Thomas Partey gave himself a four out of 10 for his season so far when asked back in December, and Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has praised the midfielder for fighting his way back into form since.
The Ghanaian midfielder has endured a mixed bag since joining in the summer of 2020, impressing on and off as he dealt with various injuries while he tried to adapt to the English game.
Things have improved this season however, and he has shown an extended period of form alongside Granit Xhaka in the centre of the field in recent months, and the manager believes that him being critical of his season back in December could have brought the mental change that helped him work his way back to his current level.
“I think when you are honest with yourself it’s a great starting point and when you assess yourself in the way that Thomas did publicly, it’s a really rare thing to do,” Arteta said in his pre-match press conference ahead of the Watford clash on Sunday (via Arsenal.com).
“He did it because he believed that was the case, that he wants to give much more to the team and to the club and probably that something has clicked again, probably the fact that he’s been injury-free, it’s a massive thing in there, but as well he’s probably more fit because he’s doing things better.”
I think we are still yet to see the best from Partey, despite his improvements thus far this term, but we are most definitely a better unit with him in the side, and it does show a strong character for him to have been critical of himself in public before bringing this sort of reaction.
Patrick
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Yeah, I was also encouraged by Partey’s honest assessment, I have been a bit disappointed with him so far, only because of all of our current first team squad he is the only one who was brought in as a finished player who had performed consistently well in Spanish domestic games and European matches, an experienced player with a good CV, I did expect more so good to know that there is more to come from him
Great of Partey to assess himself critically. Hope he goes on a long injury free run and shows his true class. Partey is quality no doubt but if injury free, he can showcase his consistency which will be great for the team.