FANTASTIC SEASON

The ongoing season is proving to be a fantastic one for the Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey. He has scored a total of 11 goals for the Gunners so far this season out of which 5 has been the Champions League goals. He is being praised everywhere at the moment.

But, 12 months back, the situation was not quite like this for Ramsey. In the first half of the last season, he was going through a horrible phase and was facing criticism from all quarters. There was huge pressure on the Arsenal boss, Arsene Wenger, not to include him in the starting XI especially for the home games as he had become hugely unpopular among the fans. He was being booed in each and every home game. But, the credit should go to the French manager for the fact that he stood by Ramsey during that tough phase and he has been repaid by the Welsh international this season.

In one of his interviews recently, Wenger talked about Ramsey and he praised the 22 years old player for the way he has come out of that bad phase. Wenger said, “The way Aaron has bounced back, he deserves to be lauded for that. He refused to give up. He hanged in there and kept backing himself.”

“In the last 1 year or so, he has worked hard on the technical aspects of his game. You can clearly see that. The way he finishes now, there is a lot of improvement there. He has proved to everyone that he is good enough to be playing at this level.”

Ramsey is not a new face at the Emirates Stadium. He has been there since the last 5 years and he has already played more than 100 Premier League games for the Gunners.

FLAMINI RE-JOINS

One of Arsenal’s major signing of the summer has been midfielder Mathieu Flamini, who has rejoined the club. The midfielder left the club back into those made on a free transfer for Italian club AC Milan. After spending much of the last few years on the bench at the San Siro, he has returned to hospital on a free transfer. Flamini had one of his best seasons in his career with Arsenal. His last season in the first spell with Arsenal was really memorable, but he was never able to replicate that with AC Milan.

After managing to secure his signature, Wenger has said that the midfielder came back to the Emirates stadium largely because he missed Arsenal’s style of football. The club may not have won a major trophy in the last eight years, but they are known as one of the clubs with a great football philosophy. At 29 years of age, Flamini has great experience to provide to the rest of the Arsenal team, which has young and upcoming stars like Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey. The time spent at Milan has made Flamini more tactically astute according to Wenger, who is expecting big things from the Frenchman this season.

“Yes [he has improved tactically] because in Italy it’s all more calculated. In England it’s more drive and enthusiasm. He has a good mixture. He wanted to come back because he missed the way we play. It didn’t create any big headlines when he came back but I always feel the best way to make headlines is the quality of your display because people will notice. He integrated very well into the spirit, the solidarity and the hunger of the team,” said Wenger in an interview given to Arsenal Player.

Flamini signed a three-year contract with the London club.