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 “Why do you keep on talking about the media? Surely an Arsenal blog should be about football.” That is a fair point which was made to me last week, and one I fully accept. But there is a contrary argument which says exposing the tricks of the media is utterly about football. …
By Tony Attwood, and no this is not a picture of me Ah the Liverpool dilemma. Or to put it at its most succinct Insipid, confused and lacking direction, this Liverpool side makes no sense That is the Telegraph, and I have left the link in this time, just to prove we don’t make this …
Read More “The Chelsea Fabregas conundrum; the Liverpool Vampire problem”
By Tony Attwood At the start of this month we published a really interesting article by Tim Charlesworth, “What’s going on with English refereeing“. Not only did it get a very high readership it also got over 100 comments – which is a particularly encouraging since Untold has pioneered this type of discussion. Walter …
Read More “Why we should be deeply worried about refereeing in the Premier League”
By Sir Hardly Anyone It has been on my mind and troubling me somewhat: after the fearsome battering that Untold gave the blogettas and their allies at the Metro, Daily Excess, and other fish and chip holders, would there be any change now the window of transfers is dusted and done? Would they perhaps stop …
Read More “Arsène begs board to make bid, serious injury rumour, Mourinho next Arsenal manager.”
By Tony Attwood Every now and then a story arises that Arsenal are looking to build a new stadium. The idea is that it could be used for the home matches of Arsenal Ladies, Arsenal Ladies reserves, and Arsenal men’s under 21 and under 18 cup and league games. The story that has circulated is …
By Tony Attwood As one might expect, the press harped on and on and on and on about not buying a striker and Danny Welbeck being injured. No mention that quietly Campbell has been restored to the squad, and is said to be looking very sharp in training (hence his place on the bench). No …
Read More “Arsenal v Stoke and the spending league table (and banner update)”
. By Bulldog Drummond , Now with added betting odds – see end of article! . [I think I should explain that it is the article that has the betting odds, not our regular pre-match correspondent! – Tony] . Fans who thought the transfer window was shocking enough have been outraged to find that the …
Read More “Arsenal’s shock fixture change leaves fans confused. AST demand Wenger’s resignation.”
By Tony Attwood I am really pleased to confirm the announcement that I made at the Arsenal Independent Supporters’ Association AGM, that Danny Karbassiyoon is joining the team of writers on Untold Arsenal and we shall be publishing Danny’s first book. Untold hopes to be publishing Danny’s autobiography before Christmas, and Danny will also be writing …
Read More “Arsenal scout and ex-player Danny Karbassiyoon joins Untold’s writing team”
Arsenal v Stoke 12 September 2015 – The Match Officials by Andrew Crawshaw Before I start on the referee review for Saturday, here is a return for the Referee’s Table of Shame which I introduced last year. Regular readers will be aware that we publish a full review of the referee’s performance after each …
Read More “Arsenal v Stoke 12 September 2015 – The Match Officials”
By Tony Attwood It is being said in the corridors of power (to use CP Snow’s influential phrase – largely because my brain refuses to dream up an alternative before my first coffee of the day) that the government is thinking of imposing a levy on the Premier League’s radio and tv income and then …
By Tony Attwood Anyone who reads the English newspapers and their blogs on a regular basis will be used to the endless attacks on Arsenal. We all know what this summer’s campaign has been, and although the attacks have been different in the past there have always been attacks. Indeed I can remember when Mr …
Read More “Why has everyone got so incredibly angry about football all of a sudden?”
By Tony Attwood This summer’s transfer window resulted in a few Arsenal “fans” calling for Mr Wenger to be replaced, on the basis that only one major signing was made, and Arsenal only won one of their first three games. The contrary argument that no club has won more games in 2015 than Arsenal in …
Read More “Fear and loathing in the media: football journalism is decadent and depraved”
Progress, Progress, Blind Progress. By Menace I have been watching the Beautiful Game for more than 60 years and in that time there has been a lot of change. The players are fitter. The clothing they wear is high tech. Their boots are multicoloured light ‘sandals’ with blades rather than studs. Their incomes are bordering …
A EUROPEAN B LEAGUE?……….Don McMahon With a footnote at the end in regards to Arsenal’s entry into the Uefa Youth League this year. What about a European reserve league where all top 5 teams from LaLiga, the EPL, Seria A, etc. could enter a reserve team using loanee, youth, reserve and bench-warmers (or recuperating players) …
Read More “A EUROPEAN B LEAGUE? And what’s happening in the Uefa Youth League this year?”
DO ARSENAL REALLY NEED A WORLD CLASS STRIKER? by Metalhead After what some have called a disappointing Transfer window, a lot of the Arsenal fans were left dejected with the activity or lack of it. One of the main debates was about the requirement of a new striker. Several Arsenal fans wanted Karim Benzema or …
Chris Hannington READY WILLING AND ABLE – BUT MATCH FIT? Arsenal have had [according to some – Tony] a stuttering and lacklustre start to this season. So it is time to reiterate that we have a large squad that is brimming with top quality. Our first team (probable) of Cech, Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Coquelin, Cazorla, …
By Tony Attwood A few days ago we ran a little piece about players that are transferred to clubs but then don’t deliver in the way that the clubs and their supporters might have anticipated. This was based on the notion that although buying players is one way of developing a team, and the way …
By Tony Attwood A recent article in the Guardian had brief reports from the writing of various blogettas about how they felt regarding their club’s involved in the transfer window. I had hoped they might invite Sir Hardly Anyone to comment on Arsenal but no, they went where they knew they would get complaint. Actually …
by Tim Charlesworth And breathe….. So phase 1 of the season is over, and the reviled interlull is upon us. The first four premiership games are played and the transfer window is closed. This was perhaps the least important ‘phase 1’ for years. There were several reasons for this. Firstly, we had no major squad …
Read More “State of the Arsenal Nation – Phase one of the season is over”
By Sir Hardly Anyone. Well, my little ducklings, Well! Have you ever wondered what all the little blogettas do outside the so-called transfer “window”. (OK I know it is not really “so-called” and there is no need to put “window” in “inverted commas” but it is the sort of the thing the blogettas do because …
Read More “SHOCK NEWS: Arsenal player REMOVED from squad. (Warning, blogetta on the horizon).”
By Tony Attwood If there is one thing that has really influenced – indeed taken over – football in the past five years it is what New Scientist magazine recently called “Trial by Repetition”. The observable fact that if you say something often enough it becomes perceived to be true, irrespective of whether there is …
Read More “Understanding football through endless repetition: how to get things totally wrong”
. By Tony Attwood . This transfer window seems to have been chewed over more than any before, and even now we haven’t quite got through every detail of it – although I notice that the first “rumours” (ie made up tales) about the January transfer window have now started. . But more on that …
Read More “The loan system changes after this season, but how far should the changes go”
By Tony Attwood We’ve been through the rules about the Premier League’s “25” and the European equivalent so many times I am not going to recite the rules again. Instead here is the list of the 25s and the extras, and then just in case you have nothing better to do, a little commentary on …
Read More “Arsenal’s “25” in the Premier League and Champions League, and a few local difficulties.”
By Tony Attwood The BBC picked up the story early on with “Bayern Munich to set up refugees training camp” for refugees coming into Germany while donating 1m euros for refugee projects. They plan to provide food, German lessons and football equipment for children. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge is quoted as saying “Bayern sees it as its social …
Read More “Not much in the media about it but some fans show they are part of humanity”
What’s going on with English Refereeing? Tim Charlesworth I love all things ‘Untold’, with one exception. I find myself constantly disagreeing with the analysis of refereeing. Unlike many readers of this site, I don’t see any evidence of a systematic refereeing bias against Arsenal. I certainly see a lot of mistakes, and I have some …
