Aaron Ramsdale hailed the removal of a “mental block” after Arsenal ended their long losing run against Manchester City with a shootout win in the Community Shield.
Arsenal had lost all three meetings with last season’s title rivals but snatched victory from the jaws of defeat when Leandro Trossard cancelled out Cole Palmer’s goal in the 11th minute of added time. Ramsdale was pivotal to their 4-1 shootout win, saving from Rodri, and said the psychological barrier that has dogged them has now disappeared.
“For us it’s a statement,” he said. “It’s a marker to know we can go and beat Man City in a big game when it matters. I’m not sure what it will be like this season but that mental block is gone. We’re ready to push on now.”
Trossard’s strike was heavily deflected off Manuel Akanji but Ramsdale embraced the stroke of fortune. “We’ve been working hard for two years,” he told ITV. “We haven’t had luck, which was probably needed in previous seasons. We’ve stuck at it. It’s worked today.”
Mikel Arteta welcomed Ramsdale’s sentiment. “If Aaron feels it this way, great,” he said. “It’s [about] what the players feel when they are there and they are convinced they can beat any team. We knew the challenge, especially because of their maturity and how often they play finals, but today we showed a real resilience and determination to win and fight the game.”
Pep Guardiola expressed dissatisfaction about the amount of time added to the 90 minutes. Trossard was afforded his scoring opportunity because of treatment given to Thomas Partey and Kyle Walker for a clash of heads during the additional period. Guardiola felt the eight minutes initially signalled was excessive and questioned the new rules that seek to offset time-wasting by adding lost minutes to the end of a half.
“We have to get used to it,” he said. “I had the feeling that there didn’t happen much to [merit] eight minutes but it’s a question for the international board [Ifab]. Now games will be 100 minutes, that’s for sure. And if there are seven goals, tomorrow morning I’m still here playing.”
Guardiola reiterated that he wanted Walker and Bernardo Silva, both of whom started amid external interest, to stay. “[Walker] is such an important player for us and hopefully he can stay,” he said. “At the end we have one more [year] on his contract. It is not the end of his contract and if someone wants him they have to talk to the club as is the case for Bernardo. We want him to stay because he is so important for us.”
