EPL - Wigan V Arsenal - 3/12/11 @ 3:00pm

[redwhiteAustrian]

I hear you, his chances against Marseille, Chelsea and Fulham spring to mind where he should have done better with the chances he's got.

Yes, he has to start to finish a couple of them off to get going in that regard. He would've had far more chances to score though, had his teammates spotted his good runs as often as they could have.

What I rate the most when it comes to Ramsey is his work rate which is in huge contrast to Fabs' (as third midfielder) e.g. from last season.

 

[mo50]

The goals will come for Ramsey. He's always finding himself in good positions like rWa says, and he's got an excellent shooting technique. The boy can hit them with power and accuracy.

He also looks a completely different player over the past few weeks. His recent performances is completely the opposite of his game at WHL. He's more energized, doesn't dwell on the ball unnecessarily and seems to have that spring back in his game. You can tell he was completely comfortable in there.

Arteta was also the man. What a monster performance from him. He's so intelligent its unreal. I like how he automatically drops deep when Song goes forward. Last season we'd have all three midfielders clogging up the 18 yard line to try and score. Arteta simply drops back and covers the counter. He was a bargain at 10m.

 

[Floating]

The goals will come for Ramsey. He's always finding himself in good positions like rWa says, and he's got an excellent shooting technique. The boy can hit them with power and accuracy.

He also looks a completely different player over the past few weeks. His recent performances is completely the opposite of his game at WHL. He's more energized, doesn't dwell on the ball unnecessarily and seems to have that spring back in his game. You can tell he was completely comfortable in there.

Arteta was also the man. What a monster performance from him. He's so intelligent its unreal. I like how he automatically drops deep when Song goes forward. Last season we'd have all three midfielders clogging up the 18 yard line to try and score. Arteta simply drops back and covers the counter. He was a bargain at 10m.

Agree with every word.

 

[AFC-Phil]

What I rate the most when it comes to Ramsey is his work rate which is in huge contrast to Fabs' (as third midfielder) e.g. from last season.

This myth pops up again. Cesc always covered the most ground for us, and was good defensively for us, just not in the classic sense of running back 80 yards to make a tackle, but by squeezing the play across the pitch, whilst still getting back in to make up the numbers in our midfield.

Just as I said around the time of the Spuds game, Cesc took over from Flamini from improving his already great work rate, just as Ramsey actually has replaced some of Cesc - By taking over the mantle and getting those hard yards in to compensate for what we've lost.

Last season we'd have all three midfielders clogging up the 18 yard line to try and score. Arteta simply drops back and covers the counter. He was a bargain at 10m.

Agreed.

A good example of what you're talking about was with Song's goal vs Chelsea last year to put us into the lead. Wilshere, Cesc and Song played it amongst themselves just outside the box before Song scored with his left foot past Cech into the far corner. (I think it made the score 1-0 just before we went in for half time)

 

[redwhiteAustrian]

I'm not saying Fabs didn't have any work rate at all, Phil I'm just getting the impression that Ramsey runs more than Fabs did.

EDIT:
Do you have a source for your claims re Fabs covering the most ground in recent seasons?

 

[AFC-Phil]

I'm not saying Fabs didn't have any work rate at all, Phil I'm just getting the impression that Ramsey runs more than Fabs did.

EDIT:
Do you have a source for your claims re Fabs covering the most ground in recent seasons?

I didn't say that you thought Cesc didn't have any work rate, i'm just trying to dispell the myth that he was lazy, or even poor defensively. He was infact the opposite, particularly with his work rate. I've seen it mentioned by Celestis before, so I thought i'd clear it up.

I've seen the stats before, i'll try and dig a few up.

 

[mistaT]

Cesc did cover a lot of ground in his days here, but I think its fair to say that Ramsey's defensive contribution, albeit aided by our current 3 CM's, would typically outweigh Cesc's.

Truthfully, I found a lot of Cesc's defending casual and uncommitted.

Regarding the goals for Ramsey - its odd, but I have more confidence in him scoring from just on the edge of the 18 than I do in the box.

If he can find some goals he'll be quite the player.

 

[kofigunner]

Ramsey appears to cover more ground but that's it 'Appears'. A fit Cesc used to cover a tremendous amount of ground too. The reason why we look more compact defensively I guess is because we are more coordinated with players picking their spots better in midfield and Theo and Gervinho actually track back(by varying degrees mind you) and scare defenders so much that they are reluctant to bomb forward. That's why when you drop either Theo or Gerv for Shava, suddenly we look different even when all the other players remain the same. Ramsey's good but he has to improve his passing to get to the next level. By improve, it's not so much that he can't pick a pass as he has to get to that level of not dwelling on the ball before releasing the pass. That's the huge advantage Jack Wilshere has over him. Not everybody can be a Cesc but when you've got a killer CF and some speedy attacking forwards, a second can mean be the huge difference between a real chance and an interception.

 

[Tourbillion]

Good post, kofigunner. Ramsey has the brain, just not sure his technique is completely up there yet. He needs to get the ball into position more quickly. Love the guy, though.

 

[mavelous]

Guess now i know why we didn't sign Parker. Arteta is pretty all that Parker is, plus offensive contribution and better hair

 

[Tourbillion]

Never underestimate a Spaniard's ability to dictate the tempo.

 

[AFC-Phil]

Personally, i'd still have him here to sit beside Arteta and Wilshere but that's obviously not going to happen. Parker has been fantastic for Spuds, and there's no denying that IMO.

 

[RUS arsenal]

Personally, i'd still have him here to sit beside Arteta and Wilshere but that's obviously not going to happen. Parker has been fantastic for Spuds, and there's no denying that IMO.

I'd take Song over Parker any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

 

[mavelous]

something tells me we'll be seeing wilshere and arteta quite a bit as a holding duo.

 

[AFC-Phil]

Personally, i'd still have him here to sit beside Arteta and Wilshere but that's obviously not going to happen. Parker has been fantastic for Spuds, and there's no denying that IMO.

I'd take Song over Parker any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

I knew someone would say it!

I pretty much the opposite to you.

 

[RUS arsenal]

Personally, i'd still have him here to sit beside Arteta and Wilshere but that's obviously not going to happen. Parker has been fantastic for Spuds, and there's no denying that IMO.

I'd take Song over Parker any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

I knew someone would say it!

I pretty much the opposite to you.

I just think that Song is much more complete as player and that puts him on that different level.

 

[arsenallegends]

When he was fit, Fabregas was consistently in the top 3 when it came to ground covered. It probably had a part to play in his breakdown.

 

[Tourbillion]

Anyone else think Song could be the one to 'make way' when Jack returns? I don't, I'm just referring to what mavelous said.

 

[ebouenolike]

@QTW: Definitely not. Song won't be dropped.

 

[DJ_Markstar]

I think Song could be rested, and replacement could be Jack - Ramsey behind a central AM - but I don't think Song should be 'dropped' as he's been sensational.