Welcome to the man who shouldn’t be there. Arsenal v Man Utd Sat 2 December 2017 – The Match Officials.

by Andrew Crawshaw Our Officials for Saturday are :- Referee – Andre Marriner – Age 46, from the West Midlands (his home Football Association is Birmingham County) Assistant Referee 1 – Simon Beck – From Bedfordshire and FIFA Accredited Assistant Referee 2 – Scott Ledger – from South Yorkshire Fourth Official – Anthony Taylor – …

It’s official; Arsenal is of less interest than moaning tweets from WHU fans

Arsenal is of less interest than moaning tweets while football journalists need to take lessons from horoscope writers. By Tony Attwood Normally of course I normally see the games Arsenal play; at the Ems because I have a season ticket, away, by watching the match on TV, or occasionally going to games.  I even managed …

Arsenal v Huddersfield: the teams from 30,000 feet

By Tony Attwood By a tragic twist of fate the Arsenal v Huddersfield match happens when I am rather more up in the air than normal; I’m flying from Cyprus to Manchester, and then driving south. So I regret Untold’s normal coverage of events is going to be rather more curtailed than normal, but here’s …

All change at Arsenal: another new face joins the club as the revolution continues

By Tony Attwood Raul Sanllehi is to join Arsenal as head of football relations: part of the player recruitment team.  This follows the appointment of Sven Mislintat as chief scout last week. Details of this and other changes in the senior staff at Arsenal are given in All change at Arsenal as the background revolution continues and …

The real Arsenal transfer news: who we are actually signing in January.

By Tony Attwood I am going to try an experiment, and see if it is possible to write a series of articles about the next window’s transfers (ie Jan 2018), with commentaries that are not based on rampant negativity (“Arsenal must plug this gap now!!!”) and outright fantasy.  An antidote to the make-believe gossip. Of …

Arsenal v Huddersfield Wednesday 29 November – The Match Officials

by Andrew Crawshaw Our Officials for Wednesday night are :- Referee – Graham Scott  age 49 from Oxfordshire Assistant Referee 1 – Peter Kirkup  from Northamptonshire Assistant Referee 2 – Constantine Hatzidikis  from Kent Fourth Official – Kevin Friend  age 46 from Leicestershire None of them from too far away (which I guess makes sense …

Huddersfield at home: what the facts and figures tell us

by Tony Attwood Arsenal’s league performance at home thus far this season is everything those of us lucky enough to have season tickets could ask for… In terms of home matches only the results look like this… Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts 1 Manchester United 7 7 0 0 20 …

Why do football pundits wear jackets and ties?

By Sir Hardly Anyone, Herbert Chapman, very famously railed against what he call the “boo boys”: the men who attended Highbury matches and hurled abuse at the players if they failed to live up to the standards that these “fans” had created in their own minds. But the great man’s denunciations of such behaviour did …

“It probably is a penalty but it was never not going to be given.”

By Tony Attwood After the match the Burnley manager said, “It probably is a penalty but it was never not going to be given.”  (That is the quote I have picked up from the Guardian, and I think it is right.) It was one of the more extraordinary statements I have heard from a profession …

Burnley v Arsenal. A fairly easy line up to predict.

By Bulldog Drummond In approaching this match we must concede that by and large on home against away form through the season, Burnley are the superior side. In the current league form overall we see six wins, two defeats and a draw in the last nine for Arsenal although we have to note all the …

Burnley v Arsenal: the injury table, Wenger on Burnley, home and away form.

By Bulldog Drummond That table of course is the injury table, which according to bloggettas and pundits, of which Arsenal are always at the top. Pos Club Men down Last man to fall What he got 1 Everton 9 J Kenny Illness 2 Liverpool 7 D Lovren Back Injury 3 Watford 6 K Femenia Knock …

The ref who can get 2 out of every 3 decisions wrong. Burnley v Arsenal, 26 November 2017.

by Andrew Crawshaw I do a heart exercise class every Friday morning (I had a heart attack just over 4 years ago) and one of the other people in the class is a Spurs supporter. Last Friday I said I was worried about the effect Mr Dean was likely to have on the match as …

The Trump illness and football: Arsenal seen from the USA.

The view from America, by Don McMahon Recently, while surfing a few AFC websites and blogs, I noticed that some bloggers were writing the most insane and non-sensical irrationalities I had ever seen on a website. During my regular sorties onto the net, I have had the opportunity to engage with alt-right gun-toting Christians and …

5 former Arsenal players who have played in the ISL

By Raj Sapkota The Indian Super League (ISL) is well and truly into its fourth season, following a monumental opening ceremony and an interesting first few rounds of matches. What makes this season of the ISL even more exciting is the addition of two new teams and the added incentive of making the AFC Cup …

Arsenal II through as group winners, State Aid United recorded as Boxing Day losers

By Tony Attwood The bar was very accommodating, the beer was cheap, and as the teams lined up we were two Arsenal fans, two Cologne fans and ten people who seemed to have got lost and just come in for a drink. It was all very friendly and chatty of course, and the bar even …

Cologne v Arsenal II. Discontent in the hotel, and the team news.

by Tony Attwood The really, really big news is that I have found a bar on the outskirts of Pafos which has promised that they will be showing the match against Cologne.  The barman even went to considerable lengths to point out to me that Cyprus is two hours ahead of the UK, and thus …

Barcelona source reveals the club’s vision for Ozil, plus snippets of team news.

By Tony Attwood I was hoping to write a little piece summing up the whole of the team selection for the Cologne away game, but it is proving a trifle difficult to find all the news. It seems that Calum Chambers is in the squad for tonight’s match and Mr Wenger has said we will …

Cologne v Arsenal II; teams and other snippets. The vision from Cyprus.

By Tony Attwood Well, here I am in Cyprus, just getting ready for the first dance of the holiday, having had the opening meal with the assembled gathering of dancers, and a greater consumption of alcohol than I would ever normally have before dancing.  Falling over could be one of the new dance steps that …

All change at Arsenal has some interesting implications

By Tony Attwood . I suppose it is right that Arsenal have announced their new head of recruitment just as one of the bloggettas starts running the story that we are about to sign Karim Benzema.   If the new man sees that “news” he will realise exactly what sort of background noise he should …

Making fun of Daily Mail journalists, and calling 999 when the team loses.

By Tony Attwood Apparently the social media team at Arsenal sent an animation of Mesut Özil to Daily Mail journalist Adam Crafton. The tweet related to a feature in the right wing newspaper in which their journalist did the usual thing that papers seem to do when they have some space and nothing much to put in …

Cologne v Arsenal II; the cause of Cologne’s woes and video of their one amazing win.

By Tony Attwood As I am sure you will know by now a draw of any type will send us through to the “Round of 32” knock out part of the Europa, and will make us top of the group.  Which is not only nice in itself, but also rather pleasant for Arsenal II, the …

Things don’t always work out as expected… From AC Milan to Everton

Two unrelated stories by Josif   When AC Milan signed Leonardo Bonucci from their rivals Juventus last summer, it was seen as the final statement of intent from the new owners of the Italian and European giants. Bonucci, one of the best central defenders in the world and a member of famous BBC-trio in the …

Arsenal’s golden triangle provides plenty of optimism

Arsenal’s golden triangle provides plenty of optimism Arsenal’s golden triangle provides plenty of optimism It’s been a varied few years for Arsenal, despite lifting three FA Cup titles in the past four years and making cup history in the process, and missing out on a top-four spot for the first time in Arsene Wenger’s tenure …

All change at Arsenal as the background revolution continues

by Tony Attwood Quite often, when a manager moves on, his background team are also removed, and the new manager brings in his own men to work alongside him. For example, when David Moyes took over at West Ham to deliver them from the reduction in the cost of running the London Stadium (their rent …

Are Tottenham now the dominant force in north London football? If not, what does it take?

By Tony Attwood “It is not just Tottenham that struggle to compete with the big sides away from home. We need many things – we need to win trophies, we need to build the new stadium, we need to build a good squad, we need to play young players.” Thus sayeth the Tottenham manager in …