It wasn’t all comfortable for Arsenal in their win over Burnley, especially towards the second half of the game, but again, Sean Dyche and his men rarely make it easy for any visitor with their awkward, but to their credit successfully, style of play.
Arsenal were once again exposed to long balls being pumped into their box and two physical forwards waiting to get on the end of them. But Aaron Ramsdale, Arsenal’s goalkeeper on the day, was on a mission to guard his box as he ended the game with three clean sheets to his name in as many games.
In this article, I’ll look at Arsenal’s man of the match and for many fans, their man of the moment, Aaron Ramsdale’s performance against a tricky opponent.
In-Possession
In possession, Arsenal found a newly found security and passing efficiency from their goalkeeper. Arsenal’s tactics meant the players were instructed to build up through the middle and not revert to full-backs as a passing outlet if the space through the central region is choked. And Ramsdale assisted along in implementing the tactics.
He attempted 10 short passes and 15 medium-range passes in total and completed all of them. Passing security.
As showed in the visualization below, a lot of these passes were through the middle, either to Thomas Partey or to one of Emile Smith Rowe or Martin Odegaard who consistently dropped deep to receive possession. Passing effectivity.
Below are some examples of how Ramsdale was able to break Burnley’s press, which being honest wasn’t really a press and more an attempt to resist Arsenal’s initial movement through the middle, and play passes through it.
Though, it wasn’t just his short and medium-range passing that impressed, below is an example of how he was able to bypass two Burnley lines to find a pass into Emile Smith Rowe. Burnley simply couldn’t have allowed Arsenal’s No.10 to turn and run at them and hence they conceded a foul. A phase of play which Burnley seemed to be dominating was turned around thanks to Ramsdale’s accurate passing.
Another instance where Ramsdale was able to launch an accurate long ball into Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in an attempt to help Arsenal exploit Burnley’s lack of shape, which isn’t a regular occurrence with the Clarets.
Not all that he tried in possession resulted in a successful offensive move for Arsenal. But it was a pleasant sight to see an Arsenal goalkeeper trying, and more importantly, having the ability to execute such passes consistently.
Out of Possession
There’s again lots to talk about Ramsdale’s out-of-possession involvement, whether it’s his commanding of the box, his competence in dealing with high balls into his area, or in general shot-stopping, which, being honest, wasn’t tested much.
Though what I want to concentrate more on is how he was proactive and composed at the same time in most of his actions, the personality he showed and the leadership he brought to the side.
In the 12th minute, he made a mistake in attempting to pick out a pass as he dwindled on the ball for too long allowing an in-charging Chris Wood to almost steal the ball from his feet. Luckily, it didn’t result in anything dangerous for the Gunners.
It got me interested, as making mistakes is a part of the game but how a player reacts to it truly shows his character. And not for a moment did Ramsdale let the mistake affect his game or became conservative in his passing. And that said a lot about his character and the belief he had in himself — as another high-profile mistake and there was a top-class keeper seating on the bench itching to replace him.
In terms of leadership, he seems like a much different character than Arsenal’s No.1 Bernd Leno, who was at times criticized for not being vocal enough. Ramsdale is a more vocal operator, he likes to govern his box, talk and motivate those around him and maintain good communication with his defenders.
Here Ramsdale can be seen applauding Gabriel’s goal-saving tackle even before the action was completed. Again, these are the little things that keep a team going during different phases of a game.
Coming back to his goalkeeping skills, he had a brilliant moment in the 67th minute of the game when Ben White’s back pass fell short and Burnley’s Matěj Vydra would have taken advantage of it if not for Ramsdale’s timely intervention.
There are little details to this action that said a lot about his decision-making.
Ramsdale wasn’t faced by White’s mistimed pass and doesn’t seem to be hurried into making a challenge.
He did not get too close to the ball or in the path of it which would have allowed Vydra to get the contact he was looking for. He closed the angles, made himself big, leaving Vydra with the only option of trying to go around him, that resulted in an opportunity for Ramsdale to make a tackle, but it had to be well-timed or could have resulted in a penalty at the very least, and he executed it to perfection.
That moment summed his performance on the day, a confident yet composed display that was truly worthy of the man of the match award.
While it’s still too early to make any claims, though it’s fair to conclude that the early fears about his ability were put to bed.