Arsenal: Aaron Ramsey problem has simple, quick-fix solution

Arsenal need to start identifying solutions to their numerous problems, and the potential Aaron Ramsey problem has a couple easy solutions.

Arsenal’s humiliating loss to Liverpool brought about a whole new batch of problems and exacerbated the problems we knew we already had. So let’s talk about a problem we knew we had that has only gotten worse – the midfield.

Granit Xhaka and Aaron Ramsey, as much as I wanted this to work, is not an effective partnership. Ramsey’s success is built upon him having the freedom to roam. Xhaka’s success is built upon having the time and space to pick out his passes.

Both of those can’t exist in the current set up. Right now, when Xhaka gets the ball, all of his team mates disappear and run towards the opposing goal, ready to receive a pass. The problem is that it then leaves Xhaka exposed with four or five opposing attackers and midfielders surrounding him and nowhere to go.

One solution would be to harness Ramsey and prevent those runs forward, but harnessing Ramsey never works out. So that’s not a solution.

Another solution, and I can hear the tumult already, would be to sell Alexis, bump Ramsey up to the attacking midfield spot and land Jean-Michael Seri or Leon Goretzka or, dare I say his name…. Grzegorz Krychowiak. Preferably two of the above, to help with depth, but I won’t get crazy, let’s start with one.

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Then what we have is a situation of having another high-effort, high-creativity guy in Ramsey further up the pitch, where he can freely roam, which he does anyway. And, back behind him, you have solidity. You have a midfielder who can be there to take short passes from Xhaka when the pressure is on.

And those players that will be fielding those short passes are going to be pivots. Seri made a killing at Nice pushing play forward, as did Goretzka at Schalke. Krychowiak isn’t as mobile as the other two, but he provides such a strong defensive presence and can be a good outlet nonetheless.

This way, Ramsey can still track back like he tends to do, but he will leave the team in a less precarious situation when he can’t get back in time, because there will already be two behind him.

I love this solution. Utilize the talent that you have while still adding to it and bolstering. But realistically, what can we expect? That’s the question. I don’t see Wenger moving Ramsey forward. But don’t count out a late move for another central midfielder and once that happens and sales keep going through, options will open up.

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Then, maybe, Wenger can experiment a bit (we’re getting really optimistic here) and figure out new ways to utilize his best players.

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