Positive Arsenal signs of Aaron Ramsdale improvement

Many have and many still are bursting at the seams with the amount of humble pie they’ve had to consume this season. Arsenal and their pursuit of Aaron Ramsdale didn’t sit too well with many. How wrong we all were.

But nobody is immune to criticism. The way Ramsdale has contributed to an defensive foundation more solid than those seen in north London for many years can’t be understated. His quality with and without the ball has been second to none.

Although he didn’t have a great deal to contend with at Molineux up until the 70th minute, it became all hands to the pumps for him and his defence, a game state he is well versed in.

You don’t get relegated three times in four years without having your fair share of work to do in goal. Ramsdale is all too familiar with feeling the net bulge behind him. In his two Premier League campaigns prior to joining Arsenal he conceded 128 goals, for an average of 1.68 per match.

Positive Arsenal signs of Aaron Ramsdale improvement against Wolves after a poor January by his high standards

In 19 matches in goal for Arsenal he’s conceded just 16, keeping 11 clean sheets along the way. It’s an incredible record that he’s contributed towards.

Part of a back five that has balance, progression, resilience and unity, he’s erupted into one of the finer goalkeepers in the division. When Wolves began pumping balls into the box he collected wide deliveries with authority, and when they had their efforts at goal he stood strong to the task.

It wasn’t quite as smooth sailing in the month before.

January was undoubtedly his weakest month in red and white. As much as he’s rightly been lauded for the energy and command he transmits in his box, as well as his highly technical and diverse distribution, he suffered a bit of a stumble.

Gone was his usual composure and authority. Crosses weren’t claimed with the confidence they usually were, and with the ball at feet he was more erratic and less crisp than fans had seen to date.

None of which should have come as a great surprise. Not only has Ramsdale gone through patches such as these in both of his previous two seasons at Sheffield United and Bournemouth respectively, but he’s also far exceeded expectations and any goalkeeper, no matter how experienced he may be, will suffer inconsistencies at 23 years old.

It appears as if he might have got himself through that minor blip. And that’s all it was, a minor blip. There was generally a heightened feeling of control from him against Wolves, the like that hadn’t been on show in January, including even as recently as Burnley where he wasn’t his usual unflappable self.

While it’s only one game, the positive signs were there that he’s getting back on track.