BATE Borisov vs Arsenal. 14/2/19. 17:55

[Marc Overmars]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DzTN0_NWwAE4K_I.jpg:large

No Ozil and Ramsey. :rolleyes:

BATE haven't played a game since December. Should be pretty easy, well whatever easy means for us these days.

0-3.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Playing these farmers again. :lol:

[SMatthews]

We haven’t risked Sokratis, which is good to see.

Ramsey reminding us of his injury legacy before he leaves, which is a nice touch.

[SMatthews]

Oh, and Ozil :lol:

[Özim]

Can't believe this thing with Ozil and Emery is dragging on, Emery should just swallow his pride incorporate him until the end of the season then sell him, his market value will be higher if he does and he performs well, if he doesn't play we'll not only find it harder to sell him, but we'll probably get less for him. It's not like he have anyone better.

There's a real lack of common sense going on here, 350k going down the drain every week.

[Marc Overmars]

Yeah it’s quite galling thinking how much money we are pissing away with Ozil.

[Xhaka Can’t]

Obviously we are not clued up on the situation. However the way in which this situation is being handled from the outside looks so bad, no matter what happens now, if we look rid, we have absolutely no leverage when it comes to negotiating with any potential buyers.

They’re going to see Ozil as a pain in the ass that Arsenal want rid of. In addition they’ll regard Ozil as a potential risk to them. This will all be reflected in his transfer value which is dwindling all the while this situation festers.

We may possibly end up with a token transfer fee which will of course be ‘undisclosed’ while having to pony up for a portion of his ludicrous salary.

[Letters]

The way we mismanage players and contract situations really is ridiculous.

[SMatthews]

I'm not sure how much leverage we have anyway. His high wages were always going to mean we take a hit on the transfer fee, as no-one is paying a high fee plus anything close to that sort of wage. The difference in value is only going to minimal. Plus, the way he handled the German team issue already showed his attitude was risky.

The real mistakes were made by Gazidis putting this deal on the table.

His absence has made no difference to our performance levels. We're closer to the top four without him, and scoring just as much upfront.

The problem is, unlike Ramsey, he can't impact a game from the subs bench. Although, he rarely seems to impact a game from the starting eleven nowadays.

Whether or not there is pressure coming from upstairs about whether to not use him to avoid paying appearance and potential assist/goal fees is something we'll never know sure.

Bored of the whole thing tbh. Just get rid in the summer, some way, somehow.

[Özim]

If Ozil came into the team, was given a run and started playing really well we'd definitely have some leverage, it might not happen of course, but it certainly won't happen with him out of the team, all it will do is make him harder to shift.

To say he makes no difference to our performance levels is debateable, since he's been out of the team we've struggled to win games and it coincides with our worst run of form, I'm not saying he's the answer to all our troubles, far from it, but Iwobi has no end product, Mikhi has been very average and we don't have any other options, plus he's paid 350k a week, playing him would at least mean it's not just totally wasted.

Yes we know the deal on the table was wrong, but I disagree with it being the wrong deal, at the time we were going to lose our two best players for free (Ozil was one at the time), so that left us with little option, the fans wouldn't have taken well to see both their top players walking away for nothing.

Actually the big error was not handing him that contract, it was allowing him to run down his contract in the 1st place which gave us no room for negotiation, what we should have done is with 2 years left either signed him up on a new contract or sold him, one or the other nothing else.

I don't agree with how Emery has handled this to be honest, it would be fine if we had plenty of decent options in his place but we really don't, moreover our form has been very patchy and yet we've had to stick with the same options because he wouldn't play Ozil, there's not much logic in that.

I get that he doesn't want him at the club, but in the short term he should just make the most of a bad situation so that we can get the best deal when we try to sell him, short term pain, long term gain, right now this is the worst situation possible, we've got very little chance of shifting him.

[Özim]

The way we mismanage players and contract situations really is ridiculous.

Totally, worst thing is we didn't seem to learn, it happened time and time again, Ramsey being the latest now. We've missed out on a lot of money that could have gone into the team by doing this, I don't really understand it to be honest, all we had to do is tie down players with 2 years remaining and if they weren't interested in signing by a set deadline to sell them, it might not have been ideal but at least we'd be guaranteed a decent fee.

The Ozil contract was purely down to having no room for negotiation due to leaving it so late. IMO Gazidis did a terrible job, look at the amount of assets we allowed to walk away for knockdown and no fee, he made a lot of money out of the club but delvered very little IMO, then as soon as he had the opportunity to make changes unopposed he walked away.

Wenger wasn't blame fee either, he had the power to weigh in and stop that as well but often preferred to trust that a player would sign.

[Mac76]

Yeah it’s quite galling thinking how much money we are pissing away with Ozil.

i heard that if he's not actually playing we don't then pay him £350k per week but something less - it's one theory why we aren't playing him, to save money and force him to leave...

[SMatthews]

We’ve gone strong, which makes sense:

Cech; Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal, Maitland-Niles, Guendouzi, Xhaka, Kolasinac; Mkhitaryan, Iwobi; Lacazette

Subs: Leno, Elneny, Torreira, Lichtsteiner, Aubameyang, Suarez, Nketiah

[AFC Leveller]

Gone really close twice now.

[AFC Leveller]

Xhaka booked for pulling back a player who was going absolutely nowhere.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Xhaka booked for pulling back a player who was going absolutely nowhere.

Himself?

Wahey!

[Master Splinter]

Laca firmly in the pub tonight.

[Gooner23]

They all are to be fair. Pitch doesn't help mind, looks pony.

[Letters]

SportsDevil is not playing nicely tonight :(

[SMatthews]

Oh dear

[McNamara That Ghost...]

1-0 HT. :haha:

[Marc Overmars]

Wow, we’re shit.

[Letters]

Pub Team 1 - Another Pub Team 0 :lol:

:ilt:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Crop rotation v squad rotation.

[AFC Leveller]

We started off well and missed two clear cut chances but looked dodgy at the back, no surprising with Mustafi in there.

[SMatthews]

Tbf, I think that’s only the first, or second, goal we’ve conceded from a dead ball this season.

Should’ve taken the chances we’ve had so far though.

[Bumble]

We started off well and missed two clear cut chances but looked dodgy at the back, no surprising with Mustafi in there.

how does he continually play. do we really not have a better defender in the reserves or in the away support?

[AFC Leveller]

I don’t understand why Emery is playing 5 at the back? Mustafi is suspect as fuck and I’d rather have an extra CM or attacking mid in there.

Bate will now sit back and frustrate us like they did most of that half and judging by recent games, we just don’t have the quality to open up teams who defend deep.

[Master Splinter]

Should have been comfortably in front, but we're just too inefficient at both ends.

The pitch is dreadful.

Hleb MOTM so far.

[Ralpheroo72]

A steaming pile of horse shit.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Watching Farming Simulator now.

Iwobi drifts one in.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Lacazette hammers it but easily saved ISS style.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

BATE: Scherbitski; Ryas, Volkov, Filipenko, Filipovic; Baga, Dragun, Hleb; Milic, Skavysh, Stasevich.

Seeing as nobody else posted it. :lol:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Disallowed goal for Lacazette.

Where's VAR?

[AFC Leveller]

1-1 but it’s ruled out for offside.

[Letters]

1-1 but it’s ruled out for offside.

Well it’s not 1-1 then, is it? :p

[Letters]

BATE: Scherbitski; Ryas, Volkov, Filipenko, Filipovic; Baga, Dragun, Hleb; Milic, Skavysh, Stasevich.

Seeing as nobody else posted it. :lol:

No wonder we are losing against such a star studded lineup <_<

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Old Man Hleb off, Berezkin on.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Cech saves from Stasevich.

Us. :lol:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Iwobi can't control it.

[Letters]

Iwobi can't control it.

:faint:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Why is AMN clapping a woeful pass to him like that?

[Marc Overmars]

Emery can’t hide behind the Kroenke hate for this one.

This is incredibly shit.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

AMN off, Aubameyang on.

Xhaka off, Torreira on.

Stewart Robson displaying his cracking insight again.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Milic off, Dubajic on.

[AFC Leveller]

No real shape to our attacking play, very slow and laborious.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Iwobi pubs it again.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Kolasinac only has one skill, whack it as hard as possible.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Kolasinac hauled off for that, Denis Suarez on. :bow:

[Xhaka Can’t]

Does anybody else remember the days where we watched football for entertainment?

[AFC Leveller]

1-1 would be decent. 1-0 is too risky, especially with a retarded defense like ours.

[Letters]

Does anybody else remember the days where we watched football for entertainment?

92/93 :bow:
Thoroughly enjoyable.

[fakeyank]

We know our defense is shit. Our offense is a very close second.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Lacazette sent off!

[Ralpheroo72]

We are awesome!

[AFC Leveller]

It’s gonna take a lot more than a decent manager to take us back to the top. Simply dire.

[Letters]

Lacazette sent off!

:haha:

[Xhaka Can’t]

Lacazette sent off!

And another 10 wishing it could be them.

[AFC Leveller]

Full time.

Crap. Shit. Fucking terrible.

[Marc Overmars]

Emery. :wave:

Off you pop.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

1-0 FT.

:haha:

Utterly embarrassing.

Beaten by these tractor hicks.

[AFC Leveller]

Yet again we fail to break down a really shit team, we barely had a shot in the second half, same fucking story every time we lose. Dunno about you but I think we played much better football under Wenger, nothings changed, we can’t defend and lose to pub teams regularly.

[SMatthews]

Wenger in?

[fakeyank]

Yet again we fail to break down a really shit team, we barely had a shot in the second half, same fucking story every time we lose. Dunno about you but I think we played much better football under Wenger, nothings changed, we can’t defend and lose to pub teams regularly.

We played amazing football under Wenger till 08. Since then our football has been abysmal.

We dont win the 4th place trophy anymore, but I can guarantee you that we have been the undisputed champions in sideways and backwards passing for over a decade now. Eat that! :fingers: