Thomas Partey: Midfield Tank Engine

[DUFFMAN]

Interesting video on our use of Partey vs his use at Atletico. Tho this is based on a very small number of games here.


This is basically a summary.

• At Atletico Partey was the passing hub of the team, tasked with passing to the overlapping full-backs in crossing situations and playing passes between the lines to the front two.
• His passing range increased as his time went on at Atletico as he became a lot more progressive.
• The number of progressive passes in terms of distance he's made has dropped off at Arsenal compared to last season at Atletico. Basically he's not moving the ball forward as much here.
• He's still making a lot of passes but most of them are safer, a lot of sideways and backward passing.
• He's also making significantly less key passes and less passes into the penalty area.
• So far Partey has been left very isolated because of the way we tend to set up with Elneny dropping very deep and the front three mostly remaining very high. Whereas at Atletico he had Saul alongside him, with the wide midfielders tucking in and Felix dropping deep quite a bit.
• Although Partey is capable of utilising the space he has even if he's relatively on his own but because of a lack of players to pass to in zone 14 (the number 10 area) his passing options are limited to mostly playing it to the full-backs or back to Elneny/CB's. Auba and Willian also tend to be quite advanced and wide and usually marked.
• At the moment it's very easy to block off an potential forward passes Partey might make and it's asking a lot of him in terms of how he's able to progress the ball. We have no problem getting the ball to him but once we do there's a disconnect between Partey and the attacking elements of the team. His only real option is to the wing-backs, but he's not able to pass the ball into dangerous central areas like he did so often at Atletico.
• Alex suggests that Partey although a top midfielder, didn't really address the specific issue Arsenal had which is why eyebrows were raised when we signed him. There's a gap between the lines that Arsenal haven't addressed and although Laca does drop into he's still a striker expected to score and be in the box.
• He then goes on to talk about how we could address the issues noting in our last game we switched to 4-2-3-1 vs Leeds (albeit without Partey) but it might go some way into fixing some of the issues and utilising Parteys key attributes a bit better.
• Basically having a player in the 10 position means that Lacazette doesn't have to drop deep, it also gives that passing option between the lines that Partey is so so good at. Partey can also stay in the same role because he has a player in the 10 position to pass to means he's not expecting to do as much as he was in the 3-4-3. He's also able to still pass out wide, he's also press resistant so he'll have no issue in finding passes. He's also capable of breaking through the line with his dribbling then Arsenal are capable of causing overloads with that extra attacking player.

TLDR 4-2-3-1 much better suited to getting the best out of Partey than the 3-4-3 which leaves him isolated as there's someone playing between the lines to pass to and offer more progressive passes. He won't be tasked with having to make all the progressive passes himself or cover the whole of the midfield area and we'll still have a striker primarily in the box. Basically the best is yet to come from him.

He played 2.5 games for us

 

[RacingPhoton]

Interesting video on our use of Partey vs his use at Atletico. Tho this is based on a very small number of games here.


This is basically a summary.

• At Atletico Partey was the passing hub of the team, tasked with passing to the overlapping full-backs in crossing situations and playing passes between the lines to the front two.
• His passing range increased as his time went on at Atletico as he became a lot more progressive.
• The number of progressive passes in terms of distance he's made has dropped off at Arsenal compared to last season at Atletico. Basically he's not moving the ball forward as much here.
• He's still making a lot of passes but most of them are safer, a lot of sideways and backward passing.
• He's also making significantly less key passes and less passes into the penalty area.
• So far Partey has been left very isolated because of the way we tend to set up with Elneny dropping very deep and the front three mostly remaining very high. Whereas at Atletico he had Saul alongside him, with the wide midfielders tucking in and Felix dropping deep quite a bit.
• Although Partey is capable of utilising the space he has even if he's relatively on his own but because of a lack of players to pass to in zone 14 (the number 10 area) his passing options are limited to mostly playing it to the full-backs or back to Elneny/CB's. Auba and Willian also tend to be quite advanced and wide and usually marked.
• At the moment it's very easy to block off an potential forward passes Partey might make and it's asking a lot of him in terms of how he's able to progress the ball. We have no problem getting the ball to him but once we do there's a disconnect between Partey and the attacking elements of the team. His only real option is to the wing-backs, but he's not able to pass the ball into dangerous central areas like he did so often at Atletico.
• Alex suggests that Partey although a top midfielder, didn't really address the specific issue Arsenal had which is why eyebrows were raised when we signed him. There's a gap between the lines that Arsenal haven't addressed and although Laca does drop into he's still a striker expected to score and be in the box.
• He then goes on to talk about how we could address the issues noting in our last game we switched to 4-2-3-1 vs Leeds (albeit without Partey) but it might go some way into fixing some of the issues and utilising Parteys key attributes a bit better.
• Basically having a player in the 10 position means that Lacazette doesn't have to drop deep, it also gives that passing option between the lines that Partey is so so good at. Partey can also stay in the same role because he has a player in the 10 position to pass to means he's not expecting to do as much as he was in the 3-4-3. He's also able to still pass out wide, he's also press resistant so he'll have no issue in finding passes. He's also capable of breaking through the line with his dribbling then Arsenal are capable of causing overloads with that extra attacking player.

TLDR 4-2-3-1 much better suited to getting the best out of Partey than the 3-4-3 which leaves him isolated as there's someone playing between the lines to pass to and offer more progressive passes. He won't be tasked with having to make all the progressive passes himself or cover the whole of the midfield area and we'll still have a striker primarily in the box. Basically the best is yet to come from him.

Valid points. Always felt that big gap between midfield and forwards which resulted in us always attacking through wings. But the root cause of the issue seems to be that poor quality of defense and midfield forced us to add an extra body at the back that affects our attacking play.
With Gabriel and Holding doing a good job at the back, it is time we move on to 4231. Having someone like Aouar in the team would have been perfect. Partey would have the perfect player to link with. After what looks like eternity, we would finally be able to attack through the middle again.

 

[HairSprayGooners]

Cant believe there's deep in depth analysis videos of Partey In our team when he hasn't really been in our team

 

[Trilly]

Interesting video on our use of Partey vs his use at Atletico. Tho this is based on a very small number of games here.


This is basically a summary.

• At Atletico Partey was the passing hub of the team, tasked with passing to the overlapping full-backs in crossing situations and playing passes between the lines to the front two.
• His passing range increased as his time went on at Atletico as he became a lot more progressive.
• The number of progressive passes in terms of distance he's made has dropped off at Arsenal compared to last season at Atletico. Basically he's not moving the ball forward as much here.
• He's still making a lot of passes but most of them are safer, a lot of sideways and backward passing.
• He's also making significantly less key passes and less passes into the penalty area.
• So far Partey has been left very isolated because of the way we tend to set up with Elneny dropping very deep and the front three mostly remaining very high. Whereas at Atletico he had Saul alongside him, with the wide midfielders tucking in and Felix dropping deep quite a bit.
• Although Partey is capable of utilising the space he has even if he's relatively on his own but because of a lack of players to pass to in zone 14 (the number 10 area) his passing options are limited to mostly playing it to the full-backs or back to Elneny/CB's. Auba and Willian also tend to be quite advanced and wide and usually marked.
• At the moment it's very easy to block off an potential forward passes Partey might make and it's asking a lot of him in terms of how he's able to progress the ball. We have no problem getting the ball to him but once we do there's a disconnect between Partey and the attacking elements of the team. His only real option is to the wing-backs, but he's not able to pass the ball into dangerous central areas like he did so often at Atletico.
• Alex suggests that Partey although a top midfielder, didn't really address the specific issue Arsenal had which is why eyebrows were raised when we signed him. There's a gap between the lines that Arsenal haven't addressed and although Laca does drop into he's still a striker expected to score and be in the box.
• He then goes on to talk about how we could address the issues noting in our last game we switched to 4-2-3-1 vs Leeds (albeit without Partey) but it might go some way into fixing some of the issues and utilising Parteys key attributes a bit better.
• Basically having a player in the 10 position means that Lacazette doesn't have to drop deep, it also gives that passing option between the lines that Partey is so so good at. Partey can also stay in the same role because he has a player in the 10 position to pass to means he's not expecting to do as much as he was in the 3-4-3. He's also able to still pass out wide, he's also press resistant so he'll have no issue in finding passes. He's also capable of breaking through the line with his dribbling then Arsenal are capable of causing overloads with that extra attacking player.

TLDR 4-2-3-1 much better suited to getting the best out of Partey than the 3-4-3 which leaves him isolated as there's someone playing between the lines to pass to and offer more progressive passes. He won't be tasked with having to make all the progressive passes himself or cover the whole of the midfield area and we'll still have a striker primarily in the box. Basically the best is yet to come from him.

Makes sense.

Our old 4231 was very good, we just didn’t have that special defensive player who could make up for us not having a three man midfield.

We do with Partey so playing him with Elneny is a waste of the security he provides imo. Look how Chelsea basically get away with playing 5 attacking minded players ahead of Kante, I think we could do something similar with Partey.

Think even a subpar Özil would help our attack out quite a bit, failing that we need to sign a no10 in Jan to save this season.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

Cant believe there's deep in depth analysis videos of Partey In our team when he hasn't really been in our team

It's more about the general limitations of the 3-4-3 system we used, which have been prevalent before Partey came in and how the issues were still there in the games with Partey.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

Makes sense.

Our old 4231 was very good, we just didn’t have that special defensive player who could make up for us not having a three man midfield.

We do with Partey so playing him with Elneny is a waste of the security he provides imo. Look how Chelsea basically get away with playing 5 attacking minded players ahead of Kante, I think we could do something similar with Partey.

Think even a subpar Özil would help our attack out quite a bit, failing that we need to sign a no10 in Jan to save this season.

I honestly think that'd be a tremendous waste of Partey's strengths tbh. I prefer him as the more advanced in a double pivot with a more defensive player alongside him. Tho tbh I'd rather it wasn't Elneny, but at the moment he fills a role, a basic one but he takes the ball from the defence and gets it to Partey in the middle of the park. Partey and Kante are too incredibly different players too. Partey's far better on the ball then he is without it. He's far better making those killer progressive passes, spraying it wide. Using his dribbling skills. I think we need a more defensive player alongside him tbh.

 

[Trilly]

I think we need a more defensive player alongside him tbh.

I guess we fully disagree here.

While I do want him as our deepest midfielder I still want him progressing the ball, far from a sitting role. I just don’t think Partey is the midfielder we want making late runs into the box.

I’d like a Willock type player alongside him, someone equally as well rounded but with that nose for goal and then an out and out number 10. Might be too attacking but I’m dying of thirst over here.

 

[Toby]

But the root cause of the issue seems to be that poor quality of defense and midfield forced us to add an extra body at the back that affects our attacking play.

Just throwing another body in the mix because your team is **** at defending is absolutely the worst reaction to that problem.

And Arsenal is still **** at defending so if that's Arteta's plan - to just field more defensive players in the hopes of the result being better defending - come January Mikel will field a 7-2-1 or what?

 

[Tir Na Nog]

I guess we fully disagree here.

While I do want him as our deepest midfielder I still want him progressing the ball, far from a sitting role. I just don’t think Partey is the midfielder we want making late runs into the box.

I’d like a Willock type player alongside him, someone equally as well rounded but with that nose for goal and then an out and out number 10. Might be too attacking but I’m dying of thirst over here.

I think it's way too attacking, or certainly that the risks outweigh what it might give us offensively. You're essentially asking Partey to play as a 6, I'd much rather play him as an 8. I guess that's just in terms of how we view the game. For me it'd be a bit like us deciding Gilberto wasn't needed and we should play midfielder who'd get forward a bit more and let Vieira do most of the defensive work. Our style of play already has both full-backs looking to get into advanced areas, personally I like that number 6 there who'll sit back help with stopping transitions.

 

[RacingPhoton]

Just throwing another body in the mix because your team is **** at defending is absolutely the worst reaction to that problem.

And Arsenal is still **** at defending so if that's Arteta's plan - to just field more defensive players in the hopes of the result being better defending - come January Mikel will field a 7-2-1 or what?

Throwing extra body into defense started during Wenger time itself. He played a back 3 after so many years of playing 4 at the back. Emery started with regular 4 at the back and then he also started throwing more players at the back. In the end, Emery was playing almost that 7-2-1 you mentioned. Arteta was also taking that route and making similar mistakes. But going by the last two matches, there are signs that Arteta has realised this mistake and is working on getting better moving forward. How successful he is in doing that? We have to wait and see.

 

[Trilly]

I think it's way too attacking, or certainly that the risks outweigh what it might give us offensively. You're essentially asking Partey to play as a 6, I'd much rather play him as an 8. I guess that's just in terms of how we view the game. For me it'd be a bit like us deciding Gilberto wasn't needed and we should play midfielder who'd get forward a bit more and let Vieira do most of the defensive work. Our style of play already has both full-backs looking to get into advanced areas, personally I like that number 6 there who'll sit back help with stopping transitions.

You’re probably right tbh, that sounds a lot more balanced, ultimately depends on how well Partey can do the box to box role, he’ll need to add a few goals to his game then.

Do I trust this club to find a no6 though?

 

[UpTheGunnerz]

RIP NLD

 

[boonthegoon]

Oh my goodness. We are going to be destroyed every week now.

 

[A_G]

fml

 

[DUFFMAN]

Do we ever catch a break

 

[boonthegoon]

6 weeks apparently acc to Twitter.

Basically half the season gone. That too at his prime age. Sigh.

 

[DUFFMAN]

6 weeks apparently acc to Twitter.

Basically half the season gone. That too at his prime age. Sigh.

6 more weeks????

 

[MutableEarth]

 

[boonthegoon]

6 more weeks????

4 more it seems

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

6 more weeks or 2 more weeks? Because he been 1 month out if it's 2 more weeks then it's acceptable with thigh injures