Pain in the Arsenal
Fansided

Aaron Ramsey is Crucial to Arsenal’s Title Hopes

By Josh Sippie

facebooktwitterreddit

Aaron Ramsey has come under fire recently because it is majority opinion that he is the one that should make way to allow Santi Cazorla to maintain the central midfield role and allow the Ox to resume duties on the right wing. But in terms of what is best for Arsenal, Aaron Ramsey has to be central to their title push.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

Remember 2013/14? Aaron Ramsey was Alexis before we had Alexis. Ramsey drove Arsenal when no one else could, putting in 16 goals and 10 assists en route to becoming the team’s player of the year.

Santi Cazorla meanwhile, played in 30 matches, scoring 4 and assisting 8 en route to one of his worst statistical years at a time when Arsenal were completely run by Ramsey.

Last year, Cazorla finished with the more impressive stats, with 8 goals and 15 assists in all competitions, but that was across 49 appearances. Ramsey had an injury-riddled season and only managed 34 total appearances, scoring 10 and assisting 8. Taking those stats in terms of goals and assists per appearance, however, we get different results.

By appearances, Santi Cazorla notched .16 goals and .30 assists per appearance. Aaron Ramsey however, put up .30 and .23 assists per appearance (via ESPNFC).

With Mesut Ozil already in the starting XI, Arsenal have their assist master, but with Alexis and Olivier Giroud both going through cold spells last year, they need that added goal threat and that threat comes in Aaron Ramsey.

Not to hearken back to two years ago ad nauseum, but again recall how he was the key piece to the team’s successes. To think that he needs to make way just two years removed from the epic campaign and just one year after he strung together a really quality campaign despite three stints on the injured list with hamstring troubles is crazy.

Ramsey is one of those players that can win games all by himself, just like Alexis. Obviously the two are completely different skill-set-wise, but the overall quality remains the same, they possess enough to independently determine the fate of a game. Santi Cazorla does not have that quality, he relies too much on other people. That is not a bad thing, but it makes him less dynamic than what Aaron Ramsey can be.

Of course, the side effect of that is the same side effect we saw from Alexis Sanchez – when they try to do too much.

More from Arsenal News

Aaron Ramsey is often accused of trying to win the league all by himself. After his 2013/14 campaign, his confidence was overflowing to the point that he wanted the ball at any and every opportunity, and for good reason. He was absolutely deadly on the ball. That characteristic carried over to last year, but injuries hindered his ability to follow through.

Alexis Sanchez, too, had to carry the team for the first half of last year. When the team returned to health, Alexis was still guilty of trying to carry the team, which was unnecessary, and it hindered his cohesiveness with the team. However, when he curbed that habit, he became stellar yet again.

Aaron Ramsey is going to become more and more crucial to the team the longer he gets to play his central position where he can have the biggest impact on the game. He is learning to step back and not try to do too much and that will devlop more when he learns to trust his team mates more – again, that will come with time.

Next: What needs to change before Liverpool clash?

More from Pain in the Arsenal

Home/Arsenal News