How sweet life can be (when we beat West Ham)

by Walter Broeckx In a perfect world we would win all our games with 3 or 4 goals.  But as we have found out already this isn’t a perfect world at all. Things don’t always happen the way we want them to happen.  And so instead of us winning against West Ham with a final …

The use of time-wasting in English pornography

By Tony Attwood (who I may assure you if you are in a dither about the headline has not gone utterly off his stevedore*) It was once put to me by a publisher who was considering one of my early novels, that the difference between pornography and literature was that literature is about build up, …

The untold ref review: Arsenal – Wasting Hammers

By Walter Broeckx, the ref No beach ball to see with ref Micheal Jones today so he couldn’t mess it up with that. But how did he do for the rest with the other decisions? CARD: Ilunga gets the first yellow card. The ref let play continue first for an advantage but then comes back …

What a total bloody disaster, fiasco and utter cock-up

By Billy “The Dog” McGraw, (ably assisted once again by his nurse). —————- I speak, in my headline, of course, about the line up for the EPL game or “clash” as the media like to call it, Arsenal vs Western Pornography. I mean, what sort of shambles of a club gets into this situation? Two …

Untold Refwatch. Arsenal v WHU: what we can expect from this referee

RefWatch: Mike Jones – Arsenal Vs West Ham 30/Oct/2010 By DogFace Referee: Mike Jones Assistant 1: Dave Bryan Assistant 2: John Flynn 4th Official: Keith Hill This weekend we entertain Western side of the provincial hamlet of Ham in what promises to be a cracking encounter… probably.  But enough of all that – the build …

Why Manchester IOU will not qualify for Europe: the detail

by Tony Attwood In a recent piece (“In football we are running out of benefactors”) I gave a quick resume of the financial problem that seems to be hitting the game.  In this article I want to try and get a bit further into how it can be that Man U’s chief exec constantly tells …

The untold ref review: Newcastle – Arsenal

By Walter Broeckx, the ref Another great result from the Gooners at St. James Park with a comfortable 4-0 win against the home side. So let us take a look at ref. Marinner who was the ref on the day. A warning before you start reading: In Belgium we had to see the game on …

Newcastle Beachboys vs Arsenal: how to get a prediction dead right (well, almost)

By Tony Attwood Sometimes there is a moment to sit back and reflect.  To look at the finer points of detail and say, well, yes, while the broad outline is vital the exact issues are important.  Perhaps even to admit that occasionally one doesn’t have to say, “Cor blimely guv that’s a turn up an …

In football we are running out of benefactors (and why Manchester can’t play in Europe)

By Tony Attwood That headline (or at least the first half of it) comes from the magnificent Football Management web site in an article that points out that the message of Portsmouth and other clubs has not sunk in anywhere in football.  Everyone thinks – that was them, it won’t happen with us.  Just as …

Visiting a pleasant seaside town for Newcastle v Arsenal

By Tony Attwood Newcastle v Arsenal is a repeat of the first ever league game Arsenal played in September 1893 in the  second division.   In fact there’s a whole series of articles about the game, including newspaper reports and an article on each and every one of the Woolwich Arsenal players who take part in …

Has the real Samir arrived this season?

By Walter Broeckx Are we witnessing another young player getting matured? This is the question I ask myself when I see Samir Nasri doing his job since he came back after his knee injury and at the start of the season. Well he was already doing a great job before his little injury in replacing …

Untold Injury Index – Gameweek 9

Untold Injury Index – Gameweek 9 By Dale Higginbottom Nine games in, as-near-as-dammit a quarter of the season gone; second in the league and (at present) a level of injuries that is manageable. Gameweek 9 injury figures. Man City Vs Arsenal Man City (4 injuries) Goalkeeper, midfield – No injuries reported Defence – Kolarov (8), …

The Untold ref review: Man Arab – Arsenal

by Walter Broeckx, the ref Before the game it was as if we went back in a time machine one year. The same clubs on the field, the same ref (that is the ref who last season wasn’t exactly the best man on the pitch as he missed a few things like Adebayor trying to …

Once again Untold predicted everything perfectly about the Man C game, except the result. And the sending off.

By Tony Attwood, sitting in front of the tele (with the fire on; it is cold in the midlands) Yes, ok, in Phil’s preview of the game Man City I listed them as having 12 players on the pitch.  Some said that was a silly mistake, but it was in fact a clear sign (for …

Man City v Arsenal: the team, the background, the result

by Phil Gregory With Chelsea eight points clear after their win against Wolves yesterday, Arsenal travel to Eastlands to play Manchester City. City themselves are three points clear of ourselves with slightly inferior goal difference. It goes without saying that three points are what we want against a team with title ambitions, but our away …

Songwriter Paul Simon, and the Professor of Philosophy, University of Frinton on Sea, discuss the game with Her Majesty the Queen

By Billy “The Dog” McGraw, Professor of Post-Postprandial Philosophy, the University of Certain Things, Frinton on Sea. Arsenal travel this weekend to the Manchester Riviera for a game next to the sand dunes and beaches of the exotic ShipCanal on Sunday. It is a game of some significance for me, as I have been invited …

Ref Watch: Manchester City v Arsenal; Mr Clattenberg, his alleged past, our game

Ref Watch – Manchester City v Arsenal – 24/10/2010 By DogFace I’d like, if you good people of the Arsenal blogosphere are willing, to drop in occasionally to bring to your attention some Arsenal news of the ‘Untold’ variety.  I warn you I’m an old cynic… but please bear with me as I mean well. …

They don’t care if our players get injured: Fifa finally being challenged

By Walter Broeckx There are a few interesting things in the media about the relations between the clubs and the national teams. And maybe a development that could be important for not only Arsenal but for the future of club football versus international football. Let us start with the argument between Bayern Munich and the …

Who knows what lies behind the mask: the strange case of Teddy Sherringham

by Tony Attwood Who knows what lies behind the mask What do players do when they retire?  Apart from making idiots of themselves on the media, where can they go?  What will Henry do when it is all over?  Come to that what is Bergkamp doing apart from painting the walls of his houses in …

Do we win more games when Cesc and Van Persie play? The bigger picture

Do we really win more games when Cesc and Van Persie play? Part-2 By Dark Prince Last week, many had argued that the stats which had been presented in the first part of this article did not show the true picture for Arsenal in the presence or absence of Cesc and Van Persie. So by …

The cow’s in the meadow. Seven reasons why Rooney might be harder to sell than Man U imagine

By Tony Attwood As the media circus hang on to and reprint every word of Sir F Word (apart of course from the F-words) and as Manchester IOU go into emergency session to decide what to do about the Potato Man’s agent (who seemingly pulled exactly the same trick on Everton when his guy moved …

A way to make football better

By Walter Broeckx One of our readers said that the problem with time wasting is not the rules but the refs who for some reason don’t enforce the rules on the field. And I could only agree with this. I must say that I sometimes feel like doing a crusade against dangerous tackles on my …

What would you like to change at Arsenal

By Tony Attwood What would you change about Arsenal?  Since, as you know, I am a devotee of the mighty Lord Wenger, not much. And it is not normally a question I would even contemplate.  But this advert from Football Manager 2011 turned up and it was full of the WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE ABOUT YOUR …

The most sporting occasion I have seen at Arsenal in fifty years

By Tony Attwood Living almost 100 miles from the Ems, I don’t get back home after mid-week games until after midnight, at which time I fall into bed, and just hope to wake up in time to get to work the next day.  (Us oldies are not so good in the small hours). So I …

The Untold ref review: Arsenal – Shakthar; the best refereeing we have seen

By Walter Broeckx, the ref. The ref in our CL game against Shaktar Donetsk was  Mr. Moen from Norway. Well let us just see how he did. OTHER: Wilshere comes in late and hits his opponent. The ref gives him a lecture. He could have given a yellow there but later on it turned out …