To Keep or Not To Keep Part 2: Aaron Ramsey plus transfer update.

Morning all,

As the dust settles on yet another quality signing this summer (can’t believe I just said that) speculation is rife as to who our next arrival might be. There has been constant links to established stars brandished in the media but one seems to have more legitimate ground then the others, perhaps just due to the frequency of the reports. I am of course speaking of Nuri Sahin, the midfield maestro of Real Madrid.

He hasn’t played much in the past twelve months which has put the brakes on a very promising career so let’s hope this one plays out. As for the rest of the names, I severely doubt any more spending unless we manage to sell some players as I cannot see us raking up a huge deficit, but hey this transfer window has been full of surprises.

Aside from the transfer rumours the only real bit of news is that Afobe scored a hat-trick on his Bolton debut last night in a friendly against Tranmere. Let’s hope this is the start of a fruitful spell at the club and that he can be recalled early and perhaps be sent out on loan to another Premiership club to aid his development. Also since when did playing in a friendly become a debut? Interesting.

Well with little else going on it seems the perfect opportunity to continue the mini-series of “To Keep or Not To Keep”. Last time we looked at the inconsistent but occasionally lethal Theo Walcott, who I thought was a keeper. This time we shall move on to someone who receives much criticism and who many on Twitter have called to be shown the exit door. The ferocity of some of the criticism is something that surprises me given all the lad has been through in his short career. Of course, I am speaking about Aaron Ramsey.

Where to start? Despite such a short career, so much has happened in to Aaron Ramsey, from a runner’s up medal in the FA cup to a major club signing him. He made the step well and was beginning to show why Wenger was so keen to secure the teenager’s signature. That was until an Ogre went on and shattered more than just Ramsey’s dreams ensuring that a hugely promising career would be unceremoniously halted and for the best part of a year, Aaron Ramsey was unable to kick a ball.

Despite the horrific incident, Aaron Ramsey returned and was thrust in at the deep end. He did not falter. He took part and produced a match winning performance against Manchester United at the tail end of the 2010-2011 season where he scored the winner. As full fitness followed the sale of both Samir Nasri and Francesc Fabregas, many looked for Wenger to make some serious reinforcements. What we got instead was Aaron Ramsey.

That for me is the source of much of the disgruntlement. He was sent in to fill the void left by our two most creative players when the fans wanted someone else. He never really had a chance, especially when you consider this was his first full season as a starter. Sure he had a couple of bad patches in form but no more so than the rest of the team with the exception of Mikel Arteta who was as faultless as his beautiful hair.

A lot of Arsenal fans I talk to say how he should be sold and that he was useless last season. For me he was in one spell at least (from late October to early December) one of our best players. In this period he carried the attacking burden and was always very active in the match, never looking for a way out, linking the midfield with the attack very well.

Even if you look at his season stats you will see that it was not all bad. In fact if we look at the stats they highlight very much this point. He was a useful player that had many positives in a season seen as very negative. Do not get me wrong, I do not think he was brilliant, in fact far from it. I am in fact of the belief that he should have never been expected to carry the attacking burden for the majority of the season. For instance if we look at the assist statistics you can see there is much to be desired.

Player	Appearances	Minutes played	Assists	Assists Per Match	Assists Per Minute
Song	34	2999	11	0.32	0.004
Walcott	35	2747	8	0.23	0.003
Gervinho	19	1685	6	0.32	0.004
Rosicky	28	1759	4	0.14	0.002
Ramsey	34	2465	4	0.12	0.002
Arteta	29	2475	2	0.07	0.001

As you can see he created just 4 assists for his team mates, which is low for the attacking fulcrum of the team. Although level with Rosicky in terms of productivity, it is clear that he has some way to go in terms of reaching his full potential. Again I think that is key. This is by no means the finished article but someone that can in fact be an important player. A lot of fans point to the fact that he missed numerous chances. I however point to the fact that he, through movement and intelligent play, often created those chances and with a bit of luck/better finishing, it could have been a much rosier picture. But we cannot look at if’s or maybe’s, we have to look at the hard cold fact that in this department, he just wasn’t good enough… yet.

To support my optimism I would like to show you how he was far more productive than a number of other attacking players in other facets of the game. Something which I don’t think is fully appreciated.

Player	Appearances	Minutes played	Chances Created	Chances Per Match	Chances Per Minute
Arteta	29	2475	58	2	0.023
Ramsey	34	2465	51	1.50	0.021
Rosicky	28	1759	37	1.32	0.021
Song	34	2999	35	1.03	0.012
Walcott	35	2747	33	0.94	0.012
Gervinho	19	1685	30	1.58	0.018

As you can see, in terms of chances created, he was very much on par with our top performers, Mikel Arteta and Thomas Rosicky. To be second to Mikel Arteta is nothing to be ashamed of but to create more chances per match than Thomas Rosicky, in my opinion highlights his potential.

To give this a wider context in terms of the Premier League, have a look at the following.

Player	Appearances	Minutes played	Chances Created	Chances Per Match	Chances Per Minute
Mata	34	2,531	89	2.62	0.04
Silva	36	2817	89	2.47	0.03
Nasri	30	2172	67	2.23	0.03
Lampard	30	2250	50	1.67	0.02
Ramsey	34	2465	51	1.50	0.02
Young	25	1572	37	1.48	0.02
Scholes	17	1169	18	1.06	0.02

Whilst he is not creating the most chances, as you can see, aside from the top three of Mata, Silva and Nasri, he is competing with Lampard, Young and Scholes in terms of chances created. This however does certainly indicate that a big step up is needed in order to compete with the top players in the league.

He is equally adept with his passing. As you can see below, he has a good pass completion rate, better than Thomas Rosicky whilst also attempting far more passes.

Player	Appearances	Minutes played	Attempted Passes	Passes Completed	Pass completion	Passes completed per minute
Arteta	29	2475	2229	2023	91%	0.82
Ramsey	34	2465	1925	1681	87%	0.68
Rosicky	28	1759	1275	1087	85%	0.62
Gervinho	19	1685	615	521	85%	0.31
Song	34	2999	2248	1895	84%	0.63
Walcott	35	2747	839	665	79%	0.24

His pass completion in the context of the Premier League:

Player	Appearances	Minutes played	Attempted Passes	Passes Completed	Pass completion	Passes completed per minute
Scholes	17	1169	1137	1058	93%	0.91
Nasri	30	2172	1587	1446	91%	0.67
Ramsey	34	2465	1925	1681	87%	0.68
Silva	36	2817	2020	1759	87%	0.62
Lampard	30	2250	1537	1335	87%	0.59
Mata	34	2,531	1486	1293	87%	0.51
Young	25	1572	734	615	84%	0.39

As you can see, he outperforms a number of key players at our rivals and competes with some of the biggest names in terms of his passing completion. What is really surprising is the Nasri stats. Not only because he was such a good passer but the fact that he played that much football. What is also interesting to note is just how good Paul Scholes still is.

It is worth noting that all the players he was compared to completed far more assists than he managed with the exception of Paul Scholes. This, some might argue makes the other stats meaningless.

I don’t know if that has been enlightening, but I certainly feel as though, given the stats, that we have a promising YOUNG player on our hands that, if given the time and support to develop, could well be something special. He is not supremely talented in the way that Cesc was, but he does have tenacity, hard work and is never scared. Things I am sure we can all appreciate.

I have to say we have another keeper on our hands.

I am sure this is going to split opinion so please let me know your thoughts below.

Also remember to give me a follow on Twitter at @GoonerVerse.

Good day to you all,

GoonerVerse.

(Stats compiled using EPLIndex powered by OPTA)