Thomas Partey: Midfield Tank Engine

[RunTheTrap]

I'm not worried about Partey. He'll be fine. I mean he's upgrading to the toughest league in Europe, his quality will shine through. Thiago was seen as the best midfielder in the world and he's struggling at the club that just won the league. Pogba was horrible at the start of this season. Partey's on their level. Right now fitness is the most important thing for him. If he's still struggling with this next season, then yes we can be worried but until then calm down. Not every big money signing is terrible. If you can still give excuses Xhaka for 5 years, you can give Partey a season or two.

 

[RunTheTrap]

Best baller in midfield , but I’m not sure he can be the main man. Xhaka ahead of him at this stage as the cornerstone of this team.

Xhaka couldn't even stand out until Partey came in last night.

 

[Maybe]

Maybe we will just have to accept the way he plays, he tried to dribble and lost the ball on the edge of our box, and two minutes later he does the same thing but doesn't lose the ball. His game doesn't get affected by mistakes, but I'm expecting that he reduces the volume of mistakes once he is 100%.
He will probably cost us a few times with the way he plays, but it's totally worth it when you see how much our football improves once he is on

 

[Iceman10]

I don’t get what I see as almost one-game wild swings in views of Xhaka in here at times. There have been at least four matches this season after Xhaka indiscipline and errors where there were calls for his head and some comments saying Arteta should have got rid last summer, and then after one or two decent/good appearances he is praised to levels where he is used as a stick to beat Partey with. On top of that Xhaka was middling to poor until around December since when he has shown some good stuff mainly when his role is limited and simplified more to a DM playing alongside Partey.

By all means, point to the improvement with Xhaka while highlighting we have poor depth in CM in the first place, but there is no need to big him up for purposes of conversations related to Partey.

Think the main issue is as it has been for several years in football now. We used to laugh at RM/Barca when we said any manager no matter how good was three bad results away from the sack. Now in football many fans go into wild swings in views on the back of the latest match. Just remember that error at Burnley was our last PL match prior to the NLD.

 

[celestis]

He's played less than 10 complete matches in his Arsenal career because of mismanagement and injuries. Very difficult to make such a declaration about him yet. By contrast, Xhaka spent the first couple months of his time in an Arsenal shirt picking splinters out of his arse since Wenger didn't think he was good enough. Partey will be just fine once his fitness is 100%. He was making El Nenny look like Zidane earlier in the season the way he was bossing midfield FFS. Xhaka the "cornerstone" is leading the league in errors leading to goals over the last few seasons. Partey has some work to do to sink that low.

When I first saw him I thought well he’s the best mid we have easily, but he’s looking more and more like a guy that plays in bursts and a difference maker but a little erratic and disappears .
I compare him to Xhaka because to take over the role of the main stay, he has to be the engine and keep showing even in bad periods at the moment he kinda disapears during those times.

 

[Mrs Bergkamp]

Best baller in midfield , but I’m not sure he can be the main man. Xhaka ahead of him at this stage as the cornerstone of this team.

If any version of Xhaka is the cornerstone, then the whole house will fall down

 

[CaseUteinberger]

Xhaka couldn't even stand out until Partey came in last night.

Personally think Xhaka was the problem yesterday. I would like to have seen him and Ceballos come off instead of Elneny and Ceballos.

Xhaka let Partey deal with all the pressure by simply passing the ball back to Partey at all times putting Partey in a spot of bother which Partey had to try to solve again and again. Xhaka creeps close in position to Partey and then pings it into him instead of creating space and angles that can be used. If I was Partey I would be really pissed with Xhaka.

 

[CaseUteinberger]

I compare him to Xhaka because to take over the role of the main stay, he has to be the engine and keep showing even in bad periods

Do really think that is Xhaka? Xhaka is at the heart of our midfield problems with his cowardly play game in and game out. If you rate Xhaka over Partey you really need to rethink things!

 

[Mrs Bergkamp]

Personally think Xhaka was the problem yesterday. I would like to have seen him and Ceballos come off instead of Elneny and Ceballos.

Xhaka let Partey deal with all the pressure by simply passing the ball back to Partey at all times putting Partey in a spot of bother which Partey had to try to solve again and again. Xhaka creeps close in position to Partey and then pings it into him instead of creating space and angles that can be used. If I was Partey I would be really pissed with Xhaka.

Thank you. I thought I was the only one who noticed this. Partey seemed determined to make him play the ball, kept passing it to him and then gave up and did the work himself. Even one of the fks Partey gave away was as a result of Xhaka floundering. Arteta commented on our failure to play the final ball that would put us in better attacking positions so I hope his cowardice/reticence will not go unnoticed. No comments on his thread since Wednesday says it all.

 

[Trilly]

His best game was vs United way back in the fall and sounds like he wasn’t great today again. Injuries have held him bsck but he’s been a disappointment given the hype. Still think we’ll see big things next season though.

Two weeks later but this is still pretty much it.

He can’t get arsenalified. He’s done it at the highest level for too long but this season has been a shambles so far.

 

[Trilly]

Thank you. I thought I was the only one who noticed this. Partey seemed determined to make him play the ball, kept passing it to him and then gave up and did the work himself. Even one of the fks Partey gave away was as a result of Xhaka floundering. Arteta commented on our failure to play the final ball that would put us in better attacking positions so I hope his cowardice/reticence will not go unnoticed. No comments on his thread since Wednesday says it all.

Xhaka has been cowardly since Arteta came into the team, definitely a tactical thing. Before that he loved a long pass attempt. But yeah he was particularly bad last night.

 

[Trilly]

Best baller in midfield , but I’m not sure he can be the main man. Xhaka ahead of him at this stage as the cornerstone of this team.

Agree. Need a baller alongside him I think.

 

[Batman]

When I first saw him I thought well he’s the best mid we have easily, but he’s looking more and more like a guy that plays in bursts and a difference maker but a little erratic and disappears .
I compare him to Xhaka because to take over the role of the main stay, he has to be the engine and keep showing even in bad periods at the moment he kinda disapears during those times.

He doesn't look fully fit. Those times where he looks erratic he also often looks uncomfortable and like he's laboring. I'm very confident that he'll show his quality consistently once he's moving properly again. I do question whether he's being managed through something they don't think will get worse which may require addressing through a surgery in the off-season. That wouldn't surprise me at all.

 

[celestis]

Do really think that is Xhaka? Xhaka is at the heart of our midfield problems with his cowardly play game in and game out. If you rate Xhaka over Partey you really need to rethink things!

Rest assured I have no qualms about replacing Xhaka big man, he’s doing a middling job of it but from what I am seeing ,and all though he is has a much higher skill set I have doubts that it’s Partey is all.

What it’s worth though I don’t see it as cowardly play man knows his limitations and plays accordingly but he can go vertical if hes given license to.

 

[Taneruit]

I'm not worried about Partey. He'll be fine. I mean he's upgrading to the toughest league in Europe, his quality will shine through. Thiago was seen as the best midfielder in the world and he's struggling at the club that just won the league. Pogba was horrible at the start of this season. Partey's on their level. Right now fitness is the most important thing for him. If he's still struggling with this next season, then yes we can be worried but until then calm down. Not every big money signing is terrible. If you can still give excuses Xhaka for 5 years, you can give Partey a season or two.

I agree. My only fear is arsenalifying him. About his quality, I have no doubts.

 

[blaze_of_glory]

Partey is struggling because he's adapting to a new league, been injured, and also seems to lack focus at times (his own issue that he needs to sort out). Xhaka also struggles to focus too often but he's not the reason Partey has had a disappointing season

 

[EmeryCouldnt]

Partey is struggling because he's adapting to a new league, been injured, and also seems to lack focus at times (his own issue that he needs to sort out). Xhaka also struggles to focus too often but he's not the reason Partey has had a disappointing season

I still think we play better with him in the team.

 

[blaze_of_glory]

I still think we play better with him in the team.

Yes I think so too

 

[EmeryCouldnt]

I agree. My only fear is arsenalifying him. About his quality, I have no doubts.

I think part of Arsenalifying him is our fan's low tolerance for misplaced passes. We moan anytime a pass is misplaced because we've seen so many times that our defense is too frail to survive a counter. So players become scared to take risks since we need to focus on possession. I'm not saying I believe this yet, but it pops in my head as a possible hypothesis to why so many players crumble here.

 

[CaseUteinberger]

What it’s worth though I don’t see it as cowardly play man knows his limitations and plays accordingly but he can go vertical if hes given license to.

Just to be clear from my end. What I noted as cowardly play primarily isn't not trying long forward paces, but when the pressure starts to mount not wanting to be the player who has to turn quickly, to dribble or make the more difficult short pass between and close to opposition players that are pressing.

I also think you can describe what Xhaka is doing as self-awareness of his own limitations and as cowardice. The end result is the same as it puts other players in a more difficult situation. This is also why I would have prefered Xhaka to come off instead of Elneny as at least around our won box Elneny can take more responsibility thanks to his better athleticism and ability to turn than Xhaka.