UEFA Champions League & Carabao Cup Football Thread ** spoilers ** [17th - 19th September 2024]

Honestly... all those Arsenal fans questioning Raya being brought in last season. Utterly clueless.
I think it's quite fair to say at the time it didn't seem much of an upgrade. It's only the start to this season which has shown how good he is. I don't remember much from last season which you wouldn't expect someone to save.

Game is like a friendly, no urgency at all.
 
I think it's quite fair to say at the time it didn't seem much of an upgrade. It's only the start to this season which has shown how good he is. I don't remember much from last season which you wouldn't expect someone to save.

Game is like a friendly, no urgency at all.
He consistently had some of the beat goalkeeping stats around last season - didn't he keep the most clean sheets in the Prem?

But also goalkeeping isn't just about saves. He's so much better than Ramsdale - and virtually all other keepers - in the air. Amazing with his feet. Gives his defenders such confidence.

Arsenal fans just demanded immediate results and didn't want to give him time to settle.
 
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He consistently had some of the beat goalkeeping stats around last season - didn't he keep the most clean sheets in the Prem?

But also goalkeeping isn't just about saves. He's so much better than Ramsdale - and virtually all other keepers - in the air. Amazing with his feet. Gives his defenders such confidence.

Arsenal fans just demanded immediate results and didn't want to give him time to settle.
He did last season but he only had a 65% save percentage I think and he's over 90% this season.

Other than a couple of clangers Ramsdale was good for us and Raya didn't really seem much of an upgrade especially when we had deficiencies elsewhere.
 
He did last season but he only had a 65% save percentage I think and he's over 90% this season.

Other than a couple of clangers Ramsdale was good for us and Raya didn't really seem much of an upgrade especially when we had deficiencies elsewhere.
But again, the fa s expected immediate results and he was written off before settling in. Players need time.
 
No one wrote him off. He came and in and played fairly consistently in front of the best defence in the league but wasn't outstanding in any games.
Oh come off it. Everyone moaned about him joining for the first few for months and everything he did was scrutinised constantly!
 
Oh come off it. Everyone moaned about him joining for the first few for months and everything he did was scrutinised constantly!
Like I said, it didn't seem much of an upgrade at the time when we needed players elsewhere. I don't recall many moans and he was pretty steady so nothing much to scrutinise.

Anyway, enough of that. Game was awful, not sure we were that bothered about winning.
 
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Frustrating game, will be a decent point if we can kick on but a concerning watch for our attack with no Ødegaard.

Expect the City game to be another tense but boring stalemate.
 
Whats Raya done tonight other than saved an awful penalty and follow up? Genuinely, any decent penalty taker would have made him look absolutely stupid there with how early he went.

And yes, without Odegaard Arsenal aren't half as good as they are with him. He makes the whole side work.
 
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Whats Raya done tonight other than saved an awful penalty and follow up? Genuinely, any decent penalty taker would have made him look absolutely stupid there with how early he went.

And yes, without Odegaard Arsenal aren't half as good as they are with him. He makes the whole side work.

But but all teams are meant to cope with injuries ;).
 
Our whole pressing game starts with Odegaard, he's pretty relentless and quite often the furthest forward. Our best fit for a stand in was sold to Fulham. Havertz is useless anywhere apart from up top and Trossard doesn't have the engine to replicate the role. He's probably the biggest loss to our playing style right now. It doesn't help that Partey and Martinelli are pretty awful at the moment, one keeps giving the ball away and the other has 0 end product. That said it didn't look like we went out with the intention of chasing the game too much and seemed happy to play out the draw.
 
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Oh come off it. Everyone moaned about him joining for the first few for months and everything he did was scrutinised constantly!
Sorry to drag this up but just seen it. The main noise at the time was why are we spending £30m on a keeper when we have a good one in Ramsdale (who was a fan favourite). The pundits were also all over it, saying what an issue Arteta has caused for no good reason. Naturally the fans needed to be 'won over' and would highlight he's no upgrade and it's harder (IMHO) for a keeper to justify his purchase (especially when the sitting keeper was pretty good already!).
No one wrote him off. He came and in and played fairly consistently in front of the best defence in the league but wasn't outstanding in any games.
He started off poorly but came into his own after the nerves settled. His ability over Ramsdale became clearer, he made those penalty saves in the c/l and not only won the golden gloves, kept more clean sheets than any goalkeeper in a season. I think you undersell his achievements after a inconsistent start and such scrutiny in a first season at a new club.

 
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For the 1st few months a lot of arsenal fans were moaning & questioning why get Raya in on the season long loan with obligation to buy as for some strange reason they rate(d) Ramsdale - when most can see he's a fairly average keeper. Anyone without rose tinted goggles on knew he was a clear upgrade on Ramsdale, yeah he had a couple of poor moments, but even on a bad day he's much better.
 
For the 1st few months a lot of arsenal fans were moaning & questioning why get Raya in on the season long loan with obligation to buy as for some strange reason they rate(d) Ramsdale - when most can see he's a fairly average keeper. Anyone without rose tinted goggles on knew he was a clear upgrade on Ramsdale, yeah he had a couple of poor moments, but even on a bad day he's much better.
I think you're selling him a bit short, Ramsdale made great saves and really endeared himself with the fans, and it's not just fans that rated him, pundits did too - he's a good keeper but has flaws...I would not call him 'average' and IMHO he's too good to be our backup but not good enough to be 1st choice when you want to win serious trophies.
 
I think you're selling him a bit short, Ramsdale made great saves and really endeared himself with the fans, and it's not just fans that rated him, pundits did too - he's a good keeper but has flaws...
He's just a younger version of pickford, poor positionally, not that great at kicking and makes a routine save look harder than it is with a bit of a flamboyant dive.
I would not call him 'average' and IMHO he's too good to be our backup but not good enough to be 1st choice when you want to win serious trophies.
I'd say he's a bang average pl keeper, would do a job for a team in the bottom half of the table, no where near good enough for a team with aspirations of more.
 
Agree to disagree, he's not 'bang average', but I do agree with most of what you said, and we did finish 2nd in the league with him so 'bottom half' is a bit harsh IMHO

 
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