Thomas Partey | Arsenal Player

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golden_blunder

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I disagree with the statto stuff there
They are making slow but steady progress under the radar a bit. They look more solid as a team.
They’ve had 4 league wins and only been beaten by last seasons 1 and 2 in the country. In fact in 2 cup games they’ve held Liverpool and beaten them on penalties
 

Che Guevara

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If we include players who haven't left the club in the evaluation of the transfer window, then it does look better, fair enough. Saka looks a huge talent and keeping Auba and Ceballos is good as well.

Where this notion comes from that they are a good bet for top four though, I have no idea. They are absolutely miles off that. I posted some stats in the general Arsenal thread a few days ago but here is another graph that illustrates where they are in 2020. This is continuing this season and Partey is not the player to fix it. I'd be very surprised if they got more than 60 points.

I won't comment on the pointlessness of your graph. But out of interest, who are your pick for the top 4?
 
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TsuWave

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I assume this is pretty much how Real/Barca monopolised South America (trophies and cultural similarities asides). Playing for these clubs means a lot “back home” for the communities of these players, and kids grow up wanting to play for those clubs:

 

trims

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I disagree with the statto stuff there
They are making slow but steady progress under the radar a bit. They look more solid as a team.
They’ve had 4 league wins and only been beaten by last seasons 1 and 2 in the country. In fact in 2 cup games they’ve held Liverpool and beaten them on penalties
Some take the XG stuff as gospel not realising the flaws in the model and that its meant to be a supplement to actually watching the game.

Last year's XG models had Man City finishing 1st with 87 points and Liverpool finishing 2nd with 74. Yet Liverpool finished with 99 points, 17 ahead of Man City.

We're above the main contenders for top 4 despite playing both Liverpool and City away. West Ham thumped Wolves and Leicester and fought back to take points off of Tottenham. So us beating them is turning out to be a great result now.
 
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golden_blunder

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Some take the XG stuff as gospel not realising the flaws in the model and that its meant to be a supplement to actually watching the game.

Last year's XG models had Man City finishing 1st with 87 points and Liverpool finishing 2nd with 74. Yet Liverpool finished with 99 points, 17 ahead of Man City.

We're above the main contenders for top 4 despite playing both Liverpool and City away. West Ham thumped Wolves and Leicester and fought back to take points off of Tottenham. So us beating them is turning out to be a great result now.
I’m more a fan of relying on what I see rather than Xg. It just doesn’t tell the full picture
 

Cloud7

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I assume this is pretty much how Real/Barca monopolised South America (trophies and cultural similarities asides). Playing for these clubs means a lot “back home” for the communities of these players, and kids grow up wanting to play for those clubs:

Unless I'm mistaken Arsenal and Chelsea are the biggest clubs in Africa, aren't they?
 

Brwned

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Not sure. I tried to google it and got this from the BBC:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-33808566

It’s from 2015. It seems it differs depending on region. It’s a huge continent.
The big flaw with that research is Twitter's suggestion the biggest Twitter following = the biggest fan base, but we know it doesn't even = the biggest social media following. According to that article Arsenal had a bigger Twitter following globally than United back in 2015, and according to this they have a bigger following than City. But City have more followers on e.g. Instagram, and Instagram makes up a much larger portion of social media following.

The vast majority of supporters don't follow their club's social media accounts and the strength of any particular account has as much to do with launch timing, social media strategy, investment levels etc. as it does with the size of fanbase. It doesn't correlate very well with what proportion of people would say they support that club if you asked a random sample on the street.

From what I've seen United were far more popular than the other premier league teams in most countries, and the premier league is by far the most popular foreign league in most countries on the continent.
 

awop

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Unless I'm mistaken Arsenal and Chelsea are the biggest clubs in Africa, aren't they?
Chelsea are huge in a lot of african countries thanks to Essien, Drogba Etoo and others i probably forget. I'd say it's Chelsea #1 by far followed by Arsenal and then it's remnants of the United era. I imagine Liverpool is growing with the likes of Mané and Salah...
 

TsuWave

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That article vaguely fits with what I thought the reality would be. It's a shame we aren't the most loved team in the parts that produce the best footballers :lol:
It’s partially because we don’t get many representatives from those regions. I’m sure had United signed Partey a significant number of Africans, specifically Ghanaians, would be following United. Our biggest african rep is probably Quinton fortune and he never lit the world on fire like the Essiens, Aubameyangs and Toures. Our South American reps is a similar situation.

Anecdotally, in Africa, United is the most supported followed by Arsenal, but this is based on my experiences.
 

Pagh Wraith

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I’m more a fan of relying on what I see rather than Xg. It just doesn’t tell the full picture
What we see is totally in line with the stats, though. And you just cannot make top four with a negative shot ratio. Has never happened and will never happen. Anecdotal evidence from a few isolated results will not change that. I don't think many here realise how far away Arsenal are from the top teams in the division. And it would be unfair to expect Arteta to make top four with what he has at his disposal. Particularly as, and I stand by that, they haven't had a good transfer window at all. We will see as the season progresses.
 

awop

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Had a good game, did everything Xhaka usually does or try to do but at twice the speed. If those passes could find a #10 instead of being to Lacazette back to goal and Cedric we'd have a good upgrade on our hands.
 

Icemav

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Had a good game, did everything Xhaka usually does or try to do but at twice the speed. If those passes could find a #10 instead of being to Lacazette back to goal and Cedric we'd have a good upgrade on our hands.
Was much more interested in United signing him than say Sancho. However Fred had a stormer the other night and Mctominay may progress this season so perhaps we may not struggle in Midfield as much as I feared. Still think a very good acquisition for you.
 

shahzy

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I assume this is pretty much how Real/Barca monopolised South America (trophies and cultural similarities asides). Playing for these clubs means a lot “back home” for the communities of these players, and kids grow up wanting to play for those clubs:

You love to see that. The PL clubs really are what young African footballers want to go to. Even more so than Barca and Madrid!
 

adexkola

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Unless I'm mistaken Arsenal and Chelsea are the biggest clubs in Africa, aren't they?
FOH

When I was in school (2000-06) it was Arsenal and United. Chelsea have made up some ground but they are still a distance between those two. Didn't see any Liverpool fans (maybe they were all in Senegal with Diouf)

Side note: this is obviously nonsense but there was a rumor floating around in school that SAF was racist (again, pure rubbish I must emphasize, just dumb talk) because he didn't get many African players. If anything, him getting Djemba-Djemba... :D
 

MikeKing

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Was much more interested in United signing him than say Sancho. However Fred had a stormer the other night and Mctominay may progress this season so perhaps we may not struggle in Midfield as much as I feared. Still think a very good acquisition for you.
I thought he would be a perfect fit for us. I'm almost hoping he fails at Arsenal just so I can rest easy on the notion that we really screwed up another good transfer opportunity. I mean, there is not that many DM's around, not many with the combination of pace, physicality, composure, playmaking abilities from deep and press-resistance. He would be the perfect partner for Fred against tough teams, and is strong enough to actually play as a lone DM so we would have the option to play Bruno and Pogba/VdB as 8's. But, we don't.
 

monosierra

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I thought he would be a perfect fit for us. I'm almost hoping he fails at Arsenal just so I can rest easy on the notion that we really screwed up another good transfer opportunity. I mean, there is not that many DM's around, not many with the combination of pace, physicality, composure, playmaking abilities from deep and press-resistance. He would be the perfect partner for Fred against tough teams, and is strong enough to actually play as a lone DM so we would have the option to play Bruno and Pogba/VdB as 8's. But, we don't.
He seemed bent on joining Arsenal - sounded like a big fan of them, probably since their glory days.
 

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Vision, technique, strength, athleticism..... Vieira mk 2 with more discipline tactically and better defending :drool:
 

awop

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He seemed bent on joining Arsenal - sounded like a big fan of them, probably since their glory days.
Apparently he was supposed to join a year ago but Emery insisted on a winger first (Zaha): we signed Pepe and emptied our wallet. We were tracking him for a very long time. Glad he's finally here !
 

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I disagree with the statto stuff there
They are making slow but steady progress under the radar a bit. They look more solid as a team.
They’ve had 4 league wins and only been beaten by last seasons 1 and 2 in the country. In fact in 2 cup games they’ve held Liverpool and beaten them on penalties
They’re much better at the back than they used to be for as long as I can remember.

That said it’s also going under the radar how boring the football is under Arteta. They lack creativity and without Auba they massively struggle for any offense at all.
 

(...)

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They’re much better at the back than they used to be for as long as I can remember.

That said it’s also going under the radar how boring the football is under Arteta. They lack creativity and without Auba they massively struggle for any offense at all.
It's not going under the radar for Arsenal fans, Arteta is playing it very safe right now and still mainly focus on the defensive part.
Yes it gives us more stability, but Arsenal is probably one of the less entertaining team to watch this season.
I'm worried by the fact that he barely tried a 4 at the back formation this season, hopefully with Partey it will become an option again.
 

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Chelsea are huge in a lot of african countries thanks to Essien, Drogba Etoo and others i probably forget. I'd say it's Chelsea #1 by far followed by Arsenal and then it's remnants of the United era. I imagine Liverpool is growing with the likes of Mané and Salah...
Actually they are just huge in the country of origin of those players.

Man Utd is without a doubt the biggest club on the continent with notable exceptions of those African countries that have had prominent players in other premier league clubs. This is at least true for most west African countries.

Go to any football field in most African countries and you can be certain that you can have a game of red shirts vs others as at least half of everyone will be turned out in a man utd jersey.

With lower levels of success of recent, the support is waning from the younger generation.
 

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It's not going under the radar for Arsenal fans, Arteta is playing it very safe right now and still mainly focus on the defensive part.
Yes it gives us more stability, but Arsenal is probably one of the less entertaining team to watch this season.
I'm worried by the fact that he barely tried a 4 at the back formation this season, hopefully with Partey it will become an option again.
I actually think it's a wise and pragmatic decision for Arteta to make. Arsenal no longer have any elite level defenders, that can be relied upon to support attacking/exciting football. The glory years under Arsenal, also saw one of the best defensive units in the PL era. You haven't got that anymore, so it makes sense for Arteta to build a foundation of solid, safe, defensive play, until such time as everyone is confident and organised at defending as a unit. Also having Partey to help protect the defence is a massive upgrade.
When, he (Arteta) is confident that the defence is sorted (and not a liability) there won't be much work left to do, to work on the attacking side of things as you have some very talented attacking players. Basically it makles sense for him to concentrate on the weaker areas of the style of play, first, before anything else.
 

ThatsGreat

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Good player, but like everyone else predicted we're missing the Bruno like presence in the center of the pitch. None of the front three of Auba Laca Pepe contribute much in chance creation.
 

Cloud7

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Good player, but like everyone else predicted we're missing the Bruno like presence in the center of the pitch. None of the front three of Auba Laca Pepe contribute much in chance creation.
What exactly does Pepe do? I didn't watch any of him prior to him coming to Arsenal, and since he signed for you guys I never found myself impressed by him.
 

drmuji

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What exactly does Pepe do? I didn't watch any of him prior to him coming to Arsenal, and since he signed for you guys I never found myself impressed by him.
To ensure fair, no one is impressed with him, except for a few deluded arsenal fans
 

Okey

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Great full debut to be fair. Probably lots more to come. I really wanted us to go for him but what's done is done. Hopefully he doesn't rip up too many trees there. Zakaria is a very similar profile that remains available to us to replace Matic if he can overcome this knee injury that's starting to get a bit worrisome.
 

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I actually think it's a wise and pragmatic decision for Arteta to make. Arsenal no longer have any elite level defenders, that can be relied upon to support attacking/exciting football. The glory years under Arsenal, also saw one of the best defensive units in the PL era. You haven't got that anymore, so it makes sense for Arteta to build a foundation of solid, safe, defensive play, until such time as everyone is confident and organised at defending as a unit. Also having Partey to help protect the defence is a massive upgrade.
When, he (Arteta) is confident that the defence is sorted (and not a liability) there won't be much work left to do, to work on the attacking side of things as you have some very talented attacking players. Basically it makles sense for him to concentrate on the weaker areas of the style of play, first, before anything else.
Does that ever even work out in practice? We often hear how managers will stop playing defensive football once they get the right players but it very rarely happens in reality, not sure why but it's very rare. The only example i can think off regarding a manager successfully performing a stylistical 180 is Jardim.

If he really wanted to play expressive football he'd likely be doing so now and taking the short term hits on the chin. Like Klopp (who had an even worse squad when he took over Liverpool) did and what Lampard (who many thought inherited a squad worse than Arsenal's of last year let alone their current one with Partey and Gabriel) is doing. Arteta may or may not ultimately become successful but i think assumption he will at some point suddenly start setting up similar to his mentor or final club manager with better players is wishful thinking at best.
 

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Does that ever even work out in practice? We often hear how managers will stop playing defensive football once they get the right players but it very rarely happens in reality, not sure why but it's very rare. The only example i can think off regarding a manager successfully performing a stylistical 180 is Jardim.

If he really wanted to play expressive football he'd likely be doing so now and taking the short term hits on the chin. Like Klopp (who had an even worse squad when he took over Liverpool) did and what Lampard (who many thought inherited a squad worse than Arsenal's of last year let alone their current one with Partey and Gabriel) is doing. Arteta may or may not ultimately become successful but i think assumption he will at some point suddenly start setting up similar to his mentor or final club manager with better players is wishful thinking at best.
Klopp kind of did it in reverse, though, no?
Liverpool were great going forward and farcical in defence. Then he spent big on VVD and Alisson and improved the defensive side of their play.
 

Dancfc

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Klopp kind of did it in reverse, though, no?
Liverpool were great going forward and farcical in defence. Then he spent big on VVD and Alisson and improved the defensive side of their play.
I wouldn't say he went more defensive, just those 2 (plus Fabinho and too an extent Robertson) meant that they could pull the defensive demands of Klopp's system off. There's been a few times vs Liverpool in the last couple of years i felt we were finding holes in their defensive structure tactically but the individual quality of those players got them off the hook.
 

ThatsGreat

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What exactly does Pepe do? I didn't watch any of him prior to him coming to Arsenal, and since he signed for you guys I never found myself impressed by him.
Moments player that gets goals/assists. His goal against Sheffield is an example. Or the first 10 minutes of this match.
 

ReallyUSA

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I assume this is pretty much how Real/Barca monopolised South America (trophies and cultural similarities asides). Playing for these clubs means a lot “back home” for the communities of these players, and kids grow up wanting to play for those clubs:

Plus that language thing, and a lot of the people in Central/South America see Spain as their old country. Even ones that are two shades lighter than me.
 

NoPace

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Good player, but like everyone else predicted we're missing the Bruno like presence in the center of the pitch. None of the front three of Auba Laca Pepe contribute much in chance creation.
I know James Rodriguez has already gotten hurt, but goddamn was that a missed opportunity for y'all on a free.
 

awop

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I know James Rodriguez has already gotten hurt, but goddamn was that a missed opportunity for y'all on a free.
It was only a free because it was Ancelotti, Madrid would have wanted some fee from anyone else. Surely a lot less than Aouar but you can't get them all...
 
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