‘A really stupid mistake’: Ray Parlour SLAMS Arsenal’s Thomas Partey for picking up a quick red card in the Gunners’ Carabao Cup semi-final loss to Liverpool… and claims the Ghana midfielder has ‘let his team down again’
- Thomas Partey was sent off in Arsenal’s Carabao Cup semi-final loss to Liverpool
- The Ghanaian was rushed back from Africa Cup of Nations duty to play in the tie
- Partey was substituted on at 74 minutes but picked up two bookings quickly
- Arsenal legend Ray Parlour slammed the 28-year-old for a ‘really stupid mistake’
Ray Parlour claims Thomas Partey has ‘let his team down again’ after the Arsenal midfielder picked up a quickfire red card in the Gunners’ Carabao Cup semi-final loss to Liverpool.
The Ghanaian midfielder was rushed back from Africa Cup of Nations duty after his country’s exit from the Cameroon tournament on Tuesday and was a surprise name on Mikel Arteta’s substitutes’ bench less than 48 hours later.
But after coming on as a 74th minute substitute, Partey picked up two yellow cards in three minutes before stoppage time to earn an early bath, an error which Arsenal legend Parlour has now branded as a ‘really stupid mistake’.
Ray Parlour has slammed Arsenal’s Thomas Partey (above) for his red card versus Liverpool
Late substitute Partey (left) was sent off in the cup tie for two bookings in three minutes
‘There is a problem there,’ Parlour told talkSPORT. ‘I think he (Arteta) has to sit down with the whole team and say: “Look (these are) silly mistakes, you’re making so many mistakes.”
‘Suddenly, he (Partey) is out of the game at the weekend. They were light in midfield anyway and he would have been a big player back after being knocked out of the Africa (Cup of) Nations and now suddenly he’s missing the game again.
‘It’s just common sense. I played in a team that did get red cards – I’m not saying we didn’t – (but) not as regular as they do now.
‘I know the rules have changed a little bit and you can’t tackle sometimes, but that was a stupid mistake. Really stupid mistake and he’s let his team down again.’
Parlour (above) claims Partey has ‘let his team down again’ for his ‘really stupid mistake’
Partey has since apologised to Arsenal fans in an Instagram post on Friday morning, with the 28-year-old insisting that his tough tackling nature is part of his ‘personality’.
The post read: ‘(I) 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 to make things right.
Partey issued a grovelling apology to Gunners fans after his mistake
‘I came back (from AFCON duty) with the mentality to make myself available for the team to get to the (Carabao Cup) final but it did not happen as planed (sic).
‘I will continue to give my all when I am on the field of play because this is my life and this is what I chose to do.
‘(I) 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.’
Meanwhile, Gunners manager Arteta has bemoaned his side’s disciplinary record after Partey’s dimissal was the 14th red card since the Spaniard took charge of the team in December 2019 – more than any other Premier League team in that time.
‘It is a big loss,’ groaned Arteta. ‘We can’t afford to be without him with the players we have out.
‘We have to learn from that. We have played three games with 10 men recently and against top sides you cannot do that. It is difficult enough to beat them with 11 men, with 10 it becomes a real challenge.
‘We have to eradicate that completely. We have to be competitive to be winning football matches. We have to be playing with 11 players. We have to learn lessons and we can’t accept excuses.’
