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 In my recent articles about the bias of referees in terms of favouring the home team when there is a crowd present, I have moved away from earlier commentaries on this site which have sought to show that there is persistent bias by referees in the Premier League. Now I want to …
Read More “Revealed: How clubs have evolved their “referee handling” tactics with such success”
By Tony Attwood If you have been following this series, you’ll know that it has been shown, through research undertaken at London School of Economics (part of the University of London) that referees are clearly influenced by the crowd. This in turn explains why the bias towards there being more home wins than away wins …
Read More “Proving unconscious bias by referees is rife in the Premier League: penalties”
by Tony Attwood When I started the articles this season that compared tackles, fouls, yellow cards and penalties between the clubs I wasn’t sure what I was going to find. And it has taken a while to work out what is going on, but I think we’re getting there, and I think it is weird. …
Read More “How clubs manipulate referees through their tactics”
By Tony Attwood There is obviously a major difference of opinion between Untold’s scribblers and those all knowing all seeing transfer correspondents of other blogs and the newspapers concerning the rules for transfers of players now England is not part of the European Union. I’ll try and set it out once more as I understand …
Read More “What exactly are the new rules concerning transfers of non-UK citizens?”
By Tony Attwood Of course we never know all the ins and outs of player issues within the club, but Arsenal do have some urgent work to do to restore a sense among players of being an organised club with a clear set of plans. Buying Saliba and then not including him in the squad, …
Read More “Everyone says Arsenal need to thin down the squad but what does that mean?”
By Sir Hardly Anyone. We are in a curious transfer window. The key issues (how to bring in non-English players under the new post-Brexit regulations, and how to move on players to make room for new comers in the 25 when everyone is facing the same problems of ditching unwanted foreign players) are just being …
Read More “Is it likely? Arsenal tipped to sign two players and ditch one of our young stars?”
By Sir Hardly Anyone It turned up on a BBC radio programme today: Benjamin Mendy broke the Covid-19 isolation regulations by inviting people from outside his household to a New Year’s Eve party. Of course he’s not the only one to do it within the world of football. Erik Lamela, Giovani Lo Celso and Sergio …
by Tony Attwood Well, to answer the question in the title, several things. Because although three wins and a good splattering of goals are fine, but there are still some problems. The biggest problem I guess are the bloggers and journalists who are daily telling us that a) Arsenal must buy lots of players and …
Read More “3 Arsenal wins in a row, so what’s left to worry about?”
By Bulldog Drummond Our old chum Kieran Gibbs is a doubt to face the Arsenal, having picked up a thigh injury according to SportsMole who also tell us the line up against the Larger Sam and Co could be Leno; Bellerin, Holding, Mari, Tierney; Elneny, Xhaka; Saka, Smith Rowe, Martinelli; Aubameyang The Standard chicken …
Read More “WBA v Arsenal, there’s a unanimity over the team”
by Bulldog Drummond Three teams have let in three or more goals in four consecutive home fixtures. West Brom are on the edge of this, and of course it will be very much to Arsenal’s benefit if that can be achieved. Date Game Res Score Competition 06 Dec 2020 West Bromwich Albion v Crystal Palace …
Read More “WBA v Arsenal: The ups and downs of the Larger Sam”
By Bulldog Drummond Looking at the performance statistics of Arsenal and West Brom we can see that Arsenal tackle less often, commit fewer fouls and have fewer penalties against them than West Bromwich Albion, and yet curiously, West Brom are able to get away with more fouls before they get a yellow. A curious state …
Read More “West Bromwich v Arsenal: the curious case of home and away”
By Bulldog Drummond Remember the old days? Arsene Wenger is to blame for Arsenal’s injury crisis screamed the Daily Mirror on 30 November 2015. They were just a little behind the times (as they so often are) because over one month earlier Talksport.com had come out with… ‘Old-school’ Arsene Wenger must be blamed for Arsenal’s …
Read More “Suddenly we’re almost top of the (injury) league”
By Sir Hardly Anyone We are now entering the new world of post-Brexit transfers, and given that the FA is in charge there is no need to say, it is going to be chaotic, making the Rutland livestock auctions look like a walk one the water. Sadly most journalists and bloggers don’t seem to have …
Read More “Forthcoming Arsenal transfers, except… those new Brexit regs are a bit pesky.”
By Tony Attwood There is a bit of a furore going on at the moment because the Leeds United twitter account has attacked a female football journalist, and seemingly used sexist language. The Guardian in a long piece has come to her defence, via an article, “How did Leeds United not realise what would happen …
Read More “At last some clubs and fans are taking on football’s “thought police””
By Tony Attwood Even the rabid buy-buy-buy reporters recognise that Arsenal have some great young players. What they don’t recognise is that Arsenal have nevertheless been spending record sums on transfers of late, and yet have ended up in their lowest position in the league since the middle ages (I made have got era wrong, …
Read More “Arsenal must not let the journalists push them into buying more and more players”
by Sir Hardly Anyone The next transfer window will open in four days and will remain open for 30 days or “around four weeks” as Google puts it. And there are signs that many journalists and bloggers see this as a real chance to undermine Arsenal and put paid to the early signs of recovery …
Read More “Why buying any new players now would be a disaster for Arsenal”
by Bulldog Drummond. And so the predictions sally forth… Sports Mole offer us Leno; Bellerin, Holding, Mari, Tierney; Xhaka, Ceballos; Pepe, Smith Rowe, Aubameyang; Lacazette I can see that one working with Martinelli replacing Auba on the hour, as Auba tires or continues to look out of sorts. The Evening Standard tell us that …
Read More “Brighton v Arsenal: Martinelli, Auba and Saka all to start!”
By Bulldog Drummond Physioroom.com reports that we have four players unavailable for tonight’s game… Player Reason Further Detail Potential Return Condition Gabriel Self-isolating as a precaution (Covid-19) 09/01/2021 None Thomas Partey Thigh Injury Dec 24: “Progressing well. Working outside on close ball work, together with the continued focus on his overall fitness rehab.” 09/01/2021 None …
Read More “Brighton v Arsenal: injuries, comparative records, and the media doom and gloom”
By Bulldog Drummond Following a brightening of the skies with a victory over Chelsea, we now play away to Brighton, a team who have a home record even worse than Arsenal’s this season… Home pos Club P W D L F A GD Pts 12 Arsenal 8 3 1 4 9 11 -2 10 13 …
Read More “Brighton v Arsenal: this is where we start building a new winning run”
by Tony Attwood Sportslens had an article up yesterday which tells us that “Inter Milan and Arsenal have been in talks for several days over a deal that would see Christian Eriksen head to the Emirates but Paris Saint-Germain could enter the race for the Denmark international, according to Italian media outlet Calciomercato.” The piece …
Read More “What exactly is a transfer hi-jack, and why is Arsenal so prone to them?”
by Tony Attwood Before the pandemic it was simple To win the league – or indeed to get into the top four – clubs needed a very solid positive away form. In the simplest of terms, clubs which had a positive away goal difference were in with a fighting chance of a top four place. …
Read More “If Arsenal want to rise up 2021, it’s the away form that’s the key”
By Iver Kalculator I have been told that Arsenal are doing far worse this season than we did last season. I think this is quite untrue. In fact I believe we are doing better than we were a season ago. As I show in the tables below. Date Game This season result This season score …
Read More “How Arsenal’s results have improved this season compared to last season.”
By Tony Attwood England is one of those parts of the world where the social sciences are decried, denied and thought to be the final source of excuses for the namby-pamby middle-class so-called intellectuals. The ludicrous words of Margaret Thatcher – “there is no such thing as society” – still resonate, and it seems that …
Read More “Arsenal spot the way to break free of the shackles”
By Bulldog Drummond We have three players out according to Physioroom… Player Reason Further Detail Potential Return Condition Status Thomas Partey Thigh Injury Dec 24: “Progressing well. Working outside on close ball work, together with the continued focus on his overall fitness rehab.” 09/01/2021 None Ruled Out Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Calf/Shin/Heel Injury Dec 24: “Has now …
Read More “Arsenal v Chelsea: the teams, the injuries, the media…”
By Tony Attwood Luckily for me, living a fair distance from London, I am able to spend a bit of time with my family this Christmas, although I do appreciate many people cannot, and I really do feel for them. I’d find it a huge strain if that happened to me. But because I shall …
Read More “It’s a difficult time for Arsenal, but we can come through.”
