How Raya Made Arsenal Even BETTER

The number one difference between Raya and Ramsdale is mentality. Both have a good level of Goalkeeping, both can distribute the ball very well but Raya exudes a calm in nervy moments that goes right through the team whereas Ramsdale very much plays to the occasion, which can be fun for fans to watch but might not always be the best thing for the team.

That prediction was spot on!🔥😭

Still makes too many mistakes. Porto 1st leg goal or Liverpool cup game as two examples, so let’s not get too excited. He did good in a penalty shootout & gathering of the ball but how many world class saves does he make like that of Ramsdale? Still has way too many mistakes in him & collectively not at the required level to take Arsenal to the next level

Respect James for calling the game vs porto. 1-0 then we win on penalties. This objective approach shows your knowledge of football and the opponent, you didn't just go for the easy and obvious 2-1, or 3-1. Well done!

Temperament and technical quality. It's no wonder Gabriel looks so much calmer. Raya's technical quality over Ramsdale makes us more assured when baiting presses. Not to mention his cross claiming. Ramsdale and Gabriel were like the chuckle brothers at times last couple of seasons.

I’ve been so impressed with Raya. When Raya first came in, he did sort of like that prison scene where a person needs to set the tone by finding the biggest baddest guy and knocking them out. Raya needed to do this with how the league saw us and approached us and he did that in his first two games. With the ball at Ramsdales feet, play is built up through our centre backs then midfield. Our fullbacks have to go all the way back wide and back to give him safe passing options but this delays our ability to commence an inverted fullback. The opponents fullbacks drift inwards from our wingers and they end up applying more pressure equally on Jesus and our midfielders. This is because their defenders know the have plenty of time to reposition as we play the ball out through cb to midfield or fullback (very deep positioned) to a winger who’s come back to the halfway line to get the ball. This all meant a lot of pressure of Thomas Partey last year transitioning to offence but it also stifled our play at its infancy where it’s not free flowing but Tika Tika around the box. This all starts from this commencement of play. So introduce Raya and you might recall that first game he walks the ball up the pitch. He signals to his fullbacks to move up. Those fullbacks now spread the opponents as the wingers mark them. Raya waits for the press alone whilst a striker comes in and a winger leaves his fullback to pressure Raya. Our fullback their wingers left to now pressure Raya, he swiftly inverts and Raya passes a ball breaking that line. We now have a fullback and two cbs with no pressure on them in our midfield and we’ve started our phase of attack on the front foot. No pressure and total advantage. Let’s move on to kicking. Teams are used to playing against Ramsdale and watching Arsenal build through the back so their fullbacks move inward cramming our midfield when the ball is with our goalie. Raya stopped that. Raya began kicking pinpoint accurate passes out to the not tightly marked Saka and Martinelli who were on. He did this a few times before the opponents fullbacks began tightly marking them. This now meant that with the ball at rayas feet, Saka and Martinelli are able to pin fullbacks. So both of them move very wide and their fullback goes with them. This spreads the defence out as the opponents CBs have to fill in the space. This opens up for an attack. Raya can now kick to a one on one Havertz with huge spaces on either side of him for Odegaard or rice or pass through to an inverted fullback or cb who will receive the ball with no pressure and a wide open forward line.
Lastly, crosses and shots. Raya is a counter goal keeper. He wants to grab the ball and throw out to our wingers to a quick counter. This changes everything. Opponent defenders in our box for a cross are not fully thinking about scoring, they are worried about this counter. The corner kick taker isn’t rushing in, he’s running out and wide. Their own corner becomes as much our attack as our opponents and they know it. Raya is much like a quarterback and simply him being on the field changes so much positionally about us than Ramsdale.

James, Raya reminds me of Bruce Grobbelaar the way he claims crosses. Bruce wasn't the tallest but always came and claimed them

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxUF7UkSAfwBpMuI_Q89BwsVF8O699lO5R?si=T5mU1_36wbsuVgzC

Great job James. Like your channel a lot man

Raya is clear of Ramsdale even under pressure he will find with his long kick on Havertz 😂

You got yourself a new subscriber! Be g ups my guy! Keep doing your thing!

Good job on your analysis 😊

Arsenal looks more calmer with Raya in goal. With Ramsdale Arsenal from my perception seems to be in a helter-skelter state. But i must say that the mistake Ramsdale made against Brentford, Raya nearly did against Man city where Alcarez closed him down, blocked the clearance and missed the goal by a whisker. But the main point is the calm demeanour he brings to the team.

Raya also the reason we were 1-0 down lol

Congratulations for everything you do! I really enjoy the content that includes your perspective and I really hope you are the future of AFTV, also. Keep it up, mate! 😀

You showed those stats, then didn't go through each?!

He is better than Ramsdele when it comes to Footworks and skills with distribution of passes and situational awareness but Ramsdele is a class when it comes to world class saves and acrobatics saves only has problems of lacks of concentration at times. In the modern day Goal keeper it requires a goal keeper to have control of the game till 90 minutes. Only Ederson, Alisson Becker, Manuel Neurer, André onana, Raya, possess the qualities of modern day football Goal keeper

Other managers gunna be using your vids as scout reports 😅

Great shout out to courtois nice one james

Nice analysis dude!👍🏾 I’m a big Ramsdale fan, but I think the extra calm and distribution skills that Raya brings to the team are undeniable… I just wish we had a better run in the domestic cup competitions, and that Arteta committed to giving Ramsdale a run in those games… but kudos to Raya, he had already proved he was a worthy number one, but the Porto penalty shootout underlined his shot stopping skills too. Happy days!! 👌

I find it funny when i hear people saying Arsenal need to win a major trophy this year or Arteta need to be questions….
Dont let rival fans get into your head, Arteta is over achieving with this team

Great podcast James

Well done on finally stepping up and analysing the clear performance difference that some of us have been talking about from the day we bought him and against the huge pro Rambo noise

Was a bit trying to keep hearing “there’s nothing in it between them” or “Raya had very little to do” or having every tiny error magnified disproportionately out of context etc etc

Good to finally see Raya get all the plaudits he richly deserves and all the fans coming together behind him and the team