+ Visit Cardiff FC for Latest News, Transfer Gossip, Fixtures and Match Results |
By the time of the cup final, Ramsey had started 12 league and cup games out of the previous 18 (including the whole 90 minutes at Middlesbrough) and made a further 3 substitute appearances.
In his first season at Arsenal, while he was limited to only some brief Premier League appearances, he was given plenty of Champions' League experience.
He was also the best player we had at the club, even at that young an age.
Of course Jones should have started him.
I really don't agree. you could see he was going to be a quality player but he was still a kid, and playing against a powerful Portsmouth side
of those games he had managed a goal against Burnley and one against chasetown.
and as we played ,4 across the midfield at the time we would have been dropping one of mcphail, Rae, Ledley or whittingham.
Rae could have been dropped. Pompey went with a midfield 3 and Rae's aggressive style was completely nullified.
A better option would have been to drop Hasselbaink and go 4-5-1. Whitts played on the right that day and had a bit of a stinker. He could have been given a freer role with Ramsey out on the right.
Of course, that would have meant Jones having a plan B.
It was anyway.
In the Leicester playoff semi final we had a midfield of Burke, McPhail, Whitts and Ledley. Last year, when someone pointed this out I thought that couldn't be true. It turned out that that quartet played quite a few games and was very successful. I looked at it and thought powderpuff, but it worked.