Ramires – Frustrating Or Brilliant (by Gary Watton)
Ramires – Frustrating or Brilliant?
When Mr Ramires, our midfield maestro, got himself foolishly sent off last Friday against Bayern Munich, someone posted on the BBC website, that the ‘Blue Kenyan’ is a “liability” in big matches. I cannot help but agree to some extent with this.
When the Brazilian first played for us under Ancelotti [it seems like light years ago], the consensus of opinion was that he made a really slow and unimpressive start to his Chelsea career. It wasn’t until after the new year of his first season that he started to find his feet.
Then he started to weigh in with quite a few goals and goal assists.
Certainly nobody can ever fault his phenomenal work rate. He remains to this day one of the most industrious box-to-box players. However, his tackling is erratic and his passing is generally poor. I lost count of the number of times he gave the ball away at home to ManUre in the FA Cup replay, to name but one example. He does get himself booked once too often as a result of mistimed tackles, and unlike the great Makalele, he isn’t clever enough to foul and tackle and keep himself from being red-carded. Claude never allowed himself to be dismissed and he put himself about plenty.
It seems to me that Ramires needs to start using his brains more. He even speaks out of turn with referees once too often as well. It will be a big challenge for the so-called Special One to ensure that Ramires becomes consistent at passing and tackling. If he can bring out the best in Ramires, it would be a huge plus for Chelsea. I certainly am grateful for Ramires’ sublime goal in the Nou Camp that turned that night of high drama against Barcelona on its head.
However, Ramires, for me, is that unique kind of footballer who is liable to produce brilliance and stupidity on the football field within five minutes of each other. He remains a frustrating talent.
Gary Watton [http://sporthistorian.blog.com/chelsea]
I disagree. Completely. He isn’t a defensive midfielder. So his comparisons with Makalele are unfounded. Passing isn’t his strength either. He’s an Essien mould powerful bull of a midfielder who can surge ahead with the ball destroying the opposition midfielders on the way. Like Yaya Toure. He’s being played out of position at a place where tackling is important. That’s a mistake.
totally agrre with this article-Ramires needs to improve his tackling, passing and shooting drastically if he is to stay a regular-so far his been very lucky to be chosen so many times ahead of more talented players.
I love Ramires , love his work ethic and passion ( are you reading this Fernando ! ) one of the first names on the team-sheet for me, and scorer of many important goals . Unfortunate in the sendings-off as in the modern game you just can`t tackle hard but fair anymore !
Put him out on the wide, were he can gallop down the wing, beat players on a breakaway and finish beautifully. Ramires isn’t a holding midfielder. Time to use his athleticism.
All the comments here are good and valid, and they certainly reveal one thing: an ongoing dilemma about where to play Ramires. Perhaps he is a victim of his own versatility. He could play wide, but Hazard, Willian, and Schurrle are ahead of him in that position. He could play as an attacking midfielder, but Mata, Oscar, and de Bruyne are presumably the first picks there, while Mikel, Van Ginkel, and Essien seem more natural holding players.
I believe John Terry was booed at Celtic Park today at Stan Petrovs charity match by a minority .We know John is a big Celtic fan so apologies from the great Celtic support this is not what we are about nor was the day.
Thanks JT for coming up to Glasgow and supporting Stan .
Its great Mark that JT supported Petrov`s cause at Celtic , but really he should still have been leading England out this week !
Fair play though to JT ,he`s our legend, if not the rest of the country !!