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Aaron Ramsdale

Mar 15, 2007
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I really don’t understand the signing of Aaron Ramsdale. It’s a lot of money for a player who’s going to sit on the bench. Leno is more than capable of being Arsenal No.1 for a few years.

The club stinks. The majority of the players have got a losing mentality. Players like Calum Chambers and Rob Holding genuinely wouldn’t look out of place at a Newcastle or Burnley. Infact I’d argue Tarkowski ( spelling ) is better than both of them.

The forwards are ageing. Lacazette and Aubameyang will both need to be replaced. Pepe cost a ton and hasn’t delivered at all.

You can compare Man United since Fergie left and Arsenal since Wenger left, and the two clubs seem to be going in complete opposite directions.

Fair enough they’ve had a couple of tough games, a few injuries to players you’d expect to start, but the Brentford game just summed Arsenal up. A club that is currently rotten to the core.

Ramsdale isn't going to sit on the bench. Bernd Leno has no interest in extending his contract and will more than likely leave next summer. Ramsdale was bought with a view to being number 1 and if at the age of 23, he goes on to be no.1 for 7/8 years, as you could expect from a keeper, then the fee will prove to be good business. Ramsdale needs to improve in certain aspects, but is England's U21 keeper and has extensive PL experience at a young age for his position. He is a good goalkeeper with potential to be a great one. Rob Holding would walk into Newcastle's team and would be excellent under Sean Dyche. Holding's problem is his ability on the ball, which in an Arsenal team that wants to play out from the back gets exposed quite often. He's very good in the air and doesn't have a losing mentality at all. He's had some massive performances in cup final's for Arsenal. I agree regarding Chambers.

Man United have spent £1billion on transfers since Fergie left 8 years ago. Wenger only left 3 years ago. Arsenal have finished 5th, 8th and 8th since he did. Post-Fergie United finished 7th under Moyes, 5th and 4th under Van Gaal, then 6th, 2nd and 6th under Jose. Only the last two seasons where they have finished 3rd and 2nd have they looked anything close to competing and that's thanks to the £1b transfer fees making it almost impossible for Solskjaer to fail. So at the moment, yes the clubs are going in the opposite direction. But Arsenal are very much in the post-Wenger transition, particularly after Emery's failed appointment, whereas Man United have taken almost 8 years to get to a place where they are rebuilt and are probably a central midfielder (and competent manager) away from being genuine contenders for major trophies.

It was always going to get worse at Arsenal post-Wenger before it got better again. The lack of competent structure off the field and appalling recruitment has been brutally exposed with a rookie manager at the helm. Sven Mislintat was in charge of recruitment... he left. Raul Sanellhi replaced him... he left. Edu is now in charge and he's totally incompetent. The result of this was an unbalanced squad with glaring holes and average players stuck on stupid wages. Arsenal's football, despite being bottom, is the least of their problems at the moment. They weren't far off of a top 4 finish last year, six points, despite having a mid-season run of 9 games without a win. If they had won even two games in that run they'd be in the Champions League. The start to this season has been affected by COVID, with the opening game almost being called off, has been blighted by injury (multiple first teamers unavailable) and compounded by having two difficult fixtures against Chelsea and Man City, who are on a completely different level. They now have a run of Norwich, Burnley and Spurs. Three wins and they're in the top half of the table again after 6 games. The current hysteria is just symbolic of a section of Arsenal fans online (AFTV and associated morons) which drive the negativity around the club. They won't truly compete again until they get things right off the pitch. That might be under Arteta, it might be someone else. We will see. But the squad is starting to look more balance, has lots of younger players with a lot of potential. They now need to develop a proper identity and look to compliment the younger players with some proper leadership.

It's not good at Arsenal right now, but it's not as bad as people are suggesting.

(Yes, i'm also a part time Arsenal fan. I grew up supporting them until I was old enough to go to Argyle with my friends of a Saturday).
 
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Biggs

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Yep that's a decent post. I don't think Arsenal being a bottom half side for the foreseeable future is hysteria though (I don't think you've said that, to be fair). You only need 10 teams out of 20 to be above you in the richest league in the world, for that to happen. So that could feasibly be City, United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs, Leicester, Villa, Leeds, Everton and one other on a long term basis. Could be West Ham, could be Newcastle with some investment, or someone else entirely.

I think Justin is paying the price here for his Matt Macey defence, which WAS biased in my opinion.

Question for Arsenal fans/casual fans... would you rather have just stayed at Highbury knowing what has happened since?
 
Mar 15, 2007
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Yep that's a decent post. I don't think Arsenal being a bottom half side for the foreseeable future is hysteria though (I don't think you've said that, to be fair). You only need 10 teams out of 20 to be above you in the richest league in the world, for that to happen. So that could feasibly be City, United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs, Leicester, Villa, Leeds, Everton and one other on a long term basis. Could be West Ham, could be Newcastle with some investment, or someone else entirely.

I think Justin is paying the price here for his Matt Macey defence, which WAS biased in my opinion.

Question for Arsenal fans/casual fans... would you rather have just stayed at Highbury knowing what has happened since?

Don't think the stadium really matters in a footballing sense. Arsenal were always going to have to move to grow as a football club, just look at Spurs, Everton, Chelsea etc... all now doing the same. The issue for Arsenal was that Stan Kroenke didn't own all of the shares in the club and was reluctant to invest. Since he bought out the remaining shareholders, he has pumped funds into the club (last 2/3 years) which has been spent largely pretty badly. Unfortunately it took so long to purchase those shares that the club just went into a malaise. Despite the lack of investment, Arsenal have had some really great teams since the Invincibles, the teams in 07-08 (Eduardo leg break year) and 08-09 were really quite good and played some exceptional football... they just didn't have the experience to get over the line. The biggest regret will be finishing second to Leicester. They were bang in the race in February and then just capitulated. Closely followed by not re-signing Cesc Fabregas when he moved to Chelsea. That one still hurts a bit.

There also always been a weird narrative regarding Arsenal in the media. For years they were chastised for not winning trophies but aiming to make the top 4 (despite the obvious financial restrictions). Then as soon as they start winning trophies the narrative changed to them not being able to make the top 4. Arsenal fans online are so hysterical, as I touched on above, that they are the ultimate clickbait target. That's why you see so much nonsense in the press, on talksport etc which is mostly false, but it whips up a frenzy and gets the clicks.

Re. Matt Macey. He wasn't as bad as everyone made out. He was part of a collectively bad defensive unit and struggled as a consequence. He was and still is a better keeper than Kyle Letheren. But his loan spell here (after starting really well) ended up being poor, largely confidence related I would suspect, hence the decline as the season progressed.
 

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I think my point was that Highbury was such an iconic and loved ground, and the Emirates was seen as the necessary step forward to be/remain one of Europe’s elite clubs.

If they were just going to be a mid-table side anyway, then I suspect a lot of fans would have preferred to be mid-table at (a somehow slightly expanded) Highbury than mid-table at the relatively soulless Emirates.
 

Emu

Oct 3, 2003
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Re. Matt Macey. He wasn't as bad as everyone made out. He was part of a collectively bad defensive unit and struggled as a consequence. He was and still is a better keeper than Kyle Letheren. But his loan spell here (after starting really well) ended up being poor, largely confidence related I would suspect, hence the decline as the season progressed.
Time is a great healer hey Nobby? ;-)
 
Mar 16, 2009
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Ramsdale isn't going to sit on the bench. Bernd Leno has no interest in extending his contract and will more than likely leave next summer. Ramsdale was bought with a view to being number 1 and if at the age of 23, he goes on to be no.1 for 7/8 years, as you could expect from a keeper, then the fee will prove to be good business. Ramsdale needs to improve in certain aspects, but is England's U21 keeper and has extensive PL experience at a young age for his position. He is a good goalkeeper with potential to be a great one. Rob Holding would walk into Newcastle's team and would be excellent under Sean Dyche. Holding's problem is his ability on the ball, which in an Arsenal team that wants to play out from the back gets exposed quite often. He's very good in the air and doesn't have a losing mentality at all. He's had some massive performances in cup final's for Arsenal. I agree regarding Chambers.

Man United have spent £1billion on transfers since Fergie left 8 years ago. Wenger only left 3 years ago. Arsenal have finished 5th, 8th and 8th since he did. Post-Fergie United finished 7th under Moyes, 5th and 4th under Van Gaal, then 6th, 2nd and 6th under Jose. Only the last two seasons where they have finished 3rd and 2nd have they looked anything close to competing and that's thanks to the £1b transfer fees making it almost impossible for Solskjaer to fail. So at the moment, yes the clubs are going in the opposite direction. But Arsenal are very much in the post-Wenger transition, particularly after Emery's failed appointment, whereas Man United have taken almost 8 years to get to a place where they are rebuilt and are probably a central midfielder (and competent manager) away from being genuine contenders for major trophies.

It was always going to get worse at Arsenal post-Wenger before it got better again. The lack of competent structure off the field and appalling recruitment has been brutally exposed with a rookie manager at the helm. Sven Mislintat was in charge of recruitment... he left. Raul Sanellhi replaced him... he left. Edu is now in charge and he's totally incompetent. The result of this was an unbalanced squad with glaring holes and average players stuck on stupid wages. Arsenal's football, despite being bottom, is the least of their problems at the moment. They weren't far off of a top 4 finish last year, six points, despite having a mid-season run of 9 games without a win. If they had won even two games in that run they'd be in the Champions League. The start to this season has been affected by COVID, with the opening game almost being called off, has been blighted by injury (multiple first teamers unavailable) and compounded by having two difficult fixtures against Chelsea and Man City, who are on a completely different level. They now have a run of Norwich, Burnley and Spurs. Three wins and they're in the top half of the table again after 6 games. The current hysteria is just symbolic of a section of Arsenal fans online (AFTV and associated morons) which drive the negativity around the club. They won't truly compete again until they get things right off the pitch. That might be under Arteta, it might be someone else. We will see. But the squad is starting to look more balance, has lots of younger players with a lot of potential. They now need to develop a proper identity and look to compliment the younger players with some proper leadership.

It's not good at Arsenal right now, but it's not as bad as people are suggesting.

(Yes, i'm also a part time Arsenal fan. I grew up supporting them until I was old enough to go to Argyle with my friends of a Saturday).

Finally, someone who knows what they‘re talking about.
 
Mar 16, 2009
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Anything you'd like to add to this thread now Knibbsworth?

Your incessant goading from a few weeks back is being shown up for what it was - misinformed, gullible and foolish.

Meanwhile, nice to see Ramsdale get his first England start last night.

Many more to come.
 

davie nine

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In fairness, Justin, Ramsdale is beginning to prove himself for Arsenal. As the op, I would just add that Mike Cooper is a very fine keeper who will make a similar impact to Ramsdale over the length of his career. Hopefully, a lot more of it at Argyle.
 

jerryatricjanner

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I don't blame Justin for feeling just a little smug right now. Ramsdale looks like a fine keeper with an exciting future. Arteta is beginning to live up to Guardiola's high opinion of him and Arsenal look nailed on for the top 6 and have a decent chance of making the top 4. They certainly won't be anywhere near the bottom half. I still don't like them but credit where it's due.
 
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davie nine

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Certainly, I am eating humble pie. He has made some fantastic saves in the last few weeks.
He is now a genuine and deserved challenger for Pickford’s position in the England team.
 

Emu

Oct 3, 2003
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Have to admit I had my doubts on Ramsdale, but since he has joined Arsenal he has been nothing short of incredible.

Let's hope one day the same will be said about Michael Cooper. Ramsdale has a real presence in goal. Hopefully that is something Cooper will gain over time.
 

Pogleswoody

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Much eating of Humble Pie on this thread now Ramsdale is doing so well!;):LOL:
TBF a lot of postings on the thread were observations that Cooper looked as good as, or better than, Ramsdale when they were directly up against each other. Ramsdale had talent but has thrived behind Arsenal's defence with Arsenal's coaching and development. Cooper has the potential to be as good as, or better than him. Doesn't make Ramsdale a poor keeper.