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 Tony Attwood 100,000 words? A million words? No one knows how many words the media has used analysing the Premier League’s opening weekend. And nowhere, at least as far as I can find, did anyone write or say anything about Arsenal’s total change of tactics on the pitch. Maybe it is because they have …
Read More “Media completely misses Arsenal’s astounding tactical change”
It’s time to clear out the deadwood: and I don’t mean the players By Tony Attwood The last time we won away from home in the opening game was 11 August 2019. That season we went through the opening 11 games with just one defeat, although three of the games were cup games. The opening …
by Tony Attwood This article continues from “Arsenal open the season with a remarkable new tactic” The argument put forward in the last piece is that we are now seeing the culmination of a tactical revolution at Arsenal that began when Arteta arrived, and which in essence centres on the reduction of tackling. The point …
Read More “The new Arsenal tactic: revealed against Palace in all its glory”
by Tony Attwood Why do Crystal Palace players get fouled so often? The game against Palace yesterday evening was a staggering success for Arsenal tactically. It hasn’t been mentioned by the media, because, well, they don’t like to give plaudits to Arsenal, being far happier knocking Arsenal, although to be fair in May this year …
Read More “Arsenal open the season with a remarkable new and successful tactic”
Palace v Arsenal. How will the referee handle matters if Arsenal tackle? Here’s a quick reminder of the Arsenal first-team preparations for the new campaign. Date Opponent Location Competition Result July 2 Ipswich Town London Colney Closed-Door Friendly 5-1 July 8 FC Nurnberg Max-Morlock-Stadion Club Friendly 5-3 July 16 Everton M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore, …
Read More “Palace v Arsenal: the build up, the Arsenal team. the result”
Palace v Arsenal. How will the referee handle matters if Arsenal tackle? By Bulldog Drummond Crystal Palace ended last season with a run of nine league games and one game in the FA Cup. Of these ten games they won four, lost four and drew two. The sequence began with the game against Arsenal at …
Read More “After our Selhurst disaster last season, what happened, and what does this tell us?”
By Bulldog Drummond Palace v Arsenal. How will the referee handle matters if Arsenal tackle? 2022/23 PL Season – Matchweek 1 – Refereeing matters In 2021/22 Crystal Palace players were fouled 500 times in Premier League matches – more than any other team than Aston Villa. And not just more, but a lot more. In …
Read More “Why do Crystal Palace players get fouled so often?”
By Bulldog Drummond As in previous seasons (see for example here) we will be taking a fulsome look at the referee and his approach to the game and attitude toward the players. Here are the match officials… Match Referee Assistant Referees 4th Official VAR referee Assistant VAR Referee Crystal Palace v Arsenal Anthony Taylor Gary …
Read More “Palace v Arsenal. How will the referee handle matters if Arsenal tackle?”
Are Arsenal in line for a return to the top four? by Andrew Crawshaw For this coming season there has been a couple of minor changes to the IFAB rules of the game. The IFAB is the international body that sets out the laws that all players must follow throughout the world. Law 11:Offside Though Law …
Read More “2022/23 PL Season – Matchweek 1 – Refereeing matters”
Where do clubs come from when they break into the top four By Tony Attwood I haven’t seen this analysis done anywhere by journalists – but then to do it does take a little bit of time and some looking up of data, so perhaps that isn’t too surprising. But the issue is an interesting …
Read More “Why do clubs that come 5th in the PL always then sink lower?”
by Andrew Crawshaw The Women’s Euros – the Final The Women’s Euros – Quarter final roundup and Semi final previews THE WOMEN’S EUROS – THIRD ROUND GAMES AND QUARTER FINALS PREVIEW The women’s Euros: what we learned from the second round of games? The Women’s Euros, what have we learned from the opening round? https://youtu.be/Df_79PkE45M …
Read More “Reflections on Euros and the Copa America women’s finals”
Which clubs are spending the most and how did last year’s spending help? By Bulldog Drummond Crystal Palace have had nine years in the Premier League since their last promotion. During this time they have appeared in the 2015 cup final, and finished on each occason between 10th and 15th in the league. However despite …
Read More “Summer at the Palace and what can we expect on Friday”
Why is the media so certain Arsenal will fail in 2022/23? By Tony Attwood As we have seen, this season a lot of pundits are suggesting that for the first time ever, the top four of the Premier League from one season will be the top four, in the same order, for next season. The …
Read More “Where do clubs come from when they break into the top four”
By Tony Attwood So just as the journalists and their hangers’-on have a new game REPORT: ARSENAL FEAR EDU HAS RUINED THEIR LATEST £50M TRANSFER MASTERPLAN This story comes from the Sun and claims that Edu has “complicated their plans to complete numerous transfer sales in the final month of the transfer window.” In this …
Read More “Edu ruins the entire Arsenal masterplan… according to reports”
The players Arsenal do not want hanging around (allegedly) By Tony Attwood Of course we want to win, but does the first game tell us anything? Is it important to get off to a flying start? That is what the media says and last season they gave Arsenal absolute hell because of the loss of …
Read More “What does Arsenal’s first match actually mean for the rest of the season?”
By Sir Hardly Anyone What happened to the 134 players tipped to be coming to Arsenal last summer Give me Sport are saying that “Arsenal have still not made a bid for Youri Tielemans despite agreeing personal terms with the Leicester City midfielder! The Mirror also has Deal confirmed while Tielemans makes desire clear with personal terms …
Read More “115 players tipped to join Arsenal this summer including 5 new names!”
Previously: Barcelona sell another 15% of its TV rights. According to the Spanish publication, Sport.Es Barcelona will not have problems registering the signings for this season – which comes as a bit of a surprise. For Iván Cabeza, a prominent sports economist, claims that Barcelona is already “in a normal economic situation.” Which given the …
Read More “The final move of Super League, and the losers are going to be in trouble”
By Tony Attwood Why is this transfer window looking so odd? A past manager might be hated, loathed and detested in his day, but the chances are he will get a fulsome round of applause upon his passing. And I know that, whenever called upon so to do, I have tried to show respect for …
Read More “Was Terry Neill a great manager? And doubts remain about Gabriel Jesus”
Transfers: the six sources of information feeding the media By Tony Attwood This season sees a significant change in terms of substitutions and their use. Clubs can name nine substitutes in a league match and makeup to five substitutions in a game, but the changes can only be made on three occasions. This makes the …
Read More “Arsenal’s final friendly: predicted line up and the Sevilla defensive wall”
Why is this transfer window looking so odd? by Andrew Crawshaw Well we all know of the historical precedent to this game – England v Germany at Wembley. I just hope this re-run lives up to the 1966 preview and the current hype and expectation. Semi-final 1 – England v Sweden England qualified by four …
Read More “The Women’s Euros – The Final – Sunday 31 July 17:00”
by Sir Hardly Anyone Which clubs are spending the most and how did last year’s spending help? Thus far this is looking like a transfer window, unlike any other. We have clubs talking about balancing the books, and clubs that we expected to be spending a lot not spending anything – or even making a …
Tackles fouls and penalties: Leicester City and Arsenal compared By Tony Attwood In 2015/16 Arsenal scored their lowest goal total in nine years – 65 goals. And yet gained their highest league position in nine years (runnes-up). The following season they scored 77 and came in fifth. What the club actually had in that season …
Read More “What the deadwood journalists need to learn about defences”
By Tony Attwood The newspapers and websites are full of predictions about how well various clubs will do in the coming season, and the consensus among them (be they those that claim to have nicked time on one of the most expensive computers in the country, or those that let their journalists make simple predictions) …
Read More “The statistical approach to how well teams will do this season”
How much of the transfer market is grinding to a halt By Tony Attwood It has been rather difficult to pick up much information about the Arsenal v Brentford friendly game although we were given the Arsenal team… Turner, Cedric, Walters (Awe 46), Holding, Tavares (Souza 76), Elneny, Lokonga, Maitland-Niles (Patino 85), Marquinhos, Nelson (Sagoe Jr 90), Nuno Tavares and …
Read More “Arsenal 1 Brentford 2: what the game tells us about the future of certain players”
By Tony Attwood Although it was not made compulsory, we are now seeing that all the teams competing in the world cup finals which will interrupt the Premier League season this year, will be staying in the independent emirate of Qatar for the duration. According to reports from Fifa, all the teams stay in officially …
Read More “No alcohol in Qatar for the world cup, but try this glass of wine”
