2022/23 PL Season – Matchweek 1 – Refereeing matters

Are Arsenal in line for a return to the top four? by Andrew Crawshaw For this coming season there has been a couple of minor changes to the IFAB rules of the game.  The IFAB is the international body that sets out the laws that all players must follow throughout the world. Law 11:Offside Though Law …

Why do clubs that come 5th in the PL always then sink lower?

Where do clubs come from when they break into the top four By Tony Attwood I haven’t seen this analysis done anywhere by journalists – but then to do it does take a little bit of time and some looking up of data, so perhaps that isn’t too surprising. But the issue is an interesting …

Reflections on Euros and the Copa America women’s finals

by Andrew Crawshaw The Women’s Euros – the Final The Women’s Euros – Quarter final roundup and Semi final previews THE WOMEN’S EUROS – THIRD ROUND GAMES AND QUARTER FINALS PREVIEW The women’s Euros: what we learned from the second round of games? The Women’s Euros, what have we learned from the opening round? https://youtu.be/Df_79PkE45M …

Summer at the Palace and what can we expect on Friday

Which clubs are spending the most and how did last year’s spending help? By Bulldog Drummond Crystal Palace have had nine years in the Premier League since their last promotion.  During this time they have appeared in the 2015 cup final, and finished on each occason between 10th and 15th in the league. However despite …

Where do clubs come from when they break into the top four

Why is the media so certain Arsenal will fail in 2022/23? By Tony Attwood As we have seen, this season a lot of pundits are suggesting that for the first time ever, the top four of the Premier League from one season will be the top four, in the same order, for next season. The …

Edu ruins the entire Arsenal masterplan… according to reports

By Tony Attwood So just as the journalists and their hangers’-on have a new game REPORT: ARSENAL FEAR EDU HAS RUINED THEIR LATEST £50M TRANSFER MASTERPLAN This story comes from the Sun and claims that Edu has “complicated their plans to complete numerous transfer sales in the final month of the transfer window.” In this …

What does Arsenal’s first match actually mean for the rest of the season?

The players Arsenal do not want hanging around (allegedly) By Tony Attwood Of course we want to win, but does the first game tell us anything? Is it important to get off to a flying start?  That is what the media says and last season they gave Arsenal absolute hell because of the loss of …

115 players tipped to join Arsenal this summer including 5 new names!

By Sir Hardly Anyone What happened to the 134 players tipped to be coming to Arsenal last summer Give me Sport are saying that “Arsenal have still not made a bid for Youri Tielemans despite agreeing personal terms with the Leicester City midfielder!  The Mirror also has Deal confirmed while Tielemans makes desire clear with personal terms …

The final move of Super League, and the losers are going to be in trouble

Previously: Barcelona sell another 15% of its TV rights. According to the Spanish publication, Sport.Es Barcelona will not have problems registering the signings for this season – which comes as a bit of a surprise.  For Iván Cabeza, a prominent sports economist, claims that Barcelona is already “in a normal economic situation.”   Which given the …

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 …

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 …

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   https://youtu.be/iGJnKzV6kf8 (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 …