Arsenal: Aaron Ramsey Feels Like The Odd One Out

Arsenal ran with what should have been a very powerful starting XI, Aaron Ramsey included. Be it rust or misplacement, he feels like the odd one out.

Arsenal squeaked by against Ludogorets. Squeaked by as in, it took an 82rd minute goal from our beloved Mesut Ozil to see the Gunners through with three points.

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Perhaps lost in the fray, Aaron Ramsey returned to action! My favorite Welshman in the world, who I have been dying to see play in a deep, central role next to Granit Xhaka, was chosen by Arsene Wenger to play in Bulgaria. And he played his favorite position….

… No wait. No he didn’t. He played on the right wing. Where he doesn’t want to play and where, if he continues to play there, will probably see him out of the club. And to somewhere like Barcelona. Wouldn’t that be fun?

Anyway, it’s not like Ramsey was abysmal. Twitter was freaking out that the Welshman was not the Ox or Walcott. There were calls for his head (more or less…). But as some of my fellow tweeting Gooners were keen to point out, the man is rusty. He has been out for quite some time.

Plus, he was playing wide right, where he has always looked a shade of himself.

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All of that defending of Ramsey aside (did I mention his pristine assist?), I felt as though he looked a tad out of place. I may not have been a fan of what was being said of him on social media, but they did have a point. It was a major shift in what we are used to seeing from our offense.

Ramsey proved himself capable of contributing to the attack, and the fact that he looked so out of place may just come down to him being more than a tad rusty and being in a position that he would rather not be in.

It’s too early to say one way or another, but I wonder how Ramsey is going to fit into this attack. What about when Walcott is back? If this is Wenger’s preferred starting XI, which it damn well might be, then where does that leave Walcott, the Ox and Iwobi?

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It’s a conundrum, but a positive one. We have a wealth of weapons and Wenger is going to have himself quite the time picking through all of the choices and finding the best combination.