Thomas Partey (5)

[theHotHead]

The least of our worries.

Given we spent 45m on him, it's a real worry.
It's looking like we got duped again.

meh game, some good moments, some shite. he's had an interrupted season with injuries.

had fuk all injuries at atletico and suddenly comes here and starts racking them up.

45m is just about right price in current super inflated market. ateltico fans on reddit valued him around 80m+.

he was really crucial for them which is why they were pissed off at how 'cheap' he went for.

No he was bloody awful tonight - worse than I ever saw Xhaka play.

I told you a million times not to exaggerate Jay.

[Santi]

He’s fine, much better than all our other midfielders.

[theHotHead]

Ozil was a great player but then he became lazy and had to go.
Saliba was considered Europe’s best young defender but he needed a transition.
Auba was scoring for fun at every club he was at and then he just got shit all of a sudden.
Partey was a standout performer in Madrid but in London he’s just mediocre.

Always the players. Never the manager.

That's because it's the players on the pitch -
Ozil WAS a great player three years ago, now he can't even make it in Turkey.
Saliba has never managed 20 games a season at any club, he is a prospect nothing more.
Auba has got old, like 99% of players that's what happens when you get passed thirty, your desire and capability decrease.
Partey is struggling in a far tougher league - give him time to adjust - but you're right standout against poor opposition does not guarantee anything.

But hey blame the manager - Wenger failed got sacked - Ljunberg no chance - Emery failed got sacked - Arteta is failing and according to you needs sacking .... yup all these managers are to blame it's never the players, are you sure?

LOL. Are you serious EK ?? When Wenger was hounded out (I was one of them wot hounded him out), he was hounded out because he was fooking shit !! His decisions and stubbornness were counter to our progress. What does any of that have to do with the players ??? It was 100% Wenger's fault !

Emery had a good starting point, the team had bags of goals in them, they were not coached to defend. In comes a defensive manager, all he had to do was improve our defensive capability even a little bit and we would've challenged for top 4. Remarkably he managed to do EVEN WORSE than Wenger, defensively. He insisted on high risk playing out from the back, he continued the trend of over-committing in attacks, we were all over the place. This was 100% on Emery, how can that be the fault of the players ????? Almost the whole spine of the team was replaced.

Arteta came in and we immediately saw improvement in performances and our shape, we were improving defensively too. We were told the players couldn't do it, Arteta proved that they could. We won the FA Cup on the strength of improved defending. Clearly the players were NOT to blame. We started the new season ok, then in November Arteta lost his damn mind and we slipped to 15th in the table. We couldn't create chances and we couldn't score goals - all this with an even better team from the season before. How can it be the players when we have better players - but we are playing worse football ?!!! With the introduction of ESR our performances changed, the system changed, we began to look better, now we are back looking like imbeciles again due to Arteta making the same mistakes he made during that torrid 2 months last year. I don't see how any of this is the player's fault.

[theHotHead]

The manager is an inexperienced fool appointed way above his ability so far .... but

We are not far off 10th place squad .... City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Utd clearly better Spurs, Everton, Leicester arguably better, Aston Villa, West Ham pretty similar.

Forbes give us the 7th rated squad in terms of value closer to 10th than 4th, so financially our squad isn't all that ... the EPL table has us 10th so statistically our squad ain't all that .... if this were a one-off aberration of a season then fair enough, but last year's 8th says it isn't.

We may not be the 10th rated squad in the EPL but don't kid yourself we are nowhere near the top four whoever the manager may be.

LOOOOOOOOOL.

EK, I already did the leg work, I'm not going to do it again, I made my argument and backed it up by going through each squad of our competitor's and identified who from their teams would get into ours and vice versa. Needless to say, only Liverpool, Man City and Man U had clear cut more players that would get into our team than would get into theirs. Spurs I would only take Bale, Son and Kane. Chelsea only had about 3 or 4 max players I would take, Everton and Leicester had about 3. I concluded we had a top 4 squad whcih should absolutely be capable of a top 6 finish, so anything less than that should be a sacking for the manager.

[theHotHead]

Except a lot of the same shitty players were not around during Wenger or Emerys time. This is definitely on the manager. No one can tell me we have a 10th place worthy squad. We have a 10th place worthy manager though.

The manager is an inexperienced fool appointed way above his ability so far .... but

We are not far off 10th place squad .... City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Utd clearly better Spurs, Everton, Leicester arguably better, Aston Villa, West Ham pretty similar.

Forbes give us the 7th rated squad in terms of value closer to 10th than 4th, so financially our squad isn't all that ... the EPL table has us 10th so statistically our squad ain't all that .... if this were a one-off aberration of a season then fair enough, but last year's 8th says it isn't.

We may not be the 10th rated squad in the EPL but don't kid yourself we are nowhere near the top four whoever the manager may be.

You’re having a laugh.

why? look at the table for the last two seasons ... not so funny then is it?

Look at our managers for the last two seasons. That’s a better reason why they finish above us with worse squads.

No. A manager can not make average players top 4 players.
You are denial about the quality of our players compared to clubs like Leicester.

Jay thats bullcrap. I remember earlier in the season when Southampton were flying high people said they had a better squad than us. I laughed at that and I laugh at what you are saying.

Name the Leicester players that would get in our team - in place of our players. Vardy instead of Laca, Barnes instead of Pepe, Perreira instead of Bellerin, Tielemans instead of Xhaka, who else ? They would take Leno, Tierney, Saka, ESR, Auba.

[Power n Glory]

Good to see that sort of performance from Partey. Need more of that. That third goal.....just wonderful. The way he turned his man and just slice through that pass from deep. Deadly.

[swipe right]

Being wasted by a manager who doesn’t have a clue about transition play.

[theHotHead]

The only midfielder we have that can do this.

I think people forget just how good he was at Athletico and that he only joined us at the end of the winter transfer window.

[Paddy]

rolls royce player surrounded by fiat 500's

[DiamondGooner]

The only midfielder we have that can do this.

I think people forget just how good he was at Athletico and that he only joined us at the end of the winter transfer window.

He's trying to resist us Arsenalizing him and ruining his career.

Partey - "I can turn and do through balls"

Arsenal - "No, no, just sideways pass, pass, pass, its safer that way"

[Highbury Hillbilly]

That turn to beat the defender and through ball is exactly the sort of thing we bought him for.

If he does this regularly then I'll never ask for Luiz as DM ever again. Really hope Arteta isn't training that out of the midfield.

[jayramfootball]

The only midfielder we have that can do this.

I think people forget just how good he was at Athletico and that he only joined us at the end of the winter transfer window.

He needs to do a hell of a lot more than he has done to justify his price tag.
The turn and pass for our second goal was world-class, but he was not good at retaining possession or winning the ball in that game - or this season
He loses it far too often and still looks weak in challenges to me.
I still have high hopes that this is a bedding in season for him and he'll really shine next year.

[Paddy]

he needs better players around him

even fabinho would look sh*t in this team

[Nejch]

Partey is used to playing in a team with a clear cut tactic and style of play, and with teammates who are very motivated and know exactly what to do. Arsenal FC is the exact opposite of all that at the moment.

On the other hand, he still makes a significant amount of individual mistakes which can't be blamed on anyone other than himself. He needs better players around him but he needs to step up as well.

[Power n Glory]

To see more of his passing ability, we need more players willing to make runs in behind the defenders. The Slavia and Liverpool games were examples of what we shouldn't be doing because both teams played a highline and we were coming short for the ball instead of making runs into space behind them. When you have a player that can pass like that from deep you keep your pacey players on the shoulder of defenders. Seems even more senseless to play Willian on the wing and asking Laca to drop deep or Auba to focus on marking Arnold.

Partey could be a handful. Has the quick feet to beat the press and passing ability. We need to make better use of him whilst we can.