Arsenal supporters on Twitter are puzzled by Thomas Partey’s latest actions.
No, not the red card against Liverpool last night, but how he responded to it this morning.
Partey came on as a second-half substitute and picked up two yellow cards in the space of three minutes to find himself getting sent off.
Liverpool won the League Cup semi-final 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium and Partey’s indiscipline has become a post-match talking point.
The Ghana international, who jetted back to England from Cameroon on the same day as the Arsenal encounter, released a statement across two platforms, apologising for his dismissal.
First, Partey, a £45 million signing in 2020, posted the apology on his Instagram page and another, more professional-looking copy was dispatched to media, which is how David Ornstein of The Athletic obtained it.
Ornstein posted a version of it on Twitter and Arsenal supporters are perplexed by why their star midfielder felt the need to release a statement after something as innocent as a red card.
Here’s how some of the fanbase reacted:
OTT
Partey went over the top of the ball with a studs-up challenge on Fabinho last night, which earned him the second yellow.
And ironically, this also constitutes as ‘over the top’.
No Arsenal supporter would ever argue that a red card isn’t a big deal but, by the same token, did it change the game? Were the Gunners comfortably beating Liverpool and then Jurgen Klopp’s came from behind as a result of the 10 men?
Nope.
Mikel Arteta’s outfit were dead and buried at the time of Partey’s dismissal and therefore, publicly apologising for it is a little odd.
It’s wholesome to see him taking responsibility, but there’s an argument to be made that he shouldn’t have even been included in the squad, having been eliminated from the Africa Cup of Nations two days earlier and returned from Cameroon that very day.
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