Verbruggen, is sort of their new future home so I think they’re easing him in. Plus from what I heard he has it in his contract that he gets very big bonuses by being on the bench.

Did you start watching football yesterday?

That’s literally the only reason to excuse this rant.

that’s despite neither of them being able to keep a single clean sheet this season which shows it’s obviously hampering the team.

While this is possible, we can’t make this conclusion. There’s other factors at play. For example, I’m pretty sure they haven’t won since Estupinan got injured.

Usually a consistent back line helps a team, but we can’t say this is obviously hampering them.

The media have had their pants in a twist all season over the situation with Ramsdale and Raya, despite there not being a situation at all, Raya is clearly number one and Ramsdale, well, isn’t

So why has this been made such a big deal out of when Brighton quite literally have and use two number 1 goalkeepers to their detriment and no one has said a word?

I think it’s because that was initially what was thought, Arteta’s quotes early on, people overrating Ramsdale so it’s newsworthy, Arsenal being a bigger club with more fans, Ramsdale in the England team.

Simple reasons why the specific situation is in the narrative.

1. Arsenal are a big club and therefore we tend to stay in the narrative.
2. Ramsdale is English. If he was foreign it would barely be discussed.

Still amazes me as a Sunderland fan that Jason Steele is playing regular Premier League football

Arsenal situation is not the same as Brighton’s. Ramsdale was the set #1 after being bought quite recently for €28m and 25yrs old. He’s also part of the England squad.

Steele was a free transfer, broke through as a 2nd GK, 33yrs old and not near the England set up. Brighton’s model is based around young players, so sharing time with Verbruggen (a 21 yr old prospect from the Belgian league) is probably not unexpected or controversial in the slightest.

If having 2 goalkeepers is to Brighton’s detriment, at least it comes with a long term plan. Arsenal’s situation is unstable and comments from Ramsdale’s father make it a better story for the media. This isn’t just a “everyone wants to have a pop at Arsenal” moment.

Ugh not this rubbish again.

To start, I reject the premise of the question because neither Raya nor Ramsdale are capable of being a #1 keeper at the highest-level.

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Nope. Steele, Verbruggen and De Zerbi at Brighton.

No shit Sherlock.

If you’d bothered to watch Brighton at all this season you’d know he’s been switching keepers regularly from game to game, presumably to ensure the right match-ups with each player’s skill set and the match-specific tactics.

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neither of them being able to keep a single clean sheet this season which shows it’s obviously hampering the team.

Again, if you’d bothered to watch Brighton at all this season you’d know they have a relatively weak defence, compounded by how half their team has been sold to other clubs and their current attacking style and formation (with entirely new players) leave them vulnerable defensively.

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So why has this been made such a big deal out of when Brighton quite literally have and use two number 1 goalkeepers to their detriment and no one has said a word?

Because Arteta made it a big deal for no reason.

De Zerbi is just doing what Klopp did for a period with Mignolet and Karius years ago.

Arteta lied that he would do the same, then screwed over Ramsdale for Raya and tried to gaslight everyone about it, triggering a media shitstorm which has now extended to commentary from Ramsdale’s dad.

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If it’s because Arsenal are a far bigger club so it’s more of a story then that shows they don’t really give a shit about the situation, they just want to have a pop at Arsenal as usual.

Christ, the victim mentality from Arsenal fans knows no bounds.

It’s nothing to do with the club itself and having “a pop at Arsenal”, it’s everything to do with the behaviour and words of the lying dickhead you’ve currently got as a manager.

Brighton is more about whether we play short passes at the back against pressure or long balls and that determines the goalie usually. Rather than having one that’s obviously better

raya sucks, ramsdale is better

Because the situation is entirely different. Ramsdale had that number 1 spot and was completely stripped of it by Arteta. Brighton has had Steele as number 1 but now they are just rotating

Because Ramsdale was just given a huge contract and assurances he was their man moving forward.

I think it’s made a big deal out of it because:

(1) It’s Arsenal, big 6 club just naturally get more attention.

(2) Ramsdale appeared to have really settled at Arsenal, and appeared to have a solid (although not necessarily great) season.

(3) They paid quite a bit for Ramsdale, it was seen by many as a mistake at the time. This fee is largely because he’s homegrown and is capable of starting. When you’re signing a home-grown player, you usually pay big with the intention of starting them most games (e.g. Declan Rice), or you go cheap/free rotation option (e.g. Young at Everton). They spent serious money on Ramsdale, which normally indicates he’s going to start unless you sell him.

(4) He just signed a new contract. Ramsdale is stuck there unless Arsenal are happy with the money offered. There’s no chance he signed that thinking he isn’t 1st team goalie, he surely can’t be too happy.

(5) Raya - stats wise - did better than Ramsdale last season. However, when it comes to ‘the eye test’, to the average fan you wouldn’t consider him a huge improvement on Ramsdale. Given Ramsdale proved he can play at this level, replacing him is a big risk to squad dynamics, especially the improvement Raya offers isn’t night and day.

(6) Cara made the point that clubs that rotate goalies in the league, usually do so in situations where neither goalie is particularly great. If you had a properly good goalie, he’d start most games, and the 2nd goalie would either accept his place or quickly leave to get playing time.

I didn’t think you were talking about Ramsdale, Raya and Arteta because none of that first paragraph applies to them…

Chopping and changing never works, in the early days of Given & Harper together at Newcastle in late 90s there wasn’t much to pick between them , both were good keepers (though Given couldnt kick beyond the half way like) until Given got a run in the team and really cemented his place and became a much better keeper

I mean people just like making headlines from this shit and bashing Arteta for his weird ideas, especially if they don’t go quite as planned. But I still stand with his decision, why shouldn’t a goalkeeper be like any other position on the field. If it’s about “trust” that the defenders build with their number two as some say… Well, what’s the point of having any number two keeper if you cannot trust him anyway.