Arsenal: Aaron Ramsey Deserves Inconsequential Gold Star

Arsenal may have been flattened and rolled out of White Hart Lane, but that doesn’t mean that there was nothing positive to take away. Aaron Ramsey, for instance.

I’m not in the game of celebrating Arsenal losses, nor am I of the mind that, when we are thoroughly flattened by a team as hated as the Spurs (or by anyone) that there should be any sort of back-patting or well-wishing.

But that being said, it certainly doesn’t hurt to occasionally stick a gold star on a steaming, heaping wasteland of ineptitude. And given the steaming, heaping wasteland of ineptitude that this season has been, I would like to extend that gold star to Aaron Ramsey.

Since the Welshman’s breakout 2013/14, it’s been all downhill. There have been positive stops along the way, but nothing remotely resembling his super man season. That is mostly because of injuries, but it is also because the team seemed to move on without him. There wasn’t anywhere in the formation that Ramsey had once come to own that provided what he needed.

Plus, with Alexis Sanchez the new and improved version of superman Ramsey, there wasn’t a need for a free-roaming do-it-yourself-er.

But since the suddenly-controversial 3-4-3 has been rolled out, things have been different. A lot of things have been different. Some good, some bad.

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One clearly good thing, though, is Ramsey. And I can hear the groans already over his giveaways, but to that I say this: There are certain players that supporters are so negatively disposed towards that they will only remember the bad things. I’ll admit that I may be getting that way with Mesut Ozil. It’s hard for me to find the good anymore.

Ramsey has had two huge giveaways in his past three starts. One led to a goal, one almost did. But both were near the opposing goal boxes, so I’m not keen to throw a stone.

Aside from those two giveaways (and that bizarre scuffed shot against the Spurs), I see a very promising shift in the way Ramsey is being used. Being encased in that 3-4-3 gives him the freedom he needs, the freedom that we saw him use masterfully for the Welsh National side.

Against Spurs, Ramsey was easily the man of the match before it all went horribly wrong. He was the biggest influence, he stole the starring role and he is starting to make himself a bigger and bigger threat in and around the box.

What it comes down to now is cohesion. I still get the impression that Alexis doesn’t like giving the ball to Ramsey, even when he is painfully open and that needs to be overcome. But all in all, Ramsey is a ball hound. He never gives up, he’s actually a much safer tackler than Granit Xhaka and his ability to get forward has never been in question.

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Again, what does this all amount to in the grand scheme? Next to nothing. But he played well and given how long we’ve been waiting to see resurgent Ramsey, maybe we can pull come optimism out of his performances of late.