The solution to Arsenal’s problems

by Tony Attwood Two years ago an unholy alliance of journalists and card carrying fans supported by the Arsenal Supporters Trust (who had previously claimed that the directors were setting money aside for their own use rather than making it available for transfers) pushed the club into getting rid of Mr Wenger and his staff, …

Tottenham v Arsenal. Injuries, team selections and weird statistics.

by Bulldog Drummond Here’s a good headline from the BBC: No Premier League fixture has seen more penalties scored than the north London derby – 19 have been netted in total. So that sets the scene for a game of leg breaking.  Here are the men already injured… Calum Chambers Left knee. Ruptured anterior cruciate …

Why not qualifying for Europe would be a great blessing

by Bulldog Drummond It’s not an Untold original, but “Doldrum Derby” did strike us as rather a funny way of announce the weekend’s Tottenham v Arsenal game. But it raised the more serious question, “Are Arsenal really in the doldrums?”  We’d argue not, given that a season out of Europe all together could work wonders …

Arsenal are just five goals from being top four.

We are so close.  Don’t let the journalists and bloggers spoil it. By Tony Attwood Arsenal, we have been told of late have been awful.   They have a terrible defence and a sloppy attack.  Even the return of Santi Cazorla would have taken us shooting up the league we are told. But in fact just …

Ticket arrangements for the new season: is Big Brother watching the fans?

by Tony Attwood As you may have guessed I am not actually a season ticket holder at Tottenham Hotspur, but rather I lend my support to a club playing at the other end of Seven Sisters Road. And it has been interesting to see just what Arsenal are saying in relation to tickets and next …

Is Santi Cazorla now outperforming EVERY Arsenal player except Aubameyang?

By Tony Attwood That is the claim from the remorselessly Arsenal-hating TalkSport as seen in their headline “STUNNING” followed by Santi Cazorla: Two more goals for ex-Gunner who is now outperforming EVERY Arsenal player except Aubameyang this season It was written by Billy Hawkins and published on 8th July 2020 – although it is interesting …

Yet more law changes for football next season, but one rule stays

By Tony Attwood It used to be that the laws governing football would change once in a blue moon, and then only if the moon was the right shade of blue and San Marino didn’t appeal..  But now it seems tinkering is the order of the day. For the talk is that the rule allowing …

Arsenal are currently the dirtiest team in the League. Does it matter?

By Tony Attwood Leicester have now been awarded over twice as many penalties as Arsenal this season, a factor that has clearly helped them cling on to a position in the upper part of the league. Mind you, they are not the most extraordinary team in this regard.  Manchester United have been awarded four times …

Arsenal v Leicester: City pull back from hyper-tackles now the tactic is exposed

By Bulldog Drummond Previously Arsenal v Leicester, Leicester’s declining tackles, Arteta confirms tactic Arsenal v Leicester: the yellow card kings against the tackle champions In  the previous articles we have considered the extraordinary way in which Leicester were committing more tackles than any other club, but getting far fewer yellow cards and giving Liverpool a …

Arsenal v Leicester: the yellow card kings against the tackle champions

by Bulldog Drummond Arsenal get a yellow card for every seven tackles.  Leicester get a yellow card for every 17 tackles. This article continues from Arsenal v Leicester, Leicester’s declining tackles, Arteta confirms tactic Looking at our results across the games since resumption we can see the obvious improvement in Arsenal – plus the increase …

Arsenal v Leicester, Leicester’s declining tackles, Arteta confirms tactic

By Bulldog Drummond Both the Mail and Telegraph have reports on Mikel Arteta saying that Arsenal play better without fans.  He’s probably the first Arsenal manager to say something along these lines since Herbert Chapman denounced the “boo boys” back in the 1930s. The Mail actually has Arteta saying, “When they play in front of …

New security systems hints at threat to serious journalism after Man C case

By Tony Attwood “The attempt to damage the club’s reputation is organized and clear.” With that one simple statement from Manchester City, the world of football changed, as did the world of football journalism.  The ramifications for the club, Uefa, and for independent journalism are still reverberating.   And they might well reverberate even more when …

The media always have their favourites, but eventually even they begin to have doubts

By Tony Attwood The Daily Mail’s headline comment, “‘They don’t have much to celebrate’: Jose Mourinho bites back at Arsenal tweet mocking their defeat by Sheffield United… but Spurs face a task to finish above their rivals ahead of Everton clash,” reminded me that even the media’s favourites must sometimes slip down the pecking order …

115 players tipped to be Transferring to Arsenal this summer: the full list.

By Sir Hardly Anyone This summer is clearly going to come out with the all time record for the number of players tipped to be coming to Arsenal by the all-seeing, all-knowing media.  And to be clear these are not the players that pundits are saying Arsenal “ought to sign” – if we included those …

Arsenal reveal post-lock down results are a very different matter

By Tony Attwood There is no doubt that lockdown has changed things.   Since the League returned without crowds in stadia, results have reversed, as indeed happened in Germany, with home wins now being the least likely, rather than the most likely result. It is more than likely that referee bias has a significant part to …

Wolverhampton W V Arsenal: the teams and recent games

by Bulldog Drummond As we saw in yesterday’s piece, Wolverhampton have been on a fine run of form, both before and after the break. Date Game Res Score Competition 01 Mar 2020 Tottenham Hotspur v Wolverhampton W W 2-3 Premier League 07 Mar 2020 Wolverhampton W v Brighton and Hove D 0-0 Premier League 12 …

Arsenal fined for misconduct in transfers; misleading statements; injuries

By Bulldog Drummond Fox Sports is reporting that Arsenal have been fined around £50,000 and warned about its future conduct regarding transfers after the club inserted restricted sell-on clauses in transfer contracts. This news follows the release of Fifa legal documents which have been seen by The Associated Press and relate to the departure of …

The Lawrence award for misleading information designed to put Arsenal down

By Tony Attwood Christophe Jost spotted a comment by Bixente Lizarazu after Arsenal’s last match which intrigued both of us.   Lizarazu, as you may know played for Bordeaux and Bayern Munich and got 97 caps for the French national team.  So one might think he is a man who most certainly has earned the right …

The strange statistics that emerge as a result of the lockdown

By Bulldog Drummond We know from all the research we have been able to unearth just how ghost games influence the referees.  Now with teams having played several games since the resumption of football after the lock down phase of the season, we can start looking at just how the experience of playing ghost games …

Empty stadia has changed football in the PL totally. Here’s how.

by Tony Attwood and Christophe Jost Arsenal winning 4-0 at the Ems…. no boo boys (as Chapman called them), no insults…  That undoubtedly helped us.  Indeed it is possible that Arsenal might be one of the few teams that sees their home results go up during the lock down, simply because the players know how …

Leicester’s strange tackle / foul / yellow figures change as they slip down the league

By Tony Attwood On 11 December 2019 the table looked like this… Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts 1 Liverpool 16 15 1 0 40 14 26 46 2 Leicester City 16 12 2 2 39 10 29 38 3 Manchester City 16 10 2 4 44 19 25 32 4 …

Arsenal v Norwich: the fighting, the enquiry, the injuries, the team

By Bulldog Drummond Physioroom is not showing much change in terms of injuries with eight players out. Player Reason Further Detail Potential Return Condition Status Calum Chambers Knee Injury Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury – ACL Injury 29/08/2020 None Ruled Out David Luiz Knee injury “Right knee. Being assessed ahead of Norwich City.” 01/07/2020 Late fitness …

Arsenal v Norwich: remembering Arsenal’s only home league defeat to Norwich

By Bulldog Drummond It has been so long since Arsenal played a home game that going back to the Arsenal Stadium will probably feel like an away game to the players.  And since we have won the last two away games that could be a help. But since it is technically a home game let’s …

Is Arsenal’s transfer policy a hopeless mess as Mislintat has said?

By Tony Attwood In the article Is Arsenal a dysfunctional club as Mislintat suggests? I tried to look at what Sven Mislintat had said about Arsenal after his departure.   He came to the club as an acclaimed talent spotter and recruiter, but left after 14 months full of very bitter talk about Arsenal and how, …

The racist bias in football reporting and its implication for all commentary

by Tony Attwood The Daily Mail recently admitted in a headline that “The media play a massive role in the perceptions of players… it is subliminal”. That was a pretty important statement, but it took the Guardian to come out with the unwholesome reality with its headline: Groundbreaking report reveals racial bias in English football …