Was Terry Neill a great manager? And doubts remain about Gabriel Jesus

By Tony Attwood Why is this transfer window looking so odd? A past manager might be hated, loathed and detested in his day, but the chances are he will get a fulsome round of applause upon his passing.  And I know that, whenever called upon so to do, I have tried to show respect for …

Arsenal’s final friendly: predicted line up and the Sevilla defensive wall

Transfers: the six sources of information feeding the media By Tony Attwood This season sees a significant change in terms of substitutions and their use. Clubs can name nine substitutes in a league match and makeup to five substitutions in a game, but the changes can only be made on three occasions. This makes the …

The Women’s Euros – The Final – Sunday 31 July 17:00

Why is this transfer window looking so odd? by Andrew Crawshaw Well we all know of the historical precedent to this game – England v Germany at Wembley.  I just hope this re-run lives up to the 1966 preview and the current hype and expectation. Semi-final 1 – England v Sweden England qualified by four …

Why is this transfer window looking so odd?

by Sir Hardly Anyone Which clubs are spending the most and how did last year’s spending help? Thus far this is looking like a transfer window, unlike any other.  We have clubs talking about balancing the books, and clubs that we expected to be spending a lot not spending anything – or even making a …

What the deadwood journalists need to learn about defences

Tackles fouls and penalties: Leicester City and Arsenal compared By Tony Attwood In 2015/16 Arsenal scored their lowest goal total in nine years – 65 goals.  And yet gained their highest league position in nine years (runnes-up).  The following season they scored 77 and came in fifth. What the club actually had in that season …

The statistical approach to how well teams will do this season

By Tony Attwood The newspapers and websites are full of predictions about how well various clubs will do in the coming season, and the consensus among them (be they those that claim to have nicked time on one of the most expensive computers in the country, or those that let their journalists make simple predictions) …

Arsenal 1 Brentford 2: what the game tells us about the future of certain players

How much of the transfer market is grinding to a halt By Tony Attwood It has been rather difficult to pick up much information about the Arsenal v Brentford friendly game although we were given the Arsenal team… Turner, Cedric, Walters (Awe 46), Holding, Tavares (Souza 76), Elneny, Lokonga, Maitland-Niles (Patino 85), Marquinhos, Nelson (Sagoe Jr 90),  Nuno Tavares and …

No alcohol in Qatar for the world cup, but try this glass of wine

By Tony Attwood Although it was not made compulsory, we are now seeing that all the teams competing in the world cup finals which will interrupt the Premier League season this year, will be staying in the independent emirate of Qatar for the duration. According to reports from Fifa, all the teams stay in officially …

How much of the transfer market is grinding to a halt

By Sir Hardly Anyone Which clubs are spending the most and how did last year’s spending help? This summer Manchester City have bought two players for a fee and sold nine players for a fee.  As a result, they have a profit on transfers this summer of £74m.  It is something that is marvelled at …

5th plus one point: Arsenal’s minimum target

Which clubs are spending the most and how did last year’s spending help? Why was the victory over Chelsea so easy? By Bulldog Drummond What Arsenal need is one point more than the club that comes fifth, in order to get back into the Champions League next season. Of course, quite often the club that …

Which clubs are spending the most and how did last year’s spending help?

By Tony Attwood Are Arsenal in line for a return to the top four? Indexes to recent series on Untold Arsenal can be found on our home page The response of clubs to their position in the league last season, in terms of purchasing varies – both because of the money available and because of …

The Women’s Euros – Quarter final roundup and Semi final previews

by Andrew Crawshaw THE WOMEN’S EUROS – THIRD ROUND GAMES AND QUARTER FINALS PREVIEW My quarter-final previews were good and bad.  Good in that I managed to pick all four winners, bad in that I was out in how most of the games would pan out. Quarter Final 1   England 2 v Spain 1 …

Why was the victory over Chelsea so easy, and what happens now?

How the media created the myth of “the gap” between Arsenal and the top four By Bulldog Drummond One reason that is given in the media for Chelsea not doing so well in the match against Arsenal is that Chelsea were slow off the mark in the transfer window, while Arsenal got going on their …

How the media created the myth of “the gap” between Arsenal and the top four

How Arteta is copying the Guardiola method and what it means for Arsenal By Tony Attwood One of my regular points on Untold (and it has become regular because no one else seems to want to touch it, so it fits into the “Untold” theme perfectly) is that the English media tends to hunt in …

Arsenal in pre-season: does winning all the games foretell a brilliant campaign?

By Bulldog Drummond Arsenal in the summer: tales from pre-season Of course there is still one to go but so far it is hard to imagine that Arsenal could have done anything more in the pre-season… Nuremberg 3 Arsenal 5 Arsenal 2 Everton 0 Orlando City 1 Arsenal 3 Arsenal 4 Chelsea 0 Not just …

Arsenal thrash Chelsea: extended video highlights

How Arteta is copying the Guardiola method and what it means for Arsenal The deadwood journalist producing three football stories an hour, every hour   (See also “That pass from Saka” below) Starting XI Ramsdale Saliba White Gabriel Zinchenko Xhaka Partey Saka Odegaard Martinelli Jesus Arsenal substitutions during the game Ramsdale (Turner 72), Zinchenko (Tavares …

How Arteta is copying the Guardiola method and what it means for Arsenal

The 12 players to Arsenal the media are talking about this week By Tony Attwood In football, as in the arts, where there is success, it often seems to me that there exists beneath that success a combination of instinctive talent and a clear theory, which merge to form the approach adopted. Take for example …

The deadwood journalist producing three football stories an hour, every hour

Arsenal v Chelsea: the most bizarre odds you have ever seen. And the team. By Tony Attwood We have debated of late the way journalists call certain players (players who normally have far more talent and ability in their little fingers than the journalists have in their entire body) “deadwood”.  Our view has been that …

Arsenal v Chelsea: the most bizarre odds you have ever seen. And the team.

More international football in Britain, and we will have to pick up the bill by Sir Hardly Anyone Arsenal and Chelsea play their next pre-season friendly at 1am BST tomorrow, Sunday, at the Camping World Stadium in Orlando. Sports mole  have given us a starting XI for this match of  Ramsdale; Cedric, White, Gabriel, Tavares; …

More international football in Britain, and we will have to pick up the bill

WHY ARE FIFA, UEFA, THE FA AND OTHER BODIES THAT RUN FOOTBALL NOT HELD TO ACCOUNT? By Tony Attwood One of the key issues in football at the moment is that there is a complete disconnect between the authorities such as Fifa, Uefa, the Football Association etc, and the people who go to football matches …

Barcelona sell another 15% of its TV rights, one week after selling 25%

SUPER LEAGUE IS FAR FROM DEAD. IN FACT IT IS JUST STARTING ITS FINAL BATTLE. HOW SPEND-SPEND-SPEND LED TO BARCELONA’S COLLAPSE By Iver Coupleoquid According to Le Figaro, FC Barcelona are now desperately ​​in search of even more cash to allow it to buy players.  For just one week after it sold 10% of its …

It’s time to clear out the deadwood: and I don’t mean the players

Why one particular club is finding it hard to buy or sell this summer. What Arsenal need to do to get to third next season. by Tony Attwood Several readers recently commented on the contemptuous way in which journalists and sub-editors (the people who write the headlines) treat footballers. The particular word that sparked the …

The 12 players to Arsenal the media are talking about this week

We have now reach 106 players who are being tipped by the media to be coming to Arsenal this summer.  Three of these are new names in the past week, and ten of the players mentioned in previous weeks are still being talked about with updated information about their likely arrival. So far Arsenal have …

The players Arsenal do not want hanging around (allegedly)

By Sir Hardly Anyone There is an article in the Telegraph which has this line in its sub-heading: “Moving on unwanted players is proving difficult, especially for teams selling to the continent” Now the article was written by no less than seven different journalists “Sam Wallace, Sam Dean, James Ducker, Matt Law, Chris Bascombe, John …

Orlando City v Arsenal: the Arsenal team, the video and player review

How Arsenal’s 25 man squad is shaping up for next season By Bulldog Drummond Orlando City are part way through their own season and involved in a heavy schedule of games, so can be forgiven for not taking the match too seriously.  Arsenal are of course trying to use as many players as possible to …