Arsenal have put themselves firmly in the driving seat for the last Champions League spot after their emphatic 3-1 win this weekend, but one of the biggest talking points of the game was not the result, but the antics of goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale – according to former Liverpool man Danny Murphy, who accused him of ‘losing the plot’.
The Gunners ended up comfortably beating Manchester United in a battle for fourth in a game that should have been closer than it ended up being. Nuno Tavares opened the scoring in the third minute before Bukayo Saka put them 2-0 up. Cristiano Ronaldo remained the only threat for United as he grabbed his 22nd of the season before Granit Xhaka put the game out of reach in the 70th minute with his long-range effort.
The game could have ended up closer had United man Bruno Fernandes scored his penalty in the 57th minute, as his effort sent Ramsdale the wrong way but bounced off the post and out of play. This led to an excessively jubilant celebration from the Arsenal goalkeeper in the face of the Portuguese international, which has not sat right with some people in the world of football.
One of those is ex-Liverpool man and pundit Murphy, who joined Jim White and Simon Jordan on their TalkSport show on Monday morning and stated Ramsdale was ‘losing the plot’ – and he would not accept it if he was manager.
He said: “I always think when you’re getting too emotionally involved, you’re detracting from your own performance. When you start getting to the Martin Keown in Van Nistelrooy’s face or Ramsdale jumping out, I think you’re losing the plot a little bit.
“If I was his manager, I’d be saying ‘don’t do that again’.”
TIF Thoughts on Ramsdale’s celebration…
Was Ramsdale right to celebrate like he did?Yes
No
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Tensions and nerves are always high during games of the magnitude of Arsenal v Manchester United, especially when the result could be the defining game for the last Champions League spot, so it is understandable why Ramsdale would react in this way when Fernandes missed the penalty.
However, we do think it is acceptable when the goalkeeper himself has made an impressive save from the penalty for his team – not so much when said ‘keeper has dived the wrong way and was fortunate enough for the ball to hit the post and go wide.
Although Ramsdale is a very good goalkeeper and his celebration shows he is obviously passionate, it just comes off more as needless when he hasn’t actually been the reason for the penalty miss.