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 Phil Gregory Today, Arsenal welcome Birmingham to the Emirates Stadium for a match that this Gunner had circled on the fixture list from the moment it came out. For many, this match is far, far more than just another chance for three points: it’s the memory of Eduardo’s leg break, Gallas’ meltdown and the …
It says something when Black Black Blackburn have more than twice as many shots on target (7) as Liverpool (3) on a sunday afternoon. Arsenal were of course miles ahead on total number of shots – 24 – the other top clubs playing on sunday afternoon had under half that number and also committed more …
Black, blackest blackness, Blackburn Rovers, your worst nightmare, the antithesis of football. Black Blackburn, the embodiment of all darkness and evil, the beelzebub of football, the yawning heights of the oblivion into which we fall at the end of time, when time itself winds down, to leave an eternity of rotational fouling and an infinity …
by Phil Gregory Blackburn come to the Emirates this weekend, with manager Sam Allardyce arguably the antithesis of everything our own boss stands for. Ever unpopular amongst Arsenal fans for his teams’ “anti-football” physical approach to the game, credit must be given to Allardyce for making small clubs punch above their weight for years on …
By Walter Broeckx We are late in September; the season has been going for some 6 weeks. Time for a first overview. Are we doing better than last year or not? The best way to make a comparison is to see at the games from last year and same games this season. Our opening game …
It is interesting that few if any of our so-called journalists are doing a compare and contrast job on Arsenal’s wealth and the abject poverty of football clubs like Liverpool and Manchester U. It is as if saving money, planning, and making money legitimately (rather than through usury) is now bad news in the UK. …
Arsenal play host to Olympiacos, the Greek champions, on Tuesday evening. The Greek outfit, who played out a 1-0 victory over the final member of Group H AZ Alkmaar, are managed by Brazilian legend Zico, who has been in the post since mid-September after spells managing in Turkey and Russia. The previous manager was removed …
By Phil Gregory Fulham, Arsenal’s opponents in the late kick off today are managed by the likeable Roy Hodgson and the well-travelled Fulham manager is highly regarded by Wenger, who hailed him as being “the best English manager” in a recent press conference (Mark Hughes take note). Indeed, the ex-Malmo boss has overseen an enormous …
Read More “Fulham v Arsenal: a somewhat more serious analysis”
And so it is Fulham who come under the spotlight of “All Tomorrow’s Parties” – the historic (not to say hysterical) analysis of future events named after a Velvet Underground hit. (Exciting isn’t it?) Fulham: who last season caused all the posts of, “This is exactly what I feared would happen” from the people who …
Read More “Fulham Arsenal: full report and score, hours before it happens”
By Phil Gregory West Brom, managed by Roberto Di Matteo (formerly of MK Dons) are Arsenal’s opponents in the Carling Cup on Tuesday. They will undoubtedly be coming into this match on a wave of confidence, having beaten Middlesborough 5-0 at the Riverside, and holding a one point lead over Newcastle at the top of …
Read More “Arsenal v WBA: the style, approach, players, prediction”
Arsenal vs Wigan: team news, injuries, tactics, prognosis By Phil Gregory Wigan Athletic, Arsenal’s opponents on Saturday, arrive at the Emirates Stadium on the back of their first home win of the season against West Ham. Roberto Martinez, Wigan’s manager since the departure of Steve Bruce to Sunderland, has undertaken wholesale changes at the club. …
Being in Liège yesterday it was a great result for us. By Walter Broeckx The trip from the Benelux gooners took us the “hot city”. The stadium is situated next to the river Meuse and looks nice from the outside but the seats reserved for the visitors have never been cleaned since the Euro 2000 …
Disgusting, disgraceful, appalling, shameful: I speak of course of the coverage on Sky Sports last night. There was a moment of amusement before the game when Redknapp-the-Younger started to talk about why UEFA was so biased (in this case against English clubs) and the chairbeing nearly fell off his chair, chuffling like a steam train, …
Editor’s note: this article was forwarded by Phil to Untold Arsenal yesterday, before the extent of the injury list was fully known. Since the article was written we’ve heard that Van Persie is out injured. Standard Liege v Arsenal: form, injuries, key players, line-ups By Phil Gregory. Standard Liege, Belgian champions for the last two …
Read More “Standard Liege v Arsenal: form, injuries, key players, line-ups”
ALL TOMORROW’S PARTIES: Arsenal results before the game starts. So, where were we? Everyone’s been off being kicked for their country during Cripplegate Week, and everyone is injured, so we are putting out the under 11s for this fixture. Arshavin’s out, Cesc is probably out, my cat’s out (but that’s a cat-flap issue) and Theo …
Read More “SPOILER ALERT: Man A vs Arsenal, teams, report, result before it happens”
Below we print an open letter to Mike Dean, referee, from Walter Broeckx, referee. But just before that, here’s a quick summary of Mr Dean’s career… In 2005 he was suspended from being a ref because he was involved with a betting company. His official crime was “breaching the terms of his contract”. He was …
Read More “Mike Dean: the referee, the man, the history, the scandals”
Arsenal’s youth team managed to squirm their way through to the Groupie Stage of the Euro Cup last night on the “Most Goals Scored” rule. “It really is ludicrous,” said Letmedrivethe Koach talking on ITV, “no other competition in the world uses this method of deciding the winner. What has the issue of who scored …
Welcome to the new world – the world in which Arsenal have recreated a team, devised a new free-flowing 4-3-3 system, and produced players of the highest quality who just a year ago were derided. Welcome also to the new world in which Untold Arsenal is able to influence complete matches and give you the …
Read More “Celtic 1 Arsenal 5: senational team, sensational prediction, sensational history”
1. Out of position. Around half the team in the first half were playing off the position you’d normally find them in. Djourou at right back, Silvestre at left, Arshavin up front… All part of the fun presumably – but I wonder exactly why. 2. Rosicky – captain, smiling, and certainly not pulling out of …
Last season the excellent magazine Highbury High invited a range of supporters to participate in the prediction game, where the writers nominate the player who would make the breakthrough in the season to come. The publishers very kindly included me in their list of guest writers and so I duly cheated and put in two …
The reserves got a good day out and sauntered home 11 on target shots to 3. which is not bad. They let a couple of the ol’ timers play (Theo and Arshavin were there and Sagna was given a game too) but mostly it was the kids. What was particularly nice was to see Bischoff …
Arsene Wenger’s great dream of producing a reserve team that can regularly beat Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United’s first team is almost ready to be unleashed on the world, but not quite. Last night we went out with no Almunia, no Gallas, no Djourou, a clearly only half-working Sagna, no Clichy, no Van Persie, no …
Despite using a very bent ref, and having the advantage of playing against Arsenal’s reserve defence, and playing on something that quickly became more akin to a ploughed field than a smooth playing surface, KGB Fulham could still only manage a 2-1 win against Arsenal. It is quite obvious that any club that is a …
Read More “5th rate KGB Fulham + bent ref struggle to defeat Arsenal reserves”
Tricky thing this journalist business but I think I am get the hang of the headline writer’s craft. Anyway, it was on friday that I noted that both Radio 5 and the Guardian were saying that we had 3 of our back four out when I could only count two. As Ian said in correspondence, …
Read More “Jocular juvenile jackass journalist jinx Johan Djourou in jolly jailbreak jest”
There were gasps of horror and amazement yesterday in the dim and distant north east as a bunch of men dressed in zebra outfits assaulted Arsenal players who were attempting to play a game of football. In one incident Arshavin was smashed in the face, while in two others Clichy was twice pulled down, once …
