Ben Mee, a defender for Brentford, has defended David Raya, his former teammate, saying the goalkeeper is “top class.”
Amid all the conversations about David Raya and Aaron Ramsdale, Raya’s old Brentford teammate Ben Mee has spoken out to praise the Spaniard’s quality and performances.
When asked whether Raya had the mentality to bounce back from a setback like Saturday’s, Mee was unequivocal.
“Yeah, I think 100%,” Mee said. “He has a great character, a calm head on his shoulders.
“Again, he’s willing to put the ball at risk. I think [Mikel] Arteta will be quite pleased with how he’s been generally overall.
“I think he’s been moving the ball well and obviously there’s two good goalkeepers there fighting for a spot.
“I’m a big fan of [Aaron] Ramsdale as well but for me, David [Raya] is a top goalkeeper, makes great saves as well as you know he obviously got caught out for the cross-shot yesterday.
“He’s really good with his feet, obviously the Spanish national side the way they play as well.
“So, no, he’s top class, a top quality goalkeeper.
Raya has kept four clean sheets in his first seven games at Arsenal, but he’s still come in for criticism for the three games he did concede in.
Neither of the goals scored by Spurs could reasonably be blamed on Raya’s goalkeeping, but he didn’t have his best day playing out from the back on that occasion.
Against RC Lens, it was Raya’s ball to Takehiro Tomiyasu that was cut out for the hosts’ opening goal. Then against Chelsea, Raya gifted the ball to Cole Palmer before recovering to save Palmer’s attempt.
Whether or not you blame Raya for Mudryk’s accidental shot going in, it’s clear he didn’t have his best game on any of those three occasions.
