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 is possible, although perhaps rather unlikely, that you know of Tim Sparv, the Finnish midfielder. He spent three years in the youth academy of Southampton and was a member of Southampton’s youth team that reached the final of the FA Youth Cup in 2005, playing in a team that also included …
Read More “Players don’t often write interesting articles about football, but…”
By Tony Attwood It is not surprising that we have started to get a few comments made attempting to denounce or undermine the thesis developed on these pages that there is something amiss with the refereeing of Premier League games. The tactic normally used is one in which just one element of our argument about …
Read More “The seven reasons why professional refereeing in England should be investigated now”
By Tony Attwood I’ve been going to Arsenal since the 1960s but I have never experienced events as worrying and dangerous as I experienced while trying to gain access to the stadium yesterday for the game against Norwich. In essence, one entrance to the environs of the ground up a slope with the underground car …
Read More “On the basis of the Norwich game Arsenal stadium should be closed as unsafe”
By Bulldog Drummond In previous articles we have covered Home and away form and injuries and the explored the approach of each club to this season. There’s a piece on the danger Arsenal must be aware of in this game, and of course with our regular interest in the tackle, foul, yellow situation, Expect …
Read More “Arsenal v Norwich: We’re off to a 3pm saturday kickoff! Here are the teams”
By Bulldog Drummond. Previously: Arsenal v Norwich: exploring the approach of each club to this season Arsenal v Norwich: the danger Arsenal must be aware of in this game. Expect a foul to be given against Arsenal before Norwich kick off this weekend Here is our home and away form for last season for Arsenal …
Read More “Arsenal v Norwich. Home and away form and injuries”
By Bulldog Drummond It is difficult to get much from the statistics of this season since both clubs are doing a fine impersonation of a British entry in the European Song Contest and getting no points. And there is a curious link between the two clubs – just take a look at the Norwich form …
Read More “Arsenal v Norwich: exploring the approach of each club to this season”
Will Ben White Live Up to his Price Tag? Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta looked to bolster his defensive options in the transfer window. The Spaniard quickly moved for English defender Ben White, one of his first signings of the summer. White arrived from Premier League rivals Brighton for £50 million in July. The defender followed …
By Tony Attwood We know Fifa is looking to set up its own club competition in Africa as a prelude to taking over the Champions League. Now we can return to the way it works when anyone dares to challenge its approach. Stefan Keller was the special prosecutor of the Swiss public prosecutor’s office in …
Read More “Fifa is now attempting to make itself above all national and international law”
By Tony Attwood The statistics comparing Norwich City and Arsenal for the game on Saturday are frightening. Fortunately it seems quite clear that Mr Arteta aware of them and has a plan in place to overcome them. Now we are about to see if the squad has taken his response to the situation on board, …
Read More “Arsenal v Norwich: the danger Arsenal must be aware of in this game.”
by Bulldog Drummond Arsenal have been handed a situation worse than having the whole first team injured for this weekend’s game with bottom of the league Norwich. For the referee they have been given is the man who handed out more fouls per game against Arsenal players than any other referee last season. And on …
Read More “Expect a foul to be given against Arsenal before Norwich kick off this weekend”
by Tony Attwood In the end there is one set of organisations that could take on Fifa. Not the countries that are members of course, because they are afraid of being suspended from a competition which could carry on without them. But the clubs which are allied to the regional bodies such as Uefa. Of …
Read More “Could clubs finally take on the appalling Fifa over the legality of travel?”
By Tony Attwood How does an expert become an expert? And how long does he stay an expert for? Doctors have about six years training. Solicitors also have six years. Teachers have four years. And all have a set retirement age. And football journalists… well none. Football is full of self-appointed experts so that …
Read More “Why certain key football statistics are never ever published in the media.”
By Bulldog Drummond “All the news that fits” is a phrase thrown at newspapers who endlessly promote their own agenda through their choice of stories. And choice is important. Of course there are some stories that all the newspapers will cover, but actually the number of these is quite small. England matches, the resignation or …
Read More “How long is it since Arsenal last won a trophy, and how does that compare to others.”
By Bulldog Drummond Much has been made in terms of three league defeats at the start of the season, and as we’ve noted off and on in recent weeks this is indeed unusual for Arsenal. Not unique, but unusual. But a defeat in August or September counts exactly the same as a defeat in November, …
Read More “How often does Arsenal get three defeats in a row? More than you think!”
By Tony Attwood One of the great things about Arsène Wenger is his ability to run rings round journalists so many times that they not only get giddy, they have no idea what he is actually saying to them. But I must admit that since he accepted a job at Fifa as chief of global …
Read More “What is Arsène Wenger up to with his proposals relating to the world cup?”
By Tony Attwood There is something of an oddity with Arsenal. During the Wengerian days there was a cry from parts of the ground saying “spend some fucking money”. Mr Wenger would smile and carry on as before. Indeed he would often say that if he was given unlimited funds he give it back, preferring …
Read More “Which squad has cost the most, and which players did Arsenal miss out on?”
By David Lovelock Rumours suggesting that Mikel Arteta would land one of his big targets this summer in Norwegian starlet, Martin Odegaard, started even before the player went back to Real Madrid. The 22-year-old was keen on a move away from Real Madrid, it was said, and Los Blancos were ready to sell. What could …
Read More “Martin Odegaard: signalling a serious re-build under Arteta”
By Sir Hardly Anyone Well! I say again, “Well!!!” Can you imagine what the reaction in the UK media would have been if the ex-Arsenal goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez had still played for Arsenal. The world (and possibly half the solar system) would have come crashing down on Arsenal’s head. Or what if Tottenham’s Cristian Romero …
By Tony Attwood Chelsea are the reigning women’s premier league champions. But more than that they have won the title five times in the last seven years. But at Arsenal Stadium today Arsenal Women saw off Chelsea with a 3-2 win under the guidance of the new Arsenal manager. Of course the media are using …
Read More “Arsenal women beat the Champions in a really exciting match”
By Sir Hardly Anyone We’ve talked about the way in which the Daily Mirror has pretended that Martinez had a better season in 2020/1 than Leno and that Arsenal made a mistake in selling Martinez. They ignore the fact that Martinez was not happy to stay on as backup keeper, and had he been forced …
Read More “Was there another reason why Arsenal ditched Martinez and kept Leno?”
by Andrew Crawshaw In an eerily familiar fashion Arsenal have been drawn against both Chelsea and Manchester City in their opening three matches of the Women’s Super League (WSL). Unlike our men though the Women will be fighting those two clubs for the title so both games are real six-pointers. The WSL started on …
Read More “Arsenal v Chelsea Women – opening weekend of the WSL”
by Tony Attwood There was a time when, during the interlull – that period when league games are forcibly stopped so that our players can go and get injured playing for countries of whom we know little, even with a globe in front of us – that Blacksheep and I would go and watch non-league …
Read More “Just an interlull? No, there are FA Cup games being played”
By Bulldog Drummond Things really are looking bleak. Given the inevitable furious outpouring to the fact that Arsenal actually took the chance of the interlull to play a friendly without inviting the journos along (goodness how the media hated that) and won it (something now considered utterly unacceptable) and revealed yet another young player on …
By Sir Hardly Anyone As you’ll know Arsenal played an extra friendly this week against Brentford, using a new formation and of course only those players who were not playing international kickabouts. The team we put out was… Ramsdale; White (Hutchinson 76), Mari, Gabriel (Holding 69) Chambers, …
Read More “Arsenal v Brentford: Charlie Patino shines – watch the video of yet another new star”
By Tony Attwood I have regularly argued that football journalists and bloggers base all their ideas on the notion that the only way forward for clubs is to buy new players. As I have shown, the media likes making this a big story because it costs nothing in terms of research, and when over 95% …
Read More “Why the collapse of the transfer market prefaces the collapse of football.”
