After a day asleep Arsenal quote us again.

By Tony Attwood Thanks for everyone for the goodwishes.  I feel a bit of a fraud – it was just a bug, and I slept for about 24 hours. Anyway I’ve struggled up to the computer complete with pint mug of water, just to see what new year’s eve holds in store. The papers are …

Another year over, time to look back and forward

By Walter Broeckx I just got a message from Tony that he is sick in bed and asking me to publish an article on Untold. As you will have noticed our morning article didn’t come as usual. Because Tony being sick of course. So I stopped what I was doing, send him first of all …

Barcelona lose their final appeal as dealing in under aged children confirmed

By Tony Attwood The result of Barcelona’s behind-closed-doors appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the charges of dealing in children (often referred to as child trafficking) between 2009 and 2013, has been rejected and it is confirmed that they will not be allowed to sign any players in 2015. Although the appeal …

Calling true supporters “conspiracy theorists”: the classic approach to destroying the club.

By Billy “the Dog” McGraw In my last piece about how outdated views of logic and reason have come to dominate the debate on football I tried to suggest that the contemporary vision of considering evidence and then looking for the simplest most straightforward explanation based on evidence, has been thrown out of the window. Instead …

The Untold 2014 year review: we’ll never win anything with Wenger

By Walter Broeckx With the end of the year upon us and after having played our last match of this calendar year it might be a good moment to look back at this year. It was a typical Arsenal year one could say. Highs and lows. And a year in which the, ‘I know better …

Untold ref Review: Stoke – Arsenal, the Anthony Taylor horror show. “Shockingly bad”.

Ref (or whatever you want to call him) on the day was Anthony Taylor As most of you will never look back at the match in full and I can understand that but as a reviewer we have the hard task to do this. Mostly it is fun but not this time. As a referee …

The red badge of courage

THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE……Don McMahon I have seen so many bloggers writing sarcastic and demeaning comments about the Club, the players and particularly the manager over the years I have followed AFC… and one thing they all seem to have in common is that they are totally blind to one side of the Arsenal. …

Transfers and results, results and transfers. Is there a connection?

By Tony Attwood So where have we got to? One defeat in the last nine 20 goals for, nine goals against in last nine Seven wins,  one draw, one defeat in last nine Five wins,  one defeat,  one draw in last seven league games OK it is not the form of the Unbeaten Season, but …

West Ham – Arsenal: not 1- 2 for the faint hearted

By Walter Broeckx To start this match at the home ground of the team that sat in front of us at the start of this match we had Szczesny, Debuchy, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Flamini, Coquelin, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla, Alexis, Welbeck. On the beach sat  Ospina, Gibbs, Chambers, Campbell, Walcott, Podolski, Akpom. So Koscielny back in the …

Foresoothe tis the eastern quarter away. Gadzukes

By Bulldog Drummond Taking his lead from the invidious aaa and their allies within mediaeval journalism (I rather like that phrase) the Rather Large Sam speaks.  Arsenal are weak and so can be exploited.  West Ham, quoth he, are going for Europe – and indeed Europe quakes. A goodly length in times past Europe quaked …

West Ham v Arsenal 28 December 2014 – the Match Officials

by Andrew Crawshaw Referee – Neil Swarbrick Assistants – S Ledger and M Wilkes Fourth Official – K Stroud Mr Swarbrick is Lancastrian and has been officiating in the Premier League since December 2010, along with Mr Moss he was officially promoted to the select group at the start of the 2011-12 season. He has …

The dangers of the retreat into mediaeval journalism in football

By Billy “the Dog” McGraw. Abuse levels on Untold seem to on the up, which is a bit of a shame, so I thought I would pop in with a couple of comments on a post that was sent in the other day, but not published.  (It is printed below exactly as submitted). “Calling people …

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 …