Interview

Raya talks all things goalkeeping with Seaman

Raya training ICS

David Raya sat down with David Seaman at Sobha Realty Training Centre to talk all things goalkeeping this week.

He also discussed last weekend's game against Bournemouth and looked ahead to Sunday's clash with Liverpool.

Here's everything he had to say on the following subjects.

on how good it is being Arsenal’s number one:

“It’s the best thing in the world I think. This sounds typical but, since I came to England when I was 16 and signed for Blackburn, Arsenal was one of the first teams that I looked up to when I was young.

“I moved here and had friends who used to play here like Emiliano and Hector Bellerin, so it’s a dream come true that I’m playing here.”

on the pathway from Blackburn and Brentford before Arsenal:

“It’s not a typical career. When you get into a first team like this and you’ve played in the lower grounds and the lower divisions, of course it makes it even more special I think.

“I was on loan at Southport for three months and that’s when my career started and kicked off. That’s where I got the confidence from the manager to out me in, to make my debut for Blackburn, so I think all those experiences make you a bit more grateful of how far you’ve come and how grateful I am to be here to just try to help the team as much as possible.

“Playing in those leagues - Championship, League One and Conference - I think it toughens you up in a different way than the Premier League. Sometimes you can take advantages from those situations because you live different stories and environments in different grounds.

“Sometimes we complain about the pitches and all that, but we played in worse pitches down there! We cannot complain when there’s a little hole or it’s too wet or too dry. Those moments make you think about how far you’ve come and how hard you’ve worked to get to where I am right now.”

on not having a lot to do and then having to make a good save:

“I got used to it. Of course playing for Brentford in the Premier League was different to playing for Arsenal. When you’re playing for a big team, there are little occasions where you have things to do, but they’re very, very difficult.

“To be able to do that, you have to be very concentrated and you have to get used to it. Last year was adapting to how the club was going, adapting to the team and the demands of what Arsenal needed.

“This year shows that I’m even more aware than I was last year. Last year was really good, but I think this year is going to be even better.”

on taking over from Aaron Ramsdale:

“You can think too much about the outside maybe when you don’t have to. You have the confidence of yourself and the manager, that’s why he’s putting you in there, but sometimes of course you think outside of the box. But when I started to block that out, I became even more confident to be myself.

“That shows in the second half of last season where I just found my feet and tried to block that out completely. This season has shown what I’m capable of doing.”

on being good with his feet:

“It’s the calmness when I get the ball at my feet. What I transmit to the team is that everybody’s calm and trying to find the right thing to do to push us up the pitch. I like to think I’m the first attacker and the last defender, so in that way I’m very comfortable with the ball coming back to me in different aspects of the team.

“Of course I’m going to make mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes, but I like to be involved in the build-up to progress the attack and help the team mates with an angled pass or anything they need in that aspect.”

on the importance of a settled back four:

“The relationship that you have with your back four is completely different to what you have with the rest of the team, especially inside the pitch. Outside is different but inside you know when you have that confidence within each other, you know who is going to be where without even looking.

“When a cross comes in, I know if it’s my ball. Even without me shouting, the defenders know they have to protect me for me to get the ball and vice versa with a ball behind. That relationship is really important of course with the build-up.”

on coming out for crosses:

“The first intention is to go for the ball. You have to go. If you have that intention, you will go for balls that you might not think that you should, but you are. If your first intention is to let the centre-back deal with it and just stay on your line, that’s when you start retreating back a bit and balls come on top of you that you’re not coming for.

“It’s just that mentality of going for crosses and trying to help the team because if a keeper comes out and catches the ball from a corner, it’s done. The attack is done and you have the ball now, so it’s the best thing that can happen from a corner or cross.

“At Blackburn, I wasn’t coming out for much, I’m not going to lie. It’s one of the aspects that I’ve changed in the past five or six years.”

on goalkeeper coach Inaki Cana:

“It’s really important, having that belief in each other. What he can squeeze out of me and what I can squeeze out of him. I’m a player who likes to really work hard and he loves that. He batters goalkeepers in a good way, to make you better.”

on his double save against Aston Villa:

“You do things in training, but when you do it in a game it’s more amazing, but Inaki was saying he wasn’t surprised that I saved it because he’s seen me do it a million times in training. It’s just the context that changes.

“You spend a lot of time with your goalie coach, so if you don’t have that good relationship, I don’t things are going to go well.”

on the blow of the Bournemouth defeat:

“We were really disappointed. We got Saliba sent off. We got away with it two times against Brighton and City and I thought we could’ve won both games. We could’ve won the Bournemouth game, we had the chances to score, but it didn’t happen and we lost so on the way back we were really disappointed.

“It’s not time to dwell on it. It happens and we just have to learn from those things. We have to learn very quickly. We’re in a good place where everybody is with each other with really good belief.”

on Sunday's game against Liverpool:

“These are the games that you dream playing in when you’re a kid. It gives you goosebumps when you think about playing in those types of games. It’s one of the biggest games of the season, we’re playing at home with our people and that’s the most important thing.

“The most important thing is to go out there and it enjoy it first of all. If you don’t enjoy it, nothing good is going to happen, and get the three points.

“It’s the same mentality of enjoying what you’re doing. If you don’t enjoy it, it’s pointless, so enjoy the challenge and do everything you can to win the game.”