Season Review: Ramires

Our Super 7: Ramires

Ramires had finished the 2010-11 season on a high after a string of decent performances towards the end of the season. In 2011-12, he became one of Chelsea's most important players.

Ramires began the 2011-12 season as a part of the midfield trio in Andre Villas-Boas' trusted 4-3-3 formation. Even though the Chelsea midfield were often criticized for being slow & having no creativity whatsoever, Ramires was one of the more consistent performers in the middle of the park. He netted a brace against Swansea in a 4-1 victory, & also scored a key goal in a must-win match against Valencia in the Champions League group stages.

Few other stand-out performances come to mind, but he had already established himself as a key member of the Chelsea midfield. However, the sacking of Villas-Boas brought about a change in Chelsea's formation. Interim coach Roberto Di Matteo preferred playing a 4-2-3-1 formation, & his preferred players for the 2 central midfield positions were Jon Obi Mikel & Frank Lampard. Ramires was deployed as a right winger, a move that worked wonders for the team as Daniel Sturridge (the first choice right winger under AVB) was experiencing a dip in form at the time.

His performances improved considerably during the latter half of the season. During the must-win Champions League match against Napoli at the Bridge, his sublime cross was met powerfully by Didier Drogba to open the scoring. He scored against Spurs in the FA Cup semi-final, whilst also providing the assist for the only goal of the game against Barcelona in the first-leg of the Champions League semi-finals. In the return leg against Barcelona, he scored with a beautiful chipped effort to help Chelsea claw their way back into the tie, although he would miss the finals due to a yellow card received moments before he scored. He also scored the first goal against Liverpool in the FA Cup final after making one of his customary runs to latch onto a ball played by Juan Mata.

season. Trust me when I say his best is yet to come.
Ramires bagged 12 goals & 9 assists this season. His goal against Barcelona won Chelsea's "Goal of the Season" award, while he was also named the Players' Player of the Year for 2011-12. Expect great things from Ramires nex

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