Wow, just checked again, every single competitive loss this season has involved Partey not starting.
Clearly Artera should be thinking about tweaking the style of play anytime he is not involved.....I'd even suggest trying Zinchenko their once in a while.
What about a cheeky bid for Tielemans?Originally Posted by 21_GOONER_SALUTE
Tielemans would be an upgrade on Xhaka rather than a replacement for Partey, plus we don’t have to bid for him…we can just offer him a pre-contract agreement (which in my view we should) but still means we won’t get him till the summer
Dunno if you can read too much into that, we’ve lost three games this season so it’s drawing from a small evidence base
I mean yeah don’t get me wrong if you replace partey in midfield with Lokonga you’re asking for trouble. But what I will say is that I think we can attack just as well without Partey (although would not fancy us in big away games including yesterday without him)
But like with Odegaard, he’s come on leaps and bounds this season…even by his own admission he was stinking the place out at times
Yup, have to agree with this.
Again, I think the short term answer might be experimenting with other players in that position (zinchenko, white) and giving up on using Sambi as a direct alternative. Tweaking our formation is the other option, but much harder to achieve.
It's that last bit that's the important bit.
If we can be successful then there will be enough games to go round to keep everyone interested, that's what we need to get to. So if every year we're getting far into the cup competitions and CL, as well as challenging regularly for the title, we'll need more players anyway.
We certainly shouldn't be making Luiz-style signings any more but I'd be happy with players like Trossard or Raphina and if they accept they won't start every week it's fine.
The priceless thing about Partey is that he can beat the press and operate in congested areas. More often than not an attack will start from him playing his way out of trouble. Zinchenko also does that too with more dribbling. These kind of players appear vital for Arteta’s system.
Will be an interesting battle with Casemiro on the weekend in the middle.
Last edited by Marc Overmars; 16-01-2023 at 03:24 PM.
Totally agree. I think Trossard is a decent short-term option but I would only consider a loan for him, he's not really a credible long term option due to his age.
Caciedo at Brighton plays like a younger version of Thomas Partey. It's why the likes of Chelsea are desperate to sign him. I have faith that Arteta and Edu will address the Partey backup player issue, be either an internal solution...I've not written off Sambi-Lokonga just yet or by going into the market.
Couldn't disagree more with this post even if I wanted to....has small club mentality written all over it ( signed and approved by Kronke AFC), pretty sad TBH.
Big clubs do what they need to do to win or get to their objectives (i.e. Chelsea spending whatever it takes to try and save their season in January...same way Man U did earlier this summer).
Great additions to the squad are not determined by age, it's medium sized clubs looking to sell of players that think in such a way.
Last January when Barca wanted to save their season, despite their financial turmoil they took an aging Auba from us, besides recruiting a lot of other experienced talent and turned their season around. They still managed flog Auba and not make a loss....thats what big clubs do, they reorganise efficiently.
Man U did the same when they brought in Ibrahimovic to save their season years ago.
Barca did the same with Larson years further, if you can't remember just go and watch our CL final to have a good cry again... In fact Fergie (who clearly knows more about wining than anyone here) still brought Larson to Man U at 35 (from semi-retirement in Sweden) and ended up winning the league and achieving what he wanted from the signing. If you don't believe me read Fergie's words.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/pundita...son-new/%3famp
Big clubs sign players because you need the quality they can bring to you....on and off the pitch. The more immediate they can bring that quality the better. Most successful managers know this, it's only people who know very little about wining that keep thinking only in the future tense and get managers sacked....and here I'm talking specifically about what our "winners" in the club did to Emery that he feels one of the main reasons he got sacked (Pepe signing of course).
https://www.goal.com/en-ng/amp/news/...l1v52f58rn9jzs
So are you saying if you had the option to sign Benzema on your terms this January you wouldn't take him because he wouldn't represent value to this squad??“We signed Pepe," Emery told The Guardian "He’s a good player but we didn’t know his character and he needs time, patience.
"I favoured someone who knew the league and wouldn’t need to adapt. Zaha won games on his own: Tottenham, Manchester City, us. Incredible performances. I told them: ‘This is the player I know and want.’
"I met Zaha and he wanted to come. The club decided Pepe was one for the future. I said: ‘Yes, but we need to win now and this lad wins games.’ He beat us on his own."
As fans, we should be able to think independently on some things and not act like we are being paid salaries by the club to keep making excuses for their obvious lapses.
Last edited by 21_GOONER_SALUTE; 16-01-2023 at 04:42 PM.
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