Raya joins Arsenal: Page 32 - The Arsenal discussion community: One More in the Tolly

Raya joins Arsenal

Big Willie

RocktheCasbah Big Willie Mavropanos, for West Ham.

Ah ok, I get you now. You threw me on the few weeks bit thinking it was something within the last month or so. Ended up going back to the start of the year and stopped at the Fulham game.

Big Willie

RocktheCasbah admittedly, I'm stretching the definition of "a few

Yeah that was it haha.

Edit: By the way, I'm just taking the piss regarding my comment to Flo, that was an unsaveable header.

CPM

Big Willie I still didn't love his effort though. He has this habit of jumping early, when he has time to take a step or two and propel himself further in the air. Incidentally this was perhaps Ramsdale's biggest strength.

RocktheCasbah

I know. 😊👍

Claudius

goon yeah. And problem for all of Ederson, Alisson and Raya is they don’t face a lot of shots, plus the few they face often come from countering moves. What happens to them is they they either face higher xG shots or are very prone to variance from the shots. So on shot that shouldn’t be going in ever (eg. Mudryk vs Raya or Trossard vs Alisson) just wrecks your data.

goon

Some really good sweeper keeper moves today. Really cool on the ball too generally.

Need to shed this habit of conceding from every other shot on target though.

Don Pacifico

CPM yeah, really limits his reach as a 'keeper. Was never going to save Willock's header yesterday but he was so far from even being close.

daredevil

I thought he was good today. Kept calm under pressure and helped us play out the press, and was on his toes sweeping everything up. Although, gut feeling was that he was lacking a little for the goal again.

Claudius

Was exceptional again yesterday. I remember when we played Brentford couple seasons back and Toney just monstered us. A lot of that was Raya’s direct distribution. Early yesterday, he sent 60 yard kick out to Havertz, who controlled possession. And in that moment, you could see the coherence of the squad building. We’ve replaced Xhaka with a guy who can double up as a target man, and our goalie has out of this world distribution. Our ability to vary play and create different threats is significantly improved over last season.

Sicario2 - Tier 1

Burnwinter

Well I've been suss on exactly how much Raya himself has to do with his recent clean sheets given we've practically faced negative xG, but I will give the man credit just for being on the pitch at this point given how well we're doing. Even an inanimate carbon rod can become a hero under Mikel Arteta.

goon

Burnwinter I will give the man credit just for being on the pitch at this point given how well we're doing. Even an inanimate carbon rod can become a hero under Mikel Arteta.

I think you're doing him a disservice here. Raya is doing his part if creating that low xG environment. Think back to his early season performances and how uneasy we felt each time he got the ball, or each time he came for a cross, or how out of sync our centre backs were with him. That sort of thing infects our whole game.

There's now a measure of calm and assuredness now that surpasses the Ramsdale days and it plays a part in how we're performing.

Don Pacifico

Yeah, that stat feels like more of a reflection of our collective control of matches as opposed to the individual contribution from Raya...

Pepe LeFrits

I don't disagree, but given how much negative attention he got when arrived, largely due to the conventional wisdom re: keepers, he has probably earnt some credit the other now given the traditional view of how much a keeper influences his back four in terms of composure, communication, etc

Pepe LeFrits

... I still think our defence has it to prove btw, we're on a great run now but we need to keep it going. Only a few games ago we were on course for historically way too many goals against to win the league

Claudius

Most of our control comes in the top half of the field. But one of the things you’ll notice about the entire team is how quickly we move the ball, even when it comes back to our back half. Whenever we face an attack and the defenders recover the ball, they pass it quickly, often to Raya, and he also distributes it quickly. It’s this tempo that keeps teams constantly under pressure. Doesn’t feel like a massive thing, but Raya is definitely contributing to how we just sit on opponents.

Don Pacifico

Yeah, I don't disagree with any of this. There have definitely been some positives the last few months - but I'm still not sure the net gains to our 'control' are worth it versus investing in a GK who can consistently pull out match-winning saves. Appreciate that may make me sound like a goalkeeping dinosaur but our ability to control is predicated on the system working every match; in those where it breaks down, I'd like the reassurance of knowing that our goalie can ably deliver against his primary function.

Claudius

Don Pacifico you have to lean into your strengths. If you are a team that wants to possess the ball and move it quickly, you get a goalie who enables that. Raya also gives us the ability to beat the press and hit Havertz directly. We’ve leaned into keeping the opponent under pressure.

If we were a team that absorbed pressure, then I would want the best shot stopper in the world. But if we are going to hold teams over 7 games to an average of 0,3xG, I think we are focusing on the right strengths

lorddulaarsenal

Top tender. So alert, agile and good handling. Now settled in.

Don Pacifico

Claudius But if we are going to hold teams over 7 games to an average of 0,3xG, I think we are focusing on the right strengths

Well, up until a month or so ago, we definitely weren't keeping xG that low. Whilst I hope this is a step-change in our performance, it's very much the outlier as things stand.

Burnwinter

If he keeps a clean sheet at the Etihad I'll convert.

Claudius

Don Pacifico even if it’s a step down, we were still clearly the strongest team in the league on defense. The whole season, our defense has been far better than our rivals. We’ve suffered variance.

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