Untold Arsenal: Supporting the club, the manager and the team
"I believe the target of anything in life should be to do it so well that it becomes an art." A Wenger
by Tony Attwood It was a slightly interesting cup final for those who like to mix a few facts in with the opinion. Chelsea have now won the FA Cup eight times since they were formed and immediately gained a place in the Football League in 1905 – so that is eight in 113 years. …
Read More “FA Cup final leaves Arsenal top of the list, but raises an intriguing question”
By Tony Attwood The one time Uefa president Michel Platini who is now formerly known as the “disgraced former president” as if most administrators of major football organisations are not still a disgrace, has recently admitted the draw for the World Cup in 1998 was fixed. He called it what translates roughly as “a bit of …
Read More “The curious cases of match fixing in the world cup, Champs League, and, well, generally”
By Tony Attwood An interesting piece in the Telegraph today includes a review of Granit Xhaka which instead of just joining in the general “he’s rubbish get him out” actually looks, as we tried to do earlier this season, at his figures. Their commentary reads, “Divides opinion, doesn’t always track his runner and is liable to …
Read More “Five great players, six great reserves and Arsenal win the league”
By Tony Attwood It was way back in 1966 that the defining research into being an “expert” was conducted. Not in football but generally. What does it take to make someone an expert in a particular field? Since the media love phrases like “our panel of experts” and “our chief football correspondent” (which implies expertise), …
Read More “How you can be a football “expert” just like everyone else.”
By Tony Attwood In his final interviews at the Huddersfield game Mr Wenger said he was convinced that the squad merely needed two or three new signings to be able to challenge again for the major trophies. At the same time we have had the figure of £50m being available which in terms of top …
Read More “Why Arsenal might have to mortgage the ground to get in the players that we want.”
By Tony Attwood With this season’s end also being the end of the Wenger Era I found my mind wandering, and, being of a certain age, found it was quite hard to remember exactly who had won what both during recent years and indeed the who Wenger Era. My thought was that no one remembers …
Read More “Who did what and what problems come up next…. Using the past to predict the future.”
By Tony Attwood Here we go: ten things that went right or wrong this season. 1: The Telegraph started to recognise that there is a problem with refereeing in the Premier League. The fact that they lead this morning with “My choices for the best and worst Premier League referees this season” shows …
Read More “The Premier League 2017/18 – what went wrong and some bits that went right”
By Bulldog Drummond So here we go, the very last game for the man who revolutionised the club from being a place where finishing sixth was “not a bad season really” became “an absolute disaster”. From “something to build on” to “get him out at once”. And so he has changed the club he found …
Read More “Huddersfield v Arsenal. A team with a home record almost as bad as Arsenal away.”
by Tony Attwood Here is the list of next season’s league winners England: Manchester City Scotland: Celtic France: PSG Spain: Barcelona Germany: Bayern Munich Italy: Juventus Won’t it all be astonishingly exciting to watch it happen, knowing in advance whose going to win! Wow, won’t just everyone be glued to their TVs to see every …
by Bulldog Drummond The big stat doing the rounds for this game is that Arsenal are the only side without an away point in English league football in 2018, having lost all six of their matches. Well, I think we knew that. But what you might not have seen (although it has turned up in …
Read More “Leicester v Arsenal: the teams and the last time Arsenal’s away form was this bad”
ByBulldog Drummond The injury file doesn’t look too good at the moment, given that it contains Laurent Koscielny, Santi Cazorla, Mesut Ozil and Mohammed Elneny, and it is a good job we are at the end of the season. But thankfully the days in which the media printed the endlessly recycled “Arsenal have the most …
Read More “Leicester v Arsenal: remember the days when Arsenal allegedly had the most injuries?”
by Bulldog Drummond Before we get down to our usual coverage of past matches between the two clubs there is a lovely story in the local Leicester newspaper today Claudio Ranieri linked with Tottenham in strangest transfer rumour of season The sub-heading reads “The former Leicester City boss looks set to leave Nantes this summer …
By Dr Billy “the dog” McGraw You may remember, if you have a long memory, that Untold got a little upset by the Guardian journalist Amy Lawrence a while back. What frustrated several of us was her use of trickery to suggest that the statement that Arsenal having only two players who scored in double …
Read More “Arsenal have three players who’ve scored in double figures!”
By Tony Attwood I don’t normally give links to the Arsenal press conference, not least because you can find them elsewhere and the whole point of this site is that it is “Untold” – covering stories and analyses that are not be found elsewhere. Of course we don’t always do that, but that is the …
Read More “Journalists give Arsene Wenger a standing ovation at final press conference”
by Tony Attwood “Thank you for having me for such a long time. I know that’s not easy. But above all I am like you. I am an Arsenal fan. That means more than just watching football. It is a way of life. It is caring about the beautiful game, the values we cherish and …
Read More ““He’s won more than you.” Stadium Wenger gives its creator a wonderful goodbye.”
By Tony Attwood I suspect many Arsenal fans keep an eye on Stoke City, not just because of the injury caused to Ramsey, but also because of the way some of the Stoke City supporters have reacted to Arsenal and Ramsey in matches subsequently. I am not sure if there are other clubs in which …
By Dr Billy “the dog” McGraw. Being negative and being critical brings a few advantages in life. Both can help if one wants to be a political or trades union leader, but for generally getting on ok in life it doesn’t tend to bring job advancement or win new friends. Except I suppose in journalism …
Read More “Insult of the day, and a consideration of the minds of Keown and Souness”
By Bulldog Drummond Last Sunday Atlético Madrid beat Deportivo Alavés 1-0 away and once again had a player sent off while Fernando Torres had a penalty saved. Seven minutes later Atlético won another penalty, which Kevin Gameiro scored before Angel Correa was sent off in injury time for two bookings. Antoine Griezmann, Saul Niguez and Jan …
Read More “A Madrid v An Arsenal. Another Madrid man sent off this week”
By Dr Billy “the dog” McGraw. Arsenal boos as trio return to full training ahead of Atletico Madrid trip Of course it only takes a mo to understand that this is not what Football Talk meant to talk about in their headline – because the story tells us that “Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Sead Kolasinac and Alex Iwobi …
Read More “How can Arsenal be fined for fielding a weakened team when everyone is rubbish anyway?”
“Wigan without the ball are a better team than Arsenal” By Billy “the Dog” McGraw There is a seriously fascinating article in the Telegraph today. Seriously fascinating and seriously long. And for once I would like to give a link to the article, and thus quite possibly give the Telegraph (a media “outlet” with which …
By Tony Attwood I’ve made the point a few times that the media is not very good at asking “why?” questions when it comes to football debate. One might also say that they are not very good at asking “what happens next?” In the immediate aftermath of Mr Wenger’s announcement about his resignation rumours about …
Read More “Why Arsenal will be looking to sign a couple of Italians this summer”
By Bulldog Drummond We’re having real technical problems this weekend chez Untold hence Blacksheep’s message at little earlier, but after helpful hints and whatnot from EE we are back on, although with interruptions to the service. So this is going to be a quick piece on a possible line up. It seems Mr Wenger is …
Read More “Team news for Man U v Arsenal and revelation as to our next manager”
By Bulldog Drummond So how have Man U been doing this season? Here’s the ups and downs. Premier League: Hoped to win it but came second. When Arsenal came second in 2015/16 it was the source of much derision, so I imagine it will be the same for Man U. Champions League: Knocked out by …
Read More “Man U v Arsenal. The home and away records and the need for a spot of luck perhaps”
By Bulldog Drummond. According to the Independent website, “One of the problems with Arsenal for the past few years has been a stagnant flatness.” Ah well. I guess that maybe they were not at the Cup Finals. And while there is a lot of coverage of Mr Wenger, and of violence once again surrounding a …
Read More ““No pollution. Until the press conference starts.” A. Wenger.”
by Billy “the dog” McGraw With talk from some on what looks to me increasingly like the lunatic fringe of football journalism, about how half the squad need changing, I thought I’d have meander around some of the players who have arrived or emerged in what we now know to be the last couple of …
Read More “The recent arrivals under Wenger should not be cast aside by the new manager”
