Arsenal attacking midfielder, Thomas Partey, has taken to his Instagram story to accept responsibility for his actions that led him to receive two yellow cards in 10 minutes.
On Thursday, January 20, 2022, Arsenal hosted Liverpool football club at the Emirates Stadium for the second leg of the EFL Cup semi-final round. Fortunately for Arsenal, Thomas Partey was available for the game since his country, Ghana, have been knocked out of the ongoing AFCON.
Recall that Ghana suffered a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Comoros in the country’s last group game on Tuesday, January 18, 2022. The defeat ended Ghana’s journey in the tournament, hence, Thomas Partey had to return to Arsenal less than 24 hours after.
To the surprise of many football enthusiasts, the Ghanaian midfielder was named in the Arsenal’s squad that faced Liverpool in the Cup semi-final match on Thursday.
Coach Mikel Arteta introduced the midfielder into the game in the 74th minute to replace Emile Smith Rowe when Liverpool were leading 1-0. Three minutes later, Diogo Jota doubled Liverpool’s led.
In the 87th minute of the game, Thomas Partey was shown a yellow card for a rash tackle. In the 90th minute, the 28-year-old Ghanaian defensive midfielder was shown a second yellow card and a red card followed. Hence, Arsenal finished the game with 10 men just like in the first leg.
Recall that in the first leg of the semi-final round, Arsenal midfielder, Granit Xhaka was shown red. However, Arsenal were able to play with a man down for over one hour without conceding a goal. Hence, the game ended in a 0-0 draw.
But in the second leg of the semi-final round, Liverpool had already won the game before Thomas Partey was sent off. Unfortunately for coach Mikel Arteta and his boys, the 2-0 defeat was enough to kick them out of the EFL Cup.
Arsenal’s exit from the league cup and Partey’s red card made the Ghanian midfielder a subject of ridicule on social media. He was not only mocked for the red card he received on Thursday and Arsenal’s exit from the league cup but he was also mocked that he could not do much to prevent Ghana from being knocked out of AFCON in the group stage.
In response to all the criticism he suffered after the game, Partey took to his Instagram story to admit that he was not happy about how things ended up for his country and Arsenal. He went on to stress that he would keep pushing to improve his game.
He wrote: “Am responsible for anything that happened and will take all the critiques, I should be more intelligent not to get in a challenge already booked but this is my personality I like to fight for every ball. I love this club and I love my country even though things sometimes don’t happen how I wanted, I would continue to work harder and make things right.
“I came back with the mentality to make myself available for the team to get to the final but it did not happen as planned. I will continue to give my all when am on the field of play because this is my life and this is what I chose to do. Am not happy with all that happened yesterday and at the AFCON but I understand only with hard work things will change so I will continue to work hard to change this. Thanks”.
Mikel Arteta has no regret for using Thomas Partey
Meanwhile, Arsenal coach, Mikel Arteta has admitted that he has no regret for involving Thomas Partey in the EFL Cup semi-final round against Liverpool on Thursday.
The Arsenal tactician thought Sky Sports that his only regret was that Partey would not be available for him in the next game which is against Burnley on Sunday, January 23, 2022.
The coach said: “I don’t regret, [playing Partey] I cannot use him now, it is what it is. He made an effort to come, we had to play him.
“Emile [Smith Rowe] has not had one single training session, Martin [Odegaard] as well, [Alexandre Lacazette] had a yellow card. We had to make a decision and we decided to use him and unfortunately, that happened.
“I don’t think [fatigue] played a part in the red card].
“We have played the last three games with 10 men. At this level, that’s extremely difficult to win football matches. We’ll keep trying to do what we do, but there have been some decisions that haven’t happened to go the other way. [Thursday was] a good example as well.”
As it stands, Liverpool will face Chelsea in the EFL Cup final on February 27, 2022.
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