“The one with my nuts,” replied Aaron Ramsdale when asked which of his saves was the best on a day when Arsenal secured a hard-fought 1-0 win at Elland Road courtesy of the keeper’s bravery, the profligacy of the Leeds attack and a bit of luck.
Patrick Bamford was the man denied on 53 minutes by Ramsdale’s nether regions and the striker never seemed to recover from the setback going on to miss a penalty. Having also had a goal ruled out for a foul, it was not his afternoon.
*Points and laughs*
Ramsdale required lengthy treatment after putting his family jewels on the line but reflected afterwards that it was worth it.
“It took a big effect on me, I’m still feeling a bit sick now,” he told Arsenal.com.
“I’m just thankful I was there today. I’ve been very critical of myself in recent games since the start of the season where goals have gone in and there’s a question to answered the following day. To help the team out today was great.”
By and large, Ramsdale was not impressed by Arsenal’s performance but that didn’t take away from the joy of the victory.
“We’ve set a bar so high standards-wise of how we want to play and we didn’t reach that but the overriding emotion is elation because we got three points and a 1-0 win away from home when we played terribly.”
He added: “We weren’t good enough today in terms of keeping the ball and the way we want to play, but as a whole, as a collective, we were outstanding defensively. A 1-0 win away from home at Leeds is a really tough ask and we’ve done that.
“Of course, we want to win 3-0 each week, passing the ball but we found a way to win today and that’s the most important thing.
“I was shanking balls left, right and centre. Bukayo got a goal but we couldn’t get him into the game. We were losing duels and stuff but like I say, from back to front, the whole game, we were outstanding defensively.”
It was a strange afternoon in the North West. While the game kicked off as scheduled, within two minutes the officials realised they couldn’t communicate with each other and the match was paused. It took 37 minutes to resolve a power cut.
Ramsdale thinks the circumstances played a part in his side’s struggles.
“Yeah, it affected us a lot more. We’ve started games really, really well recently, I think since the start of the season. That momentum broke and they started better and we struggled but we hung in there. Again, it wasn’t great on the eye, we defended well, got a goal.
“In the second half, it was backs against the wall, couldn’t really get out, we tried to play out, got caught, went long, were winning first but not second balls.
“As I said, to a man, all those who came on, defenders, midfielders, we found a way to win as a collective and that’s the most pleasing thing today.”
The Ramsicles
🤭
Come On You Gonads!!
Thank fk for VAR. Although the fact the ref and a linesman can conspire to send someone off and give a penalty, when a prik just barges you over is beyond anything I’ve seen in 20 years.
VAR should have ruled out the missed penalty for offside. Not sure how it was missed 🤷🏻♂️
It couldn’t. VAR can only check for an earlier offside if the play results in a goal. Hopefully that’s changed next season to also allow a check on plays that end in penalties.
Why don’t they take a leaf out of rugby’s book and just ask the VAR chumps “on field decision is a penalty, any reason why I should not award the penalty” and the whole preceding sequence can be checked
Very dull when the whole match is stopped for minutes while VAR checks and checks again. Doesn’t help rugby imo.
The big difference in rugby is while it takes too long, because its all open (the ref’s mile is broadcast to TV and the crowd), everyone known what is happening.
If they’ve awarded a penalty…hasn’t the game stopped?
The fact the assistant didn’t flag for it in the first place is ridiculous considering he was bang in line.
Anyway, would have been hilarious if Bamford scored the pen and VAR scrubbed it off as the VAR ref deemed the offside effectively became part of the play that technically resulted in a goal.
Afraid this isn’t correct. The categories of decision/incident which may be reviewed in the event of a potential ‘clear and obvious error’ or ‘serious missed incident’ are: b. Penalty kick/no penalty kick attacking team offence in the build-up to the penalty incident (handball, foul, offside etc.) ball out of play prior to the incident location of offence (inside or outside the penalty area) penalty kick incorrectly awarded penalty kick offence not penalised https://www.theifab.com/laws/latest/video-assistant-referee-var-protocol/#reviewable-match-changing-decisions-incidents In this case, I believe it was a phase of play based decision meaning it wasn’t considered to be ‘in the build-up’ or was completely missed in… Read more »
Really???..STRRRANGE….but off course that is only if one consider 85 to 95% of penalties ended up as goals.
On that note I feel shocked/ sad that we have only ever been awarded one “lucky” penalty this whole season so far while Captain Kane seems to be scoring a ‘fully deserving’ penalty every other week and in almost every seasons against us.
STRANGE…
Yup.. I just can’t believe for real the Assistant Ref right on the pitch side cant see what was actually happening. What was quite clear in real time to me was a deliberate barge by Bamford..he saw as a block by Gabriel. Despite what i have read in the media do far, for me thats the only explaination for the penalty decision because the kick out only happened after the ball was already safe in Ramsdale hand. While its true you can arguably send sum1 off for such an offence, it would seem illogical to me for the Ref to… Read more »
Pedantry but I wouldn’t describe Leeds as North West. It’s dead centre pretty much. Just North.
You won! An inspiration to pedants across the world!
North of Watford. Flat caps, cobblestones, whippets, Hovis bread, dripping, Mad Fer It, Gary Barlow, The Stone Roses, the Gallagher brothers and Gary Neville.
No Thanks.
🎵🎵“North London Forever, whatever the weather, these streets are our own….”🎵🎵
There were some hairy moments today, but Ramsdale gave their strikers a couple of stern testes of his own.
Channelled is inner Seaman
So that’s what they mean when they call him a good ball-playing keeper.
There was a couple of young boys constantly doin the “ tossers “ sign (at Saka’s skills) over in their left corner flag area. It was wonderful theatre from the Leeds fans……and the Dads looked so proud.
Noticed that after he scored. Nothing as sad, as a sad wank
I filmed that and sent it to my WhatsApp group! Hahaha that little blonde bugger. He gave us all a good chuckle
Great tackle to prevent a goal.
My man of the match. Those nuts could be the difference after 38 games. But we really got away with it today. Leeds were on us like a Rash the 2nd half. At one point it felt like we were down by two players. Leeds were winning everything. We won and Man city lost. Wow!!! Need a couple of days to recover from today.
Official match stats
Shots for Leeds: 16
On target: 4
Saves for Ramsdale: 3
Saves for his nuts: 1
The thorough training worked well as he kept going to stop the second and third attempted shot
When I lose a family jewel
(*high voice) I get upset!!
That is putting your entire family at risk.
Please dont play like that every week ffs
I heard the ref had to stop play because there were three balls on the pitch.
I don’t thank VAR. It is still stuffing the game up. The red card was given because Kavanagh knew he could overturn with VAR if it was wrong. That’s not taking responsibility. Leeds goal, sorry to say, should have been allowed, but we now think contact is a foul thanks to VAR. This isn’t netball. I would drop VAR so we can see referees with the confidence to make a decision – not make a guess knowing they can change it 5 minutes later after looking at a screen. The fact we had to wait half an hour because Kavanagh… Read more »
Testesement to how he’s gonad be a legend in Arsenal football spheres !!
.
Nothing to add. Just thought I should make an appearance.
You’d have felt a right one if you didn’t comment.
Even the best teams have games when they play badly but find a way to win. That’s what we did last night!
Gabriel needs to stop that shit right now before he costs us points however Bamford should be fucking ashamed of himself, that was fucking Arjen Robben worthy, the cheating little twat!
Best bit though, City lost!
4 points clear now and Pep spontaneously consisting at Anfield was fucking priceless!
Love this guy. Balls of steel.
On another note I just want to say a big “fuck you” to Garth Crooks who couldn’t resist moaning about the Gabriel red card being rescinded when the topic was Saka’s performance in his team of the week picks. What does Gabriel’s red card have to do with that? Plus notice he says nothing about Bamford’s play-acting.
The petty little Spurs prick just can’t help having a dig at us wherever he can. Someone that overtly biased shouldn’t be working at the BBC.
He’s an insufferable little prick. And yes he can’t stay on topic. Any player summary is one maybe two sentences about the player, followed by two paragraphs of his ranting about something unrelated. No idea why the BBC keeps him around.
I’d say Aaron’s ram’s dull today!
A nuts performance by Ramers. He’s been cohoning those skills all summer.
Had we dropped points at Elland Road and without a midweek PL game for us and City, a win at Old Trafford would have seen the Sp*ds top the league.
That’s a bonus for the ugly win
He speaks very very well ….I’m really impressed….. For me his perspective on this game was very much on point….and he expressed them in the most natural way that it becomes so easy for me to relate to. If before this I have been impressed with his big time personality on the pitch….now I also think we are extremely lucky to have him in our dressing room.