Partey was our most important and probably top performing midfielder last season. No idea why we’re rewriting history.
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you too rush when said “zubimendi is already a better player”
prime zubimendi & prime rodri even cannot do what partey did in this video
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show me prime rodri and prime zubimendi did like this video (when on the ball)
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Zubimendi still needs to prove it in the PL but this is broadly where I’m at too.
Partey was a an excellent player but:
-He was never comfortable as a true lone six as this wasn’t the system he came from at Atletico, which is why we needed to put Zinchenko next to him.
-He lost his legs by the end and consequently really struggled with some of the defensive parts of his role.
-He was never an influential or creative player in the final third. He had five assists in five years for us in league play. Compare that to Rodri who had 9 assists just in 2023-24.
Its all still to prove for Zubimendi but I think he has the potential to elevate us in all of these areas, to be more of a lone six (allowing us to move away from inverting the fullback so often), to allow us to take more risks because he is better controlling defensive transitions, and also to make more of a selective impact in the final third. That last part is kind of speculative, it wasn’t a big part of his game at Real Sociedad. But he just seems comfortable and selective aggressive in combining with teammates and venturing into small spaces near the box in a way that I didn’t see with Partey.
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Zubimendi will need time to transition into a PL footballer that’s why I felt retaining Partey was so important.
Obviously that can never happen and glad we’re not with him anymore given everything that’s going on but bringing Norgaard in was an abominable decision. He’s going to look so out of depth covering that role he just doesn’t do what Arteta usually requires from his 6.
Norgaard is going to be our new Jorginho, he’s good going up for set pieces but his main role will be to close-out games, I’m under no illusions that he’s very limited going forward.
We’ve got Rice, Merino, Zubimendi, Odegaard and Eze for the progressive stuff.
But if Zubimendi is out injured the deputy for him is someone who is a totally different profile to him. And if we move Rice back there (and he’s hardly the worlds best passer) we then end up stuck with Merino in the left midfield and he’s proven himself to be pretty average in that role thus far.
Just think it’s an all round stupid signing. It’s a body for a body’s sake.
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I take back what I said earlier. In light of Eze coming, our midfield options are substantially better.
It’s a body for squad-strength’s sake. When Zubimendi isn’t playing we’ll shuffle the pack. Norgaard sitting deep and the playmaking/transitions coming from further up.
Who did you want us to sign for less than £20m to take Jorginho’s place?
Sorry, are we really wasting all this bandwidth discussing a player who very well may have been a horrible POS whilst under contract with us? Good riddance to bad rubbish, however he played.
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So so good.
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Class player.
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Love him so far. Allowing Rice to take more risks pushing up the pitch to try to win the ball back when we lose it, because he knows there’s proper protection behind him.
Haven’t seen him do anything wrong so far
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It feels like he runs the entire midfield by himself.
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The hooked-back-door-pass to Saka (or someone on the right).
Goosebumps.
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Thought he was good again today. Settling in well.
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He’s been the best midfielder at the club since he joined hasn’t he.
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Really impressed with how many times he wins the ball back high up the pitch. Started the sequence for Saka’s goal.
Top quality signing.
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Any chance Merino looks like a quality midfielder if we have to pair him back up with his Sociedad pal at some point this season?!
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Be a miracle.