Did Dortmund Expose A Flaw In Aaron Ramsey’s Game?

After Aaron Ramsey’s blistering start to the new season, you could forgive him for one poor performance, but in a huge Champions League game at home, you’d expect a little more from the Welshman who’s lit up the Premier League this season.

Arsenal lost 2-1 at home to last season’s beaten finalists, Borussia Dortmund, thanks to a late finish from Robert Lewandowski who also assisted Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s opener.

Unfortunately for Ramsey, he was also heavily involved in the opening goal. His first defensive error of the season led to the Germans scoring from the edge of Arsenal’s penalty area.

Ramsey collected possession just outside of Arsenal’s 18-yard box but was dispossessed by Marco Reus; Lewandowski then laid the ball off to the right for Mkhitaryan to slide the ball to the left of Wojciech Szczesny.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan Goal v Arsenal

The Welsh midfielder, who has one goal in this season’s Champions League group stage, spent most of his time on the inside right of midfield. He’ll be disappointed with his lack of appearances in Dortmund’s penalty area, though. Unusually for Ramsey, he rarely managed to get inside Dortmund’s 18-yard box, or even near it. Nuri Sahin dominated midfield so Ramsey found it difficult to penetrate further up the pitch.

Aaron Ramsey Heat Map v Dortmund

Due to his inability to effect the play further up the field, Ramsey had just one shot from distance that flew well wide of Roman Weidenfeller’s goal.

Ramsey continually failed to impress in other areas, such as passing, with an 81% passing accuracy which is 5% short of his Premier League average this season. 39 out of 48 passes wouldn’t be a terrible figure for a midfielder but for Ramsey, who is a talented passer, he should be reaching better figures. Furthermore, in the first-half, Ramsey’s pass accuracy was at 78%, which is well below is usual average. Perhaps this indicates that the Welsh midfielder suffers when he is pressed in deep areas by the opponent, one will also recall that this intense pressing on Ramsey lead to the first Dortmund goal too.

Aaron Ramsey First-Half Passes v Dortmund (78%)

He lost both of his headed duels but won all three of his tackles and succeeded in three interceptions so his defensive display, aside from the opening goal, was quite good.

The 22-year-old got his lowest Squawka Performance Score of the season, so far, with -24. He started brightly but after conceding the first goal, he struggled to improve as the game passed him by.