Talking tactics with Aidan Gibson

I promised you all a new columnist for the new season, and that’s exactly what you get. Aidan Gibson will be analysing the tactical side of Arsenal every Friday, so look out for his weekly column. Here’s his appraisal of how Arsenal looked tactically in pre-season. Arsenal’s preseason concluded yesterday with a fairly disappointing 2-1 defeat … Read more

Creativity? What United Need Is The Opposite!

One of the key talking points over the last couple of months seemingly has been which creative midfielder Sir Alex is looking to get to replace a certain Paul Scholes.  To those fans who are bored about this very subject, don’t turn away bec…

Ryo, Bartley, Cesc, Nasri, Jagielka, Mata; the new line up and the back up team.

Untold Arsenal on Twitter @UntoldArsenal By Tony Attwood We’ve been debating the work permit situation of Ryo, and the information seems to be that there is no “mother born in Belgium” loophole, and he does need one (a permit that is)…

All the attributes an Arsenal left back should have

Untold Arsenal on Twitter @UntoldArsenal Untold Arsenal on Facebook here By Arvind There is a lot of great work going on at Untold about various kinds of statistics, that affect Arsenal results – both positively and negatively. Just recently, one art…

Versatile

Well we’ve signed Gervinho…. at last… apparently. The thing that struck me most about the story – apart from his freakishly large, almost Lescott-like forehead, was the quote from Arsene Wenger about him: “Gervinho is a player that can play … Continue reading →

How the transfer market has been utterly screwed this year

Untold Arsenal on Twitter @UntoldArsenal Untold Arsenal on Facebook here By Tony Attwood There is a continual theme that emerges from those people who like to call themselves Arsenal supporters but who criticise virtually everything the club does, and …

THE REIGN OF VILLAS-BOAS

I have forgotten the shape of Chelsea team, this was down to Carlo. He played too many shapes, leaving the players not knowing what to expect

The real reason Spurs came fifth?

There has been many a discussion post season as to why we finished in fifth spot in the league last season, when many, myself included, thought that fourth should have been a definite and maybe even second or third was a real possibility. Some of the post mortem debates have been; Was it the lack [...]

Should Arsenal go 4-4-2?

So it’s transfer season, and everyone is in a tizzy with rumors of whether Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri are going to stay or go, when Clichy, Bendtner and Denilson will say good-bye, and who may or may not be coming to Arsenal to be our saviour with the required mental strength, leadership desire. This [...]

Is there a link between possession and shots? An Untold Analysis.

By Walter Broeckx To pass the time a bit I go on my search to see if football is something that can be spelled as a+b=c. In trying to find patterns I have looked this time into the shots and possession. The most logical thing would be that the more pos…

Manchester United can exploit Barcelona’s defensive weaknesses

It’s not often Manchester United go into a game, any game, as underdogs. But that evening in Rome still lives long in memory (Patrice Evra: “It hurt so much when we lost. We did the team pictures the following season. We had three trophies. But we were missing the one with the big ears.”) and [...]

Talking Tactics: Everton v. Chelsea

Afternoon or evening to everyone depending on where you are reading this. Today I’d like to introduce a new writer to the Everton Offside and Royal Blue Mersey blogs, his name is Darren and comes to us via England, but I will let him introduce himself at a later date. His first article is a [...]

Full Backs

We have a right back who can do no wrong, even when he does and we have a left back who can do no right, even though he does, often. Bacary Sagna is a great Right Back, no question. He … Continue reading →

Les Petites Goonerettes

So we’re almost at the end of the season. With one game left against Fulham it’s sure to be interesting to see whether we make it into third place. If we don’t people will certainly blame any of the myriad flaws at Arsenal that have been pointed out over the last few months, some more so than [...]

The predictability of Arsenal – it’s all in the formation

I never thought I’d say this but it was genuinely interesting to hear Gary Neville explain the merits of the 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 formation during the half time interval at one of the recent meaningless Internationals. His rationale for many teams adopting th…

Analysis

I’ve read more analysis since Sunday of exactly what certain bloggers and tweeters sincerely believe is wrong with this Arsenal team. Much of it is ill-conceived, playing to their particular prejudices and extrapolating from vignettes seen in certain games, or … Continue reading →

We won the league at….. or did we lose it there

By Walter Broeckx We all love to sing the popular Arsenal song: We won  the league at White Hart Lane….  I bet you are all signing it right now. So am I. But when looking back at the season I wonder if this season we should sing: We lost the league…

Rangers tactics leaked

I have a possible sneaky look into the future of our main rivals tactics for next season. After the shocking events of parcel-gate and the even more recently I-never-said-that-to-jim-jefferies-gate (Personally and in all honesty I would rather talk to his gate than him), it has come to the forefront, in my eyes especially, that our [...]

What would you do? Your team, your system at Old Trafford (revisited)

Weren’t we right here not a month ago? Weird, unexpected – but acceptable. Most acceptable.

These two, again
To quote myself on 11 April, prior to our demise in the Champions League:
We’ve tackled tactics throughout the season. This time is no different. However, there’s just one thing: I’m not sure that this side of the game has [...]

What would you do? Your team, your system at Old Trafford

There’s this match at Old Trafford tomorrow evening, maybe you’ve read about it around the web. You know, it may define our season.

Who do you like?
We’ve tackled tactics throughout the season. This time is no different. However, there’s just one thing: I’m not sure that this side of the game has ever been more critical [...]

The Fifth Element

Today at 3pm we will play West Brom away. We’re 2nd in the table, they’re 16th. Yet earlier in the season they beat us at home. By playing football. Okay their season has taken a downturn since they beat us, … Continue reading →

Red

Get Over It!! There. I said I’d say it and I have. We lost. We’re out of another competition. People are still dying in Japan and the death toll we’re told could now reach 10,000. That’s staggering when you think … Continue reading →

Why players from overseas get more cards than UK players

Dirty Internationals by Alek Pan What would you say if you were given evidence that overseas players (ie those from outside the UK) make the EPL harder, dirtier and more unfair than it would otherwise be? Quite probably you would want to look at the ev…

What would you do? Your team, your system against Manchester United

With the Blues out of action this weekend, it’s time to bring focus right to our upcoming match against the Mancs. One of the big talking-points among Chelsea fans is figuring out the right formation to accommodate our players – so what is the best way to start against the league leaders on Tuesday?

Bringing Torres [...]

Talking Tactics ahead of the Crawley clash

The journalists have been waiting for this. “The Big One,” I hear one say gleefully. “Red Devils v Red Devils!” exclaims another. But the truth is, they’re most likely to be disappointed. A giant-killing is improbable at Old Trafford, unless of course, you mean that literally and United thump in goals from all corners. It’s all [...]