LEGENDARY Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has slammed current boss Mikel Arteta for his treatment of keepers Aaron Ramsdale and David Raya.
Arteta, 41, brought Spaniard Raya in on loan from Brentford in the summer despite Ramsdale impressing last season.
EPAArsene Wenger is not on board with how Mikel Arteta has managed his keepers[/caption]
Arteta has claimed he will swap keepers during the seasonRex
And after Ramsdale started the campaign in between the sticks, Raya has lined up for Arsenal in each of their last six Premier League games.
However, he has begun to show some frailties – namely making a big error to allow Mykhailo Mudryk to lob him during the Gunners’ 2-2 draw with Chelsea earlier this month.
And Wenger, who spent 22 years as Arsenal boss between 1996 and 2018, feels Arteta should have stuck with Ramsdale.
Speaking on beIN Sports, he said: “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.”
When asked whether he believes Ramsdale to be the better keeper, he added: “Better… better… 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.”
Wenger was then quizzed as to which one of shot-stopping or distribution is the key to a good keeper.
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AlamyAaron Ramsdale and David Raya are both vying for Arsenal’s No1 spot[/caption]
To which he replied: “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.”
And Wenger finished by explaining why he always had a clear first-choice keeper.
He said: “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.”
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