Barcelona source reveals the club’s vision for Ozil, plus snippets of team news.

By Tony Attwood I was hoping to write a little piece summing up the whole of the team selection for the Cologne away game, but it is proving a trifle difficult to find all the news. It seems that Calum Chambers is in the squad for tonight’s match and Mr Wenger has said we will …

Cologne v Arsenal II; teams and other snippets. The vision from Cyprus.

By Tony Attwood Well, here I am in Cyprus, just getting ready for the first dance of the holiday, having had the opening meal with the assembled gathering of dancers, and a greater consumption of alcohol than I would ever normally have before dancing.  Falling over could be one of the new dance steps that …

All change at Arsenal has some interesting implications

By Tony Attwood . I suppose it is right that Arsenal have announced their new head of recruitment just as one of the bloggettas starts running the story that we are about to sign Karim Benzema.   If the new man sees that “news” he will realise exactly what sort of background noise he should …

Making fun of Daily Mail journalists, and calling 999 when the team loses.

By Tony Attwood Apparently the social media team at Arsenal sent an animation of Mesut Özil to Daily Mail journalist Adam Crafton. The tweet related to a feature in the right wing newspaper in which their journalist did the usual thing that papers seem to do when they have some space and nothing much to put in …

Cologne v Arsenal II; the cause of Cologne’s woes and video of their one amazing win.

By Tony Attwood As I am sure you will know by now a draw of any type will send us through to the “Round of 32” knock out part of the Europa, and will make us top of the group.  Which is not only nice in itself, but also rather pleasant for Arsenal II, the …

Arsenal’s golden triangle provides plenty of optimism

Arsenal’s golden triangle provides plenty of optimism Arsenal’s golden triangle provides plenty of optimism It’s been a varied few years for Arsenal, despite lifting three FA Cup titles in the past four years and making cup history in the process, and missing out on a top-four spot for the first time in Arsene Wenger’s tenure …

All change at Arsenal as the background revolution continues

by Tony Attwood Quite often, when a manager moves on, his background team are also removed, and the new manager brings in his own men to work alongside him. For example, when David Moyes took over at West Ham to deliver them from the reduction in the cost of running the London Stadium (their rent …

Are Tottenham now the dominant force in north London football? If not, what does it take?

By Tony Attwood “It is not just Tottenham that struggle to compete with the big sides away from home. We need many things – we need to win trophies, we need to build the new stadium, we need to build a good squad, we need to play young players.” Thus sayeth the Tottenham manager in …

Arsenal didn’t beat Tottenham, it was the referee’s fault, according to Mr Pochettino.

by Tony Attwood Mauricio Pochettino announced after the match that it was referee Mike Dean who did it all, with two mistakes. Although, as Walter pointed out in his post-match review, only one of the goals could have been offside, Mr P wanted to go further and say that the free kick involved in the othergoal …

The little bit late match report Arsenal – Tottenham 2-0

By Walter Broeckx Team at the start Cech – Koscielny – Mustafi – Monreal – Bellerin – Kolasinac – Xhaka – Ramsey – Özil – Alexis – Lacazette A firt shot at goal from Arsenal when Alexis intercepted a ball high up the Tottenham half and he gave it to Lacazette. Lacacazette tried to create …

Arsenal 2 Tottenham Hotspur 0. Even the tiny details of commentary can be misleading

By Tony Attwood Having had the exhilaration of being at the Emirates this afternoon, followed by the push and shove to get on the Underground, the walk back to the car and then the tedium of the drive home (85 miles up the M1 in case you are interested) broken only slightly by the tedium …

Arsenal v Tottenham: The teams, and the need to kill off under performing players

By Bulldog Drummond It is interesting that with the first team seemingly fixed on three at the back, with two full backs helping them, the under 18 side is playing with a back four in a 4-2-3-1 formation – or at least that is how it seemed as they were beating Norwich 3-0. However there …

Arsenal v Tottenham: the tragedy of a journalist’s pathetic lack of knowledge

By Tony Attwood It is now six Premier League games since we beat Tottenham, a pretty shocking run.  In fact as far as I can see it is the worse run that Arsenal has ever had in either the PL or the 1st division in terms of playing Tottenham. Of course the figures are a …

Arsenal v Tottenham Saturday 18 November 2017 – The Match Officials

by Andrew Crawshaw So we now know the punishment for Arsène Wenger for his (correct) disparaging remarks on the quality of refereeing in the EPL.  A visit by the referee who is probably most hated among Arsenal fans – Mike Dean. Referee – Mike Dean  Age 49 from Meryside Assistant Referee 1 – Ian Hussin  …

Arsenal v Tottenham: return of the triumvirate, the battle of the midfield.

By Darren Stinsman Arsenal go into a crunch North London derby on Saturday lunchtime knowing that defeat would leave them seven points behind their bitter rivals. Tottenham are in fine form at the moment and will be full of confidence following their recent 3-1 victory over European champions Real Madrid at Wembley. Arsenal were in …

Apologies for our down time and here’s some tittle tattle

By Sir Hardly Anyone Sincere apologies for the lack of posts through some of today.  We suffered another attack, and it took a while to recover.  This time it was different – the site was still visible and comments could be posted but we were unable to put up new posts for a while.  If …

WSL1 Arsenal v Sunderland Nov 12 2017 – The Untold Match Report

Sorry for the delay in bringing you this report – we had a technical problem yesterday. by Andrew Crawshaw Sunday Nov 12 was dry, bright and very cold.  Fortunately for me my journey from South London to Borehamwood was clear of upgrade works giving me a simple journey involving only one change of train. It …

Arsenal v Tottenham. Objectivity and perspective, not quite the same thing

By Bulldog Drummond It seems many of us have different definitions of fairly ordinary words.  “Objectivity” I take to mean working hard to take out any sort of bias.  “Perspective” I think means in the context used, “a point of view”.  Which is how one person can say to another, “You’re approaching the problem from a completely different perspective.”  It is …

Arsenal v Tottenham: a little bit of perspective

By Bulldog Drummond I don’t have any difficulty in admitting that Tottenham have been doing well of late, not do I try to deny the utterly obvious.  That, for example, last season for the first time in a number of years (quite a large number of years in fact) Tottenham came above Arsenal in the …

2 years 5 months after it was predicted, “New Thierry Henry” will finally sign for Arsenal!

By Sir Hardly Anyone Yes it was in June 2015 that we first pronounced upon the fact that Nabil Fekir was about to sign for Arsenal, and we knew that because the bloggettas were full of it and full of it and full of it again. He turned up again in the following month, but …

Why all the football statistics now available still leave us uncertain as to what is going on.

by Tony Attwood Some time back, I criticised a book called The Numbers Game – which purported to reduce all football to a valid statistical analysis – and I was reminded of it again when another book appeared doing the same sort of thing: claiming it had analysed every aspect of the game and was …

Chelsea’s technical director goes but Arsenal remain the masters of football chaos.

By Tony Attwood Arsenal, as we well know, is left in disarray, tatters or chaos (sometime all three) when a player who was “on the radar”, “according to reports” says (allegedly) that he has no intention of going to London, not even for a shopping trip. The club is also in chaos when thousands of …

Stop, don’t move. There’s a new player we are going to sign. Honest it’s true. Or so I am told

By Sir Hardly Anyone OK here we go.  Some stories that you have heard, plus a new name.  How exciting! 1: According to Ozil, Arsenal is still the club he wants to play for.  “Massive boost for Wenger: Highly-rated star confirms he wants to play for Arsenal”.  That’s pretty much doing the rounds these days. 2: Arsene …

How to knock the Arsenal without bothering to check a single fact

By Tony Attwood I notice Jonathan Liew has seemingly moved from the Telegraph newspaper to become Chief Sports Writer of the Independent web site. A change of publication, but not it seems a change of style, for today he has published this: “Henry Norris, the former Arsenal chairman, is perhaps best known as the man who hired …

Fake News Index: Ozil staying, Wilshere to Palace for the sake of the country, Wenger grip loss.

By Sir Hardly Anyone. What, one may ponder, is the difference between fake news and headline writing? Indeed I think it is fair to say that in the public house lounge bars in the leafy shires, they speak of little else.  Let us therefore ponder! Fake 1: Ozil’s future (Red London and the Metro) It …