Arsenal: ‘Bottling’ Aaron Ramsey Costing His Career

Troy Deeney has described Aaron Ramsey as a ‘bottler’. The Welsh midfielder is currently costing his Arsenal career with injuries and poor form.

It’s safe to say that when Aaron Ramsey first moved to Arsenal, there were high hopes. A vast array of top clubs were interested in him, including a Sir Alex Ferguson led Manchester United, and having enjoyed some promising young displays at Cardiff, expectations of him developing into a top player abounded.

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Arsene Wenger heralded his natural talent, his intelligence and his awareness. It was a frustrating start to his career. Injuries curtailed any early development and a loss of form and confusion over his best position brought about some rather vociferous criticism from many sections of the fanbase.

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There was a brief relapse in an underwhelming tenure, in the 2013/14 season in which the Welsh wonder displayed the culmination of his natural talents in an orchestrating, conducting box-to-box role. Now there are doubts growing over the mental aspect of his game. In the wake of an infuriating 2-1 loss to Warford in which Ramsey was highlighted as the primary culprit for the crucial second early goal, Hornets’ striker Troy Deeney revealed that he believed that Ramsey bottled the challenge with Etienne Capoue from the loose throw in, stating:

"“I think he bottled it a little bit; Ramsey’s mistake was our blessing. I have come up with Sean Dyche and Malky Mackay and if we had turned our back on the ball like that, they would have had strong words with us.”"

They are interesting comments from Deeney and, rather than poignantly display an individual error of Ramsey’s – that it was, but there is a more worrying trend here that I would rather focus on – display an running criticism of his game that is yet again coming to the fore. Ramsey’s mentality has been an issue throughout his career.

Initially, it was understandable; he was young and inexperienced and had much to learn. Later he was excused the horrific leg break suffered by a rash Ryan Shawcross challenge. But now, there is little to use to defend his mental softness, for want of a better term. He lacks fortitude, persistence and resilience and now it is costing him his career.

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The likes of Granit Xhaka have already surpassed Ramsey in the midfield pecking order. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is not far behind and soon Jack Wilshere, who is in the midst of a very successful season with Bournemouth, will re-enter the fray. Ramsey has a whole lot of internal competition, and  I’m not sure he has the mentality to overcome it.