_^
very unoriginal name and too much text speak here
I know arteta has been good for the team,but I would like to see Ramsey take his place next season for a long term answer.
Are you mental???
I’d prefer Ibrahmovic and C. Ronaldo, why Wenger WHYYY anyways enough about that! Have faith in all our gooners!