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 Tim Charlesworth 2016/17 is going to be a fascinating season in so many ways, so before we begin I thought I would have a look at some the things that it might tell us. Of course, my primary interest is in answering the question: will Arsenal win, but I think there might be …
Read More “The cult of the manager: thoughts as the season begins.”
by Andrew Crawshaw A gloriously sunny evening at Meadow Park greeted the teams as they stepped out for the opening fixture of the Premier League 2 at Meadow Park Borehamwood on Friday evening. The Arsenal Team:- Matt Macey (GK), Chiori Johnson (RB), Kostas Pileas (LB), Kris Da Graca and Ben Sheaf (CB), Ismaul Bennacer, Ainsley …
Read More “Premier League 2 – Arsenal v Reading – The Match Report”
by Andrew Crawshaw So the Season starts with a Sunday afternoon kickoff against Liverpool. Our Match Officials are :- Referee – Michael Oliver – FIFA Accredited – age 31 – Home County Northumberland Assistants – S Burt – FIFA accredited, Home County Northamptonshire and E Smart – Home County West Midlands Fourth Official – C …
Read More “Arsenal v Liverpool Sunday 14 August – The Match Officials. Prepare for bias.”
By Tony Attwood This is the time when the newspapers publish their summary of their predictions, and by and large they are all going with the same story. This is the season when Arsenal will drop out of the top four for the first time in 20 years, and will come below Tottenham for the …
Read More “The predictions for this coming season: and rather cheery ones they are too.”
by Andrew Crawshaw Arsenal and Reading start the newly named Premier league 2 with a game at Meadow Park Borehamwood at 19:00 tonight. The first bit of good news is that entry to the ground is absolutely free and there is no need to download tickets or anything – just turn up. The second bit …
Read More “Premier League 2 – Arsenal v Reading Friday 12 August 19:00 Meadow Park – Preview”
By Tony Attwood It’s simple: spending money on players is supposedly a good thing which will take clubs up the league. But I am told, the figures Untold has been producing are misleading, because they only took in one season. It is spending over time that is important. So let’s see how it worked over …
By Tony Attwood So, now the papers are picking up one story. “Arsenal have agreed to buy Germany defender Shkodran Mustafi from Valencia, according to the player’s agent.” That is pretty much what each one is saying. There are still some finer points and details to be resolved however “according to reports,” like the fee. Valencia …
Read More “Finally agent says the deal is done. So maybe it is. But others are demand to leave.”
By Tony Attwood I do take pleasure in the fact that over the years Untold Arsenal has uncovered a number of issues in football which, had it not been for us, would probably have remained undisclosed, at least for a while. Walter’s work on refereeing is a perfect example: a major step forward in the …
Read More “Five Steps From Reality. Everything you need to know about today’s football transfers.”
By Jacko Jones Ever wondered what the full VIP experience at the Emirates Stadium feels like? Well it seems that one lucky fantasy football player will get the full red carpet experience courtesy of Arsenal’s Official 1-Day Fantasy Football Partner DraftKings. The Ultimate Arsenal Fan Experience includes two tickets in the luxury of an executive …
By Tony Attwood What the newspapers don’t say has these days become more interesting than what they do say. For example, the Independent is currently running the headline “Arsenal should look at United to see dangers of transfer failure” which might lead one to think that, at least in passing, they might consider the …
Read More “Tiny worries: how things might not be working out perfectly for Tottenham”
By Billy “the Dog” McGraw August: the headlines continue to be dominated by “Arsenal lose out to” in relation to the transfer market. No comparison is made between the amount spent by clubs and their league position. Stories abound in relation to Arsenal trying out “untried rookie” defender / midfielder / winger”. The media …
Read More “Arsenal 2016/17 – how will the season pan out for Arsenal, twitter and the media”
By Jacko Jones Now here is something Untold hasn’t covered before: fantasy football. But we are doing it now, because after a lot of looking around and courtesy of some awfully nice people at DraftKings, your fantasy footy experience is about to be transformed. Daily fantasy football from DraftKings offers the opportunity to win big …
Read More “Sick of waiting all season to switch out your expensive fantasy football stars?”
By Ima Counter, Professor of Numerological Sciences, University of UnCertain Things, Shetland. The BBC has the Gabriel story: “Arsenal defender Gabriel has been ruled out for six to eight weeks, increasing the likelihood of a bid for Valencia centre-back Shkodran Mustafi.” Meanwhile the Index of every player Arsenal has been linked with this summer sits …
Read More “Gabriel injury news as total number of players noted as coming to Arsenal reaches 98.”
by Andrew Crawshaw I have started my preparations for the referee previews for this coming season and have noticed some changes within our favorite referees organisation, so I thought I would bring them to your attention. I am writing this on Monday Afternoon and as yet the referee page of the Premier League website (premierleague.com) …
THE BRICKFIELDS GUNNERS ‘ LIFE’S LESSONS 101 FOR ‘them’ – After posting a funny piece on the comment pages of UA at http://untold-arsenal.com/archives/54947#comments,re : LIFE SKILL CLASS – HOW TO SPEAK TO WOMEN and followed it with one about LESSONS FOR ‘them’ as to how they should behave towards AKBs, it felt incomplete somewhat for me, so …
Read More “THE BRICKFIELDS GUNNERS ‘ LIFE’S LESSONS 101 FOR ‘them’”
By Sir Hardly Anyone. “If people get new information that is in contrast to what they believe then they tend to neglect this new information for as long as possible.” Yes my little ducklings, it is getting close to the sharp end of the sharp ended thing. Which means we need just eight …
By Walter Broeckx There are trophies and there are non-trophies. And the difference is rather easy to see. When Arsenal win something it is a non-trophy. When other teams win something it is a trophy. Just look at how the media reports different trophies. BBC Sport on 10/08/2014 at 16:52: FT Arsenal 3 – 0 …
Read More “When is a trophy a trophy, and when is it not? (Clue: when Arsenal win it).”
By Don McMahon While surfing Arsenal.com, I was struck by a statement that Wenger said when asked about paying high fees for a striker or other transfers. He said, ¨The money is never a problem if you have to pay what is requested. The price of a player is down to four ingredients. One is …
Read More “Past, present and future: how Wenger’s approach to transfers is bearing fruit”
by Andrew Crawshaw Since I posted my first thoughts on who might be in our 25 man squad for the coming season there have been a number of changes in terms of players arriving or leaving and I have a few errors to correct. It is also under a week to go till our first …
Read More “Arsenal 25 Man Squad – The updated list now the pre-season is done.”
By Walter Broekx The Arsenal team at the start: Cech, Bellerin, Holding, Gabriel, Monreal, Coquelin, Xhaka, Ramsey, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Alexis, Iwobi. The subs Debuchy, Gibbs, Ospina, Walcott, Cazorla, Chambers, Martinez, Campbell, Reine-Adelaide, Akpom, Elneny, Bielik, Zelalem, Willock. A first match for Alexis and Ramsey this season after their 5 and 4 weeks holiday after the …
Read More “Man City – Arsenal 2-3: Why ref? Why 4 minutes of extra time in a pre season friendly?”
By Bulldog Drummond Talk of the new season being just around the bend means talk of injuries – but this time not so much of Arsenal injuries but of Manchester Airport. For quite amazingly, in the few days after Untold’s complaints that the media are still banging on about Arsenal’s side being decimated year after …
Read More “Manchester Airport vs The Arsenal, and that means a lot of talk about INJURIES”
By Tony Attwood You can be forgiven for either a) not knowing that the player loan system has changed or will change, or b) thinking it has all been by-passed by a crafty FA outsmarting Fifa. But new regulations there are, and as far as I can see the story that England would not be …
by Andrew Crawshaw What? – The Premier League 2 will replace the Under 21 Premier League from the start of the 2016/17 season. According to the ‘powers that be’ the competition will have “a greater focus on a level of play in terms of technicality, physicality and intensity to bring players as close to first-team …
Read More “Coming soon to a ground near you – Premier League 2”
By Tony Attwood It was just over a month ago that Untold published the first article in what became (somewhat to my surprise) a long running series. The headline was “Why so much hate?” and it reflected upon the language used in football. In a later article we picked up on the phrase “toxic rhetoric” …
Read More “Why so much hate and angst about Arsenal? We’ve found the answer.”
By Tony Attwood There’s a big problem with pre-season friendlies. Win easily and those people who very sadly (for them) are unable to find joy and happiness in football (or perhaps in life) denounce it as only a friendly. Unexpectedly lose, and all hell breaks loose as suddenly instead of it only being a …
