5 Areas Aaron Ramsey Still Needs to Improve for Arsenal

While Aaron Ramsey recuperates from his latest hamstring injury, he might give consideration to the areas of his game that could still improve.

Despite being named Arsenal's Player of the Season for 2013/14, this campaign has shown there are still plenty of things Ramsey could work on.

In this piece, we identify five things that could help Ramsey become the complete midfielder.

Preparation and Fitness

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This is a big one: Aaron Ramsey needs to stay fit.

This season, the Welshman has struggled with a succession of hamstring problems. It may be a congenital weakness and thus out of his hands. However, he must do all he can to improve his preparation and try to iron out any areas of weakness.

Until Ramsey can remain fit for the majority of the season, it will be difficult for him to achieve consistency in his displays.

Keeping It Simple

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Like many attacking midfielders, Aaron Ramsey loves the more beautiful aspects of the game. However, that can lead to over-elaboration.

There is nothing more exasperating than seeing an Arsenal attack breakdown because Ramsey has attempted an unnecessary backheel. He appeared to have eradicated that from his play in 2013, but the tendency to produce tortuous tricks has sadly returned.

It's a needless risk, and Ramsey doesn't need to do it.

Reading the Game

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One area Aaron Ramsey could look to improve his performance is intercepting the ball.

According to Squawka, Ramsey has played almost twice as many minutes as Francis Coquelin but made nine fewer interceptions. Ramsey has cut the ball out 22 times this season, which is the same total as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who has spent the majority of the season playing as an attacking winger.

As a central midfielder, Ramsey needs to learn to read the intentions of the opposition in order to steal the ball back on a more regular basis.

Aerial Ability

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For a tall and powerful man, Aaron Ramsey has surprisingly little presence in the air.

It's a fairly common weakness among Arsenal players, but Ramsey is one of the few with the attributes to make it a genuine strength of his game. The timing of his runs is excellent, and if he could marry that with a desire and ability to head the ball, he could offer a genuine threat from crosses into the box.

This skill would also be useful when it comes to winning and returning goal kicks—an area where Arsenal traditionally struggle.

Set Pieces

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Aaron Ramsey demonstrated against Galatasaray—as he has done on countless occasions in the past—that he is a terrific striker of the ball.

Despite that, he rarely tests the goalkeeper from set-piece situations. He undoubtedly has the technique to do so, so he should make a concerted effort to improve this area in training.

Ramsey loves scoring goals, and adding free-kicks to his repertoire would enable him to improve his tally every season.