The untold ref review : Arsenal – Birmingham

By Walter Broeckx, referee With the visit of Birmingham came also ref Atkinson to the Emirates. Since the Eduardo incident a very tricky game and with from Arsenal’s point of view games where the casualty list was high in the past seasons: Eduardo, Walcott, Cesc…just to name a few. Just take a look at the …

Arsenal 13, Birmingham 6, time wasting 25

By Tony Attwood After about ten minutes of this game the question arose – can the ref do anything about a playing who feigns injury, and then, when the other team pause to see if he is ok, leaps up uninjured and tries to get the ball back. We debated it, because that’s what we …

Arsenal v Birmingham; the worries, the concerns, the hopes, the victory

By Phil Gregory Birmingham come to the Emirates sitting a single point above the relegation zone, while our own title bid has taken a bit of a beating with recent defeats against West Brom and Chelsea. West Brom showed that no team should be underestimated when they travel to the Emirates, so despite a Birmingham …

The Untold Invincibles: Genesis & End of FC Start

The Untold Invincibles: Genesis & End of FC Start During the half-time interval, an SS officer entered FC Start’s dressing room.  In a stern tone, he darkly said: “You really cannot expect to win, however. Just consider for a moment what will happen if you do.” The FC Start players knew what this meant. Lose …

Football: law suits, player revolt, useless medics, pathetic Uefa, bankruptcy, and “not that kind of manager”

by Tony Attwood Sometimes it is hard to recognise all this stuff as football.   There’s so much off the pitch, that there hardly seems any room for the old ball kicking thing. Just consider some of the stuff doing the rounds… Arsenal: injuries, injuries, but a few returnees.  A tunnel with light in it for …

Ramsey and Eduardo, two lost on the same day?

by Walter Broeckx In a supporters life there are moments that you never forget. Like the first time you see your favourite team live. I even still have a photo taken from the old North Bank somewhere in a photo album that my wife once made of the big events that happened in my life. …

Oh my God we’ve got far too many players

By Billy “The Dog” McGraw Never before in the history of Arsenal has it happened.  We have… a team.  More than a team.  And team and then some. And most of them are… shhhhh, say it softly, fit. In goal: well we have a goalkeeper.  We don’t talk about them. At the back we have: …

Do we really win more games when Cesc and Van Persie play?

Who is Arsenal’s Talisman? Cesc? Van Persie? Both? Or neither? – “Victoria Concordia Crescit” By Dark Prince I’ve always been asked by many of my friends – Who is more important to Arsenal- Cesc or Van Persie? Do we need only one of them in our squad to ensure a victory? Or do we need …

The Philosophy of Wenger: the approach to transfers

by Tony Attwood Arsenal, in terms of any player of any age, who is thinking of getting a transfer, has a number of attractions.  One is obviously Arsène Wenger, who is so highly regarded worldwide as a coach.  Another is the training facilities.  Another is the ground.  Then there’s the year after year of Champions …

Chelsea 0 Arsenal 3 – that’s more like it

By Tony Attwood It was gruesome for the start of the season.  Played four, won one, lost two, drawn one.  Worst of all a horrible 2-5 defeat to Manchester City (not their Elite – that’s the reserves – but their under 18s). We are used to dominating the under 18.  Only team ever to retain …

Sir F Word Silenced, Gill talks gibberish. Sensible comment at Man U? Zero

Sir Alex F Word talks… sometimes.  He talks with Ed Miliband, and he talks to Manchester United’s own TV channel (mostly) but because he didn’t like the way some of the media reported his comments after the Man U/ Liverpool game he stopped talking to the press. He already doesn’t talk to the BBC, and …

Feck! Girls! Arse nal!

Feck!  Girls!  Arse nal! By Belfast Kiwi Ambrose is aptly named after his Patron Saint and is a bit of a character that drinks down at my local Irish bar, The Shuck and Shamrock, seemingly he lives there. There is more than a bit of Father Jack about him. Wild grey hair and fascinatingly long …

Is the tide turning against thuggish football?

Celebrating the remarkable honesty of Danny Murphy. By Ian Trevett It doesn’t need me to point out that Arsenal have been kicked around a fair bit over the last few years. Three smashed legs in five years isn’t a co-incidence, as everyone knows that ‘the only way to play Arsenal is to get in their …

Arsenal travel back to the future

Back to the Future – Arsenal 201 By Paul Blythe As I stand here, piping hot coffee mug cupped in chilled hands staring out of the living room window through the distorting condensation, into the languidly lifting mists of the street beyond. I catch a glimpse of the lovely Christine, a woman of indeterminate age, …

Hicks and Gillette do it for Arsenal

The new consortium looking at Liverpool could back out if the court action currently going on allows Hicks and Gillette to stay in control.   The banks would then take action to put Liverpool in admiistration, and that would result in the club losing nine points.  It is now said that the American buyers would then …

The same rules for everyone?

by Walter Broeckx As we have yet another international break in front of us I just wanted to take on two international matters and talk about my beloved friends from FIFA. Yesterday in my paper it was said that Fifa has suspended Nigeria because Fifa thinks that the political regime in Nigeria is interfering with …

Two major reforms on the football horizon thanks to, oh, err, McDonalds?

By Tony Attwood If you have an exceptionally long memory you might recall that during the summer the England team in the Bent World Cup didn’t do very well.  And the question arose as to why. Untold Arsenal did a bit of research and came up with a reason: we didn’t have the same number …

Tottenham’s journey to the east end, Liverpool’s descent into the land of mirth

By Tony Attwood & the research team of the 10th best blog in Northamptonshire (and other places). Tottenham’s new stadium plans have been accepted by Haringey council’s planning committee. But… While the committee in fact got quite excited, bubbling over with enthusiasm for what it calls “an overhaul of north Tottenham”, in a £400m project …

From the 10th biggest football blog… What should be Arsenal’s target this season and what we have to do

A little note from the Ed before you start. Last time around the Wikio rankings of blogs of a footballing nature had Untold at number 88 in the world.  A derisory number and one that caused much gnashing of the teeth. This time (in figures about to be released) we have risen to number 10 …

Being more clinical in front of goal

by Walter Broeckx We have to  be more clinical in front of goal. I think we all have said it or heard it over a million times these last 24 hours. And no one can argue this.  Yes we had the chances to score goals and we missed them. But to be more clinical in …

Untold Injury Index – Gameweek 7

Untold Injury Index – Gameweek 7 By Dale Higginbottom The weekend before an international break has been a time where we are usually able to field quite a strong team, well at least stronger than the game after an international break. This time around it could be different with so many players out on the …

How much longer FA? How many more broken bones needed?

By Walter Broeckx, ashamed of being a ref For many years we have seen horrible challenges on our players. We have seen the terrible image of Eduardo who’s foot was almost separated from his leg. We have seen the “he is not that kind of guy-Shawcross” flying in like a madmen on Ramsey to chop …

The Untold ref review : Chelsea – Arsenal. Ref score: 30%

by Walter Broeckx, the untold ref When I looked at my TV seconds before the game I saw a to me unknown ref. It turned out to be one of the assistants and when I saw the smiling face of Mike Dean I was thinking  this could be an interesting game for the ref review. …

So our reserves still can’t beat the KGB in Fulham. What now?

By Tony Attwood And so what do we know?   Now in our fourth year of the never-ending injuries we are trying and trying to beat Chelsea with six or more key players missing, and once again we have failed.  The manager can’t rotate properly and can’t pick the best players for each occasion simply because …