Aaron Ramsey's resurgence - The rise of the 'midfield engine'

Aaron Ramsey scoring Arsenal’s fourth goal against Wigan Atheltic.

Arsenal rounded off another victory at the Emirates against a Wigan side who were fighting tooth and nail to secure themselves in the Barclay’s Premier League next season. Four goals were scored by the Gunners who, ostensibly, showed Wigan how the passing game really works. Santi Cazorla’s four assists saw two goals from Lukas Podolski, one from Theo Walcott and the other from Aaron Ramsey.

Ramsey, who rounded off another impressive display at the heart of midfield, after the match, looked forward to playing in Europe next season by saying, “We are looking forward to going to Newcastle, finishing the job off and getting into the Champions League next season.“

The Welshman was heavily criticised at the beginning of the year for some poor performances after being regularly deployed on positions that aren’t suited to his game play. Manager Arsene Wenger sometimes put Aaron Ramsey on the left wing while Gervinho was away and Podolski was injured; he also had to fill in on the right-back slot many times when Bacary Sagna was injured. Playing in these positions poorly after saying, “If the manager wants me to play there, I’m not going to say no to that,” only enraged the fans to such an extent that many bet against their team if they saw the ex-Cardiff man play in the starting eleven.

Mikel Arteta and Aaron Ramsey’s partnership is turning out to be an incredible one.

But now, Ramsey has cemented his position in the midfield engine-room beside Mikel Arteta. This position was usually filled with the talismanic Jack Wilshere but a recurrence of his injury concerns meant his playing time reduced, which gave Ramsey the chance to grab the opportunity. Ramsey has taken to the role like a duck to water and was preferred over Wilshere even after the Englishman came back into the squad. However, that might have also been because of the persistent niggle that Wilshere has been experiencing in his left ankle. Nonetheless, Wenger sees Ramsey in his current position the perfect fit and Wilshere as more of a number 9.

As a young footballer at Cardiff, Aaron Ramsey played the role of a central attacking midfielder. He was successful in the role because of his excellent acceleration and his ball control skills, however, after a horrific double leg-break against Stoke City following a Shawcross tackle, which is turning out to be a routine, the player was out. Nine months it took for Aaron to return to football and at that stage of his career, it was a massive blow to the Gunners and to the player himself.

The double leg break, a career threatening injury against Stoke in 2010.

After decent loan spells at Nottingham Forest and Cardiff City, the Welshman returned to the Emirates but he was never the footballer that he was before the incident. Now, Ramsey doesn’t have that quick acceleration any more; he still, however, maintains that ball control and can hold-off players really well, prompting Wenger to play him in a more defensive role.

Fast forward two years and it is soon turning out to be one of Wenger’s best ever decisions. Ramsey has an incredible 88.4% success rate in passing, which is amongst the highest in the Premier League. He also has the highest tackle success rate in Europe with 90.74%, ahead of Bayern Munich’s Javi Martinez with 82%. The player is growing in confidence with every game and with the current rate of improvement, he’s soon to become a sure world-class player.

Having signed a long-term deal with Arsenal along with Wilshere, Kieran Gibbs, Carl Jenkinson, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Walcott, Ramsey’s future is amongst the better youngsters in Europe. Together, if they grow, together will they succeed and they can always count on Ramsey being there. He really is a ‘midfield engine’.