Aaron Ramsdale thinks Arsenal choker critics are shortsighted. Teammates showed up at the club's training ground on Tuesday morning, waiting for the usual post-match report from Mikel Arteta. The Arsenal manager prefers to wait two days after a disappointing result before talking to his team about what went wrong and after the 3-0 thrashing of Brighton on Sunday there was much to discuss.
But Arteta didn't want to talk about Brighton. This time, the Arsenal manager instead decided to look at the bigger picture to remind his players of what they have achieved this season and show them how much they have grown as a team.
“A different style of meeting,” says Ramsdale. “It was a memory of how far we have come. He pointed out that we could still have the most wins of any Arsenal team in the Premier League. It was about how progressive this season has been and how positive we can be.”
The Arsenal players clearly needed support. Sunday's defeat effectively ended their title race with Manchester City and the disappointment will be hard to reverse. However, there is a sense of perspective in the club, especially in the first team. The players have heard all the ridicule, all the accusations of “blockage” and “suffocation”, but they know the reality of their own situation.
Does Ramsdale get frustrated when his team is called “bottler”? “It happens when it comes from certain people who don’t necessarily have knowledge or experience,” he says. “I also think it's very difficult to say when a [City] team can win five of the last six titles, have an 11-game winning streak and potentially win a treble. So we have to be realistic too.
“This 'bottling' narrative, I think, is the easy way out. It's just a quick, cheap story from some people who haven't really gone into the history of what we've accomplished. And some people say this and forget that other teams in other years have had the same experience as us, missing the title by a certain number of points. As for us, we are disappointed, but also very proud of ourselves.”
It has been a year of progress for Arsenal collectively and also for Ramsdale as a person. The goalkeeper has become an important part of Arteta's project, in the dressing room and on the pitch, and this week he was awarded a lucrative new contract. “It shows the trust the coach and the club have in me,” he says, sitting happily on a bench by the pond at Arsenal’s training ground.
Aaron Ramsdale signed a new four-year contract on Wednesday. Photo: Stuart McFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images
At just 25 years old, Ramsdale could still be Arsenal's No. 1 in the next decade. “That's the goal,” he says. “I don't want to move anymore. I want to play my football here. Obviously things change very quickly in football, but I want to be the backbone of this club and do special things, win trophies and see what this team can do. I hope we can stay together for a few more years.”
Arteta said last week that none of his players have yet peaked and Ramsdale agrees with his manager's assessment. After all, Arsenal are the second youngest team in the Premier League and there is a genuine feeling at the club that this group of players can do better.
“Besides, next year we are unlikely to there will be someone at peak age,” says Ramsdale. “There are probably eight to ten players who have four or five more years before they reach their peak. It's interesting for us as a team. Next season we want to come out and do well in the Champions League, and every passing year gives us the opportunity to improve.”
For Ramsdale, this season has brought another emotional strain. The title race, he says, has nothing to do with the relegations he experienced at Bournemouth and Sheffield United.
“The pressure of a relegation battle is much worse than a title fight,” he says. “It's more fun when you're at the top of the league. You are trying to play with freedom, with a smile. When you're down there, it's hard to have that mindset.
“I have learned a lot from these sorties. If I hadn't gone through this, I wouldn't have known how to deal with disappointment, out of the box things, and how to respond. You have to have a life to be able to share the differences between football and home. For me, it came from my experience of departure.”
As he got older, Ramsdale learned to switch off. It's an important ability and one he didn't always have. He still obsessively watches football, he says, “regardless of what it is,” but now there are other things to occupy his mind. Golf is liberating, as is his dog, a chow chow named Blue (“he's like a furry lion”). In 2025, he marries his fiancee Georgina.
To the shooting range with @AaronRamsdale98 and @marcusarmitage1 😂#BMWPGA | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/lAtEzC0DYc
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) September 7, 2022
Summer break will give you the opportunity to relax, but until then, Arsenal are determined to finish at a high level. They face Nottingham Forest on Saturday and host Wolves next week, with Arteta telling his players they can't “press the self-destruct button” after losing the title.
For Ramsdale, a trip to the Forest will no doubt give him the opportunity to interact more with rival fans. The goalkeeper is not afraid to give his best and says he enjoys interacting with other fans during games. There are times when it goes too far – he was kicked out by a Tottenham fan earlier this season – but overall Ramsdale thinks it makes him a better player.
“I feed on it,” he says. “Fans pay their money and, right or wrong, they can tell you whatever they want when you're at work. Sometimes you just can't or don't want to take it, so you give them some back.
“But as soon as I enter into a conversation with them, there is a lot of pressure on me. If I mess up, this man will attack me hard. That's where it comes from for me: the extra pressure probably helps me, especially away from home.
Liverpool is a good example. You get slammed by the Cop when you go into the second half, and 30 seconds later you get hit with a hammer. And then, at the end of the game, they clap your hands and show respect. I love it.”
Ramsdale knows Arsenal will have a different mindset next season. They will no longer be surprise rivals and fans will want another title challenge to materialize. “Now there will be new pressure,” says Ramsdale. But there will also be a new motivation, a new hunger and a new sense of faith in a group of players who truly believe they are just getting started.
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