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 Bulldog Drummond Previously… Arsenal v Leeds and good news about freedom of expression Arsenal v Leeds – the tackles, fouls and yellow card index Arsenal’s last 100 league games, and Leeds’ one league victory Although it seems unlikely that Aubameyang will play tonight, the manager has been making some interesting statements concerning the player, …
Read More “Leeds team and comparing Arsenal to Man U (of course)”
By Bulldog Drummond The police have stated that no action will be taken against Crystal Palace supporters who raised a banner in protest at the Saudi takeover of Newcastle United. So freedom of expression lives to fight another day despite the efforts of at least one Newcastle fan or representative of the Saudi state, who …
Read More “Arsenal v Leeds and good news about freedom of expression”
By Bulldog Drummond The tackles / fouls / yellow card table is a chart we have been developing since 2019/20 when we first noticed how out of sync the Leicester City figures were for tackles, fouls and yellow cards, with the rest of the Premier League. So for our game tomorrow against Leeds we thought …
Read More “Arsenal v Leeds – the tackles, fouls and yellow card index”
By Bulldog Drummond Here’s an interesting thought, and one that for once I am indebted to (rather than critical of) The Athletic for pointing out. It relates to the defeat of Manchester United yesterday afternoon, but it makes a point that I think is relevant to Arsenal at this moment. The Athletic says… “This was …
Read More “Arsenal’s last 100 league games, and Leeds’ one league victory”
By Tony Attwood It is rather pleasing that the person being blamed for the notion of a World cup every two years is not Arsene Wenger but the man who asked him to develop the plan: President Infantino. Of course, I don’t know what Mr Wenger expected when he put forward his plan for a …
Read More “What did Mr Wenger really have in mind with his World Cup plan?”
By Bulldog Drummond. Picture below from Fazza World on Pinterest It started out with Newcastle fans wearing mock Arab costumes to celebrate the takeover of the club by the Saudi Arabia Sovereign Wealth Fund. Then on 20 October the club put out a statement saying “Newcastle United is kindly asking supporters to refrain from wearing …
Read More “Plans are being laid to outlaw protests against Saudi involvement in Newcastle”
What Arsenal Players Eat & Drink to Stay Match-Sharp Mikel Arteta is slowly but surely building a team that the fans can be proud of. He of course learnt his trade under one of the best managers in the world in the form of Pep Guardiola as well as all the tricks of the trade …
Read More “What Arsenal Players Eat & Drink to Stay Match-Sharp”
By Tony Attwood The media knocking of Arsenal continues unabated, and it is now getting all rather amusing as we find the Mirror, which has been at the heart of the proclamations that Arsenal are on a downward slope to nowhere, spent much of its commentary before the Villa game defending ex-Arsenal keeper Martinez by …
By Tony Attwood It is most curious that after three games the media was packed with people who wanted to draw conclusions on just three games, predicting a dire future for Arsenal and noting that this was the worst performance since the Battle of Hastings. Three games, it seems, told us all we needed to …
Read More “Why Arsenal’s movement is absolutely in the right direction”
by Bulldog Drummond Previously: Arsenal v Villa: predictions built on past experiences Arsenal v Aston Villa: how this referee sees each team: injuries, fouls, tackles, cards Arsenal v Villa. Comparing this season with the opening 8 games in previous years Premier League debts have surged to what look like dangerous proportions Mikel Arteta has noted …
Read More “Arsenal v Villa, Arteta’s anger at Premier League and tonight’s team”
Previously: Arsenal v Aston Villa: how this referee sees each team: injuries, fouls, tackles, cards Arsenal v Villa. Comparing this season with the opening 8 games in previous years Moving on to the home and away figures… Pos Team P W D L F A GD Pts 9 Arsenal home 4 2 1 1 6 …
Read More “Arsenal v Villa: predictions built on past experiences”
By Bulldog Drummond On the injury front nothing has changed from what we knew after the last match – Saka was violently assaulted and the referee issued merely a yellow card. Villa, whose style of play may be seen as somewhat more rumbustious than Arsenal’s have five men out. Xhaka of course remains out as …
Read More “Arsenal v Aston Villa: how this referee sees each team: injuries, fouls, tackles, cards”
By Bulldog Drummond Last season it was the superb form of our defence (third best in the league across the whole season, and second best if measured during the last two-thirds of the season) that helped us out. This season so far the defence, now of course completely reconstructed, has been much poorer, being the …
Read More “Arsenal v Villa. Comparing this season with the opening 8 games in previous years”
By Tony Attwood In the article that follows I am deeply indebted to The Swiss Ramble (@SwissRamble) for data that appears on his Twitter account – always most certainly worth a read. The conclusions drawn from the data are entirely mine. In this case he is outlining debt levels of Premier League clubs which have …
Read More “Premier League debts have surged to what look like dangerous proportions”
By Tony Attwood Imagine – just imagine – that you had spent oh, I don’t know let’s say $3.5 billion on your football and as a result won the league and other competitions lots of times. And then someone else comes along and effectively says that’s chicken feed. We’ll invest $30 billion – more if …
Read More “As the League starts to reign in Saudis: what does it mean for Arsenal?”
By Tony Attwood The assault on Bukayo Saka last night has quite rightly caused some protests, even from the normally referee friendly media. Aubameyang has already said he couldn’t believe that James McArthur wasn’t sent off for his challenge on Saka. And indeed even the normally Arsenal-negative Daily Mirror commented on the situation by saying …
Read More “That James McArthur was not sent off, tells us a lot about refereeing in the PL”
By Tony Attwood The story so far Arsenal v Palace. Patrick’s arrival reminds us how we have fallen (according to some) Arsenal v Palace: What’s happened to Patrick Vieira as manager Arsenal injuries, the home/away portents and past matches with Crystal Palace. How can some clubs commit fouls with impunity while others get card after …
Read More “Tonight’s team and update on entry regulations to the ground tonight”
By Bulldog Drummond Previously… Arsenal v Palace: What’s happened to Patrick Vieira as manager Arsenal injuries, the home/away portents and past matches with Crystal Palace. How can some clubs commit fouls with impunity while others get card after card? Of course, all the negative coverage about Arsenal is continuing in the face of Patrick Vieira’s …
Read More “Arsenal v Palace. Patrick’s arrival reminds us how we have fallen (according to some)”
By Bulldog Drummond As you know, of course, Patrick Vieira (oh oh) returns to Arsenal on Monday. Patrick retired as a player in the summer of 2011, and went to work with the youth development team at Manchester City with the grand title “Football Development Executive” working alongside another ex-Arsenal man, Brian Marwood. He graduated …
Read More “Arsenal v Palace: What’s happened to Patrick Vieira as manager”
by Bulldog Drummond The injury table retains its somewhat unusual look with Arsenal retaining their place either at the top or the bottom, depending on your point of view and which way you are holding up your computer. Curiously, Crystal Palace are right next to us. Indeed being in the south of the country is …
Read More “Arsenal injuries, the home/away portents and past matches with Crystal Palace.”
by Tony Attwood In case you like statistics, here are a few that have never been published here nor anywhere else before – at least as far as I know. These figures look at tackles, fouls and yellow cards and show that we are keeping our numbers considerably below the clubs that go overboard on …
Read More “How can some clubs commit fouls with impunity while others get card after card?”
By Tony Attwood While the media is of course mentioning the return of Patrick Vieira to Arsenal in his new role as manager, few if any have yet started to comment upon how Patrick’s team is behaving on the pitch in comparison with how Vieira himself was seen as a player. Patrick got 76 yellows …
Read More “These days Arsenal players are taught not to tackle. Maybe they shouldn’t talk either.”
by Tony Attwood There is an article in Le Matin, (the Swiss newspaper that is, not the long-defunct French publication), which looks at some of the developments being suggested for football, such as the automatic detection of offside using technology rather than assistant referees. The writer of the piece notes that Julian Nagelsmann, the “progressive …
Read More “Why rule changes happen – but we never get the one rule change we need”
By Tony Attwood If you ever wanted to undermine a football club the way to do it would be to set up what appears to be a serious news service about the club and then pour forth negative stories all based on the same concept of incompetence spiced with a few quotes from people who …
Read More “Revealed: how the media campaigns constantly to stop Arsenal signing players”
By Sir Hardly Anyone Mikel Arteta insists Arsenal are in a “good place” – but he may have overlooked problems “…more injuries could rock the boat and Granit Xhaka’s knee injury – expected to keep him out for the rest of the calendar year – is a warning for Arteta.” That is the opening of …
Read More “Has Aretea really overlooked a key problem at Arsenal?”
