Liverpool legend Graeme Souness and Arsenal women’s legend Alex Scott were completely shocked with Thomas Partey’s actions in the build-up to Tottenham’s second goal this afternoon.
Harry Kane finished off an excellent counter-attacking move by Spurs to make it 2-0 just before halftime, with Arsenal completely open at the back owing to their poor defending and Partey’s choice.
Partey, the side’s marquee signing this summer, walked off the pitch with an injury before Spurs broke forward, with the midfielder having to be pushed back on by Mikel Arteta, before he pulled up again.
Partey was on the right side of the pitch, he would’ve been perfectly positioned to stop Heung-Min Son on the counter if he didn’t succumb to injury.
Souness and Scott were both shocked that Partey actually went off the pitch in the first place, with the former stating that ‘leaders don’t allow that to happen’ whilst the latter exclaimed ‘you wouldn’t walk off’.
? "Leaders don't allow that to happen on a football pitch."
Graeme Souness criticises Granit Xhaka for Tottenham's second goal pic.twitter.com/Hiz0xxOjwN
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) December 6, 2020
Here’s what the Sky Sports panel had to say on the moment:
Souness (GS): “Leaders don’t allow that to happen on a football pitch.”
Dave Jones: “He’s supposed to be on of their leaders isn’t he?”
Alex Scott (AS): “Even yourself Graeme, you wouldn’t walk off.”
GS: “If he’s injured, he’s screaming at people ‘I’m injured’, if you watch (Granit) Xhaka, he leaves Lo Celso to run into the box, as a midfield player – as a holding central midfielder – the alarm bells are ringing.”
GS: “We’re going forward, all the time you’re looking over your shoulder – where are we vulnerable – but they just empty the space, Lo Celso picks it up, on you go, 2-0, game over… possibly.”
So it seems that Arteta and the coaching staff’s decision to rush Partey back to action has not only caused an injury – but also directly led to a goal for Jose Mourinho’s side.