The arrival of Thomas Partey (27 years old) to Arsenal came full of hope and illusion. More taking into account his first meetings, in which they came to compare him with a legend gunner as Patrick Vieira. However, as the course has progressed, the general state of form has had a direct impact on the former Atleti, or vice versa. In addition to physical problems in the thigh that kept him off the pitch for four games, two from Premier (Leeds and Wolves) and two from Europa League (Molde and Rapid Vienna). So he got to the crucial north london derby against Tottenham.
Before the Spurs, Thomas felt discomfort in the same area and limped off the field at half-time. Or at least he tried, since his technician was in charge of pushing him back to the playing field. The situation experienced was shocking, because it was surprising to see Arteta 'forcing' an injured Thomas to defend. The reason? The moment chosen by the Ghanaian to abandon his duties. The gap left in the field by this was used by Tottenham to mount a lethal counter, which would end in the final 2-0, the work of Harry Kane.
“I was trying to push him back onto the field because I don't think he realized the seriousness of the situation when he left his position, but it was probably because he was in a lot of pain.”, explained the Spanish coach after the game. “There is nothing we can do at this time to solve that. It happened very fast. I think it was a four for three and all of a sudden they were coming towards us and Thomas was walking towards me. I wanted him on the field doing what he could to help the team in that situation, “he continued.
“I tried to push him, I haven't talked to him so I don't know exactly how it happened and if he felt something really serious. We'll have to see him first and then we'll talk about it”Arteta pointed out before insisting on the lack of information at the time about the injury: “We do not yet know how serious it is. You will have to have a scan.” With or without Thomas on the field, the truth is that Arsenal dominated possession, as usual, but not the game.
Possession without hitting
José Mourinho's men took advantage of the opportunities they had, demonstrating why they top the leaderboard. Just as offensive ineffectiveness Gunner was revealed again and there are now seven games against teams from the noble zone with only two goals scored, and one of them a penalty … The solution is obvious, as Arteta himself indicated: “How do we turn the situation around? By scoring more goals. Very simple. We need to get the ball into the net urgently. ” The unknown is clear, the goal. The problem is to find the formula to clear it … With this result, Arsenal are already fifteenth, far from the positions they were called to occupy at the beginning of the season.