Fran Solo wrote:Highbury Hillbilly wrote:Fran Solo wrote:ag6789 wrote:Shouldn't expect a lot from a midfield of Partey, Xhakha, Lokonga, Elneny. Only quality is Odegaard. So, what we are getting right now is not totally unexpected. We have been punching above our weight for a while due to the improved defense and quality wingers in Saka, Martinelli and ESR. Now that injuries have caught up w/us and defense is no longer protected much, we look overwhelmed.
So, basically, it means we will need reinforcement in the middle and up top , and accept whatever position comes our way and roll on.
Partey is quality, no?
Did you see him against Palace? He is incredibly inconsistent, and with his background he should be far more composed on the ball. He's made Xhaka look the better player several times this season.
There's a rumour from Fichajes.net that Arteta isn't happy w/him and wants to sell him in the summer.
The Palace game was one bad game after a string of good game from him. And he was injured in that match. We have seen similar incident before. Partey against Spurs and especially Tomiyasu against Liverpool. I wonder if they were not actually 100% fit for those games.
And why should Arteta not happy with him (or Tavares or anyone) when he plays Lacazette after he plays more bad games?
Partey had a slow start but his form started to pick up after he admitted he hasn't been at his best and our overall form started to pick up. What he does is key because we don't have any other midfielder that can receive the ball under pressure, spin his man and then advance the ball. The rest of our midfielders won't look for the ball in tight spaces or will just pass it back or sideways.