Kinda funny that a guy who’s missed something like 42% of games for us is gonna get into the best XI of the last decade or so.
Speaks to how good he was when healthy, but also shows how average/dogshit the other options are in general (except you Rice Rice baby, but you’ve only just arrived).
We have problems in DM consistency and quality since… maybe Gilberto? And rice is still new but looking good ngl. Considering this poll spans around years, for me it has to be Thomas. He lights that midfield when he’s there. Top top qualitee
Partey can consistently beat the press, take opposition pressing players out of position and transition the ball from defense to our forward players. Our attacking and transitioning have been slow because we’re missing Partey at the moment. We’re seeing Rice trying and doing more of that in recent games but he still can’t be compared to Partey at the moment.
Rice has already shown himself to be better than peak Partey for me after 17 starts. tl;dr we haven’t had a ball winner as good as Rice since Viera and we need this steel in our midfield for the other two more creative midfielders to flourish. Partey is only better than Rice at line splitting passes (passing progression) or being press-resistant - these are two qualities the other two midfielders will have in spades (think Ozil/Fabregas/Odegaard/Ramsey/Cazorla/Wilshere).
Purely going off of current Rice and peak Partey:
Defending: Rice is clear. He won possession more times than any player last season, and the numbers have only gotten BETTER this year. He gets dribbled past less, covers more ground and is more athletic than Partey. I don’t think we’ve had a ball winner this good since Viera. The counter attacks that we get from him winning the ball is game changing - think Saka’s goal against Sevilla.
Passing: Partey is better at line splitting passes and progressive passing, but is more error prone. Rice hardly gives the ball away and so far seems to have a better weight of pass and can hit a pinged pass better too.
Dribbling/Press-resistance: Rice is better at driving forward with the ball, but Partey is definitely better at beating the press and turning his man, but can sometimes get caught out too. Ex: Rice won the ball from Partey last season close to our box, leading to Gabriel giving away a penalty. Not entirely his fault, but 2 crucial points missed.
Shooting: Neither player has scored many goals over their career, but Rice has shown he has the more consistent shooting ability and has already scored two very important goals. Remember when Partey shooting to row Z was a meme?
Durability: Hugely important, but imo it’s not a fair comparison to include injury record when comparing the two because Partey is 30 and we’ve seen almost all of his career whereas Rice is only 24. Back at Atletico, Partey barely missed any games - just like Rice so far. Crossing my fingers here for Rice.
Thomas Partey (2020-present )
Partey’s availability ruins it for me. Reliability is a very important factor.
Also I do think what we’ve seen from Declan so far is already better than Partey’s best
Kinda funny that a guy who’s missed something like 42% of games for us is gonna get into the best XI of the last decade or so.
Speaks to how good he was when healthy, but also shows how average/dogshit the other options are in general (except you Rice Rice baby, but you’ve only just arrived).
We have problems in DM consistency and quality since… maybe Gilberto? And rice is still new but looking good ngl. Considering this poll spans around years, for me it has to be Thomas. He lights that midfield when he’s there. Top top qualitee
Comfortably the best DM the in the Emirate’s era
He may be unavailable quite a lot but he’s been by far our best DM in years when he’s on point.
Just wish he had the injury reliability of someone like Xhaka
The mythical healthy Partey is a best in the world contender, easily the best we’ve had in the role since the Wenger glory years
Partey is shit. Useless player.
When Thomas Partey drops a 10/10 performance, it’s not just world class, but best in the world. Easily better than Rodri.
He has this knack to control games and give our front 5 wayyy more time.
Unpressable, so much so that defenses start sagging off of him a bit, giving us much more time.
Declan is the better player going forward, but in terms of dominating and controlling a game, Partey is one of the best in the world.
Partey can consistently beat the press, take opposition pressing players out of position and transition the ball from defense to our forward players. Our attacking and transitioning have been slow because we’re missing Partey at the moment. We’re seeing Rice trying and doing more of that in recent games but he still can’t be compared to Partey at the moment.
Whoever not voting this has no football knowledge
Rice has already shown himself to be better than peak Partey for me after 17 starts. tl;dr we haven’t had a ball winner as good as Rice since Viera and we need this steel in our midfield for the other two more creative midfielders to flourish. Partey is only better than Rice at line splitting passes (passing progression) or being press-resistant - these are two qualities the other two midfielders will have in spades (think Ozil/Fabregas/Odegaard/Ramsey/Cazorla/Wilshere).
Purely going off of current Rice and peak Partey:
Defending: Rice is clear. He won possession more times than any player last season, and the numbers have only gotten BETTER this year. He gets dribbled past less, covers more ground and is more athletic than Partey. I don’t think we’ve had a ball winner this good since Viera. The counter attacks that we get from him winning the ball is game changing - think Saka’s goal against Sevilla.
Passing: Partey is better at line splitting passes and progressive passing, but is more error prone. Rice hardly gives the ball away and so far seems to have a better weight of pass and can hit a pinged pass better too.
Dribbling/Press-resistance: Rice is better at driving forward with the ball, but Partey is definitely better at beating the press and turning his man, but can sometimes get caught out too. Ex: Rice won the ball from Partey last season close to our box, leading to Gabriel giving away a penalty. Not entirely his fault, but 2 crucial points missed.
Shooting: Neither player has scored many goals over their career, but Rice has shown he has the more consistent shooting ability and has already scored two very important goals. Remember when Partey shooting to row Z was a meme?
Durability: Hugely important, but imo it’s not a fair comparison to include injury record when comparing the two because Partey is 30 and we’ve seen almost all of his career whereas Rice is only 24. Back at Atletico, Partey barely missed any games - just like Rice so far. Crossing my fingers here for Rice.
And a 24 year old Rice will only get better.
The only reason this is a debate is because of the off field stuff and how injury prone he is. When healthy he is as good as Rodri imo.