When it comes to Arsenal, nothing divides fan opinion like.. any topic. Just pick a topic. Any topic. Fans will be divided. But if you really want to get some people going, you should just say “I like Aaron Ramsey and I’m sad to see him go.”
Bayern Munich are reportedly set to sign Ramsey and I know exactly why: he’s the replacement for Muller. Since 2016, Muller’s performances have sucked. So, Ramsey will come in and provide that same energy and goal-scoring that Muller did during his tenure as Raumdeuter.
There’s quite a prose-laced column penned by Barnay Ronay on Muller back in 2013 when the “Space sniffer” was at his peak. It contains this gem of a paragraph: “What a player Müller is, albeit one with a distinctly slow-burn appeal, the kind of love-at-fourth-sight merchant it is necessary to watch a few times just to get some sense of, well … exactly what he’s doing out there. It is useful to remember that Bayern’s inside-outside forward is now credited with having a specific personal superpower. Not quite a playmaker, some way short of a striker, and blessed with no extreme qualities of power or technique, Müller is instead the world’s first Raumdeuter, which is German for “space investigator”.”
You could replace “Muller” with “Ramsey” in that article and not miss a single point: sullenly unliked, often misunderstood, no discernable super power, and yet somehow the player who scores miracle goals.
But Arsenal supporters have had players like that before and still stood behind them. Olivier Giroud is still beloved by most Arsenal fans, despite a rather tepid goal-scoring record, and despite the fact that he was chronically incapable of making a regular 10ft pass or to receive the ball and turn his man. For some players we fans accept their faults and praise their abilities. For other players it seems like it’s never enough.
Ramsey is an especially peculiar player because he defies my theory that fans are basically a results-driven lot. Winning elevates a player’s stature. Both literally and figuratively. If Arsenal had a younger Robert Pires on this team today, a guy who basically didn’t play any defense and turned the ball over a lot, there would be podcast after podcast dedicated to why he’s “crap”.
Ramsey also scored big goals in big games, which is yet another reality-distorting fact, and is yet another fact about Ramsey which many people seem comfortable disregarding. He scored the winning goal in an FA Cup final. Excuse me, he scored TWO winning goals in TWO FA Cup finals. He’s also scored a backheel goal against Tottenham, that scorpion kick goal against CSKA, and what will probably be goal of the season this year against Fulham.
I think what happened with Ramsey is that people wanted more. They wanted him to “nail down a position”, to play more conservatively and be less “hollywood”, but also to be more creative, and tackle more, dribble better, track back more, and be a better distributor. All of that while also not losing the goal-scoring and his tireless running.
I also think a lot of people blame Arsene Wenger for Ramsey’s development (or lack of). We saw him in the 2013/14 season where he scored 10, assisted 8, averaged 3.3 tackles per game, was making long passes, through balls, and even dribbling the ball and wanted him to “kick on”. We wanted him to be that guy, that more easily defined central midfielder, but it never happened. He went on to be something less well defined, playing wide sometimes, sometimes deployed up top, almost a misfit in the club, like Thomas Muller was for a long time. Maybe that’s Wenger’s fault or maybe that’s just the type of player Ramsey is.
Regardless of what we all wanted from him, he’s moving on. He’s leaving us with two FA Cup winning goals among his 60 (so far) and a bunch of memories of stunning goals. I wish him the best of luck. Except when we have to play against each other.
Sadly for his haters I think he will be good at Bayern. They are a more disciplined team (tactically) and he will slot in nicely as a replacement for Muller. Fans often wonder what Ramsey does, the same question people asked of Muller. What Muller does (what he used to do) is score goals and win trophies.
Is fan opinion of Ramsey really so divided? My (purely subjective) experience is that almost every article and comment I’ve read on the subject shows similar sentiment to the one expressed in your opening paragraph. I agree that there’s a common element of disappointment that he seems to have under-performed in some way, but almost everyone says they will be sad to see him go. After showing so much promise early, then clawing his way back to form from his horrific injury, my disappointment has never been aimed at the player but at the perceived potential stolen away by a crass thug in a red-striped shirt. Given how Eduardo became a pale shadow of the player he was before his knobbling, I have nothing but respect for Ramsey’s production for us over the years. I wish him nothing but the best.
Three game suspension? You’re havin’ a laugh.
I think fans lost interest to fight over Ramsey being good/bad that they will instead choose to pick your narrative of Torriera from last few posts and discuss 😀
Not Torreira (everybody loves Torreira), but Xhaka is the new Ramsey. Just like people that dislike Ramsey cannot really pinpoint what is the problem they see, people who like Xhaka cannot really explain why.
(Yes, I obviously like Ramsey and, well, would like Xhaka somehow to improve)
Oh, I can and do tell people exactly why I dislike Xhaka.
…and i can tell you exactly why i won’t be sad to see ramsey leave.
me too 🙂
among many, MANY, reasons I can (and have, in comments sections past) given:
he doesn’t (and/or can’t) consistently play on the half turn. so he slows down attacks by taking 3 touches to receive the ball and get his feet adjusted, when one will do, and then often just plays the ball backwards or sideways rather than transitioning us upfield by breaking a defensive line that’s crying out to be broken. (Nothing wrong with playing backwards and sideways if/when nothing better’s on, of course; just do it quickly and with purpose, not after looking upfield and pirouetting three times!) Alternatively, (ironically) he does the exact opposite: forcing a one-touch pass (usually some sort of ill-advised and low percentage flick) when keeping possession and moving the ball on crisply and efficiently is called for.
should I keep going?
I think he was part of a midfield that badly misfunctioned. I think playing alongside Xhaka hurt his reputation, because he was supposed to be his foil and wasn’t interested/able to. And I think he never scored enough goals to truly justify his reputation as being an attacking midfielder.
I would love to see him go to Bayern at this point, and I would love to see him do well. I don’t think fans would miss him even if he went. He’s been with us for a long time, and it’s very clear what he brings. I think there’s an understanding that we need a different skillset in this current set up (whatever this current set up is).
Actually, I’m kind of surprised by those Bayern rumors. They already have box-to-box players with Goretzka and Tolisso. The bigger priority for Bayern is to sign forwards and defenders. Robben and Ribery are past their prime, Lewandowski is 30, Wagner is 31, Rafinha is 33, and there are question marks over Boateng and Hummels after their poor performances at the World Cup.
He’s free.
And he’s not a box to box player anymore. That’s the biggest source of disconnect I see about Ramsey. People still think of him in that peak season iteration of him (when they are predisposed to think well of him) as opposed to the very Muller-ish inside forward and #10 positions he’s favored for club and country for the past 2-3 years. Problem is I don’t think he’s particularly good in that position except against mediocre teams because he can’t finish his chances often enough.
Der Bundesliga is replete with mediocrity. I suspect he’ll be very good.
Plus, they only play 34 matches, they have a winter break, and they have a super deep squad. I bet his injuries go away and he gets a lot of games.
I agree, I think he’ll do well against that opposition. Until he has to perform in the CL. Muller had similar issues didn’t he? He just fell off a cliff in terms of goals after 2016.
Muller was great in all competitions up until 2015. After that he’s been extraordinarily poor. In fact, I think he was Germany’s problem in the last tournament
This I agree. For godsake teens are shining like superstars in that league.
I’m a huge fan of Aaron Ramsey, the Man. His love for rhinos and penguins is laudable and man-crush worthy. I’m also a huge fan of the footballer he could’ve been had he remained a CM instead of his rebirth into the Welsh Muller. I can blame his successful Euro 2016 with the Welsh NT for that, perhaps, since I think that’s what sold him on the idea that this was his future. Then, I do think Wenger indulged him. I think it works but only against mediocre to bad opposition. His goal scoring record remains stellar in Europe where he feasts on teams like Ludacrisgorets and Galaxyquestsaray. Take a few steps up and teams know about him and know where he wants to receive the ball, and then it doesn’t work; he hardly gets a sniff of goal when he’s not taking the ball off of one of his own team mates (he does this a lot!). Even when it does work and he gets open like he did against Wolves the other day, he misses too many chances (10% conversion rate). From a pure footballing point of view, I’m glad he’s moving on as this version of him. If he were to re-invent himself as a CM once again, I would be open to a new contract for him. I suspect this is big part of the breakdown between him and the club. He is not a forward but wants to be paid like one.
Still, I will always remember him fondly. As Tim says, his FA cup goals alone are indelible and deserve celebration. He also seems like a genuinely nice bloke and I’ve enjoyed seeing a lot of his football down the years. If he does go to Bayern it’ll be a good solution for all involved. I wish him well.
Bai Blagoi, I have spoken extensively, exhaustively about what my reservations about Xhaka are. It think it can be summed up as his being slow to read danger, and a beat behind the play. He’s not the first Arsenal midfielder to be slow of foot… his problem is that he’s slow of foot and slow of head. This isn’t anything to do with whether he’s bright — he’s clearly a man of above average intelligence for a footballer, and a man who possesses a hinterland.
All that said, he was one of the outstanding players on the field against Liverpool, and had 2 good games prior to that at left back. And therein lies the rub in football chat… they can be very all-or-nothing. So X never has a bad game (there’s always some BS rationalisation of what we can see for ourselves), and Y never has a good game.
On Ramsey, he’s the Helen of Arsenal players… the face that launched a thousand pub analyses, some of which have predictably appeared here.
Ramsey was Arsenal’s most effective player offensively last year, and the club’s most effective all-round player, on O and D. Sorry if it doesn’t fit the narrative. Stats sez, bruv. His skillset (a goalscoring B2B of above average goalscoring proficiency) isn’t replicated anywhere else in the squad, and it’ll be a significant loss. It doesn’t matter that he’s not part of Emery’s first choice XI… modern football is a squad game. There are some very good players who didn’t make Pep’s first XI, who are being rotation managed now. And, you know, Christmas is coming.
If Arsenal wants to shake its small club mentality it’s got to have very good players struggling to break into the XI, and Ramsey and Auba (who is unable to displace Lacazette and gets shunted out to the left), are good players.
Clearly Gazidis’ departure signals a degree of boardroom dysfunction, to first offer, then pull a contract — an act of searing cynicism and unprofessionalism. A properly run club would be getting 35 -40m for such an asset, having decided collectively in JANUARY that he is going to be put on the market in April if he doesn’t sign by then. Under those circumstances, I can’t applaud what the club did, especially as it allowed a net spend of 50m last window.
Still, it is what it is. One of the premier league’s best midfielders is leaving Arsenal for nothing. Bayern look a good fit. Competition for places should keep him fresh, and freer of recurring injury than he has been at Arsenal. Surprised it looks like Bayern, because they already have Goretzka, very similar though not as productive in bother their favoured roles.
(This post is misplaced, and was meant to go after Tim’s one word answer).
“Ramsey was Arsenal’s most effective player offensively last year, and the club’s most effective all-round player, on O and D. Sorry if it doesn’t fit the narrative. Stats sez, bruv. His skillset (a goalscoring B2B of above average goalscoring proficiency) isn’t replicated anywhere else in the squad, and it’ll be a significant loss. ”
What stats have you found that say any of this? I’ll wait.
The best British box-to-box guy in recent times was probably Frank Lampard and Ramsey will never be another Lamps, no matter how hard he tries. Or even a Stevie G.
He should try being more of an Aaron Ramsey from his one glorious season. I’ll have always have time for him though.
I agree, I think Lampard was slightly ahead of Stevie G because while Gerrard was more “spectacular” in defense and attack, Lampard was absolutely metronomic in possession in a way very few British players were at that time. He was very difficult to press in defensive areas, always able to turn out of trouble and start attacks like a cerebral deep-lying playmaker.
Ramsey’s injuries probably stopped him reaching the level of those guys. After years of standing up for him he finally broke me with his tactical deficiencies during the 2nd half of the season. I don’t think being Player of the Season in one of Arsenal’s worst recent seasons was much of a compliment.
Arsenal messed this up but came to the right decision in the end. There’s still too many Wenger-era players in Emery’s squad for my liking, and I subscribe to Clive from the Arsenal Vision podcast’s theory of what we should have done during the summer: “blow it up”.
So yeah, let him move on, and keep space open in the squad for younger players who deserve the same chances young Ramsey was given.
Is this deja vu or has Tim done a past article with the premise that Aaron Ramsey would be great in a disciplined team and even gave the example of Bayern Munich?
YES.
Ramsey as Muller replacement is interesting. Like Claude, initially I thought of Goretzka. Maybe it’s both? Ramsey is versatile, and he’s better at scoring than Goretzka is.
Apart from the whole way this went down, I am torn about this because it is a good move for Ramsey, but Bayern have shown themselves to be obnoxious recently, and I don’t want a stand up guy like Ramsey to go there.