Total control and total dominance can work, but in the end innovation in football suffers

by The Arsenal Philosopher. When Arsenal invited Arsene Wenger to manage the club, they knew what they were getting – a man who exercised total control over everything in the club, from the menus to the transfers, from the design of the academy to who to give young player contracts to. And now there is …

Arsenal v Burnley: you don’t win things with kids, you don’t win without kids

. By Bulldog Drummond Burnley were relegated from the Premier League and are now looking to come back up, so an FA Cup run is not the primary thing on their mind – promotion is much more important, as is not getting anyone injured at this stage of the season.  The income from today’s game will …

Criminal goings on in and around the Emirates…

By ‘DI’ Blacksheep The confirmation that the police inquiry into the mysterious death of Alexander Litvinenko included a visit to the Emirates Stadium (where they found traces of the radioactive plutonium that killed him) got me thinking about football-related crime scenarios. I am a historian that specializes in the history of crime and punishment (although …

UEFA Youth League Arsenal v Galatasaray Wednesday 1 October 2014

by Andrew Crawshaw As you all know Arsenal dominated the game and ran out winners by five goals to one. The scoreline fully reflected the way that a youthful Arsenal team dominated the game and was a true reflection of the performances of the two teams on the day. For a full report on the …

Coventry City 0-0 Shrewsbury Town, complete with Arsenal’s Chuba Akpom

———————————————- Coventry fail to tame the shrews* Sky Bet League One, Sixfields Stadium, Northampton – Attendance 1,966 So on a bright sunny day in Northampton (not) and with nothing better to do (except mark essays) it was off to see a local football match to take the mind off Saturday’s defeat. I arrived early, narrowly …

The youth league: Dortmund – Arsenal a game of missed chances

By Walter Broeckx The Uefa youth league is a competition between the youth teams from the teams that play the Champions League. The groups are based on the same groups in the real champions league and so Arsenal U19 had to travel to Dortmund to play their German opponents on the same day as the …

UEFA Youth League : Marseille 1 – 4 Arsenal

By Walter Broeckx Last year we had the Nextgen series and Arsenal got to the semi finals to lose against Chelsea with 4-3 in extra time. That was rather an interesting match to see. We then also lost the last game so Arsenal finished in 4th place. But as Nextgen was not organized by Uefa …

Nextgenseries round of 16 : Inter Milan – Arsenal 0-1

By Walter Broeckx Arsenal have battled their way to the quarter finals of the Nextgenseries, the competition that is in reality the youth version of the champions league. The round of 16 was played in one game and Arsenal had to travel to the defending champions of last year Inter Milan. Contrary to what we …

Arsenal Ladies win treble, and now go for the Champions League; reserves making good progress

With over 2000 followers: Untold Arsenal on Twitter @UntoldArsenal ——————————- By Tony Attwood Arsenal Ladies, having won the FA Cup, League Cup and the Super League are now moving on to the Champions League.  They have won the first leg of their round of 32 match 4-0 away to FC Bobruichanka.  The second leg is …

Arsenal at the under 20 world cup and under 18 European cup this summer.

Untold Arsenal on Twitter @UntoldArsenal By Tony Attwood It is looking like we might have just players in the Under 20 world cup this summer.   I don’t have any finalised squad details (if you do, please update) but here’s what I have to go on Damián Martínez – Argentina Francis Coquelin and Gilles Sunu, France …

Project youth, and why we have to keep it going

Untold Arsenal. The History Index The story of the last time something odd went on By Walter Broeckx A lot of the criticism that is aimed at Arsenal and Wenger is about project youth.  Some of the fans have been saying that project youth has failed because we didn’t win anything in the last 6 …

We won the league at….. or did we lose it there

By Walter Broeckx We all love to sing the popular Arsenal song: We won  the league at White Hart Lane….  I bet you are all signing it right now. So am I. But when looking back at the season I wonder if this season we should sing: We lost the league at White Hart Lane. …

Arsenal to join the Youth Champions League in September

Arsenal on Twitter @UntoldArsenal Untold Arsenal on Facebook here By Tony Attwood The idea of an under 18s Champions League built along the same lines as the mainstream competition was first reported (as far as I know) on the Datasport web site in Italy in 2009.  Ever since there have been discussions going on, and …

One third of the season gone, and Arsenal prepare to win everything

Arsenal on Twitter @UntoldArsenal Untold Arsenal on Facebook here by Tony Attwood Where are we?   We have the usual crop of injuries but thus far we cope – and we are coping far better than before.  Cesc running on half throttle, Vermaelen not running at all, Van Persie out for virtually the whole season and …

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 …

Is Carlos Vela not a little too old to be playing for Arsenal

By Tony Attwood Carlos Vela was 21 last March, according to my maths, and yet it seems like he has been here for centuries. In fact he came in in 2007/8 but didn’t start playing for us until the following season.  Year on year his stats are 2008/9 – Starts 10 – Subs 19- Goals …

Arsenal’s transfer window experience, plus the “25” and the 57 under 21s!

Phil Gregory So with the transfer window shut, and no deals still pending approval for  last season’s top three, let’s see how this year’s title contenders have fared in their summer dealings. Arsenal arrivals: Koscielny Squillaci Chamakh Arsenal departures: Campbell (11) Silvestre (12) Gallas (26) Eduardo (24), 11 as a substitute Numbers in brackets represent …

Untold round up women and children. (Perhaps I should rephrase that…)

By Tony Attwood Arsenal is more than the first team, more than the “25” – it is a collection of teams including an all-conquering women’s team, and a youth team that has taken three trophies in the last two years. Additionally we have our loanees.  The number of these will rise over time (we hear …

Arsenal: one club, five squads, and no Bebé (which is probably our good fortune)

by Tony Attwood Arsenal, as we know, has five squads – all of which are flexible.   And within the system matters are planned and arranged – just as you would expect.  We watch the players come up through the youth team, the reserves and so on.  Isn’t that how it always go? You’d think so, …

How Wenger has changed football once again

by Tony Attwood For years there has been a general assumption that there are only three ways of developing a club and two ways of making money out of football. You can make your club grow (so it was always said) by Development Method 1) Buying in those who are already acknowledged to be the …

Fabregas, Ramsey, Wilshere. Now that’s what I can a youth policy.

We’ve got the Jack, Jack, Jack by Walter Broeckx Some people who like a bit of hard rock will now where I have got this line from. It is the chorus of an ACDC song which is mostly sung out loud by visitors of their concerts. As I haven’t been in the Emirates ever when Jack Wilshere …

What did we learn from the reserve team at Boreham Stiff

Below is the team that played in a reserve game earlier this week – against Boreham Stiff, (sorry Wood). Szczesny Nordtveit – Bartley – Miquel – Cruise Aneke – Randall – Ozyakup Murphy – Afobe – Miyaichi Wellington Silva was on the bench, coming on at half time. So what do we learn from that? …

The day the Youth Project was crowned in all its magnificent glory.

Jack Wilshere joined Arsenal aged 9, JET joined Arsenal aged 9, Jay Simpson joined Arsenal aged 9 Henri Lansbury joined Arsenal aged 9, Emmanuel Frimpong, joined Arsenal aged 11 (we were a bit late there, but to be fair he had just come from Ghana) Craig Eastmond joined Arsenal aged 11 (ditto – must be  …