Callum Wilson now shares what Aaron Ramsdale did when Newcastle were given a penalty v Arsenal last season

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Being a goalkeeper is about so much more than being technically fantastic.

You can have cat-like reflexes, great command of your area and fantastic distribution, but half the battle is mental between you and the opposition striker.

Indeed, if, as a goalkeeper, you can get in the opposition number nine’s head, you’re already halfway to victory.

One player who knows this very well is Aaron Ramsdale.

The Arsenal goalkeeper, back when he could get a game, used to love the mind games. He’d always be talking to his defence and his opponents in equal measure, and now, Callum Wilson has shared one run-in he had with Ramsdale last season when speaking on the Footballer’s Football Podcast.

Newcastle were given a penalty at St James’ Park against the Gunners last term, only for VAR to rule it out, but during the VAR check, Ramsdale made sure to get in Wilson’s head, running down the pitch to try to plant seeds of doubt in the striker’s mind.

Ramsdale tried to wind Wilson up

The striker shared what the Arsenal goalkeeper did during the penalty check.

“I remember we had a penalty at home against Arsenal. The penalty was awarded and while the VAR check was going on, Ramsdale came up to me and was like ‘Cal, I know where you’re going’. Blah, blah, blah. Then he said ‘I know you’re going this side’. And he’s like walking after me going ‘why you going away from me for? Come back here’.” Wilson said.

“He was literally walking me down from the box and I must have ended up back towards the half way line to the left or right! I was thinking this guy is following me! He’s like ‘I know you’re taking it’ laughing away, trying to get me to laugh.”

“It was trying to mess with my head. But I blocked it out. And I said to him after the game ‘I would have loved to have had that penalty against you and put it in’. My celebration would have been running up to him and standing in front of him. It was funny!”

Works

Regardless of whether or not Wilson thinks he would’ve scored this penalty, it’s clear that Ramsdale’s techniques work quite well.

Ramsdale often tries to get in his opponents’ heads before penalties are taken against him, and that may be why 40% of the penalties he faced last term didn’t end up in the back of the net.

Ramsdale is struggling for minutes at the moment, but if Arsenal ever find themselves in a penalty shootout situation, perhaps they should call upon the England international ahead of David Raya.