Wenger and Seaman: 'Ramsdale has done nothing wrong!'

Since announcing that David Raya will be his number 1 keeper, but that he intends to rotate him with Aaron Ramsdale, and that he is even contemplating switching the goalies during games, Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta shook the football world, fans and coaches. One can hardly remember a coach who has done the same, as it’s almost an unwritten rule that there is not goalkeepers battle, unless it’s the pre-season. By announcing it publically, Arteta almost ‘invited’ everyone to comment on his decision and his former coach Arsene Wenger is one of them. The Frenchman was asked to give his opinion about the situation and he wasn’t supportive on his former player’s decision, as well as ex goalie David Seaman.

Wenger thinks that there should be no competition between keepers during the season, while Seaman is expecting Arteta to stay true to his word and rotate keepers now, when David Raya is not in form. Both like Aaron Ramsdale.

“Personally, I like Ramsdale. If I was in his position I would not give up. I believe he has the chance to come back into the team. I don't know if he's better. I just think Ramsdale has made decisive saves in the games last season. They were not happy maybe with his feet, his distribution” said the Frenchman to beIN Sports.

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During his tenure with Arsenal, Wenger always had good keepers, like David Seaman or Jens Lehmann, but when it comes to modern day dilemma – distribution or shot-saving, he is clear.

“To stop balls going in the back of the net. You know, on the other hand, when you're in this position, you always - it happened to me as well many times - you have a good team but you want to improve the team. And then you look and think, "What can I improve there?" You think maybe the distribution from the back. It happened to me the same with the centre backs, you want a guy who has better distribution from the back but then you realise he is less good defensively and his first job is to defend” Wenger explained. 

The old-school manager also doesn’t favor the idea of having a constant battle between keepers and thinks the club should decide on one keeper and stick with him throughout the season.

“That's my belief, I don't believe in rotation with goalkeepers, I don't believe in a lack of clarity of the hierarchy with goalkeepers. That doesn't work” he said.

And one of his old keepers, David Seaman feels the same. During his tenure with Arsenal (13 years), he won 12 trophies and he also finds it tough to get this ‘rotation’ thing which Arteta is forcing.

“It's tough at the moment and it's tough on Aaron. I remember when I was at Arsenal and they paid a lot of money for Richard Wright. He came in as my number two and I thought: 'Whoa, this is serious competition', but I showed him what I could do. But Arsene Wenger at the time didn't say, 'I'm going to rotate the goalkeepers', and that's what Mikel has said. So now we're looking, watching and thinking, 'David's not having the best of times at the moment and he's making a couple of mistakes, will he get rotated?' And if that happens then Mikel's true to his word. But it is tough because Aaron's not done a lot wrong. Last year he was goalkeeper of the year as voted by the players. That's one of the biggest awards that you could ever hope for. Then he started this season really well, played against Scotland and finds himself on the bench. Aaron is only 24. He's still got a long time to learn his trade but it's a tough time for him at the moment. All we can do is wait and see and see what happens because Mikel even spoke about rotating them in game, like bringing the goalkeeper off, and I thought 'Really?” Seaman told The Football Gods podcast