How the players’ psychological state affects their performance

HOW THE PLAYERS’ PSYCHOLOGICAL STATE AFFECTS THEIR PERFORMANCE…. By Don MacMahon   Anyone who has watched football, regardless of the level (perhaps with the exception of very young players) will realise that a team that is losing a match by more than one goal seems to find it an almost insurmountable obstacle in their efforts …

The ref preview after the match

Note: because of some misunderstandings and all that could go wrong going wrong we couldn’t publish the preview before the match this time. But it sure makes some interesting reading even now after the match. Arsenal v QPR 26 December 2014 – The Match Officials by Andrew Crawshaw Firstly here is the PGMO table of …

Arsenal – Qpr : Alexis the top class man, Giroud the stupid man and Atkinson the usual rubbish himself man

By Walter Broeckx The starting team for the match was Szczesny, Debuchy, Mertesacker, Monreal, Gibbs, Flamini, Rosicky, Cazorla, Welbeck, Alexis, Giroud. And on the soaking wet beach we had Ospina, Bellerin, Chambers, Coquelin, Walcott, Podolski, Campbell. So for the first time Rosicky in the starting line up of the PL this season if my memory …

QPR on Boxing Day. Arry’s predictions, Coquelin and maybe Theo.

By Bulldog Drummond. This is one of those games where the journalists hedge their bets, saying simultaneously that Arsenal can’t lose and a shock could be “on the cards”.  (Isn’t it funny how journalists have their own little turns of phrase?  Does anyone say “on the cards” any more, other than journalists?) Anyway, there is …

The answers to the anniversary quiz and how to re-write history

Happy Christmas everyone.  Here are the answers to our little quiz of yesterday…   For simplicity I have printed the questions again (in italics).  I did try and print them upside down, but then had to turn the computer around to read them, so it didn’t seem to help. 1.  In 1893, the year Arsenal …

The Anniversary Quiz (now there’s no football until Boxing Day)

By Tony Attwood Most days (when I remember, when I get up in time, and when I am not travelling or living upside down in Australia) I update the home page of Untold with a list of anniversaries of that day. The actual files that these anniversaries come from are housed on the AISA Arsenal …

What makes them tick… The aaa Psychological Profile

by Don McMahon As you may already know (if you have been paying attention) that before I retired, I was a counseling psychologist for almost 41 years and so I have an ongoing interest and fascination with the endless monologues generated by the people Tony & Walter have dubbed the AAA or AAAA on Untold. …

Giroud, the goal a game man for all the top matches?

By Walter Broeckx When Arsenal bought Giroud a few seasons ago many people were not convinced that he would be a good player for us. And we all have seen the abuse whenever he didn’t score. Or scored enough. Because an Arsenal player that misses a chance is for some just not good enough. I …

The causes of injuries: how the press drew false conclusions

By Tony Attwood Koscielny, Ozil, Ramsey, Arteta, Wilshere, Theo, Bellerin, Gnabry… you know the story.  And it is fairly obvious that this is a contributory factor to the club’s current position.  Especially when we think that Giroud, Debuchy, Gibbs, Flamini and Monreal, have all had injuries this season as well as those currently out.  Goodness, we …

What exactly do these results against Liverpool tell us?

By Tony Attwood Looking at the responses to Arsenal’s match at Liverpool I began to wonder if in making the key issue in the build up to this match last season’s result, we weren’t missing the real point. For is being beaten by Liverpool, or indeed any other team, a sign of disaster and a sign …

98.4% of all referee decisions are correct, claim PGMO. And amazingly the Independent believes them.

By Tony Attwood Just two weeks after Untold published its 10 point plan for how an open, honest and honourable referees’ organisation would look, and PGMO allowed a journalist into their hallowed offices for a chat. Coincidence?  Of course it was.  Untold is just a blog run by a few enthusiasts who feel that PGMO …

Football supporting and football journalism in a spiral of decline

By Tony Attwood “Football is fickle” is an old phrase.  And an apt one.  It used to be that one season your club could be great, then next rubbish.  Then it was one month to the next, then one week to the next, then one day to the next. Now the chances are that unless …

Liverpool – Arsenal, We can do better

By Walter Broeckx I must say that was one of the worst first 45 minutes of Arsenal this season.  I don’t think we got more than 3 passes between Arsenal player in the whole half. Liverpool was pressing as they usually do from the start. And Arsenal clearly was determined to not allow a repeat …

REF REVIEW Arsenal – Southampton

Referee : Andre Marriner Please note this is one of a large series of ref reviews – a series that started some four years ago, with the reviews undertaken by numerous qualified referees. With ref Marinner we had one of the more experienced refs in the PL and one of the better. On paper.  And …

How the Arsenal transfer policy works

By Tony Attwood According to those who don’t like Mr Wenger, the Arsenal transfer policy doesn’t work.  Wenger is lazy, won’t spend money, and each time there is a player to get, we let someone else get him. As I have been trying to point out all year, there are some big problems with this …

Liverpool v Arsenal 21 Dec 2014 – The Match Officials. Don’t expect penalties!

Liverpool v Arsenal 21 December 2014 – The Match Officials by Andrew Crawshaw Now Walter has posted his referee review of Mr Dean’s sorry performance in the Arsenal v  United game –  Imagine a ref who only gets half his decisions right: Arsenal – MU ref review here is the updated Table of Shame.  Still …

Liverpool v Arsenal: the injury news

By Tony Attwood And so, continuing the approach to Liverpool Reds (as one of their owners called them not so long ago) against Arsenal, here’s an update on the team… Theo might travel.  That is not the same as saying he is even on the bench, and certainly not to say he will start, but …

A “small club mentality” or are players actually people after all?

By Tony Attwood Some mornings the world is full of shocks.  Like the headline in the Telegraph. Liverpool betrayed small-club mentality in allowing Arsenal to sign Alexis Sanchez Liverpool being knocked by the Arsenal-hating idea-stealing Telegraph?  Well, quite possibly not,  because when you come to think of it that headline somehow suggests that we only …

Why Suarez flopped at Barce, why transfers are tough, and silly stories

By Tony Attwood Arsene Wenger has made the point that Suarez ain’t doing so well in Barcelona because of the dominance of Lionel Messi in the Barcelona team.  Suarez has scored once in seven games this season which is not really what is wanted after spending £80m or so. Of course he is playing out …

It takes Arsenal 4.6 fouls to get a card. It takes Palace 8.1 fouls to get a card. How refs target teams

By Walter Broeckx based on the research done by Goonermikey who should get the credit for this article A while ago Goonermikey came up with the stats about how Wenger has overachieved per  £1m of net spend on transfers and how this compared with other EPL clubs over a decade.  And now he has come up with …

Ref Review : WBA – Arsenal. Biased by circumstance more than by nature

Ref : Chris Foy Just look at that first half from referee Chris Foy! Only one wrong call in the entire first half. Brilliant one could say. If it wouldn’t have been for the fact that the only wrong call was a not given penalty when Mulumba kicked Giroud in the penalty area and no …

Arsenal-Newcastle, Mozart, the trip and catering report

By Marcel Bogaerts. Marcel is the (excellent) treasurer of the Arsenal Belgium supporters club from our co-writer Walter Broeckx. He has been an Arsenal supporter since many many years and is the oldest (board)member of the supporters club. A supporters club that since Walter and the new board took over has prospered like never before …

Barcelona sneaks in secret hearing with Arbitration Court

From the moment Barcelona were found guilty of child trafficking for a second time they announced that they would appeal to the Court of Arbitration in Sport.  Technically the appeal would be against the decision of the FIFA Appeals Committee to confirm the decision taken by the FIFA Disciplinary Chamber in which the club was …