By Tony Attwood They are pretty much pariahs around the world – Russian athletes and teams are banned from participating in any form of world sport, as a protest against the invasion of Ukraine. Except in football, where Russian officials are still welcomed with open arms. So when the Fifa Congress opened in Qatar, there …
Read More “If Fifa won’t ban Russian officials from its gatherings, we should get out of Fifa”
By Tony Attwood Reading the game: why do journalists always know more than managers? Obviously, we all want Arsenal to improve. Probably the only time no one talked about improvement was after the Unbeaten Season. But the rest of the time we want each season to be better. And the media tells us day after …
Read More “For some Arsenal fans improvement isn’t enough; but this is not the time to change again”
By Tony Attwood Arsenal: another defeat. What has gone so wrong after last year’s triumph? Arsenal are of course not the only team that has had an upset of late. Bayern Munich were knocked out of the Champions League by Villareal managed by… well since you ask, Unai Emery, so recently removed from Arsenal. Now …
Read More “Reading the game: why do journalists always know more than managers?”
By Tony Attwood Nitram’s comments after the game yesterday told us a lot of what has gone wrong. He quoted the average statistics from our last 3 matches: Arsenal Possession = 70% Opponent Possession = 30% Arsenal Shots = 55 Opponent Shots = 23 Arsenal Shots On Target = 13 Opponent Shots On Target = …
Read More “Arsenal: another defeat. What has gone so wrong after last year’s triumph?”
By Bulldog Drummond Update: Tottenham lost at home to Brighton. Top of the table now reads… Team P W D L F A GD Pts 1 Manchester City 31 23 5 3 72 20 52 74 2 Liverpool 31 22 7 2 79 22 57 73 3 Chelsea 30 18 8 4 64 23 41 …
Read More “Southampton v Arsenal: the sequences and the Arsenal team”
By Bulldog Drummond Arsenal’s salvation: After 30 games we always improve The Guardian has come out with one of its famous statements: “if Arsenal show up and play with an ounce of positivity then Ralph Hasenhüttl’s usual forward-thinking approach should allow for plenty of chances. Chances have so often gone unfinished this season, however.” So …
Read More “Arsenal and the “big chances” myth ahead of the Southampton game”
By Bulldog Drummond Southampton v Arsenal: how the refs treat each team, how the managers have done Arsenal’s salvation: After 30 games we always improve The continuing strange tale of how PL referees punish tackles There has been some commentary concerning the injury list and how we are being decimated by injuries. We are in …
Read More “Arsenal and Southampton injuries; the strange case of the keeper and Southampton’s record”
By Bulldog Drummond As we saw yesterday there are huge variations in the ways that referees treat different teams in the Premier League when it comes to tackles, fouls and yellow cards. Now it is time to focus just on this weekend’s opponents, Southampton, and their differences from Arsenal. Those differences are modest but are …
Read More “Southampton v Arsenal: how the refs treat each team, how the managers have done”
By Bulldog Drummond The continuing strange tale of how PL referees punish tackles Why do rich men want to buy football clubs? It has taken us four years of mucking about with managers to get us back to the position where we were in 2017 – the penultimate season of the Wenger years. 30 games …
Read More “Arsenal’s salvation: After 30 games we always improve”
By Bulldog Drummond We have often noted the great change that came over Arsenal last season as the club worked to eliminate tackles from their playing style. And in fact this has worked as Arsenal are now 19th in the tackles league for the Premier League this season; only Manchester City undertake fewer tackles. …
Read More “The continuing strange tale of how PL referees punish tackles”
By Tony Attwood Corruption in football; the story spreads: Juve boss threatened with prison Changes to the financial controls of clubs in Europe looked doomed to failure In one sense it seems a crazy thing to do – to buy a big football club where the fans have expectations of success. After all most clubs …
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PREVIOUSLY: Changes to the financial controls of clubs in Europe looked doomed to failure By Tony Attwood The argument that I am trying to make is that there is a huge amount going on in football which is beneath the surface and is not being covered by the English media because journalists are afraid that …
Read More “Corruption in football; the story spreads: Juve boss threatened with prison”
8 more players coming to Arsenal making total of 52 incoming players this summer By Tony Attwood It is always interesting to see the treatment that clubs and their managers are given by the media. Unai Emery, while at Arsenal was portrayed as inept, and lacking in insight but now he is seen as …
Read More “Changes to the financial controls of clubs in Europe looked doomed to failure”
By Tony Attwood Football journalists can be called many things including lazy and bonkers, but little of their daily activity is quite so bizarre as the range of players that they cite each season as coming to Arsenal in the summer. Normally the number reaches over 100, and generally about two of those tipped actually …
Read More “8 more players coming to Arsenal making total of 52 incoming players this summer”
By Tony Attwood One of the great problems of football and the way it is covered by the media is that the notion that underneath it all there is wholesale rule-breaking, not to say corruption, is either not considered at all, or is considered just in passing, and not with any serious thought. (One of …
Read More “Further allegations of Manchester City corruption emerge in Europe”
By Tony Attwood There is no end to the knocking of Arsenal that the media will do and certainly no end to the abuse and misuse of statistics (including simply making them up) that they will indulge in. Consider for a moment, if you have the time, the headline from the Mirror which reads “Arsenal …
Read More “There is no end to the way the media will manipulate Arsenal’s position”
Fifa considers changing football rules again: as ever it is to enhance its income Are Arsenal in a Position to Hold onto Saka, Or Should They Sell to Improve the Squad? By Tony Attwood We have in the past looked at how Arsenal are doing this season compared with the same point (in terms of …
Read More “How well are Arsenal doing in Arteta’s second season, compared with previous managers?”
By Tony Attwood Recently, the notion of a biennial World Cup, supported by Fifa under the guidance of its Supreme Leader, Gianni Infantino, aroused what one might call a certain wave of opposition. Faced with this, the Italian-Swiss overseer now resident with his family in Qatar for legal reasons, said last week, “Let me be …
Read More “Fifa considers changing football rules again: as ever it is to enhance its income”
We’re breaking down Saka’s position in Arsenal and what the consequences of trading him out could be. Arsenal is currently licking its wounds from an embarrassing defeat on Monday, made worse by the fact that the game should have been a slam dunk, to mix metaphors. The game was supposed to be an easy one …
Read More “Are Arsenal in a Position to Hold onto Saka, Or Should They Sell to Improve the Squad?”
By Tony Attwood Have Arsenal really been led into chaos by a ludicrous transfer policy? Why beating the Little 14 is more important than beating the rest of the Big 6 Before the game there was nervousness in and around the crowd A lot of that came from repeating the mantras of the media that …
Read More “Arsenal need a new… psychologist”
By Bulldog Drummond Arsenal v Brighton the form guide from when Brighton were 9 places above AFC. The BBC is showing itself to be at its worst in its preview of this game saying, “Arsenal kind of reverted to type in their defeat by Crystal Palace on Monday because they didn’t just lose, they got …
Read More “Arsenal v Brighton – the Arsenal team and horrific media bias.”
By Bulldog Drummond How Brighton can put in more tackles than Arsenal without having a foul called Arsenal injuries, the size of the squad, and past matches against Brighton Let’s take a look at how the two teams have been doing recently. The last six games shows Arsenal have sunk to fifth because of our …
Read More “Arsenal v Brighton the form guide from when Brighton were 9 places above AFC.”
By Bulldog Drummond How Brighton can put in more tackles than Arsenal without having a foul called Arsenal injuries have been the prime talking point in the media for the last few days, but as ever there is little by way of comparison between Arsenal and other clubs in order to make a proper judgement …
Read More “Arsenal injuries, the size of the squad, and past matches against Brighton”
By Bulldog Drummond Have Arsenal really been led into chaos by a ludicrous transfer policy? 91,000 attended the last Barcelona women’s game. What can Arsenal learn? If one is looking for a spot of good news, look no further than the Guardian (not normally a friend of Arsenal) who tell us that “Arsenal’s record against …
Read More “How Brighton can put in more tackles than Arsenal without having a foul called”
By Tony Attwood 91,000 attended the last Barcelona women’s game. What can Arsenal learn? Why beating the Little 14 is more important than beating the rest of the Big 6 There is a paragraph from an article on Arsenal, in the Telegraph, which sums up a lot of the current criticism of Arsenal. It reads, …
Read More “Have Arsenal really been led into chaos by a ludicrous transfer policy?”
