By Billy “the dog” McGraw, senior recreational psychologist, University Hospital of the North Circular Road.
1: Mourinho’s blip at Chelsea was not a blip.
Mr Mourinho went into a state that we psychologists call “bonkers” while at Chelsea, picking a fight he could never win, (and which was wholly and utterly unjustified) with the highly esteemed club doctor, while taking the club to the lowly parts of the League.
The attack on Dr Carneiro was often presented in the media as somehow justified – suggesting we were not able to see all the “facts”. Yet the outcome of the case suggests that Mourinho was indeed little short of completely bananas… and the results this season at Man U combined with Mourinho being sent to the stands etc while behaving like a very silly person with no sense of proportion, or reality, allows just one psychological conclusion…
He really is bonkers
2: Spending vast amounts of money doesn’t always work.
Staying with Manchester United this certainly seems to be the case. As does the fact of getting players in on a free (as with Ibramhimavich).
Pogba might come good. So might Mkhitarvan. But on the other hand they might not. And they did spend a lot of dosh.
3: Manchester City can buy success but not absolutely.
The record of Manchester City so far this season is identical as that of Arsenal, except that they have scored one more and let in one fewer. Yet with all that money spent, surely they should be much further ahead by now.
Yet they are not. Money is not the difference.
4: Away form is vital
All of the top three teams thus far in the Premier League have a better away record than home record. Manchester City have 11 points from home games and 12 from away games. For Arsenal it is 10 at home but 13 away. For Liverpool! it is ten at home 13 away, exactly as Arsenal.
This is in great contrast to the lower teams in the league, who in contrast to the four wins achieved by each of the top three away from home, have just two away wins…
| Home | Away | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | ||||||
| 1 | Manchester City | 3 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 5 | +15 | 23 | ||||
| 2 | Arsenal | 3 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 3 | +13 | 23 | ||||
| 3 | Liverpool | 3 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 10 | +11 | 23 | ||||
| 4 | Tottenham Hotspur | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 3 | +9 | 20 | ||||
| 5 | Chelsea | 4 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 6 | +10 | 19 | ||||
| 6 | Everton | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 5 | +5 | 15 | ||||
| 7 | Watford | 2 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 15 | ||||
| 8 | Manchester United | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 8 | +1 | 15 | ||||
4: Cover ups of football admin incompetence is absolute
Watford’s cock up with its finances has confirmed that documentary evidence provided to football authorities in England to show that everything is above board is just nodded through, without any proper investigation.
In short there is no governance of football in England – but don’t expect the mainstream media to admit it. Just about the only place that revealed what really happened with the Watford bogus claims that it had money in place was Untold.
5: Playing seriously in three competitions before Christmas is tough.
I haven’t seen too many newspapers drop their love affair with Tottenham, but they are going to have to sometime or other… if their recent results are anything to go by.
| Date | Comp | Opponents | Venue | Result |
| 15.10.2016 | League | West Bromwich Albion | a | D1-1 |
| 18.10.2016 | Champs | Bayer Leverkusen | a | D0-0 |
| 22.10.2016 | League | Bournemouth | a | D0-0 |
| 29.10.2016 | League | Leicester City | h | D1-1 |
Four games, two goals, no wins.
6: When you hit the big time the rumours start
“Real Madrid are considering a swoop for Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino, according to a report.”
This is in the Sunday Mirror which says that… well, Real Mad are looking at Pochettino as their next manager.
As a result Tottenham are seriously having to re-work their normal approach of taking on a manager and then firing him. Now he might be taken from them.
7: A 30 man squad is not a bad idea.
Arsenal are doing ok at the moment, but only because of the depth of the squad.
| Player | Status | |
| 1 | Kieran Gibbs | OK |
| 2 | Aaron Ramsey | Just returning from injury |
| 3 | Theo Walcott | Injured |
| 4 | Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain | OK |
| 5 | Danny Welbeck | Injured |
| 6 | Carl Jenkinson | Just returning from injury |
| 7 | Emiliano Martinez | Backup |
| 8 | Francis Coquelin | OK |
| 9 | Matt Macey | Backup |
| 10 | Mathieu Debuchy | In limbo |
| 11 | Per Mertesacker | Injured |
| 12 | Gabriel | OK |
| 13 | Laurent Koscielny | OK |
| 14 | Alexis Sanchez | OK |
| 15 | Mesut Özil | OK |
| 16 | Olivier Giroud | OK |
| 17 | David Ospina | OK |
| 18 | Nacho Monreal | Injured |
| 19 | Santi Cazorla | Injured |
| 20 | Yaya Sanogo | Not seen |
| 21 | Granit Xhaka | Just returning from suspension |
| 22 | Petr Cech | OK |
| 23 | Mohamed Elneny | OK |
| 24 | Shkodran Mustafi | OK |
| 25 | Lucas Pérez | Injured |
The following U21 players are included in our First Team Squad
| Player | Status | |
| Rob Holding | Still developing | |
| Alex Iwobi | OK | |
| Hector Bellerin | OK | |
| Chuba Akpom | Injured | |
| Jeff Reine-Adelaide | Still developing |
It just shows how vital the full “25” can be, and how much risk some other teams are taking by not having this.
8: The notion of two forwards who can score is not an Untold fancy.
So far Arsenal is the only team that has two forwards who are both knocking in goals regularly. And with the return of Giroud we could even be heading to having three. As things stand, no one else is near this.
It could be valuable.
9: There is no limit to the length that the media will go to, in order to invent stories
The Telegraph’s picture of the Emirates taken during an Emirates Cup match (for which season tickets were not valid) as an illustration of the story in which season ticket holders might be required to hand back their tickets if they don’t turn up, was about as low as it can go. At least until the next time.
The Guardian’s piece about Arsenal last season having only two players who scored 10+ goals was equal to that – the story that was supposed to be a negative, mis-represented statistics suggesting that they show the opposite of what they really showed.
The list of over 100 players who were coming to Arsenal and the 20 who were leaving during the summer turned out to be … bonkers.
There will be more. Which is why there is no number 10. I’m just waiting for it to happen.
-
Recent tales from Untold
The Football journalists education programme. A public service commentary.
Sunderland – Arsenal: 1-4, Welcome back Giroud and Ramsey
Wonderloaf v Arsenal. The preview, the teams, the stats, the score and the bland bread.
Arsenal to change the line up for Sunderland game: the tactical preview.
Why CIES data ranking clubs by the average age of their signings is not all it seems
Reasons to be cheerful parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19
the media/footy journalists alike will always find ways’ whether with their blatant manipulation/misleading fact n sometimes just made up lies create (no9- The Telegraph’s picture of the Emirates taken during an Emirates Cup match) just to make Arsenal football club look bad to public eyes. it’s becoming more n more ridiculous. i really didn’t mind n even respect them if they honestly admit they were at fault n apologies when there’re proof that shown they were wrong about the past article their wrote about Arsenal, AW n the players (they rarely done it to other clubs). but when they shamelessly act like they got no integrity n no honesty when doing their job n keep pretend like they had done nothing wrong, it make u wonder why they behaving unethically n in the same time it clearly shown they got hidden agenda when it’s involving Arsenal. please keep exposing their (media/footy journo, pundit alike’ all of them) wrongdoing’ Untold
Whether the media admit it or not, Arsenal are steadily moving on this season in all 3 competitions which are available so far for them compete in.
I am more than delighted yesterday when I saw the Gunners caged 4 Black Cats at the Stadium of Light which became dark for the Cats when the Gunners collected all the 3 points which were at stake and came back to the Ems with them and put them into the Ems’ points bag.
I am not concern about Man City continually arguing with us in the past 2 weeks on who between 2 of us should be topping the PL table. Let we all the Gooners be patient like the patient bird. We will top that PL table at such the right moment that will leave Man City with no reason to argue with us anymore but concede the leadership of the PL to us permanently.
In the light of us being proactive, I want Le Prof to ahead of the Spurs game at the Ems next Sunday, rest the tiring and fatigued looking Bellerin, Ozil, Iwobi and Mustafi for the Ludogorets match next tomorrow. So that 3 of the big guns out these 4 will be in optimum fitness condition to play the Spurs game. We all saw how Bellerin struggled in his overlapping at Sunderland as he couldn’t pass his makers to cross the ball or give assist that is the quality of his game, he was passing backwards or sideways and misplacing his passing a times due to fatigue. I think Bellerin has played in all Arsenal competitive games this season and deserved now a week rest to refresh for Spurs.
Ozil struggled with his shooting into goal and with his effort to lob the ball over the Sunderland’s keeper. Ordinary, if he was not fatigued, he would have converted one of the two chances. Mustafi left most of the centre-backs defending work to Koscielny to do due Mustafi becoming tiring. A week rest will refresh him for Spurs. Iwobi looked a struggling player in his game against Sunderland. He can’t take his opponent makers on without losing the ball. He was slow thus killing the momentum of the Gunners attacking threats and was sloppy in passing.
Arsenal Ladies won their last home game of the season beating Doncaster Belles by two goals to nil. A good crowd of over 1300 at Borehamwood on a misty afternoon. It was, in truth, a poor performance from Arsenal coupled with a much better one from Doncaster who are pointless this season.
Nil Nil at half time with neither team doing anything memorable, Arsenal passes not precise enough across the park. We changed things at about the 70 minute mark with Oshaola and Taylor coming on and immediately started to play in a far more positive way. Taylor got both of the goals pouncing on rebounds in the six yard area and our keeper was alert to make a couple of late saves to keep the clean sheet.
The last game is next weekend away at Liverpool. I’ll do a season end piece after then.
Thanks Andrew.
Much closer to home, I feel that we have learned to play to the strengths of a striker like Giroud.
At his feet or at his head.
Don’t expect him to dribble at ground level a la Alexis because that’s not his style. He will however execute a one-kick finish as good as they come.
And as for heading the ball in the goal area, he’s the best at ArsenalFC for many a year.
We must nurture him. 😉
As long as the defenders don’t try to get a piggy back it should work Nicky
Number 10. – The reporters , commentators , experts and ex-players have all collectively reached the absolute bottom of the proverbial barrel , after scraping at it for many a season .
Can we expect an improvement in reporting , assuming that they do rebound positively ? Or will they dig even deeper and breakthrough to new and even lower depths ?
Can a leopard change its spots ?
The media is responsible for so much mis-information that we really should not even be paying any attention to it at all, except to disect and lay bare those lies.
This is what Untold is doing.
Its like “gravity”- everyone is taught it, believes in it but if one takes a closer look it turns out to be just a theory, and a very bad one at that.
Pardon?
What part of gravity is very bad? That the force is proportional to the mass? The inverse square law for the force between two (point) masses?
Yes, there are problems in trying to find some unifying theory to merge gravity with quantum chromodynamics. And that apparently most of the “mass” of the universe doesn’t seem to be the ordinary matter that you and I are made out of, and understand. But our ability to predict nature based on the first paragraph is really quite good.
Only on Untold we start off discussing football,media and Arsenal we end up having a go at gravity it’s pro’s and con’s and whether it actually exists.
Dear sirs
Naturally I would not stir myself to pass comment on a blog site for a sport which had not been professionalised in my lifetime but as we do get ‘WiFi’ in the hearafter and young Master Attwood was a regular at the Royal Society dinner dances when I was in charge there, this ‘thread’ (I believe that is the correct term?) came to my attention.
Gravity, as my Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica showed the theory of gravitation is a means of explaining something in nature that occurs (by God’s will of course) – it is not Man’s creation. It is therefore a fact of life, a genuine and very real occurrence and not at all like the actions of the 21st century mass media (whatever that might be) nor a churlish and contemptuous beast such as is the PGMO
good day to you all
Sir Isaac – I am much moved by your intervention on our humble site.
How’s the alchemy going by the way?
UA, please dont let me get fired at work ;). I have been laughing uncontrollably!
@Gord: “…..some unifying theory to merge gravity with quantum chromodynamics”. What does this mean in English? It’s giving me a headache already. @Billy: Is such an headache a genuine ailment? Just asking… 🙂
@Sir Isaac: WiFi in the afterlife? Swell!
@Tony: Can you please restore the like/dislike buttons?
@Gideone: Will you please mind your business and get back to work? 😉 🙂
Have a good day you all.
Whilst I love the rest of the article, in fairness number four is a bit limp. Firstly, in terms of Liverpool!. Their average points at home are 2.5, whilst away they average 2.17. That’s actually a relatively big difference. Meanwhile Arsenal average 2 points at home and 2.6 away not “exactly as Arsenal” as you claim. Let’s not give the dissenters the opportunity to argue that we use dodgy statistical analysis please, the aaa use enough bull to argue against us without us giving them some actual facts to dispute.
Gideone
I am a materials science and engineering person. I have some knowledge of nuclear physics.
A well known, long range force is electrical/magnetic in nature, and I gather it is well explained by the quantum corrections to Maxwell’s equations.
The weak force is responsible for beta decay, a kind of radioactivity that is common. It only applies over short distances. A long time ago, some enterprising theoreticians managed to combine electromagnetic and weak theories into something I believe is called electroweak.
Another nuclear force is mediated by quarks, (and has properties in part labeled by colour, nothing to do with visible light) and is I believe described as chromodynamics. It may be that chromodynamics bundles in the electromagnetic and weak, but the quantum part refers to quantum corrections also be applied. Other kinds of radioactive decay are explained by the strong force.
So, that is 3 of the 4 fundamental forces. The one still not brought into a single framework, is gravity. The work that seems to describe efforts to bring in gravity to the other 3 is often called Theory of Everything.
For me to understand materials in an engineering context, I need no more than look at the work of quantum chromodynamics and the particular simplification which is Maxwell’s equations which is nominally responsible for all the ordinary properties of matter we see in physics, chemistry and biology. I don’t need ToE.
Clear as mud?
Alex Iwobi – OK?!
No, Sir! Alex Iwobi – Excellent. 😉