north bank gooner wrote:gunnor wrote:whee wrote:gunnor wrote:whee wrote:gunnor wrote:He's being paid to play and there is 0% chance that his life is in danger. We're almost certain to lose now because Mkhi is such an important player. So frustrating!
0% chance that his life is in danger? Well that's not exactly true is it.
And the second sentence is just as big a pile of bollocks as the first.
His life is not in danger. And yes, we are more likely to lose now than not. Mkhi is a high level performer in this competition and we have no playmaker now other than Ozil. It's pretty much all on Ozil's shoulders. No Ramsey No Mkhitaryan. This is a disaster.
We've seen a couple of occasions this year where supporters have got onto the field of play and assaulted players; no reason that couldn't happen in Baku - so not 0% chance at all. When there's a desire from a lunatic to act, there's always a chance.
We'll have to agree to disagree on the importance of Mkhi to this match. The one part of his game I think we may miss is his industry, but guess what? Somebody else will have to pull their socks up.
Is Mkhi in your best XI?
Yeah but they extended a State guarantee, the ambassador the foreign ministry etc. all came out and said he had nothing to worry about. That's a big deal. I can't think of a single time when a single player representing a club was targeted on hostile territory. I admit that Serbians did invade the pitch to attack Albanian players once but Mkhi is representing Arsenal here not Armenia. There are a lot of Arsenal fans in Azerbaijan believe it or not. It's not realistic for him to say he fears for his life.
We have nobody that can replace Ozil even if Mkhi wasn't in your first XI that's my point. If Mkhi starts, he can complement Ozil and yes I would start him. But if Mkhi doesn't start then we would have no choice but to play 5 at the back (3 centre backs with two wingbacks) with only Ozil as the playmaker, just like against Valencia. But if plan A doesn't work, there is no plan B, because we don't have Mkhi. Its as simple as that. Either Ozil does the job or we're toast! Remember, every time plan A doesn't work, Mkhi always bails us out, he's an effective replacement for Ozil. His directness and sharp crosses would also catch Chelsea defenders out. Like I said, no Ramsey and no Mikhi means Ozil is on his own.
You're making a big case for Mikhi being on the bench. I am not sure how tbh, he was responsible for the Brighton move (with his shocking pass in the final third) that ultimately saw us drop 2 points which was the difference between us qualifying for the CL in 4th and having an all or nothing shot in Baku.
In saying that I am disappointed that he did not despite reassurances from the highest order in Azerbaijan choose to travel. The fans are taking every bit as much a risk going into an unstable part of the world.
Mkhitariyan was also responsible for our equaliser home to wolves
Set up lacazette for our first then scored in our 2-0 home win v Southampton