Premier League Matchweek 4 – The Match Officials, the downfall of Madley and Cardiff v Arsenal

by Andrew Crawshaw and Tony Attwood We have now found out a little more about PGMO referee Bobby Madley who has the Premier League after it was suggested he had sent an offensive social media message which allegedly mocked a disabled man.   It appears that Mr Madley has a lady friend in Norway and has now …

Arsenal in the Europa League. It’s a long way to go.

by Tony Attwood Shock horror, for if it is Arsenal it is a problem.  And the problem is Arsenal have to travel to Qarabag in Azerbaijan and FC Vorskla in Ukraine. (And of course to Lisbon to see Sporting but even the most rabid anti-Arsenal journalist is struggling to find that journey a problem). But for …

Away from the fake news: Team for Cardiff, Europa draw, Tottenham-land (the experience),

By Tony Attwood Of course it is not always easy to determine what is fake news and what is not.  For example just five of the 122 transfer rumours associated with players coming to Arsenal this summer were real, and I suspect most of us would have been able to spot 90 or 100 of the …

£10 to watch the Arsenal at the Emirates – again!

by Tony Attwood Yes, for all those moaning whatnots who complain about the price of going to the Arsenal it looks like being another £10 to see the club play Brentford in the League Cup, unless the club has changed its policy. Brentford are not exactly high flyers on away form Pos Team P W …

What’s coming up in the Europa League draw; all you are every likely to need to know and then some

By Tony Attwood Several newspapers are daring to venture into the “All you need to know” department for the Europa League draw, and based on what people like the Daily Beast are saying, that is precious little.  In fact the less you know about it, it seems, the better, at least as far as they …

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s Slow Start to the Season a Cause for Concern?

  Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was sensational for Arsenal during the second half of the 2017/18 Premier League campaign. Having moved to the Emirates Stadium midway through the season, most fans expected Aubameyang to start slowly as he adjusted to the pace of English football. However, the former Borussia Dortmund man was simply sublime, notching 10 goals …

Top football TV presenter charged with armed robbery

by Tony Attwood I suspect most people are aware of what fake news is.  And are aware of Mr Trump’s turning the phrase on its head by calling “fake news” any seriously reported news with evidence that notes his odd doings as President of the most powerful nation in the solar system. It is interesting …

The FAWSL Continental Cup week 2. The Untold Arsenal review

by Andrew Crawshaw As Arsenal didn’t have a match this weekend you may chose to stop reading now, but I hope not.  Information about the men’s game is everywhere – searching for information about the women’s game can take a while. The group phase of the competition has the 22 competing teams – 11 each …

What happened about Yaya Toure, and what question should we be asking?

Tech note: Sorry about this article.  It was published and then vanished as we are still upgrading the whole of Untold Arsenal to https:// and other unfathomable places.  Here is a quick rundown…   The Yaya Toure story came and went in a flash and our tale in the midst of it “What technical ploy …

Arsenal Must Avoid Losing Aaron Ramsey to a Premier League Rival

It’s been an inauspicious start to life under Unai Emery this season, with Arsenal losing their opening two Premier League games under the Spaniard. With two tough assignments against Manchester City and Chelsea out of the way, the Gunners are expected to improve significantly over the coming months and Aaron Ramsey is likely to play …

Arsenal under Emery: What do the stats actually say?

By Tony Attwood It seems reasonable to take it that clubs that are doing well, touch the ball more often, both because they are controlling the game and so have higher possession rates, but also because they are evolving complex movements between players which can be harder to defend. Of course it is not a …

Emery vs Ozil: Fact or the wild ramblings of deluded telepaths?

By Tony Attwood Situations are complex.  Virtually all situations are complex.  Some are incredibly complex. Of course the brain simplifies them by putting habits in place and skills in place so we don’t actually have to think how to move the muscles to put one foot in front of the other, but that just hides …

Why don’t players sue newspapers and blogs for the downright lies they tell?

Mariana Trench, the head of Better at Sky TV, gives us her views on how football blogs are teaching the multi-channel platform a thing or three. It is of course very important in 24 hours a day TV to keep the “discussion” going.  It isn’t a discussion of course because one person sets up questions …

What can we expect from Arsenal this autumn?

by Tony Attwood A big player turnover in the January window?  Promotion of some of the very promising kiddies from the under 23 squad?  A constant sniping, increasing to all out attacks on every player in the squad?  Rumours of discontent among the players growing into talk of outright rebellion?  Talk that the Emery is …

Arsenal v West Ham: the teams, the mistakes, the predictions.

by Bulldog Drummond This is one of those occasions where there is little agreement as to what team the manager should put out.  My constant pleading for the classic forward line of the latter half of last season has made no odds – but maybe that was because the manager was picking a team for …

Arsenal v West Ham; past events; injury news, and the issue of choice.

By Bulldog Drummond We have over the years had the better of things with West Ham beating them 65 times, losing 34 times with 39 draws.  But some of these games have been quite remarkable. Historians will particularly recall the games in the Cup in 1923… 14 Jan 1925 West Ham United v Arsenal D …

Arsenal v WHAM: West Ham’s local difficulties and a very modest away form

By Bulldog Drummond As we approach the game against WHAM it appears they have been a bit lackadaisical with the old data stuff by revealing personal details of lots of season ticket-holders.   It seems that in writing to supporters of WHAM (for such people do exist I’m told) email addresses of all the other recipients …

Arsenal v West Ham United: Matchweek 3 – The Match Officials

by Andrew Crawshaw Here is the full list of Match Officials for this weekend’s PL games courtesy of premierleague.com :- Saturday 25 August 12:30 Wolves v Man City Referee: Martin Atkinson Assistants: Stephen Child, Constantine Hatzidakis Fourth official: Stuart Attwell 15:00 Arsenal v West Ham Referee: Graham Scott Assistants: Scott Ledger, Mick McDonough Fourth official: Kevin Friend …

Koscielny returns, Smith has book, Emery Out, and one Arsenal player is really good after all.

By Sir Hardly Anyone The honeymoon is over.  In the world of copycat headlines and 40 posts a day all written by computer, it had to come sooner or later and it came sooner.   It came sooner.  After two games in fact. Arsenal news: Ray Parlour reveals who he wants to replace Unai Emery It …

Big 6 Match Referees- Cutting Through the Moss

Big 6 Match Referees- Cutting Through the Moss By Jerry Did you get a sense of déjà vu when seeing Martin Atkinson appointed as referee for Week 2’s Chelsea – Arsenal match? My reaction was “again?” or “what the heck?” if you change heck with a much stronger word. Walter pointed out in the comments …

A return to the dark days when an explanation is needed more than an apology or arrest

By Tony Attwood Oh what mixed times we live in.   Just after it seemed that Alex Iwobi could stand out as the one player not being attacked, so the first articles appear on the issue of the club’s “biggest mistake” in the summer.  It appears it was not buying a winger, because Iwobi is not …

What difference will leaving the EU make to the Premier League importation of players?

By Tony Attwood It is not a topic I have seen debated at all – which seems to imply that everything on the transfer front will continue as now when the UK leaves the EU.   Except there have been a few players where the story of late has been that a work permit has been …

Arsenal suffer co-ordinated attack from pundits aimed at bringing down the club

By Tony Attwood With just two matches gone it seems that every single Arsenal first team player who has played (except two) has been seriously attacked by pundits and self-styled experts.   The only two who have escaped the mauling thus far are Iwobi and Monreal – and of course those players who have not played. …

These referee actions (which they openly admit) clearly help one team over another

by Tony Attwood The perennial question: how can we make refereeing more accurate? And of course there is a whole range of answers available – at the heart of which is the obvious fact that in all human endeavours there are always mistakes. I mean, although it may seem hard to believe, Untold Arsenal itself …