By Tony Attwood This season we have been looking at some statistics that seem never to become headline news in the media, but which, when we look at them really give us pause for thought. Below are all the details we have looked at.  And our prime conclusions now are that Liverpool, Leicester, Man City …

Read More “The four PL clubs that are getting very special treatment from referees.”

By Tony Attwood It has never been any secret that the Football Association generally feels that while it might not be 1935, it jolly well ought to be.  All English players in English teams playing in the English 1st Division, with none of these johnny foreigners lurking about.  (Mind you they also think they are …

Read More “Brexit bites the Premier League: we’ll never be the same again”

By Tony Attwood On Monday morning I took a call from a friend in the medical services who has little interest in football.  She had been reading up about David Luiz’ injury and was utterly astonished.  As a medic she could understand that in a contact sport serious accidents can happen, and had no criticism …

Read More “Head injuries: football in England is once again on another planet.”

By Tony Attwood While there have been some comments about Arsenal’s decline of late, until recently the media in England has been content to avoid placing the blame anywhere, not least because in the last few years the club has followed their advice, changing all the players around, changing the managers and spending, spending, spending. …

Read More “What on earth is wrong with Arsenal. The media speak out.”

By Tony Attwood I received a note at the end of last week pointing out that Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, who have been under investigation by Swiss authorities for some time, are now suddenly facing a more serious charge of fraud.  This comes  after Swiss federal prosecutors intensified a five-year investigation into the pair’s …

Read More “Platini and Blatter now prosecuted for fraud, but don’t tell the English”

By Tony Attwood There are a number of reasons that are fairly easy to think of. 1: Arsenal have had three managers in the past three years.  That is not the way to create stability and growth. Settled clubs do much better than clubs in turmoil, not least because three managers means three sets of …

Read More “Why are Arsenal doing so poorly at the moment? The hidden truths.”

By Bulldog Drummond The news doing the rounds is that Bukayo Saka has recovered from the dead leg he suffered against Leeds last weekend.  We know Pepe is out, Willian and Partey are doubtful, and Elneny and Kolasinac are the victims of the insanity of continuing with international competitions during a crisis.  Except some pundits …

Read More “Arsenal v the W’s. The “confirmed” predicted team, including Nelson’s twin.”

By Bulldog Drummond Arsenal are 12th in the league in terms of home performances, while Wolverhampton are 14th in the league in terms of away performances.  And in fact the performances of the two clubs home and away are identical – two wins and two defeats for Arsenal at home, the same for Wolverhampton away. …

Read More “Arsenal: with one goal in the last 5 league games the revival is needed now.”

By Bulldog Drummond One good bit of news is that we can’t sink any lower down the league between now and the end of Sunday, but on the other hand a win could see us shuffle up a few places, depending on others.   Here is the rather alarming league table as of Sunday morning (UK …

Read More “Arsenal’s absentee details, our unfortunate league position and hope of a rise”

By Bulldog Drummond If you have been paying attention you will know that this season we have been analysing what clubs are doing in their matches in the premier league in terms of tackles, fouls, yellow cards and penalties. And some quite amazing facts and figures are emerging overall. But more than that, this now …

Read More “Arsenal v Wolverhampton: the tactics and why Arsenal are still getting injuries”

by Bulldog Drummond The league table this morning shows something of an odd sight – and I don’t just mean the situation at the top of the league…. Team P W D L F GA D Pts 6 Everton 9 5 1 3 19 16 3 16 7 Aston Villa 8 5 0 3 19 …

Read More “Arsenal reduced to the level of wolves”

By Tony Attwood For football journalists life is black and white, good and bad, yes and no, with no bits in between.  And the reason for that is simple: they treat their readers as idiots who can only understand black and white, rather than real life. After last Sunday if you had just taken your …

Read More “The emergence of brilliance, the idiocy of the media”

By Bulldog Drummond Although Arsenal went through the group stages last season as winners, there was a serious bit of slipping up going on in the second half of the campaign – exactly the point we are now at. With three straight wins everything was plodding along nicely (although that third match saw something of …

Read More “Molde v Arsenal: the teams. The chances of a game for Pepe…”

By Bulldog Drummond While Arsenal appear to be challenging for the longest period without a league goal from open play, Molde have been getting on with the business, in their Date Comp Home Score Away Res 01/11/20 League Mjøndalen 1 – 3 Molde W 05/11/20 Europa Arsenal 4 – 1 Molde L 08/11/20 League Molde …

Read More “Molde V Arsenal: injuries reach a new height and playing in front of a crowd”

By Sir Hardly Anyone This is a time when Arsenal need all the support they can get in order to recover some form and move up the table. And it is good to see it coming from at least one quarter with Tony Adams saying that he was totally wrong in his assessment of Bernd …

Read More “Farewell honeymoon, the knives are now out for Arteta.”

by Tony Attwood A comment in response to an earlier article really got me thinking.   It read… “Let arteta be trusted to do the job,like they say Rome was not built in a day.Klopp was given time at Liverpool and allowed to build a team on his principles, this has worked:If he had been told …

Read More “Arsenal: a decade of mismanagement? How does the evidence stack up?”

By Tony Attwood So Arsenal have a spot of a problem.  Actually make that five problems. a) Some fans are turning on our most expensive purchase who is currently in the squad. b) The management has turned against our most expensive player who is currently not in the squad. c) We’ve had three managers across …

Read More “Arsenal: we have a problem, but the proposed solution is a problem also”

By Tony Attwood This season we have been looking at some statistics that seem never to become headline news in the media, but which, when we look at them really give us pause for thought. This is the table we have gradually been building as the key issues have arisen.   Exceptional numbers are in bold.  …

Read More “How the top clubs foul with impunity – this week’s statistics analysed.”

By Bulldog Drummond We enter the fray as we have been for much of this season so far, on a mountain of negatives.  Dani Ceballos and David Luiz are said to have come to blows – but of course no one knows.  Aubameyang spent the night on the floor of an airport ahead of an …

Read More “Leeds v Arsenal: the team selection from across the media.”

By Bulldog Drummond Games between Arsenal and Leeds are shown as being surprisingly balanced in the records: 47 wins to Arsenal, 41 to Leeds United and 32 draws. But these figures hide some interesting features. To begin they don’t include matches between Arsenal and Leeds City – which was pretty much the same club as …

Read More “Leeds v Arsenal: when we were the greatest of rivals and the away win issue”

By Bulldog Drummond Compared with the week before the international nonsense the number of players who are now injured is utterly outrageous.  Why the top clubs allow this to continue is completely beyond me. However they do, so here is the top of the injury league as supplied by Physioroom.com Liverpool: 10 Brighton and Hove …

Read More “Internationals inevitably mean injuries and here they are all lining up”

By Tony Attwood Of late I have been trying to get a handle on the very curious statistics that started to emerge in the Premier League last season and which are continuing this season. These in particular include tackles, fouls, yellow cards and penalties (given and received).  Much of the discussion has of course centred …

Read More “Arsenal v Leeds: tackles, fouls, penalties, yellows… what to expect”

by Tony Attwood It was Arsene Wenger who once said (and was then severely censured by Uefa for saying it) that international managers are like car thieves.  They take your vehicle, use it however they want, in ways that are often completely unsafe, and then hand you back the wreck with orders to have it …

Read More “International managers are like car thieves. And football’s fake news”

By Tony Attwood It is quite amazing the lengths journalists will go to, in order to knock Arsenal.  Like running two articles on unsuccessful stadia moves just so they can end with Arsenal’s move to the Emirates.  In doing this they place Arsenal alongside Sunderland, Derby, Oxford United, Darlington, Coventry City, MK Dons, Cardiff City, …

Read More “The lengths some journalists will go to, to attack Arsenal”