Signed to Chelsea from Benfica in 2010 for 22 million euros few of us had no idea of what Ramires would bring to the table. When he came we realized he was almost a player like Essien full of boundless energy. In Nigeria it earned him the name in the Hausa dialect “mai ruwa” meaning “water seller”. This was due to the fact that these “water sellers” are energetic and can push wheelbarrows full of close to 20 kegs of water throughout the day without tiring.
His 2010/11 season was indifferent. He had the tendency to push the ball too far in a sprint or misplace passes. All in all his performances improved towards the end of the season and earned him the nickname “Rambo” by the Stamford bridge faithful especially after his display against Man City. His most productive season was in 2011/12 where he won Players’ Player of the Year Award and Goal of the Year award for his chip against Barcelona, his second successive win, while scoring 12 goals, nine assists.
Fast forward to date and it looks like he’s regressing and playing like he when he first arrived. He looks to have lost his goal scoring touch, he misplaces a lot of passes and runs about the pitch with basically no idea of what to do with the ball. A clear perspective of this was against Man City in the EPL where he spurned 3 goal scoring opportunities. And to worsen it his discipline record has gotten a lot worse with 15 yellow cards and 2 red cards in all competitions. There is an impedending four match ban if the FA takes retrospective action after he was caught on camera swinging an arm, and catching Seb Larsson on the face. I almost had a feeling that his suspension against PSG in the second leg was a blessing in disguise and lots of fans shared my sentiments.
Is he becoming a liability or just having an off season? His horror tackle in the Villa match was appalling and we could have also been down to 10 men against Sunderland irrespective of whatever the provocation was. Jose Mourinho needs to curb Ramires’ indiscipline or it might cost us. For the sake of the club we love, we hope Ramires gets his acts right. We face a tough run in of games, so it is high time Ramires gets back to the high standards which he set for himself last season(2012/13) and two seasons ago (2011/12). KTBFFH
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