The quiet but deadly assassin Thomas Partey will slowly become unstoppable for Arsenal!
Not every player has to be in your face scoring goals or making rash challenges to be noticed week-in week-out.
Well that is my opinion anyhow and when it comes to our new signing Thomas Partey. Despite him being on the losing side over the weekend he has shown rather quickly why Arsenal triggered his release clause and signed him on deadline day.
Alongside a rather standard midfield duo of Granit Xhaka and Dani Ceballos, Partey slotted in just in front of the back four and very quickly settled into the game where he quietly went about his business.
He did well to control the play from just in front of the back line, and he was always looking for the run of our front three, plus he was always looking for space to be able to create chances. Something which rarely came about in the game, but that was not solely the Ghanaian’s fault.
He is the kind of player we have been missing for a while but again it can be argued that against other opponents he will need to work a little harder, and make more of a visual impact.
Partey never stopped trying to defend though and did well to keep out Praet and Maddison who in turn struggled to get in behind us.
Things slightly changed for our new signing when Leicester introduced Jamie Vardy. He became a little more stretched in the game and in turn started to play a little like Xhaka and Ceballos, passing sideways and backwards, it seemed like he didn’t know what to do at that point so he followed suit of his midfield teammates, which didn’t bode well at the final whistle and this will need to change if we are to be successful.
But with a pass accuracy rate of 92%, again it is clear to see why we will benefit from having a player of that stature in our team within a few months I am sure.
Shenel Osman
