by Tony Attwood
Having heard that Tottenham have put up posters all over the London Underground selling their Premium Packages with the word “premium” spelled wrongly twice, I have some sympathy. I can’t spell either – as of course you will have noticed if u lok ocasionaly @ wot i right.
Mind you there are some benefits in not being able to spell. As in the fact that the most successful advert I have ever written (which advertised teaching materials for children with dyslexia) had the headline
Nw y knw wht ts lk t b dyslxc
But I digress. The point is Untold is run by volunteers and the money we get from advertising just about pays for the server, and the security systems we’ve had to keep in place. I think this is a little different from the situation at the Tiny Totts as they build a new stadium and place advertisements on the Underground saying…
“Book an exclusive VR experience for new premum packages at Tottenham.”
Plus the one big point I have learned as a writer (apart from the benefit of having an editor who can spell) is that if one is going to make mistakes then try not to make them in the URL of a website one is referring to. Otherwise people can’t find it. The Tinies poster advertising their top notch situations at the new stadium, has a mistake in it, again in terms of the word which this time turns up as “premiun”.
Still, never mind. It is but a distraction from tonight’s match as is the news in the press yesterday that a certain Mr Higuain almost signed for Arsenal in 2013 but that awful Arsene Wenger refused to pay a Real Mad price and brought the present squad instead.
According to the Telegraph, “Given how that saga developed, the decision not to buy Higuain there and then was certainly a mistake in hindsight.”
Which is interesting given that as things stand in the league today Arsenal are the second highest goal scorers, just one goal behind Liverpool, and with twice as many goals scored as today’s opponents. Last season we scored six fewer than the top scorers. Of course we could have done with six goals more, but can we be sure that Higuain (instead of the squad we had) would a) have been injury free (given the way PL refs operate) and b) have adapted overall to PL and PL ref tactics?
According to the same article we also had a “dysfunctional midfield”. So apparently with a lack of striking power and a dysfunctional midfield one can come second in what we are told is the strongest league in the world. I think that deserves praise not yet another daily put down.
I think we are doing rather well at the moment (true we are not top, but still doing rather well) in part because Arsenal have a full list of 25 players on their rosta, just about the only club to do this, plus we have a group of under 21s who are regularly fighting for a place in the team including the likes of
Bellerin, Holding, Iwobi, Maitland-Niles, and Reine-Adelaide.
Watford have just 19 listed in their “25” and it is suggested that Changchun Yatai have agreed a fee of £20m for striker Odion Ighalo, although some reports say “it is understood” the Nigeria striker is reluctant to join them. I love “it is understood”. It is fake newsery talk for “this guy down the pub who, I admit, was a bit pissed, said, ‘that Odion guy, he don’t wanna go’.”
Arsene Wenger has mentioned the strength of his squad of late saying, “I believe that number-wise and quality-wise, we have what is required to do well. We are not in need of buying. On a general front it has been very quiet [in the transfer window]. That shows that there are not many players available who can strengthen English teams.
While Mr Wenger was looking at broader themes the Watford head coach Walter Mazzarri was concerned about the way things went in south London at the weekend, saying, “We have to react immediately.
“When you don’t win, of course you always reflect on different possibilities. Due to our situation, given injuries and that there are just two days until the next game, the manager makes the decision of putting the best possible team out in that moment.”
Which is a bit like saying, “I don’t really know what I can do.”
More on this and other team matters later today.
If you appreciate what we do and would like to help Untold Arsenal, please
- Follow us on Twitter @UntoldArsenal
- Follow us on Facebook (UntoldArsenalToday)
Fixtures and fittings
- Arsenal v Watford: will the Ox get the defensive midfield slot in place of Ramsey?
- Arsenal v Watford Tuesday 31 January 2017 – The Match Officials
- Sutton v Arsenal: will the tie be reversed to be played at the Ems?
In the news
- Arsenal face new midfield injury chaos as transfer window gets ready to shatter.
- Why being a thick-and-thin positive supporter who takes exercise is better than moaning.
- Mr Wenger v The FA – the full 20 year history. And the world of the fake innuendo.
From the History Society
- Exclusive: One of the most iconic tales about Chapman at Arsenal may not be quite what it seems
- Sidney Cartwright: a member of the 1930s Arsenal team of whom we know so little
- Arthur Gilbert Biggs: only three games for Arsenal but a varied football career
- Arsenal in the summer: the overseas tour of 1937
The picture above is of The Untold Arsenal Banner is on permanent display inside the Emirates Stadium
Off topic
Kudos to who ever predict Akinson as our referee against Chelsea
By Telegraph’s way of thinking:
The decision not to buy Messi, Ronaldo, Zidan, Maradonna, Pelle, XYZ, or even ABC there and then was certainly a mistake in hindsight.
Some of these news sites have become shameless.
If we had signed Higuan in 2013 it is highly unlikely that we would have bought Mesut Ozil as well and I know who I would prefer.
If there is one thing the media love- it is for a club to spend it’s way to the PL title and spectacularly stutter the next season. It means you have a story to run for 2 years! It helps if the story is a Leicester one, but the vein of the story is the same. They would like for Arsenal to go broke in winning the league and/or CL but to be fighting relegation or some Fair Play rap immediately after as opposed to respectable finishes. I wonder if these writers have kids and chastise them in the same way- you didn’t top your class every year, you are an also-ran.
I think not. Besides, Arsenal is not a person and cannot have feelings that might get hurt.
The Spuds never cease to amuse me. First they come up with a new stadium with a capacity of “50” more than the Emirates to claim bragging rights and now this?
Its good news for us as all our 5 strikers of: Walcott, Giroud, Sanchez, Welbeck and Perez are available for selection to play. In addition to their being abled to play centrally by all the 5 strikers, 4 of them but Olivier Giroud can also play wide from the wings.
Our hopes now are the duo of Welbeck and Walcott who have returned from their long term and short term injuries will not limit their goalscoring efforts to just one FA Cup game but extend their goalscoring prowess to the PL and the Ucl games for Arsenal as well on a consistent basis throughout the remaining part of this season.
I don’t think Le Prof will have selection headache when he wants to pick who to lead the line and who to play at the wings for any Arsenal games. For, whenever he started Giroud all the 4 remaining strikers can operate from the wings effectively. e.g. Against Watford tonight at the Ems, I’ve proposed to Le Prof to please start Sanchez to lead the line for us. While Lucas Perez manns the right wing and Iwobi should mann the left wing accordingly.
But if these front three line is not balance, then Le Prof could start our front three as: Sanchez leading the line, Perez manns the left right wing while Iwobi manns the right wing. And Ozil of course plays behind the trio as expected. But I think the would be most balance Arsenal front four should be: Sanchez leading the line, Walcott manning the right wing, Welbeck manning the left wing and Ozil playing behind the striker. I want this pacey front four to start the Chelsea game on Saturday with Coquelin and Chamberlain manning our midfield base. While our pacey wingbacks of Bellerin and Gibbs should also start the game. And of course Koscielny and Mustafi keep charge of the 2 CB positions and Cech holds on to his goalkeeper’s role.
My starts for Chelsea:
Cech
Bellerin Mustafi Koscielny Gibbs
Coquelin Chamberlain
Walcott Ozil Welbeck
Sanchez.
Oh my God! What a pacey Gunners. They’ll overrun the Blues. I think the Blues can only count on Moses, William and Costa for pace. But the Gunners will mark them out of the game by superior number in pace.
@ Temitope – Have they already chosen and announced the ref for the Chelsea game then?
@Jammy J
Yes, that is confirmed.
Referee: Atkinson, Martin
Assistant Referee: Burt, Stuart
Assistant Referee: Child, Steve
Fourth Official: Attwell, Stuart
@ jammy J
Sadly yes
@ Temitope
My dog could have predicted that the corrupt scumbag that runs the PIGMOB would appoint Atkinson. I even tried to get odds from a bookmaker and couldn’t!
The referee preview for Saturday is my task for this afternoon. We haven’t seen Atkinson at all this year so the PGMO have clearly been saving him up for this game. I expected it weeks ago. It’ll be interesting to see the result of the Liverpool! V Chelsea game, I’m expecting Liverpool! To get some points meaning that Chelsea will need to recoup the points against us on Saturday.
Three were a few articles starting last night, about the child abuse scandal. Apparently all the London EPL teams in some way are now being investigated.
Marca has updated their article, which now just reads that 5 EPL clubs are being investigated. Not the 5 London EPL clubs that was written last night.
Oops. 🙂
http://www.marca.com/en/football/international-football/2017/01/30/588fb6c8468aebe4408b45bd.html
Of course, sports journalists never make mistakes.
—
There was something on the radio about my neck of the woods a week or so ago, in that a 42 year old man in Edmonton, AB, Canada has also been charged with a similar offence.
The Mirror has an article. With this snippet:
> Because the game was the 149th time that Wenger has named a Gunners Premier League starting XI which didn’t contain a single English player, with the only Englishman who featured being Danny Welbeck who came off the bench for the final three minutes.
It is a complicated sentence.
I am not an English major, but doesn’t this sentence also imply that Danny Welbeck has been the only English player on an Arsenal side 149 times?
That isn’t what the sentence/paragraph is meant to say. Wouldn’t it have been better, if that would have been broken up into 2 sentences?
Just picking nits.
Atkinson? We fucking knew it! 3 or 4 of us predicted we would be getting him in this thread here – http://untold-arsenal.com/archives/59583. It’s just so predictable..
To all the naysayers; how is it that 3 or 4 of us actually managed to predict which referee we would get for a certain match? It’s just absolutely disgraceful.
Throw it away, shambles in the 1st half.