The media don’t recognise there is an Arsenal game tonight. Fortunately we do.

Posted on by Tony Attwood

By Bulldog Drummond.

Arsène Wenger stands firm but Arsenal are standing still and close to meltdown shouts the Guardian and of course alongside it is another very tatty banner held up by a very tatty supporter, or at least he would be if we could see him.

So since the press won’t ever acknowledge that some of us actually paid to put up a positive banner, Untold continues to be the one and only place where you will get the truth.  Some people have anti-Wenger banners, and one group of us put up a pro-Wenger banner.  But just because it is just us, that is no excuse for the newspapers to be so utterly lopsided.

Art3

Moving on…

The Guardian can’t even be arsed to put up a match preview of the game today.  The Independent likewise, going with “Arsenal news: Arsene Wenger rules out summer exit despite supporter unrest” and the Telegraph has  “Arsenal vs West Brom: An imagined minute-by-minute timeline of misery” which is not only rather silly, but rather misses the point as to why some of us go to matches.

But then, those sports writers don’t pay to be there, so you can’t really expect them to understand.

Thus, without the pay, it is pretty much down to us to do the work of the press – and not for the first time by any means.

Starting with the fair play table, WBA are a bunch of dirty buggers, and when you recognise that Arsenal players are much more likely to get cards than the opposition (see all the reports from our referee team over the years), this is quite a feat.

This table shows league games only, and the way the points in the final column are calculated is shown at the end.  Violent thugs at the top, nice guys at the bottom.

# TEAM GAMES CAUTIONS  DISMISSALS  DISCIPLINARY POINTS
1 Watford 39 72 4 334
2 West Bromwich Albion 40 73 3 326
3 Aston Villa 40 76 2 326
4 Norwich City 38 65 3 292
5 Liverpool 43 67 2 288
6 Chelsea 39 59 5 286
7 Crystal Palace 42 66 2 286
8 West Ham United 41 62 6 282
9 Newcastle United 37 60 4 282
10 Manchester City 43 68 0 272
11 Stoke City 42 56 5 268
12 Southampton 38 53 6 264
13 Manchester United 41 63 1 262
14 Everton 44 49 6 260
15 Tottenham Hotspur 39 65 0 260
16 Sunderland AFC 36 57 2 248
17 Leicester City 39 56 2 244
18 Swansea City 37 60 1 240
19 AFC Bournemouth 40 57 1 238
20 Arsenal 40 45 4 210
  • Caution 4 pts
  • Denial of a goal scoring opportunity or dismissal for 2 cautions 10 pts
  • Violent conduct, serious foul play, spitting or offensive and abusive language

One nice thing I found doing this bit of looking up was a message on the FA website saying

AN ERROR HAS OCCURRED

 

Well yes, we knew that.  It was on this page – although they may have changed it by the time you see it.

So what will Mr Wenger do?  The injury table has no particular surprises…   You know the story – Arsenal get more injuries than any other team because Mr Wenger doesn’t know how to train players and forces them to do all the wrong things except…

Oh, that isn’t quite true.

# TEAM TOTAL INJURIES
1 Crystal Palace 8
2 Liverpool!!! 8
3 Newcastle United 7
4 Everton 6
5 Bournemouth 5
6 Stoke City 5
7 With an absolute right to rule 4
8 Manchester City 4
9 Manchester United 4
10 Southampton 4
11 Norwich City 3
12 Sunderland 3
13 Very dirty Albion 3
14 Aston Villa 2
15 The Tiny Totts 2
16 Arsenal 1
17 State Aid Utd 1
18 Long Ball City 0
19 Swansea City 0
20 Watford 0

Anyway, the wild ravings of the semi-skimmed press corps has changed the name of Liverpool! into Liverpool!!! as noted above.

Do we want to give anyone else a chance to play?     Per Mertesacker, Aaron Ramsey, Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud.  Jack is no longer injured, but obviously not yet ready.  Santi is running around we are told.

As for the Wild and Woolly Aggressors of the Premier League, Berahino missed two penalties against the even more aggressive Watford.  Pritchard is a doubt, Morrison is out.

Mr Wenger said to the scribbling wildebeests, “I would like to remind you that if we win against West Brom, we are third in the league and, if you look at the history of the club, over 140 years, and the consistency of the club, you will see that it’s not a shame, even if we are not happy with it.

“The season is far from over. It depends on who you play and the commitment you face.   Against West Ham and Crystal Palace we were not efficient enough. That is a regret. It’s my job to get the team 100% ready.

“Every time it doesn’t work you question yourself, it is part of the job. In the end it is always down to me and I stand up to that.”

West Brom head coach Tony Pulis said, “We get to go to these football grounds and play against great players, great football teams, at great stadiums. You relish it, you shouldn’t be nervous or worried about it.  You saw what I did with Stoke, and it is no surprise that the one thing my team is challenging for is top of the league in the indiscipline table.”

Actually I made that bit up, but you know what I mean.  And anyway the papers make it all up, so why not.  Here’s the table

POS CLUB P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Leicester City 34 21 10 3 59 33 26 73
2 Tottenham Hotspur 34 19 11 4 64 25 39 68
3 Manchester City 34 18 7 9 62 34 28 61
4 Arsenal 33 17 9 7 56 34 22 60
5 Manchester United 34 17 8 9 42 30 12 59
6 West Ham United 34 14 14 6 57 43 14 56
7 Liverpool 33 15 9 9 56 43 13 54
8 Southampton 34 14 9 11 45 35 10 51
9 Stoke City 34 13 8 13 37 47 -10 47
10 Chelsea 33 11 11 11 49 45 4 44
11 Everton 34 9 14 11 53 48 5 41
12 Watford 34 11 8 15 33 40 -7 41
13 Bournemouth 34 11 8 15 41 57 -16 41
14 West Bromwich Albion 33 10 10 13 31 40 -9 40

West Brom did the dirty on us at their place but they haven’t done the double since 1961/2, and they have lost eight out of nine Premier League games at the Ems – a 3-2 win in 2010 being the only time they have won.

The crowd, we are told will be small.  There will be four of us from Untold there but otherwise I don’t think there will be very many – at least that is what the press are saying.  So come along if you want a seat.

Arsenal are of course utterly useless as everyone knows, having let in 11 goals in 16 home league games which is the worst in the league.  Oh, no, not quite the worst.  Second worst,  No, hang on.  Oh.  Only Manchester United with seven have let in fewer.

We are also the only team to have scored in every game against a side currently in the bottom half.

But of course all our players are useless and not playing well.  I mean that ludicrous Alexis Sanchez has scored or assisted seven goals in his last six league games (four goals, three assists).  I mean six in seven is JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH.  Like all these injuries we get all the time.

Oh.  Well at least Ozil is still nicking a living.

And we are still waiting for Premier League win 500.   And still only Manchester United with 583 have won more.  Which proves how awful we are.

West Bromwich Wobbleybob have won one of their last 11 Premier League away games, drawing five and losing, oh, let’s work it out, 1, 2, 3, 4, yes five.     All ten of their League wins this season have been by a one-goal margin; seven by 1-0.

West Brom have scored 50 goals in 51 games in the Premier League under Tony Pulis.   Can you imagine what that is like to watch.

So………….

Cech

Bellerin Mert Kos Monreal

Ramsey Coquelin

Iwobi Ozil Alexis

Welbeck

On the beach…

Walcott, Campbell, Giroud, Gabriel, Elneny, Ooooooooooooooooooooospina, Chambers.

Top player ratings for Arsenal:

Ozil 7.68, Alexis 7.64, Koscielny 7.45.

The WhoScored forecast

Arsenal will dominate possession
Arsenal will score from a wingplay situation
Arsenal will score from a fast break situation
Arsenal will score a long shot
Final note – would you like to share a season ticket next season, going to some of the games – but not all of them.   One of the gang who sit alongside Tony in the front row of the East Upper wants to do a share deal for the year.   If you are interested drop a note to TonyAttwoodofLondon@gmail.com and he will pass it on.

Recent Posts

Untold Arsenal has published five books on Arsenal – all are available as paperback and three are now available on Kindle.  The books are

  • The Arsenal Yankee by Danny Karbassiyoon with a foreword by Arsene Wenger.
  • Arsenal: the long sleep 1953 – 1970; a view from the terrace.  By John Sowman with an introduction by Bob Wilson.
  • Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football.  By Tony Attwood, Andy Kelly and Mark Andrews.
  • Making the Arsenal: a novel by Tony Attwood.
  • The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal by Mark Andrews.

You can find details of all five on our new Arsenal Books page

 

Recent Posts

40 Replies to “The media don’t recognise there is an Arsenal game tonight. Fortunately we do.”

  1. Help me with this question? Is it the players endeavour that should first drive the crowd who then feeds off that to roar them on? Or vise versa?

  2. Normally i would say, the crowd should be firing the players on at the beginning of every match.

    The crowd being what it is, will react to what’s going on on the pitch. If the team performs well, but loses to a better team, the crowd is usually forgiving, but if the players do not perform, especially against a team that does not play particularly well, or a team we should beat, then we know what happens.

    At the moment though, it’s a little different i think. The crowds are disillusioned and will probably not be very supportive.

  3. I’m looking forward to the game. Will WBA play the way Watford and Palace did or, as they are now relegated, be more expanisve? I hope its the latter to give a more open game with a few goals.

  4. i am on Para on this one. the crowd should always lift the team as they come out and keep the crescendo going. its then the team who should be able to ride on that crescendo..

  5. I need not tell the Gunners who the Boss w’ll start for this match of the importance for them to wim this match & even d next Sunderland match. For the Gunners should all know how important are winning these 2 matches w’ll be by themselves.

    Notwithstanding, let’s forcus on tonight’s match at d Ems between AFC & WBA. I foresee another hard fought game by Arsenal as a Tony Pulis’s WBA side will not be easily overcome by Arsenal. This is so because these lower club sides have perfected a game strategy of massing on the ball in their eighteen yard area for long without conceding. And even if they concede a goal, they w’ll step up massing on the ball. And any momentary stwich offs by Arsenal, they’ll launch 1 to 3 counterattacks and if they are luky, they’ll score.

    So as a protection against these massing on d ball and launching 1 – 3 dagerous cnunterattacking teams like WBA, AFC MUST hv a plan A, B & C plans of: 4-2-3-1, 4-4-2 & 4-5-1 to switch inbetween during d match to overcome any stubboness by WBA.

  6. NB.
    In furtherance to my believed game plan for Arsenal’s game plan for this WBA match which in addition should as well cover the game plan of d Boss’ for d Gunners, is to employ the use of 1 2 or 1 2 3 fast devastating defense splitting passing by Arsenal defense-line into the WBA eighteen yard box. Then, bang! It’s a goal and goals.

    Save for defending purposes to conserve energy or to deny WBA having access to the ball, the Gunners should eschew the playing of over tiki-taka in the match that has no any productive value.

    The Gunners MUST be disciplined in front of the WBA goalmouth to convert the chances that will be created for any of them by their mates (Ozil) and bury their chances.

    I know by now the Boss must have concluded the selection of his 18 man match day squad for this match and may also have imformed those who’ll start.

    Nevertheless, my starts:
    Walcott
    IwobiOzilAlexis
    ElnenyCoquelin
    BellerinDeAbreuKoscielnyMonreal
    Ospina.
    Bench:
    CechChambersRhino’GibbsFlaminiGiroudWelbeck.

  7. @chibyke as for the fans, I understand that there is a symbiosis between the fans and the team on the pitch; they both feed off of each other. And, it is difficult to decide which of the two kick-starts the other. However, one thing is clear. Just as a player shouldn’t round off on the fans, the fans should not be negative to the players.

  8. Sorry, my starting defence-line should read from left to right as:
    MonrealKoscielnyDeAbreuBellerin.
    And not as they read from right to left in my just last posting. All my starters should be read from left to right.

    If I may add, that my starts & bench are the very correct starts and bench that can beat WBA hands down by at least 3 goals to nil if the Boss by my goodluck guessing start them. But I know he’ll likekly start Cech, Welbeck and even maybe Ramsey ahead of my 3 ones. Not that the Boss starts won’t win the match, they will. That what we all want to see happen. But I trust my starts if all things being okay with them.
    Thanks.

  9. Arsenal.com has the lineup out.

    Team in full: Cech, Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Ramsey, Elneny, Iwobi, Ozil, Alexis, Giroud.

    Subs: Ospina, Gabriel, Chambers, Coquelin, Campbell, Walcott, Welbeck.

    Looks like Bulldog was close.

  15. Lovely article, Tony. All those facts proving how useless we are.

    Come on you reds!

  16. Forgot to say, I saw the Untold banner for the first time on Sunday. Usually I’m sitting at that end. It looks lovely!

  20. No replay yet of the Ozil offside call? Hmmm.

    Lucky for the neutral the Arsenal scored first.

  24. Cyberian, I am following 3 text commentaries, and all of them are against Arsenal. It is bloody annoying.

    Glad to see you got your scoring boots on Alexis! Remmber, the Ladies scored 7 last time out. You need 5 more Alexis! 🙂

    COYG!

  26. Sublime piece of skill by Mesut on the touchline to evade three baggies players…. 🙂

  28. Gord. I admire your ability to tolerate three lines of negativity, one is more than enough for me. I rather wish I had a friendly radio network like my wife does when dissatisfied with television commentary on her Packer games.

  29. I’m working on some other stuff (OO Perl using Moose), which lets me get a couple of minutes of work in before I refresh screen pages to read what new idiocy the referees are up to.

    But some games, it is like seeing 4 or 5 games. All at one time. Every commentary is different, and then Walter/Usama come out with a ref review, all different.

    COYG!

  31. Media says Iwobi dived, what do you figure?

    Alexis, time for another goal please.

    COYG!

  35. The only useful thing Guardian are doing today, is exercising vocabulary. Maybe. Probably not.

    Daily Mail showed a banner supporting Wenger at end.

    COYG!

  36. Well done boys. The early goal meant West brom couldn’t park the bus, and that allowed us to play.

  37. Elneny got a touch just outside the penalty area so would have been no penalty but was similar to the foul for the second Arsenal goal. Iwobi little kick just under the knee it looked like that on one replay.

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