Aaron Ramsdale: return to Southampton confirmed

[andycap]

Ramsdale seems more than good enough to play for us long term if we decide to sign him permanently. 

I love Popey but as a lot have said pope is more for games where the oppo are gonna be an aerial threat and his commanding of the area will be ideal for it. 

Rammers is essential for games when we can't play out from the back and he becomes an extra option, or if we are expected to dominate a team.  

[relámpago blanco]

2 hours ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

What I'm saying is that on Pope's form this season there's no way Howe is dropping him. Ramsdale is our League Cup (and probably our FA Cup Keeper) and that's how it will stay unless Pope gets injured or has a major collapse in form.

Yeah I agree, I also believe that if Pope gets injured Ramsdale with become number one.

[Lush Vlad]

10 hours ago, Conjo said:

 

His kicking is so poor, i refuse to believe such a talented and smart player is unable to improve it noticably with some focused training. 

 

He's good, but I think he can be better if he wants to with not much extra effort. I'm not expecting hum to suddenly become Ederson with his feet, just better than he is now.

What bollocks  the bloke is in his 30s. Has he just not been trying hard enough to improve up until this point?
 

You reckon him and the coaches watch him spooning it about and think ‘nah. He doesn’t need to work harder and improve that. It’s fine.’

[Conjo]

12 minutes ago, Lush Vlad said:

What bollocks  the bloke is in his 30s. Has he just not been trying hard enough to improve up until this point?
 

You reckon him and the coaches watch him spooning it about and think ‘nah. He doesn’t need to work harder and improve that. It’s fine.’

 

I have no other plausible explanation for it. Or, not as blunt as you put it, but rather that they chose to focus on other things they consider more important with the time they have set aside for training.

[kenlau88210]

2 hours ago, Conjo said:

 

I have no other plausible explanation for it. Or, not as blunt as you put it, but rather that they chose to focus on other things they consider more important with the time they have set aside for training.

The most plausible explanation is that he is simply not good with his feet and probably never will be. Coaching/training can only improve him to an extent

[Lucky]

Howe did mention Ramsdale’s distribution in the presser. Can see it’s in his thought process but would be shocked if he dropped Pope.

 

He tends to stay loyal to a player until they either get injured, suspended or just so out of form it’s undeniable.

 

Pope is none of those things right now so am almost certain he’ll retain the no.1 spot for the foreseeable.

[andycap]

Howe will be loyal to his longterm players Seems that type over a loanee. 

[madras]

Was it a loan with option to buy and if so how much ?

[andycap]

8 minutes ago, madras said:

Was it a loan with option to buy and if so how much ?

Twenty million plus the loan fee. 

[andycap]

So that'll be around 30 million mark. 

[Scoot]

2 minutes ago, andycap said:

So that'll be around 30 million mark. 

 

Paid £4 million for the loan fee didnt we?

[andycap]

2 minutes ago, Scoot said:

 

Paid £4 million for the loan fee didnt we?

Thought it was double figures like 10 million. 

[Scoot]

38 minutes ago, andycap said:

Thought it was double figures like 10 million. 

 

Pretty sure I remember it being reported £4 million.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 1, 2025 by Scoot

[Magpie Mover]

Pope's kicking rather disapproves the theory that Eddie is the messiah and improves all our players. Turning water into wine would be easier than getting Pope to kick the ball competently.

[The Butcher]

It think he needs a few starts in a row now.

[mayubeproud]

When a club has 2 goalkeepers of similar quality, one starting in domestic league while the other starting in cup competitions (including UCL) is not unprecedented and such arrangement tend to have some degree of success. Real Madrid had done this to Diego Lopez/Casillas in 2013/14 and Barcelona with Claudio Bravo/ter-Stegen in 2014/15, with both winning UCL eventually.

 

I think this arrangement could work with Pope/Ramsdale.

[Abacus]

I'd be quite a fan of giving Ramsdale a run between the sticks.

 

Good shot stopper, good distribution, just doesn't command the box as well as Pope, so far.

[Doctor Zaius]

Feels like a no brainer for games where teams employ a low block like. He's provide us with more opportunities in our build up play too. Our defenders know they have to come short for Pope or give him an angle where he can't fuck up a short pass. 

[Dr Venkman]

3 hours ago, Abacus said:

I'd be quite a fan of giving Ramsdale a run between the sticks.

 

Good shot stopper, good distribution, just doesn't command the box as well as Pope, so far.

What does this mean?

[Abacus]

4 minutes ago, Dr Venkman said:

What does this mean?

I don't know what it means, it's just a thing people say but you do notice the difference with a commanding keeper flying in for every free kick or corner. Which is Pope.

[Dr Venkman]

15 hours ago, Abacus said:

I don't know what it means, it's just a thing people say but you do notice the difference with a commanding keeper flying in for every free kick or corner. Which is Pope.

 

Fair enough. I’m not convinced.

[Optimistic Nut]

16 hours ago, Abacus said:

I don't know what it means, it's just a thing people say but you do notice the difference with a commanding keeper flying in for every free kick or corner. Which is Pope.

 

Devil's advocate. When we have as many giants in the team as we have, should we be relying on this as much? It's not exactly as though Ramsdale is rubbish in this area, but the likes of Woltemade, Botman, Burn & Thiaw should be big & strong enough to negate this. 

[Abacus]

7 minutes ago, Optimistic Nut said:

 

Devil's advocate. When we have as many giants in the team as we have, should we be relying on this as much? It's not exactly as though Ramsdale is rubbish in this area, but the likes of Woltemade, Botman, Burn & Thiaw should be big & strong enough to negate this. 

 

Yeah that's a fair point. Pope obviously had a bit of a disaster at the weekend and there's genuine debate about dropping him. Totally get it, just don't want one bad game to affect how he is seen.

 

I've been a bit of a fan of his from the start because I think he has strengths which are underappreciated when he was coming out of the box and snuffing out danger and for his aerial presence, when Dubs was the competition, so it's maybe just me with a bit of my own confirmation bias towards him being particularly strong in those areas.

 

[Lush Vlad]

46 minutes ago, Abacus said:

 

Yeah that's a fair point. Pope obviously had a bit of a disaster at the weekend and there's genuine debate about dropping him. Totally get it, just don't want one bad game to affect how he is seen.

 

I've been a bit of a fan of his from the start because I think he has strengths which are underappreciated when he was coming out of the box and snuffing out danger and for his aerial presence, when Dubs was the competition, so it's maybe just me with a bit of my own confirmation bias towards him being particularly strong in those areas.

 

 

He is particularly strong in those areas and far better at Ramsdale at it.  The numbers I posted up on the previous page show that:
 

Pope:

 

 

Ramsdale (caveat that he will have perhaps played a different role art Southampton):

 

 

 

IMO, I don't think there is an argument against Pope basically being a better keeper than Ramsdale on almost every metric, bar distribution.  How much of a loss it would be to lose some of Pope's strengths.  But gain a keeper than can help in the build up and not lose possession so often, is up for debate.  

 

Although it's not as if we are replacing Pope with Claudio Bravo for his ability with his feet alone and you're expecting him to chuck a goal in every week.  Ramsdale has shown in his career to be a decent keeper.  If a bit erratic and clown like at times.  Most keepers are IMO, they're all mental   So the longer we struggle to build anything from the back and control the ball, especially in certain away games.  Then I'm not as against dropping Pope as I once was. 

 

 

 

Edited November 4, 2025 by Lush Vlad

[Optimistic Nut]

Ramsdale has a bit of Pickford about him. Not as good but I think he's ideal for us if we're trying to progress how we play. Wouldn't be surprised if he's in tomorrow.