Originally Posted by
the other bob wilson
Not seen the game or the criticism of Ramsey, so I can't really comment on either, but I've noticed before that when Ramsey is used as one of the two deep midfield players by Arsenal, he still makes those runs forward that were seen as a problem yesterday. The difference is that they tend to come mostly in the second half and, depending on the game situation, tend to happen more and more as the match goes on. I've always figured that Wenger has believed that Ramsey's stamina and running power gives him an advantage over the opposition's midfielders who will find it harder to track such runs as the game goes into it's closing stages.
If Ramsey was not playing to orders when he became more of an attacking player for the closing stages of games, then Wenger surely would have picked him up on it and then dropped him if he kept on doing it - the fact that he hasn't done so, must mean that the manager has no problem with Ramsey doing it.
However, Ramsey seems to have started his runs forward earlier than normal yesterday and it seems pretty mad to me if this was under the orders of a manager who usually appears to ask for a more cautious approach from the player in the first half - the fact that Ramsey was withdrawn (I'm not aware of any stories saying he had picked up an injury) at half time strongly suggests that he wasn't doing what his manager wanted him to in the first forty five minutes.
Ramsey can be a bit self indulgent with the tricks he tries, but he has never struck me as someone who puts himself before the team and goes out with a selfish attitude - if, as seems likely, he did so yesterday, then all it does is confirm the impression that Arsenal have a serious problem when it comes to dressing room resolve and morale.