Midfield Partey by Icewalker
Arsenal Football Club has been known for producing great midfielders. The likes of Song, P.Viera, Fabregas, S. Nasri, S. Cazorla, A. Ramsey. M.Overmars, Ray Parlour, Freddie, R.Pires, the list goes on and on.
These ones could stroll into any football club, I mean, the biggest football clubs, and they had high resale value. They were the standard.
At least, every generation, AFC produced one or two outstanding midfielders.
Presently, facing reality, we do not have an outstanding midfielder yet; we have no one – no outstanding DM; no outstanding CM; as for AM, still watching, Odegaard and ESR.
From the academy, we have the likes of R.Azeez, O. Hutchinson, M.Flores, C.Patino. They have hardly been given the opportunity to play.
As for Lokonga, I don’t know how long it would take for him to fit into the squad.
Back to reality, we have Xhaka and Partey, our so-called experienced players, who are supposed to lead the younger ones. As for Xhaka (King of Reds), it is needless to talk about him.
Bought from Atletico Madrid, Partey has not found life easy in England. He was used as a midfield pivot in Madrid. He would defend, link up play and push forward, if need be. He was the heart of AM’s midfield.
Ever since he stepped into England, life has not been the same for him. Some say, he is adjusting, the team is not up to his standard, others say, MA wants him to do more than he was used to. I for one don’t believe he is playing even half of what he was used to at ATM. I mean, we all watched him (maybe, Simeone knows something MA does not know).
Of course, the big matches and Partey, like bread and butter. I can attest to the fact that he performs in the big matches, I mean, against Man Utd (his only outstanding performance, according to him) and Man City, he was on fire; his interception of play is always outstanding. But we need more than this to hit our target. He seems to get lost in the other games (against smaller opponents).
Scoring goals, laying of passes, defensive duties, giving assists, free kicks, creating chances, physicality are all the duties of an all rounded midfielder.
AFC needs to produce someone this era; we have no one, the middle of the park is just flat. Solid teams are built in the midfield. If the midfield is playing, then the problems of that team is more than 50% solved. We need to do more.
As at December, 2021, no AFC player was on the top 10 chances created in the Premier League, I doubt those stats have changed.
Should MA use T. Partey as a one-man midfield? Should he stop giving him more responsibilities? Do we give him more time? How long? I can’t tell.
Icewalker