Arsenal: Unai Emery needs to get Aaron Ramsey… quickly

Unai Emery misused Aaron Ramsey against Manchester City on Sunday. Arsenal suffered greatly as a result. He needs to get the marauding midfielder’s game. And quickly.

Manchester City are one of the best teams that I have ever seen. There is no shame in losing to such a well-polished, fine-tuned team, masterminded by the most influential manager of the modern game. And Arsenal, in losing 2-0 to the champions on the opening weekend of the season, should not be dismayed with their performance or the result. But that does not mean that there weren’t any problems with how Unai Emery set his team up.

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The official shape was a 4-3-3. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was through the middle, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Mesut Ozil were fielded either side of him, and then there were three central midfielders — Granit Xhaka, Matteo Guendouzi and Aaron Ramsey — positioned in front of a back-four, with Guendouzi the deepest of these three and Ramsey in the most advanced position.

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But in reality, it was more like a 4-4-2. Ozil and Mkhitaryan were forced back by the bombarding full backs of City, while Ramsey was clearly instructed by Emery to push right up alongside Aubameyang to pressure the City centre-halves. It didn’t work. Ozil and Mkhitaryan were physically outmatched by Kyle Walker and Benjamin Mendy, Xhaka and Guendouzi were outnumbered in the midfield, and Ramsey wasn’t able to consistently affect the distribution from the City centre-backs.

The issues primarily stemmed from the position of Ramsey. Because he is not a natural central attacking midfielder, he lacks the spatial awareness of, say, an Ozil to show for the ball in more advanced positions and move the team up the pitch, relieving the pressure that City were able to impart on the backline and goalkeeper. He is much more effective when he starts from deep, receives the ball with more space and can then drive forwards with the game in front of him.

Not only would this help with the rhythm of Arsenal’s play in possession, but in starting a little deeper, they would be much more organised and congested defensively. City exploited the wide spaces to great effect because Emery implemented a very narrow defensive shape — the two banks of four were extremely disciplined in their distances between each individual player.

He did that because City outnumbered Arsenal three to two in the central midfield zones with Ramsey pushed up the pitch. With Ramsey starting deeper, there is no need to play such a narrow shape. The full backs can close down the City wingers quicker, not allowing them to turn and dribble at them, and the central areas can still have enough bodies to stop City from playing through it.

It is also Ramsey’s more natural position. He is at his best when played as a pure box-to-box midfielder, not pushed into the final third where his touch can let him down at times and his rangy athleticism is not so potent — those lung-bursting runs are much less effective when they are done over 10 yards, not 30 yards.

Hopefully, Emery has realised his mistake. As stated, the quality of City should be taken into account. I do not want to be harsh on Arsenal’s shape because it is one game against a truly brilliant team. But it will not end well if Ramsey is played in this advanced midfield position for the whole season. He must start from deeper. And quickly.