Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey says he needs to be more “intelligent” and will “work hard” to learn from his red card against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup.
Partey was substituted on to the field in the 74th minute but was shown two yellow cards in quick succession for clumsy challenges. Liverpool won the second leg of the semi-final 2-0 which sent them through to the final after the first leg ended 0-0.
Partey had just returned for Arsenal after representing Ghana at the Africa Cup of Nations. The team were sent out in the group stages and so the star flew back to London to try to help them reach the final. He reacted to the red card on Instagram, saying: “I am responsible for anything that happened and will take the critiques.
“I should be more intelligent not to get in a challenge [after I was] 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 go 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 I am on the field of play because this is my life and this is what I choose to do. I am not happy at all with what happened yesterday at at AFCON. But I understand only with hard work things will change.”
The defeat to Jurgen Klopp’s men has ended any hopes of silverware for Arsenal this season. The club aren’t in European football, they are currently 21 points off the top of the Premier League and they were knocked out of the FA Cup by Nottingham Forest.
After the match Mikel Arteta said Liverpool’s first goal was a “bit of luck” but conceded the red card sealed their fate.
He said: ”We have to learn from that. We’ve played the last three games with ten men and against top sides you can’t do that because you’re completely exposed. It’s not what we need with a lot of people out.”
