Newcastle v Arsenal May 7th 1630 PM GMT KO: Page 17 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One More in the Tolly

Newcastle v Arsenal May 7th 1630 PM GMT KO

Qwiss

I don't Arteta is going to want to move away from that high risk football, its not just Partey who plays it and its pretty central to everything we do.

I don't mind him going at all. I can't find any sort of emotional attachment to a man like him so I don't really care, I just hope when he goes we get the replacement right. Its why I'm so high on Caicedo, he does a lot of the same stuff and has the potential to be even better than Partey.

Tam

Burnwinter I wonder if those unresolved off field issues might prevent us getting rid of him, if we wanted to. Would you want to take a multi-million punt on a player who might at any point become unavailable due to criminal charges?

Sicario2

Tam

The court case will be finally resolved by July so this shouldn’t be an issue unless a club doesn’t sign him on moral grounds. I am sure we can sell him abroad though.

Burnwinter

Tam Yeah, I think it'd be a hard sell, although as others are pointing out he's mostly had a season of elite performances in his highly specialised role.

I look at how Arsenal's treated his case, closing ranks around him and backing him up despite this string of sordid allegations, and the realist in me says he won't be released unless there's a fee. Whatever anyone thinks of Partey's off field situation, it's a concern the way Arsenal has treated it.

Tam

Sicario2 Bail was extended to July, and it’s been extended a few times. I don’t think there’s anything to suggest it’ll be settled by July, unless the case is dropped due to lack of evidence and no one other than those involved in investigation will know how likely that is.

Gurgen

Sicario2 I don't think it's anywhere near a court, it's still a police investigation.

Big Willie

Qwiss don't think Parteys traits are all that rare, he just performs them at a high level.

The way he can completely bamboozle someone without even touching the ball, just with a drop of the shoulder, or a feint in the opposite direction. It's crazy.

Doc

That Xhaka challenge is even more impressive when you see how much ground he covered to get there. Legend.

QuincyAbeyie

I disagree with pretty much every football related reason to let Partey go. He's fantastic.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't let him go, of course.

Big Willie

QuincyAbeyie I disagree with pretty much every football related reason to let Partey go. He's fantastic.

Aside from the obvious non football related reasons, I think his recent form is clouding some people's judgement of the guy. He was one of, if not the best, central midfielder in the league for most of the season. The things he does are just so much better than anyone else in the league bar Rodri and even then Partey probably edges him for me.

Don Pacifico

Big Willie not that I completely disagree but what I would add (controversial take here) is that his form this season has been the exception rather than the rule. I think Partey has been pretty disappointing for the majority of his time here and whilst he does have quite a tough job to fill, I'm not convinced that he can be a reliable option for years to come. That by itself, is reason enough to change things in midfield for me - the fact that our team's output is so reliant on him playing well is pretty dangerous (and I think the last few games have helped support that point).

RowJimmy

The "non-football reasons" will make it impossible for us to sell him unless he is publicly exonerated. Not just not charged, but something to say it was all made up. No club in a position to compete for trophies and give him a raise in wages - without which he will not agree to move - will buy him with such a cloud overhead.

banduan

Clrnc

banduan still very impressive. Probably our most impressive win this season all things considered

Coombs

Not responding to anyone in particular, but this has been on my mind.

This was a fantastic result, but I think we're going way over the top on the performance. It was good, but chaotic. We were very lucky not to concede. A battling win, but we still exposed in a number of areas.

I personally don't think it's that praiseworthy when Xhaka and Jorginho have to go down constantly to buy fouls because they can't retain the ball under pressure, or that we haven't solved the problem of opposing teams just dumping the ball behind our fullbacks, or that we still lack a bit of ruthlessness across our forward line. Using the result to justify certain players' deficiencies seems like poor analysis to me. Kiwior wasn't as bad as Holding, for instance, but no way he was anywhere near as imperious as we need our CBs to be.

I especially don't think that this result says much of anything about decisions made in previous games, especially considering the number of chances we gave away. It went our way this time, doesn't mean it would have before or will again without continuing to improve this squad, internally as well as in the market.

Burnwinter

Coombs This was a fantastic result, but I think we're going way over the top on the performance. It was good, but chaotic. We were very lucky not to concede. A battling win, but we still exposed in a number of areas.

We certainly didn't dominate them or hold them to nothing, and with a couple of strokes of bad luck it could've gone the other way, but we still beat a brute of a side with a 10-5-1 home record prior to this result.

Sicario2

Coombs

It could have been 4-3 to us but we definitely had the better chances and deserved the win. You will always ride your luck on these games. That’s just football.

This was arguably our best result of the season.

I will say the game changed in our fortune when their pen wasn’t awarded.

QuincyAbeyie

Like Clrnc said, they've only lost one game at home under Howe before this, and that was with a red card. It's not the kind of game you're expected to win without a fight. If you win at St. James's Park and it's deserved, then it's not over the top to call it a great performance, in my opinion. That is, unless Newcastle were playing badly for reasons that had nothing to do with us, but we were probably very much a reason.

Coombs

QuincyAbeyie Newcastle didn't play badly, nor did we effectively contain them, we just got lucky they didn't score. It wasn't so much a deserved win as a game we just happened to win. A hugely entertaining, fun, battling win, but by no means dominant. I don't think it was much different to the performance against West Ham.

Big Willie

Don Pacifico his form this season has been the exception rather than the rule. I think Partey has been pretty disappointing for the majority of his time here

Can't argue with that about his time here, but on the whole the main issue people had with him in the past was his constant fitness issues and being in and out of the team. This has probably been his first complete season free of injuries in his time here and he's back to the levels he'd showed previously for Atletico and which was what we bought him for.

QuincyAbeyie

Don Pacifico that's probably because he's been injured quite a bit, and this season is much more normal for him injury-wise than the rest of his time with us.

Nevertheless, those are reasons to add to Partey, not replace him.

Don Pacifico

Maybe I'm being harsh given injuries but I still have a nagging feeling of being underwhelmed by him given his price tag and what he's achieved in that time.

I think we're all agreed (for a number of reasons...) that we need to add more quality to that part of the pitch.

Big Willie

Don Pacifico being underwhelmed by him given his price tag and what he's achieved in that time.

He cost £40m. That's not much more than what Vieira by contrast cost. Less than Ndombele, Fred and defenders like Cucurella, Wan Bissaka and Chilwell.

Don Pacifico

Big Willie checked transfermarkt and Vieira was €35m and Partey was €50m. Based on what I feel like we've got out of him in the three seasons, I think it's a little below par personally.

Whilst he does compare favourably to the likes of Fred, Cucurella and Ndombele, those players were all generally seen to be wildly overpriced and/or big flops. For me Partey has been a bit of a disappointment but fair to say he's not been a complete flop.

Tam

Big Willie Couple of different issues in there. Partey's fee was largely seen as a bargain because it was as a result of a clause. Still a fair amount, but there was a strong inference that we were getting a £60-80m player (ballpark figures for talking sake).

And do you think Vieira is/was worth the fee? If you think we overpaid for Vieira it's not a strong comparison.

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