Thomas Partey - the footballer: Page 6 - The Arsenal discussion community: One More in the Tolly

Thomas Partey - the footballer

MistaT

Why's he so suddenly off form?
If you look back just 13 days (₁₀ posts) we were all enamored by his recent games!

Burnwinter

MistaT I think Partey's game is to draw pressure and players then reliably pick out passes that would be a low percentage for others. When he's not at his best, he's going to give the ball away in bad areas regularly.

Qwiss

Burnwinter exactly. And its not just Parteys game, its anyone playing that role in this team. The defenders do it a lot too. Its a way of sucking people in so you make more space ahead of you. Seems obvious to me that when you get nervous and start second guessing yourself you'll make mistakes and this approach means those mistakes will be amplified.

There is also a big sprinkling of emotion clouding how we judge performances right now. His pass percentage was 91% which is at the higher end for his usual performances. A quick look at the passing stats shows exactly where our midfield problems lay and it wasn't Partey.

Gazza M

last few games have been wretched. couldn't have been worse timing

banduan

Gazza M last few games have been wretched. couldn't have been worse timing

and can't be any better timing than to get back in form for the Etihad.

goon

It's not about him giving the ball away though it's what he's doing with it. His touch has been notably less secure and his passes notably less precise in their weighting etc.

He's not the only one though, Zinchenko was the same, Ode was too until later on. Confidence/pressure is taking it's toll, they need to play with freedom again.

Tam

goon Ode was too until later on.

I think Trossard allows Odegaard to step it up a bit. It looks to me as if Odegaard feels he's playing within someone on the same wavelength, with the same sense of urgency, and same vision of how we want to attack/play.

Qwiss

Tam when Trossard came on his passing was much more secure than Vieiras too. You can't have one of your mids lose the ball constantly and expect it not to effect the others.

goon

Trossard is great, I have to say I didn't see this side of him at Brighton, he looks like a leader here. I feel like we need to try and fit him into the side somehow and the left 8 role might have to be it even if it's very aggressive.

FEBravo

I got a sense that Vieira also was hiding a bit out there, probably low confidence as he was not having a great game. Whereas Trossard is looking for ways to get involved.

Sicario2 - Tier 1

Sell this Cunt and get Rice and Caicedo in the summer. Had enough.

lorddulaarsenal

Sicario2 - Tier 1 I’ve got serious reservations about Caicedo. Think he’d get a bit shown up under the spotlight at a bigger team.

Doesn’t look physical enough in stature to be dominant although he has good anticipation and good hustle.

Passing is good but not great.

Rice would be a better option as he has a man bod, is able to surge forward and is deft with his passing.

goon

Crazy how the Rice handball seems to have completely drained his confidence.

Gazza M

he has always been prone to spells of inconsistency and a little bit sus mentally. despite his veteran status in the squad, i deffo feel like he needs one or two 'minders' as his midfield partners to make sure he stays awake. higher quality versions of xhaka, basically

Qwiss

He's had a couple of bad games but if anything it just shows how important he's been. We'll struggle to upgrade.

Tam

Qwiss That's the point I've tried to make before. We aren't going to get one player who can bring what he does and allow us to play the same. Replacing Partey in the team squad is going to come with a fundamental change of shape and roles within the midfield, and I'd rather we do that in the summer in one go than try to do it piecemeal across coming season. Do it once and (hopefully) right, and try not to lose too much momentum from the progress we've made this season.

JazzG

Qwiss Agreed, 90% of the season he has been world class to be fair but the drop off in recent games has been very alarming.

Panda

Only good thing about not winning the title is we haven't won it with this guy in our team.

Qwiss

JazzG it coincides with a drop in form for most of the seasons best players. Saka, Odegaard, Zinchenko, White, etc all completely off their game. To me it seems a pretty big case of buckling under pressure. Weird from Partey, he's been there before with Atletico. Understandable from the younger players (and manager) doing it for the first time.

Gurgen

I guess what happened in the last few week is karma for playing this twat all season.

Clrnc

Qwiss At Atleti he wasn't exposed this much as a single pivot. It's not easy being the fulcrum of the entire team

Tam

Qwiss Absolutely, but this is where Arteta should be earning his keep as manager. I think you could make the case for taking any of them, apart from maybe Odegaard given the lack of options, out of the team for a game or two to freshen things up and add a bit of hustle and desire, and hopefully spark some life into the rest of them.

I'm all for individual player accountability, but when we've look to stumble under pressure we've been hit by a double blow of Arteta persisting with those who are struggling, and failing to tweak our approach to address our shortcomings.

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