Aaron Ramsey is desperate to fulfil his potential at Arsenal after admitting his horrific leg break and the death of Welsh national team coach Gary Speed left him both physically and mentally drained.
The 21-year-old, who scored his first goal of the season with a deft dink against Olympiakos, featured regularly last season across the midfield but struggled to find the necessary consistency to hold down a regular starting berth.
Citing both fitness and off-field problems for his unpredictable form, the Welshman made clear that he has high hopes for the season ahead, despite competition in the midfield being as strong as ever.
“I had a really bad injury and it takes a while to get back to your best,” he told the Evening Standard after last night’s 3-1 win.
“I’m feeling good and confident again, getting back to my old self, which got me here in the first place. Hopefully now this will kick me on again and I’ll keep on improving throughout the season.
“I spoke to a number of people who’ve had similar injuries who reassured me through it all. I listened, I was patient. I didn’t want to rush back, I wanted to make sure everything was correct.
“I’d been out for nine months and your body takes a lot longer than you think to get used to that. You take longer to do things on the pitch that usually come naturally, which is how I felt during the second half of last season. Prior to the injury, I’d been running around every day since I was a kid. Hopefully now, I can have a good season.”
Given he has had to cope with the death of the man who made him captain of his country, it’s obvious that Ramsey has had much to come to terms with in the last year. Hinting at the tough journey he has undertaken, he continued:
“A lot happened last year for me and it’s always difficult to overcome things like that in life. There were loads of things going on off the pitch as well. I’m feeling good now, I’m feeling happy and hopefully that’s showing in my performances.
“I grew up a lot while I was recovering from the injury. It makes you stronger and it’s about getting over the mental side of it. As soon as you get through that, the confidence comes back and it’s a thing of the past.”
One thing Aaron Ramsey won’t have to worry about is playing along side Ryan Shawcross for Wales. The Stoke clogger has been called up by Roy Hodgson for England’s upcoming World Cup qualification matches with San Marino and Poland meaning he’ll now be ineligible for the principality despite Chris Coleman’s eagerness.
The downside of this scenario is that Kieran Gibbs, Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (all included) will be forced to share training sessions with Shawcross as he prepares to kill San Marinese butchers, bakers and candlestick makers.
I’m sorry if I doubt you last season, Rambo. You really are a quality midfielder.
*mindless angry booing*
I’m not sure it was about doubt so much as the frustration that Ramsey was forced to play through indifferent form simply because the club hadn’t bothered to adequately reinforce our midfield after the departures of Fabregas and Nasri, and the pre-season injury to Wilshere. With more depth in midfield, Ramsey would have been spared having to come under intense scrutiny during a highly vulnerable year for him. Poor management, in my opinion, but we’ve seen it before. It was the reason Denilson was crucified–not through any fault of his own, but rather because instead of replacing at least one… Read more »
I wouldn’t let Denilson off that lightly. For one thing Ramsey has always tried his heart out… whereas Denilson was happy just to jog back while opposition counter-attacked.
I feel Rambo was definitley missing fabregas last year. He was not used to having the pressure of being the creative hub of the team which is fair enough, and it just so happened that Tomas Rosicky became fit and on fire and ramsey struggled after that. Also i think he got named welsh captain way too early, as i dont believe the captain of any country should be anything less than a guaranteed starter for their club team. Which ramsey is not. I think having a plethora of creative players now in the team might just bring out the… Read more »
The “Denilson jogged back” meme is tired. Seriously. Give it up. Many of our players do the exact same thing every game and don’t get crucified for it. Vermaelen does it. Song did it often. Wilshere’s done it. And I’ve even seen Arteta “jogging” while a goal’s been scored. In short, do you even know what you’re talking about? Or is it in fact a matter of course that central midfielders sometimes “jog” back because they’re waiting for a turnover, despite how “defensive” they’re supposed to be?
I love this forum. It works like this: Make brainless cheer for flavor of the week and receive +1s out your arse, or mention or perhaps even just allude to ways in which the club has fallen short in any area, and receive -1s.
The internet kills critical thinking.
Bunbury, if you were happy watching Denilson jog back, that’s fine. I just mentioned it because I observed it several times at crucial moments when Denilson was very close to making an important intervention if he’d just sprinted… instead of watching players surge past him. ‘Give it up’ indeed.
(And I didn’t thumbs down you).
Increasingly, it seems as though the Anti-Ramsey brigade is moving on to Giroud. Bloody hell, just get behind the team already!
Correction, the ANTI-Gervinho brigade is now moving on to Giroud. When Giroud starts banging them in for fun they will move on to the next poor bastard….
It’s like the epidemic among the Arsenal fanbase. We must hate one player whilst loving another.
Love Wilshere and hate Ramsey.
Love Ox and hate Theo.
Love Szcz and hate Fab/Vito
Love Gibbs and hate Sa….oh wait you can’t hate Santos. It’s physically impossible to hate that guy.
Oh btw I don’t advocate hating any player. Support everyone wearing the crest you cunts
Got to agree with the Clock’s two posts. Every player for EVERY team has frustrating games/patches, but for our own fans to completely rip the bollocks out of the current panto villain has never made any sense.
Ramsey, Giroud et al will hopefully come through and show their quality just as Titi, Kos and countless others have done in the past
It’s okay to hate players as long as they’re not donning our shirt, like van stapleton.
everyone has frustrating patches, but Theo’s are consistent
Why do people add “already” to the end of sentences, already has absolutely no context at the end of that sentence.
@tomj will you stop being a dickhead already, sounds right to me
I think he has realised his mistake already……
Why don’t you just shut up already.
3. Informal . (used as an intensifier to express exasperation or impatience): Let’s go already!
-Dictionary.com
Talented players with a strong work ethic will always come back, plus with the patience of Arsene, surely the pre-injury form Rambo will come back 100%.
The Faith is growing
Shoutout to Eduardo 🙁
as wenger said so often: young players like ramsey can overcome such an injury and get back to their best, but eduardo was still what 27? 28? sadly he never found his old form again.
He’s still only 21. People tend to forget that. And what a great finish yesterday. One of many, I hope…
That’s what I was going to say, the one thing that stood out to me in the article is he’s only 21. The crap that some people came out with last season was idiotic. Players don’t seem to be allowed to lose form anymore, they are either crap or world beaters. A prime example of this attitude is Sky’s Sunday Supplement. Last Sunday they announced Liverpool were back and Suarez has learnt to finish after his hat trick in a 5-2 win at Norwich, that was one game! These knee jerk opinions make the opinionator (??) look stupid, give it… Read more »
I remember some asshole commenting here last year that Ramsey was ‘delusional’. Made very little sense in the context of whatever article it was, was highly stupid and really sums up that poisonous element of the fanbase.
People who enjoy tearing into our own players should be ashamed, but almost certainly never are. The cretins.
Ramsey is our future! He is so good that I don’t know why we cried for Fabregas? He will play for Dyanom Kiev one day!
Lads off subject I know but does anyone have a link I can watch the next gen series on today or something like a live update blog that I can follow the match on ? would be much appreciated.
So, who is dying today ? 😀
You
No, it’s now you.
Any deaths yet?
Someone check John Terry’s pulse
Please don’t, let the cunt die.
We’re only checking his pulse in the hopes we can call him in.
Poor Lennie must be heartbroken that Ramsey is refering to the “accident” again…
Only 21 feck…
I love Ramsey *no homo*..he has earned my love
When you say ‘no homo’ it usually implies that you’re trying to deny something….
This is an imposter, not the real FG.
Denial is the first stage of grief.
The last is acceptance.
Rambo was seen as a bit of a scapegoat last season. He was frustrating quite often but he always lacked confidence and I was appalled at some of the abuse thrown at him from the stands. We have a team full of young and talented players, I don’t understand why some fans feel it helpful to constantly berate them when they’re not playing really well. It only hinders their progress. As fans we should be supporting all these players and helping them get on, look at what Jenkinson has done with a bit of confidence and support.
Ramsey is so good. He will be our new Fabregas! And he is even better cos he can play every position in the team. Greatest talent that we have.
Shhhh. Stupid comment.
Now, when Ramsey is set to lose the Wales captaincy maybe we should vote for him to became Arsenal’s captain!
They don’t call him rambo for no reason
Even Arteta calls him Rambo:-) from the tunnel-cam in the shittygame..
What?!? only 21, gets too much stick…. hope the haters wont come after wilshere and frimpong, when they return from long injury lay offs
Keeping the Faith
He has impressed coming off the bench this season. Has played with some drive unlike last season. Needs to work on his decision making though
I just hope Jack’s recovery back to peak form doesn’t take him as long.
We don’t need Jack or Rosicky, we have Ramsey! Everybody are so jealous that we have him!
Still needs to show more defensive responsibility but the end product going forward is a welcome improvement.
Much deaths on his hands just at 21. Long live Rambo!
Really glad to see him get that goal last night, and what a cracker it was, especially as his finishing last season was abysmal… looks like he definitely been putting the hours in at London Colney. I also think its about time we Start Giroud… last few games he has come on in last 10 mins, he gets several chances, lets give him a run of 1 or2 games to see what he can do! I am all for Gervinho playing up front, but watching him is like watching me play fifa… he runs at players, fumbles over the ball,… Read more »
“A run of 1 or 2 games” = oxymoron
moron !!!
Good lad, we love you Rambo. He’s a great player and a real prospect for the future. Loved his strength for the goal, he just shrugged the defender off of him and dinked it over the keeper. Him and Jack in midfield will be good to see. I think LEEEERRRRROOOOYYY might be due an England call-up soon too, if he keeps going with his development. He’ll deserve it too, although shawcross being put into the England team has made me despise the team again. What a fuckety cunty troll that shawcross is, I really hope he snaps both his tibias… Read more »
Nooo, if Gervinho is our CF now, maybe Ramsey can repeat Henry one day!
Rambo has always been,& will always be a quality player. i remember how well he was playing b4 his “accident”
I hope he gains confidence from his performance this season and grow into the type of player we’ve always believed him to be
also hope we grab all 3 point from that cunt fat walrus and his team
People forget just how good was before being Shawcrossed. He needed last year to recover. He has gained an extra yard of pace and looks like the old Rambo. He is an all action dynamic midfielder and will only get better. Had he not been injured he would be world class right now. I pray that he will continue with his good form and nail down a starting place. Him and Wilshere will run the Arsenal midfield for the next decade.
Ramsey big problem now is his lack of consistency. He can be brilliant one game then total garbage next. At Man City he was excellent; home to Chelsea he was shite.
He deserves maximum respect for what he did yesterday – he came on and scored a classy goal which finally finished off a decent side.
But let’s see what he does against West Ham.
I don’t think he’s inconsistent as people make out to be. Personally I think Ramsey is best on the right wing or in the hole behind the striker, he’s not a box to box midfielder or a defensive one (remember the times when Arteta was injured and how poor he was in that position?), so it’s obvious he struggles in those sorts of positions. When Diaby came off and Ramsey was forced to play in that position he struggled but before that he was giving Ca$hley Cole a hard time. Keep him in his preferred position and you’ll see how… Read more »
Now this here is the real fatgooner. We don’t like him that much.
That last sentence really made me laugh. Cheers.
Gibbo and rambo…..such sweet nicknames.
I love em, i’ve been praising them for the last 4 weeks so I got nothing to add on right now. But I did say I love em right?
Gibbo Rambo Jenko Chambo Jacko Theo… love this! Could make a song with that
It’s just so exciting.
Artetato??
Merto-sacko:-)
How you forget
don vito.
Abou diablo
Now that’s a nickname!
Was on holiday this summer in Marbella where i see ramsey almost every night out he said he was looking forward to a massive season next year he admitted he under performed and couldn’t wait for season to start. I also noticed whilst being away on a lads holiday after his late night out he was back up in the morning training running up and Down the beech doing shuttle runs. I like that shows he cares. I believe he has huge potential last year was a off season for him but we should stick by him as we will… Read more »
He is just 2! Damn you haters and he takes a lot of boos, abuses and still stay calm and committed to playing and improving for the Arsenal!!!!
He is a bladdy LANS already.
2? I know we’re all for letting youngsters have chances in our team, but what the fuck?
i’m disappointed! usually arseblogger is not so careless on that little but important difference: ramsey didn’t suffer a “horrific leg break”. his leg got horrifically broken by some caveman cunt!
Good to have you back Rambo.
Fucking shawcross.
I feel like these cameo appearances give him more confidence, and are proving to be more useful than playing him entire games. When he’s put in sub appearances, he’s looked pretty faultless. His whole-game performances are still shaky.
Where the others are concerned, I have faith in Giroud, think the Ox is good but is overrated (at the moment… like Ramsey, he’s young), think Gervinho has re-found his form (though his decision-making is a bit baffling at times). Also, I dread the African Cup of Nations, whenever it comes up again.
The fat bastard behind me last night at the Stadium moaned all last season about Rambo and even moaned last night before he scored Of course! Just saying….20 yrs old…..broken leg….mentor dies….just saying to abusefully is a disgrace
Shawcross for England, FUCK OFF…..
Roy replace cunt for cunt, fair enough.
Well said. It’s a wise move to promote Shawcross otherwise Cashley will be lonely being the only cunt in the back four.
@Midfield Corporal: Kyle Walker?
And if you are a Manager needing to replace a cunt, Stoke is a good place to start looking.
[…] against Olympiacos on Wednesday, he’ll certainly be a lot more confident. The young Welshman has admitted he found last season very testing and is hoping to get back to his real level asap: I’m feeling good and confident again, getting […]