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I think Arteta’s comments about the Partey injury, although brief, are revealing. The drop in chance creation and ‘exciting’ football, I don’t think it’s tactical at all, we’re just missing a key player that facilitates that.
But he made the sandwich? We all knew Partey is not reliable and instead of buying a proper midfielder he’s bough a striker who he wants to convert to a midfielder.
Partey being injured for 2-3 months was incredibly predictable and some of us screamed for a midfielder all summer. We got Havertz and Raya instead…
It’s contributory but there’s almost zero chance Arteta hinges a significant portion of our creativity on someone so unreliable because if he does, that’s a colossal lack of foresight.
Rice is more safe passer than Partey and Xhaka (last season’s CMs), it gives higher control, at cost of some creativity. I enjoy control, so I like this change from last season.