Three months into the season, Arsenal have conceded just nine goals in 11 Premier League matches, with only Manchester City (eight) allowing fewer, but lapses have cost them.
That was also a theme that haunted them in the second half of the title race back in the spring. This time around, Arsenal have managed to salvage points despite gifting goals away to Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea, but could not do the same at St James’ Park against Newcastle United on Saturday.
Advertisement
Aside from the VAR debate around Anthony Gordon’s winner, it was another goal that could have been prevented by Arsenal players staying alert before a Joe Willock cross even reached Joelinton and marker Gabriel Magalhaes. After it did, goalkeeper David Raya could not claim the ball and Gordon poked it into the net from close range.
He was also caught out in his positioning away to Chelsea last month, with Mykhailo Mudryk scoring from a tight angle; left Sevilla inches away from equalising in the Champions League match in Spain a few days later after a rogue punch went backwards; and was lucky Erling Haaland could not get on the end of a cross he missed just before half-time in Arsenal’s 1-0 win over Manchester City in early October.
Raya has undoubted quality — enough to convince Arsenal to part with a £3million ($3.7m) loan fee that could become a permanent £30m deal next summer. He impressed enough in his two Premier League seasons with Brentford that Bayern Munich, Tottenham and Manchester United also had interest in signing him. Yet the 28-year-old — who has displaced Aaron Ramsdale as first choice for Arsenal and started seven successive Premier League games since his debut against Everton on September 17 — has not been a calming presence since he crossed London from west to north.
So have his performances dipped? Has his technique changed? We run through the key aspects of the Spaniard’s game, with analysis from The Athletic’s goalkeeping expert, Matt Pyzdrowski…
To catch or punch a cross?
Raya’s average position in 2023-24 is slightly higher than it was in both his previous top-flight seasons: 18.1 yards this season compared with 15.8 in the Premier League with Brentford.
Raya has been reasonable, for the most part, when dealing with crosses, but those erratic moments stick in the memory.
The Spain international is facing half the amount of crosses compared to his two completed Premier League seasons (7.43 per 90 minutes at Arsenal — 15.7 and 16.8 with Brentford) and is successfully stopping at more than double the rate (19.2 per cent for Arsenal — 8.7 and 6.7 per cent at Brentford). Last season, Raya was ranked second in the division for catching crosses, but decision-making in certain moments is making life harder for him and for Arsenal.
Advertisement
Matt Pyzdrowski’s analysis: The decision to punch or catch can depend on the angle the goalkeeper has towards the ball and the positions of their defenders and the attacking players, in addition to the speed, spin and trajectory of the delivery. Balls that are hit hard and spinning can be quite difficult to catch cleanly, especially in traffic, and therefore the decision to punch is often best, as seen below against Newcastle.
When the ball is arriving in a more predictable fashion, catching it can become easier when you have a clear path and your decision-making is sound.
Throughout Raya’s career, this is something he has generally been excellent at — he’s regarded as one of the better goalkeepers in crossing situations in the Premier League despite his smaller frame (6ft/183cm) – but this season he just seems off and to me that largely has to do with his decision-making process, which appears clouded.
Considering the circumstances and everything that’s been happening at Arsenal surrounding the goalkeeper situation, it’s quite possible (and seems to me) that he’s not playing freely and is worried about making mistakes.
Throw in the fact that Ramsdale really didn’t do much wrong to get benched and it adds a bit more pressure for Raya to perform.
Positioning
Last season, Raya tended to take up a similar starting position for deeper crosses (edge of the six-yard box).
This benefited Brentford late on in April’s 3-3 draw with Brighton as he quickly sprang from his starting position to claim a floated Solly March cross (below). From there, he found Ivan Toney with a similar long pass, but the striker was fouled.
The 28-year-old has carried this on at Arsenal and sets up attacks. Below, Gustavo Hamer’s floated free kick, during the 5-0 victory against Sheffield United last month, is an example of a simpler ball to manage.
Raya can catch under little pressure and plays a nicely-shaped ball up the left for Gabriel Martinelli to chase, which led to a goalscoring chance.
However, the positions he takes up against Chelsea and Newcastle when conceding those goals show the opposite side of his ‘aggressive’ positioning.
Pyzdrowski’s analysis: I understand why he wants to take the position he does — Raya wants to be able to take the cutback across the box and snuff it out before it gets dangerous, but I feel against both Chelsea and Newcastle he got it wrong and was committed too far towards his near post. It’s right to have that positioning when the attacker is serving the ball from within his box and wide of the goal (because the angle and distance mean it’s harder to beat the goalkeeper or lift it over them), but in the few instances when he has been caught out it has been delivered from well outside the box from positions where the cutback wasn’t on.
This is especially true of the latest example against Newcastle (below) because it is served from an attacker who uses his right foot. Sure, he could hit it with the outside of his foot and curl it in, but that’s an incredibly difficult ball to play and wasn’t really possible. A goalkeeper always has to consider the percentages when taking up their positioning and where they expect the ball to go, in addition to how much of the goal/spaces they can cover.
Sometimes, they take up more aggressive positions because they feel they can cut the ball out more easily than if they had a more conservative position.
I am one of those coaches who think in those moments it’s worth it, but it’s very hard for me to justify his positioning against Chelsea and Newcastle. For me, it’s not aggressive, it’s poor and risky.
Overall, stylistically, I wouldn’t say anything has changed since his time at Brentford; there aren’t any holes in his game, it all comes down to decision-making and playing with confidence, which is something he seems to be struggling with right now.