Player ratings and post-match discussion vs Fulham

[ricky1985]

Ramsey would make that ideal box-to-box midfielder and Jack is earmarked for a place further upfield in a more attacking role. I still think they would need a bigger, more defensively minded person to play in the 3 man midfield. No doubt Jack is getting an education in the more defensive side of the midfield at present. Both he and Aaron represent real quality for the future of the Arsenal midfield though. Ramsey could be our Busquets maybe. Still think we would need some more beef in the middle though.

Is Ramsey really 6ft??

Yep. Might even be 6'1". One thing I've noticed about him is he has a very low centre of gravity when on the move, and that can make his height deceptive.



Bearing in mind that Almunia is 6'4" and Mannone is nearly 6'3".

 

[redwhiteAustrian]

I hate to say it, but I can't see Fabs still being here, once Rambo and Jacky are both considered as starters.

And for my liking, it depends too much on both Jacky and Rambo developing good defensive skills, to make such a MF (Rambo-Fabs-Jack) as balanced as it should be.

 

[outlaw_member]

Ramsey will be every bit as capable as Song defensively, in my opinion. Jack will only get better in that department too.

I doubt it. In any case, they are all offensively inclined midfielders. Neither of them are defensive enforcers in sense of the term. It only spells disaster, especially if they harbour aspirations of scoring goals. If you limited them to remaining within the middle third of the pitch, it could work, especially if they developed a brilliant understanding between the three. However, you can't weed out a players natural mindset and they all like to go forward and score goals.

 

[Humble Rex]

Chelsea have managed pretty well to "weed out" anything attacking and creative from Mikel´s game. At youth level he was anything but a DM. Just saying...

 

[outlaw_member]

In this regard he reminds me of a young Roy Keane. I remember Keane at Nottingham Forest and he was a very attack minded CM. His role was to get 15 goals or more a season.

In fact when he first came to United he said that his goal was to score 20 goals in his first season. I think he got 14 or so in the end.

He became a deep lying, playmaking DM only later in his career.

I think Ramsey has similar attribute. But this is just pure speculation.

Totally agree, as does my brother, a Forest fan who watched Keane regularly there.

Keane only reverted to the DM role after injury slightly hampered his athleticism and pace.

And yeah, according to wiki he's 6'

Yeah, but Butt often always anchored Keane. We're talking about using Ramsey in that fashion with Wilshere behind him. Not to mention that Ramsey is nothing like Keane in the defensive sense, and is more of a creative CM who has the engine and physicality to offer abit more than that.

 

[outlaw_member]

Chelsea have managed pretty well to "weed out" anything attacking and creative from Mikel´s game. At youth level he was anything but a DM. Just saying...

That's because Ancelotti deploys Mikel within a rigid role which restricts him from doing anything more than that. As has been discussed in the Song thread, we are using a setup where all three midfielders have a flexible role with emphasis on interchanging and moving forward. That would only encourage an offensive minded player to live true to his nature. So essentially, we'll be using three attacking central midfielders in three very flexible midfield roles. It could work, but it'd be like playing with fire.

On a side note, I don't understand why so many think Wilshere or Ramsey are good defensively. Wilshere shies out of many 50/50's, let alone the fact that he's often unsuccessful and I'd hardly say Ramsey has shown that he'd be anything more than competent in that area.