Raya joins Arsenal: Page 16 - The Arsenal discussion community: One More in the Tolly

Raya joins Arsenal

Don Pacifico

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert unclear. I understood it as being an obligation based on meeting certain criteria (presumably appearances?).

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert

Don Pacifico I hope it's an option to buy at most.

RocktheCasbah

Don Pacifico Brentford's director of football basically said the fact Raya signed on loan was a technicality to help Arsenal get around FFP and that he's not expecting to see him back in TW8. I imagine something pretty major would have to go down for Arsenal not to sign him, but there is a small possibility we won't - and that's why Raya signed a new deal before moving.

awooga83

Arteta pretty much came out and said Raya is doing what he wants and praising his courage so it would appear he's not that concerned at least in his post match comments.

JazzG

That first half this guy had me worried. Against some of the better sides this season he has looked very nervous. Better in the second half

Sicario2 - Tier 1

JazzG

Don’t forget this is all new to him. First time he’s playing in a proper BIG game, first NLD, first CL. He will only get better.

Sicario2 - Tier 1

Shaky first half but he has kept 4 clean sheets out of the 6 that he has played including two at the Emirates which we have a poor recent record in defensively.

goon

Not worried about him looking nervous, that will improve over time. He made the classic mistake of trying to be calm in the first half rather than actually being calm. Luckily he wasn't punished and second half he had the right balance between composure and speedy decision making. His long kicking after we took the lead was superb, basically allowed us to keep the ball for the rest of the game.

daredevil

He was shaky in the first half, but so was the rest of the team. He was much better in second half, and so was the rest of the team. His long passing in particular was exceptional in the second half. Nothing to see here.

swider

daredevil
Yep, he was very good in the second half. I just watched post game interviews of both managers, and while Arteta predictably was talking well of his performance, Pep did as well unprompted and there was overlap between the two.

DiabyKungFu

daredevil He was shaky in the first half, but so was the rest of the team. He was much better in second half, and so was the rest of the team. His long passing in particular was exceptional in the second half. Nothing to see here.

Agree with this and also think this obsession with his passing is a bit weird. The main reason he's better than Ramsdale is that he's a much better shot-stopper. As one of the biggest "Raya is way better than Ramsdale" guys out there, I really barely give a shit about the passing. This isn't a Caudio Bravo vs. Joe Hart situation. It's not a stylistic thing. Raya is just better all-around.

Sicario2 - Tier 1

DiabyKungFu

Agreed. Raya in goal for the foreseeable future. Ramsdale good cup keeper. We move.

RowJimmy

DiabyKungFu I don't see it. I also don't think he's worse. I really think they're at the same level.

Qwiss

Raya hasn't shown himself to be better than Ramsdales at all yet. He was a liability today got lucky. Looks very nervy at the moment, maybe it's just the move to a big club.

invisibleman18

RowJimmy I don't see it either. He's made mistakes against Spurs and Lens which led to dropped points, and got lucky that several today didn't. If anything, I remain unconvinced he's even at the same level yet, let alone better.
It's not about "wanting him to fail" as I think Sicario said earlier. Of course I want him to be better than Seaman when he's playing for us. I'm just personally yet to see he's better than the player he's replaced.

DiabyKungFu

RowJimmy I don't see it.

This is why people record stats. Here's goals versus post-shot xG. Here's a more holistic view. Higher number = more gooder. I really think it's that simple and doesn't require any really complex logic. And to pre-empt the natural follow-up, I do in fact think it looks like a mistake in hindsight to have gotten rid of Leno. I supported it and it seemed like a good idea at the time but them's the breaks.

I will point out that I think a lot of this discussion is complicated by the fact that Ramsdale's good games last season tended to come in tough away games and his bad games tended to come in home games that we won comfortably anyway. So it is simultaneously correct to say that he didn't play well last season and that he won us more points that he lost us. Ultimately, though, I don't think there's an rhyme or reason to this distribution of good and bad games. I think we just got lucky here.

Mirth

invisibleman18 I think the specific area that Arteta prefers from Raya is that he engages the opposition to press harder and move their team further forward. Ramsdale by contrast passes the ball away like a normal goalkeeper. Arteta's comments confirm as much.

But Raya himself looks nervy even though he's doing what he's told - he needs to sort himself out.

Clrnc

He might be the better keeper in the long term, but he really hasn't proved it. In 2 big matches he's a bag of mess, probably our worst player on the pitch. He would have been a huge villain if the Alvarez shot bounced in.

I remember after 1 match people flocked here saying Ramsdale has never looked assured and give us confidence like him. Clearly not true. This guy is very shaky when pressed and kicks are all over the place.

But since Arteta wants to play in an extreme way, let's judge longer term before deciding.

Qwiss

Clrnc But since Arteta wants to play in an extreme way, let's judge longer term before deciding.

I think he needs a chance to settle into the role and become more comfortable with it before we make a final judgement. So far he's looked very nervy and its probably to do with being asked to play this way and to play at a higher level. No one expected anything from Brentford against City, its different here.

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert

It's even between them all things considered. I do think Aaron had one of the better GK performances of the season so far against Brentford though.

goon

I don’t think it’s about who the better goalkeeper is, I think it’s about who’s better able to follow instructions. Arteta made it very clear that Raya was following his instructions.

Ramsdale has mentioned about how he had to negotiate with Arteta about how high he has to play because he finds it uncomfortable.

I’m yet to really see the benefits, it’s not abundantly clear like it was when Aaron came in. But time will tell.

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