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 We are, as Arsenal fans, being treated with absolute contempt. We are treated as idiots with brains the size of peas, simple beings who can be manipulated with a few set phrases written by computers, allowing the journalists to move on to the proper stuff. Just take a look at this: “Arsenal …
Read More “Arsenal v Vorskla Poltava: the media is treating us with absolute contempt”
by Tony Attwood There is a big part of me that doesn’t want Arsenal to get back into the Champions League – the part that recognises that we might well get through the group stages of that competition but then be slaughtered in the first or second knock out round. And that the knock back …
Read More “Why Arsenal into the Champions League next season may not be the best option”
By Tony Attwood In relation to understanding how football works, I generally find that theories about what is happening in football which draw parallels with similar things happening elsewhere in our society, tend to be the most helpful. Yes football is unique, but it exists within the context of a culture, a society, a country, a …
Read More “Why does Arsenal attract so many negative commentaries in the media?”
By Tony Attwood It was quite a scandal, although not surprisingly, the media didn’t want to know. Newspaper web sites publishing pictures of a more than half empty Arsenal stadium and then sneering at the official attendance figures. The media tended to back off after we revealed that the prime picture used to illustrate an …
Read More “Remember stories of a half empty Arsenal Stadium? Now the story moves on.”
By Bulldog Drummond Through our regular run of previews we’ve been left with a range of suggestions as to what Mr Emery is going to do with the team in the coming weeks, although there is a fairly regular suggestion among those who claim to know such things that he is adjusting the team for …
Read More “Torreira in, new Arsenal rule, daft headlines, an alternative table”
By Bulldog Drummond We might feel we’ve got a fair idea of what will happen in terms of Arsenal team selection in the Premier League but it seems that what has been assumed (at Untold, I can’t read minds, unlike many of our correspondents so I don’t know what people have thought) about the continuation …
Read More “Newcastle v Arsenal. Arsenal’s awful defence, non-rotation, the triumphs of Benitez”
By Bulldog Drummond Here’s a positive story and a half: Kanu talking about his heart foundation under the headline, “We have saved 542 lives, that means more than football.” The full piece is in the Guardian. Brilliant for Kanu to dedicate himself to this, good on the Guardian for highlighting the story. In the injury league table …
By Bulldog Drummond There is a rare old collection of tempting headlines around the papers this morning, which I thought I’d throw in, swirl around and drag out the pot, as we warm up to tomorrow’s game. How about this one “Manchester City left bemused after police admit to no arrests five months after Anfield …
Read More “Newcastle v Arsenal: handbrake off, Everton points deduction, David gold on sucking”
By Tony Attwood Going to a stadium for the first time is always fun, but last night this became double fun before the game when, having had a bite to eat and a drink in the Hilton Hotel, which is part of the Ricoh Arena complex (it also houses Wasps rugby club) we were strolling …
Read More “Shaking hands with Per Mertesacker and Tony Adams and a 3-0 victory over Coventry”
by Bulldog Drummond Fortunately for the two of us going to the game, Coventry is only about one hour by car away, although I am told it can be a nightmare getting out of the area. So I shall make sure I am fully laden with audio books to keep me going. However we only …
Read More “Coventry v Arsenal tonight. Preparing for the road trip.”
Could it at least make it to the Champion’s League? No, would likely be the most appropriate answer. After all, we’re looking at a club that doesn’t have the roster and the continuity of management to compete with teams such as Liverpool or Manchester City. Even Chelsea, though lacking the depth to compete with City …
by Tony Attwood The problem is, we are told there is going to be a third European competition next year but we don’t really know too much about how it will work, but it looks a bit like this could be the way forward… Part 1: Leave the Champions League as it is. Part 2: …
Read More “And just in case there isn’t enough football around, here’s a new competition”
by Bulldog Drummond On Wednesday this week Coventry City play Arsenal in the Checkatrade Trophy. I’m not too sure how big the crowd will be but there will be two Untolders there trying to sort out what is going on and of course report back after the match. And “sort out” seems to be the …
Read More “Coventry City v Arsenal – preparing for the cup match on Wednesday”
Ingenue1 / pixabay Arsenal’s first game after the international break will be against floundering Newcastle United. After an important 3-2 over Cardiff City, Unai Emery and Arsenal have a chance to capitalize on the down-and-out in Rafa Benitez’s Newcastle. Arsenal does have to reckon with the dreaded international break, something that affects Arsenal’s squad more …
By Ino Lotz, our correspondent on Certain Things. Serena Williams was fined $17,000 for by and large calling the referee a cheat. That comes out of the $1.8m she got for being runner up. So less than 1% of her income. She is not banned for five matches or anything else. In the media there …
Read More “If Serena Williams had played for Arsenal she’d be banned for a year.”
By Tony Attwood You may have thought that the days of EU rulings affecting UK football are coming to an end. Indeed we’ve recently been discussing exactly this: how the FA and the UK government might collude after the EU closes the door on the UK to restrict the right of non-UK citizens to play …
Read More “Brussels court lobs a bomb into football as big as Bosman. And it affects everyone.”
By Tony Attwood When the Premier League refused to join forces with the Football League over the issuing of fines for running up huge debts there were a few of us who noticed – and a few of the few who were disappointed. As a result of the PL’s decision not to get involved in …
Read More “The Football League is finally sharpening its teeth over the over-spenders. Maybe.”
By Bulldog Drummond If there is one thing we have known for a long time about Alex Iwobi it is that he was not good enough. Consider some of these headlines: Arsenal Fans Blast Iwobi – You Are Not Good Enough OwnGoalNigeria, 16 Feb 2017 Arsenal fans have descended heavily on Alex Iwobi over his poor performance in …
Read More “Mass positivity breaks out as fans and writers go for Arsenal love in”
by Bulldog Drummond While the international interruptions (the I I) are a pain in the a. and disrupt my own personal weekend routine of presenting the match previews, they do also give on a moment for reflection and a spot of looking ahead – and it was the latter which made me realise just how …
Read More “How the next three weeks will reveal Mr Emery’s plan”
By Sir Hardly Anyone, celebrating the good guys and the bad in this week of no proper footie. 1: Nacho Monreal “Nacho Monreal fiercely defends under fire Arsenal teammate” according to Gooner Talk and many other blogs. It was an outspoken defence of Ozil and a rare attack by a player on the media. “Ozil and Emery …
Read More “This week’s heroes and a round up of the bonkers”
by Tony Attwood “West Ham United use their stadium largely at taxpayers’ expense”. Yawn yawn, you’ve heard it before. Typical Tony Attwood boring rant. Except this time that sentence came from the Daily Telegraph, a newspaper generally associated with free enterprise, and read by rear admirals. But not any more it seems for they …
By Tony Attwood Could the PGMO squad of referees actually be getting something wrong? It is hard to imagine there is much they could get wrong since according to their own figures they are getting 98.5% of all decisions right and VAR would add another 2% to that. (Yes it’s funny, I know, but that’ …
Read More “Playing with the rule book, the stupidity of reading body language, the Europa squad”
By Tony Attwood “More talent, less minutes: English players suffering in Premier League”. That is the headline with no less than 11 Arsenal players are currently gallivanting around Europe and beyond ready to receive wounds which will very much be of their own choosing – after all they don’t have to go. These players are …
Read More “The bleating of the England camp and non-savvy journalists is a danger to club football”
by Tony Attwood Untold first raised the issue of the impact of the UK leaving the EU in an article published on 26 June 2016. I’ve run a few more articles since, and the response of some to suggestions that there have been problems with getting work permits and assurances have not met with acceptance. However …
Read More “UK leaving the EU: Premier League awakens to the dangers of an FA takeover”
To buy or not to buy That is the question every time the club launches a new range of replica shirts, for many Arsenal fans, although fans of the Gunners still remain the most loyal when it comes to decking themselves out in their second skin. Of course, the designs can sometimes influence the decision …
