Arsenal’s new manager, the myth of the new manager & the most expensive seats

By Tony Attwood Uefa’s report analysing trends in European football, is huge.  Page after page of complex statistics and analyses.   So what does the Guardian give us as the big headline at the top of its review? Arsenal: No 1 in Europe “For ticket prices, that is. The Gunners boast an average “yield” per spectator …

The Deconfusion List: exactly where Aub deal has got to and who else is coming

By Sir Hardly Anyone 1: Aubameyang: not all plain sailing Aubameyang CONFIRMS On Twitter He Is Coming To Arsenal says ArsenalInsidernews.com and of course we all know that if it is on Twitter it is true because they have absolutely stopped people putting up fake accounts. But even if suspicious of Twitter we can be …

Jack injury worries, Aubameyang worries, Santi worries, and a spot at the airport

By Sir Hardly Anyone at the Rutland International Aerodrome, Oakham. So that’s another match done, and another cup final on the way.  And the natter and chatter goes on and on and… there is chatter that Auba is not coming to Arsenal because he is still playing for Dortmund. Arsenal Get Bad Update on Pierre-Emerick …

A fulsome and detailed tactical analysis of the game. Oh yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes …

Arsenal v Chelsea, the teams, shirt numbering, and beating Bayern last night

By Bulldog Drummond Some bookies have decided to take a new twist on the issue of Arsenal’s team changes and are talking up the possibility of a huge clear out by Arsenal, and offering all sorts of odds on everyone getting out of the club at once.   Well, not quite everyone but they seem pretty …

Arsenal v Chelsea: Mr Wenger in rhetorical and metaphorical mood.

By Bulldog Drummond Mr Wenger summarised the current position with a combination of metaphorical statements and rhetorical questions when he said to the assembled hacks, “We have been in a few finals – has it changed your mood?  No. I have no illusions at all.” The Mirror, reporting the comments along with several other papers, then …

Arsenal v Chelsea, injuries, recent games and “Aubameyang confirmed”

By Bulldog Drummond The injury list today seems to be full of slightly doubtful injuries The man How’s he doing? When’s he back For Chelsea? N Monreal Hamstring Injury January 24, 2018 Late Fitness Test A Ramsey Illness January 24, 2018 Late Fitness Test D Welbeck Muscular Injury January 30, 2018 Slight Doubt O Giroud …

The future of football: can the growth go on forever?

By Tony Attwood The new figures from Deloitte are out concerning the evolution of footballing income, and when one looks at the figures it is the growth in the gap between the Premier League and the rest of the top leagues in terms of income that is so staggering. This table is in millions of …

How on earth are we going to fit all these guys in the team at once?

by Sir Hardly Anyone, and some mates down the pub. Here’s a team that we could soon be putting out.  It’s fairly familiar with just a single change up front.  All very straight forward. Petr Cech Koscielny, Mustafi, Monreal Bellerin                                  …

Why do Arsenal fans criticise Arsenal players so much?

by Tony Attwood It’s been an Arsenal thing for almost a century: pick one of your own players and get at him.  Herbert Chapman railed against the “boo-boys” in the late 1920s and early 1930s, we had it again in the 1970s, it happened with players under George Graham (I remember Martin Hayes getting booed …

Giroud to leave as part of Aubameyang deal plus errors and spelling problems

by Tony AttwoodIn Germany it is being call “the big transfer domino” and of course it refers to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.  The newspaper headlines are Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang would like to leave Borussia this winter. His transfer depends on several other players in the Premier League. If a deal does not materialize, a whole pack of transfers …

Alexis and the trouble with working out transfer values

by Tony Attwood And so Alexis Sánchez who signed for Arsenal in July 2014 for £31.7m has seemingly been swapped for Henrikh Mkhitaryan who we are told is valued at around £35m although Transfer Market has him listed as £31.5m.   Mkhitaryan was allegedly in London on Saturday night with his agent awaiting a medical with Arsenal. Speaking …

Arsenal v Palace: several variations of possible and impossible line ups.

By Bulldog Drummond Crystal Palace are a yellow card team – they have had 45 this season, making them the third most carded team in the league.  Arsenal are mid-table in this regard.  However they are not too bad on shots with 301 this season to Arsenal’s 393. They have kept five clean sheets this …

Arsenal v Palace. Recent games, and the very latest on the transfers

By Bulldog Drummond Arsenal’s last ten fixtures are not exactly a rallying cry to further greatness, and the team certainly needs to start pulling itself together. Of course this could be the moment when really see what Wilshere and Ramsey can do together on the pitch, which would be a good way of starting a …

Arsenal v Crystal Palace; the injuries, the transfers, the form, and player records

By Bulldog Drummond It’s all happening. Oh no it isn’t Oh yes it… well, who knows.   Here’s a collection of ramblings from people who think they know, but they can’t all be right. Alexis Sanchez arrives at Arsenal training ground as forward is made to wait for Manchester… Mirror.co.uk  . Update from Germany on Aubameyang …

Child trafficking allegations return to haunt Chelsea

By Tony Attwood According to the Guardian “Chelsea have been accused, after an initial Fifa investigation, of breaking the rules on the signing of 25 foreign players under the age of 18. The number of cases could rise, with the matter now in the hands of the governing body’s disciplinary committee, which has the power to …

Revealed: how most of the Arsenal transfer stories will conclude at the end of January.

By Tony Attwood There is a standard approach to transfers which virtually all journalists and their hangers on in the bloggettas  agree to follow runs thus: Arsenal could sign this amazing player Arsenal seriously interested in this amazing player Negotiations ongoing concerning this amazing player This amazing player is not that amazing after all Besides …

The deal is done. Oh yes it is. Oh no it isn’t. You’re making it up. Oh no I’m not.

By Sir Hardly Anyone Oh yes oh yes oh dear. Alexis Sanchez has agreed a four-and-a-half-year contract worth £14million after tax to join Manchester United.  And it must be true because it is in the Telegraph.   All the clubs are doing now is waiting for Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s agent to get out of the bath and let …

Arsenal’s transfers only confused by the needy media seeking to be at the centre

By Tony Attwood Tucked away at the foot of a long article in the Guardian about Arsenal’s transfer of Aubameyang is this notion “It remains unclear if Dortmund are willing to sell this month given the lack of time to secure a replacement.” That is quite a killer in terms of a deal, because if …

Arsenal: The truth is out there, but is hiding under the blanket.

By Tony Attwood More from the Fiction Department at Minitrue. So the 10th anniversary has passed and we have posted 7,800 articles over those 10 years.  This is 7,801 and time to move on, perhaps occasionally remembering one or two more things from the past as we go, but thinking more about what we can do …

Arsenal agree to sign Aubameyang and/or Malcolm and/or Martial

By Sir Hardly Anyone Is Pierre Emerick Aubameyang signing for Arsenal?  What about Malcolm?  What about Martial?   The bloggettas and the newspapers tell us that all three are, or are not signing.  And that is not just that one blog picks one, and a newspaper picks another.  They are all changing their views by the …

Changing Arsenal’s fortunes could take a lot more than is imagined.

By Tony Attwood We live in a world in which it is commonplace to see problems as simple, and thus open to one solution, rather than seeing problems as caused by multiple issues.  In short there is a problem, and there is a single cause of that problem. And yet history suggests over and over …

Bournemouth v Arsenal: the team, an honest bloggetta and a multiplicity of line ups.

By Bulldog Drummond So now we see the PGMO fighting back against VAR – undoubtedly the first assault of many.  An article has appeared in the Guardian including these lines Refereeing decisions are not the real problem here. The real problem is the ludicrously disproportionate attention devoted to discussing refereeing decisions. The number of actual …

Untold Arsenal is 10 years old today. A thank you to some special friends.

By Tony Attwood 14 January, 2018. You’ll know, if you have been paying attention, that we are celebrating Untold’s 10th anniversary.  Well, to be more precise, I’m celebrating Untold’s anniversary, I am not sure what you are doing. Now if you also occasionally take a look at the Arsenal History Society web site you’ll know …

Bournemouth v Arsenal – Arsenal’s form of late: must do better.

by Bulldog Drummond As we saw in the last piece, Arsenal are in what one might call “modest” form away from home and this really should start picking up now.  Bournemouth have been having a poor run with just one win in the last 12 games, although the last four matches that one win (against …