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It really comes down to two games. Ramdale’s worst performance, from a psxG standpoint, came against Fulham. He allowed 2 goals on a psxG of .4. Raya’s best performance came against Tottenham, allowing 2 goals on a psxG of 2.6. You take those games out of the picutre (which is stupid given the sample size anyway) and the differences become less stark.
It’s also worth considering the overall defensive performance has been better with Raya than Ramsdale. Cart/pony - you decide. Ramsdale did play the opening 3 games of the season with Partey as a right back and without the Big Gab/Saliba pairing. During those first 4 games, we allowed more shots and more shots on target than the most recent 4 game stretch where Raya has played. On average, the psxG of the shots Ramsdale saw was higher than Raya’s, meaning the team arguably gave up better chances to the opposition during the first 4 games.
Raya distinguishes himself by what he does with the ball, attacking crosses, and his defensive actions. I still don’t think there is much between them as shot stoppers though.
Ramsdale is not a bum. He has periods where he is dialed in and shows great promise as a shot stopper. I don’t think it’s at all outlandish to suggest there isn’t much between them in that regard. If Ramsdale had played the position like Raya does in possession, we wouldn’t have signed his replacement.
At least to me, it’s a stark difference between how Ramsdale and Raya are on the ball and their willingness to invite pressure. I don’t even think it’s a lack of talent for Ramsdale, but, for whatever reason, he hoofed it long constantly when he lacked time on the ball. Arteta wants the opposing team to press, so that we can bypass it and create transitions, or to create gaps to exploit as the lines get disjointed. It’s a crucial part of the GK role in the modern game, and Ramsdale didn’t evolve. Rather, he became more conservative with time.
What’s interesting is that Raya launches the ball more frequently than Ramsdale. On the whole, Raya’s plays the ball longer than Ramsdale did this year and he completes way more of these passes. I think it really does come down to timing and comfort on the ball.
Yeah, it’s more that Raya makes decisions when to launch it long when a pass is on, and not just becuse he’s under pressure. Ramsdale, and this was a critique I had of him way before Raya arrived, had a tendency to get rid of the ball as soon as he was put under pressure, instead of passing to Saliba or Gabriel.
We didn’t play out as much from the back last season as we have done since Raya became 1st choice. He’s much more involved from the eye test at least, but if you have stats that prove me wrong that’d be interesting to see. I have seen stats that say Raya has made more passes and had more touches per game.