I’m reading a book written by one of my favourite authors. John Hillaby was a naturalist, historian, international perambulator extraordinaire and above all a damned fine writer. The journeys he undertook and later wrote about are littered with fascinating insights into the history of the places through which he passed and observations on the present at once pithy, unusual and dryly comedic.
While fascinated with the past he never fell into the trap of viewing it through the prism of sentimental nostalgia. He was honest about mistakes of the present but could be equally caustic on the many examples of how badly things used be done. This is just one of the many lessons Arsenal fans could learn from Mr Hillaby’s work.
The book I’m reading at the moment is unusual in that it is all about London. Nothing odd in writing about that huge, muscular sprawling powerhouse of a capital – many pages have been devoted to it in both fact and fiction. I say unusual because this is a walker, a travel writer exploring a city usually traversed via subterranean tunnels or inside slow moving metal boxes through its traffic choked streets.
I am more used to following the author through the lanes and byways as he walks the length of of the country in his peerless masterpiece Journey Through Britain. In this book Hillaby often encountered incredulity from passing motorists when he politely declined the offer of a lift. He found it difficult to explain how taking the slower, often more painful even occasionally torturous route was preferable. Where was the sense of achievement without the discomfort, the danger, the difficulties which preceded the sudden vista from the top of a Scottish mountain, or the unexpected panorama of the sea?
We may feel that we are following the slow and twisting back lanes to the title in 2016. Getting lost on what appeared on the map to be a straightforward road, or becoming stuck on the moors, waist deep in sticky mud when we seemed to be making great strides. We have taken turns which have led us in entirely the wrong direction but still somehow we are trudging on, our journey three quarters done, the other walkers drawing away from us one week then stumbling themselves when we least expect it.
Will Leicester City stick their foot down a rabbit hole again between now and May? Looking at the map they’re following it all seems to be straightforward without a bump in the road to disturb their progress. If they should unexpectedly confuse their north from their south will we be close enough to take advantage? We could do ourselves a huge favour this lunchtime by grabbing hold of the straps on Mr Pochettino’s rucksack and swinging alongside him. If we can get back into our stride today and shake off the hesitant gait which has seen us lose sight of the track on the last two legs of our journey then even the fans who seem to have lost interest in the whole trip might perk up a little bit and stop complaining about their blisters.
Hillaby was a hugely experienced walker. When he wrote Journey Through Britain he was already in his fifties and would one imagine have known all there was to know about travelling à pied. However, he still managed to find himself slowed to a near stand still with cramps, sore heels, and swollen toes even quite early in the journey. At other times he described hitting a stride with an unconscious ease which , once achieved, could, he felt, propel him without effort for days on end. He experienced a near weightlessness, as if he were gliding across the landscape barely in contact with the sward beneath him.
It is, I suspect, the same for anybody whatever their discipline, whatever their speciality. Even top footballers used to working in harmony with one another can suddenly inexplicably find the simplest task just that little more difficult than it ought to be. Once a couple of cogs fail to mesh the entire machine looks a little ungainly and in a league as competitive as ours the couple of inches by which the end of a move is off means that instead of running out winners by four goals to two we hit the woodwork three times and lose by two to one.
Make no mistake we were not as awful as those who would rip up the map and catch the first bus home would have you believe. A team simply doesn’t create the chances we do nor come so close to scoring if they are playing that badly. Tottenham today will provide a stern test, a steep and difficult climb but the match is also an enormous opportunity. Peg them back today and we not only draw level with them on points but condemn them to back to back defeats and we know all too well how that can drain one’s moral and unchain the lunatic element lurking in the fanbase of every top team.
The odds may appear stacked against us. The stakes are high. Lose and that is three on the bounce and a very tough road ahead. Win and the momentum swings the other way, the pressure shifts, the stone is in their shoe and we begin to step more lightly across the ground, belief is rekindled.
Once John Hillaby crossed into Scotland he had already completed much of his journey and may have been forgiven for thinking the end was in sight and he could stroll to the finish, the hard walking all behind him. Of course he discovered that much rough and unpredictable terrain lay ahead of him. At one point he slipped and rolled down a sheer cliff face among a small avalanche of scree convinced he was falling to an untimely demise. He picked himself up, made a painful and tortuous return to a track he felt sure he’d lost entirely and eventually completed his journey.
Giving up was never an option. Cursing the map, the clouds which obscured his landmarks, the damaged compass or his disintegrating shoes was pointless, counter productive and more likely to guarantee failure. Belief, perseverance and a stubborn bloody minded refusal to allow the setbacks to get him down. Those were the qualities which saw him through, those were the days when he won the battle against despair – not on the beautiful sunny open meadows nor in the easy springing step across gentle turf. Anyone can do the simple stuff. It is when the going gets hard that we are all truly tested.
Positively Arsenal 
Come on Larry, do it.Time to turn things around.
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Arsene rolls the dice
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eat that you fucking chickenssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
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COME ON YOU GUNNNNNNNNNNNNNEEEERRRRSSSS!!!!!!
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more more more more
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More help please St.Totteringham, unleash even more power
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Do you think Ospina learned with those velcro gloves and the fuzzy balls that stick no matter what?
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LOL!
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Per has been immense today.
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Bloody hell. Thought we were through then.
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played Danny.
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Arsene shutting the shop.
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Ospina also immense so far.COYG!
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Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooospina
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come you gunners
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Come on Joel give us some magic. Played Mesut.
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My boy . Come on Joel.
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lets win it now.
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Shame Frank got sent off as we looked like winning at that point, but brilliant scrapping and grabbing a point.
COYG!
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What a stunning game of football by 10-man Arsenal. So we have no heart eh?
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Well played all of them to get back into it after three body blows in quick succession. Let’s see what Watford and Villa can do now.
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Bloody hell I am exhausted – a great contest between two good teams – at times we had the game in our hands, at others they hone side – a draw the right result.
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Shotts have a look at your Twitter messages
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Plenty of bottle shown by our boys today.
Shame Michael Oliver didn’t have any.
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Dier should have gone there, very lucky boy and yet another idiot on a afternoon with barely a single serious foul, mind you on another day Hector’s sly tug could have got us down to nine.
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For the PA meet up, I erred earlier. I am in London for Norwich on April 30th.
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Speculative on my part, but psychologically thats the momentum we needed and Spurs didnt.They couldnt do it,even when it was handed to them on a plate.
Not losing show real grit and determination and the Coop is a noisy unfriendly place but still we played on,and could have won even with ten men—losing that game would have really caused problems.Plenty to build on!
Well played lads!
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Thanks A5 for setting me straight. Getting old and absent minded.
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Congratulations to David Ospina – nothing he cud do about either goal and excellent for the rest of the game. Two saves any keeper could be proud of.
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Spot on A5 re Ospina! What did you guys think of Elneny today? I thought he did fine, and thats a game to get experience from, he wont forget it.Also pleased for Sanchez to get on the score sheet. Rambo had a good game too.What a bugger the woodwork was for us against Swansea…
Come on the Orns, do us a favour-most of Watford is full of Gooners anyway!
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well how come spurs are not being tagged with the label of bottlers, 2-1 up against ten men, at home, with a ref on their side, with top of the table there for the taking, and they fail to win.
Its amazing to see the abuse being aimed at Coquelin, Ramsey and Gabriel today, oh and Wenger.
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Very controlled performance from Elneny, never jumped in, never went to ground, kept a good positional discipline, and when he won the ball distributed it sensibly.
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Mills, are you up for joining the writing staff?
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Henry Winter @henrywinter 37m37 minutes ago
Wenger says referees should ‘come into press conferences after games’ to explain decisions like Michael Oliver not sending off Eric Dier
Champions 2016 @OzilAssist 27m27 minutes ago
Wenger post match “If we do it(win the title) the FA will have been our toughest opponent.”
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worrying comments by Ozil after the game today
Özil post match: “I’m lost because in other big teams you don’t see this fear. I can’t understand it, it’s disappointing.”
“It’s tricky(contract negotiations) there’s offers everywhere& I need to make a decision when I can think free.”
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Haha Steww.
Just seen your 2pm. I’m not gonna rival edu. The one time I made a running commentary during a game I (factually, and not critically) reported that Ox had tried a shot when a pass to the right would’ve found our man free. Edu reported the same thing in the same tone, and the two comments together looked scathing.
From then on I decided I ain’t doing that.
I think we done really well today. Sure I’d have liked the win, but we had plenty going against us, like Coqs first yellow, which was a joke seeing he’d been fouled. Beachball Oliver was never gonna send off the spuds guy who pulled down Giroud despite carding Alexis – and so it went on. Two different codes, as always. (There was a point where a spud stamped on top of Gibbs foot. No prob. Hah).
My god, that was an exciting game whatever way you look at it, preceded by a magnificent preview.
I must get on with life a bit. Come on Hornets, if just for today.
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FK² @fkhanage 22m22 minutes ago
Elneny. Some game to make your full Premier League debut. It’s a big game, in a team under a lot of pressure and he’s done really well.
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Michael Gooner @MickTheGooner 58m58 minutes ago
Wenger confirms coaches spoke to Coquelin at half-time & warned him about potential red card. What a coq.
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Coquelin makes tackles like that week in week out often setting up important counter attacks and preventing the opposition breaking. He miss timed one. It’s a risk he always takes . When it works he’s a hero when it doesn’t – well – what would people prefer him to do? Wave the bloke past?
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elneny timeline
he must be shite if he can’t get in this team
he must be shite if he can’t displace flamini
elneny debut in fa cup – he is shite if he can’t star against lower league shit
what did we buy elneny for
wait all season to sign a midfielder, then sign the wrong one/type
he must be real shit if he can’t get in the team for home game v Swansea
first pl start, and its away to spurs, plays great
wenger is a clown, why wasn’t elneny in the team from day one
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PG.just sent you a mail.Cheers!
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the only thing stew was that he was warned not to do any risky tackles. But I agree that its way over the top criticism, I see him getting the same sort of non factual abuse that Flamini gets, you know the type – “he is a liability”, “he is always getting sent off”, “with him in the team we are always likely to be down to ten men”
as Wenger pointed out, the big question on Coquelin getting sent off, is why Dier did not get sent off, it was just as blatant a second yellow as coq’s. Wenger said our toughest opponents this season has been the officials, and he is not wrong. A man utd fan mate of mine has mentioned it several times this season, that he can not understand the decisions that go against Arsenal on a regular basis.
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WENGER ON THE DRAW, CHARACTER AND ALEXIS
Arsène Wenger spoke to the media following Arsenal’s 2-2 draw with Tottenham. This is what he had to say:
on Arsenal showing character…
I feel we have. We showed good attitude and character and I’m happy and proud of our performance and attitude. We refused to lose the game. We have as well big regrets because I could not see how 11 against 11 could have dropped points today. We made a mistake at 1-0 when it was 11 against 11 but even though we had a shock loss and it went to 2-1, we refused to lose the game. We always looked dangerous going forward.
on Coquelin’s red card…
I didn’t have to say a lot to him after that tackle. He made a mistake and he knows he made a big mistake. At half time we warned him as well and it was a mistake. He wanted to do well and mistimed his tackle and got sent off. You cannot complain about it. I can complain that Dier was not sent off. I couldn’t understand that.
on if he is disappointed with Coquelin…
No. Let down is a big word. He made a mistake and he has to quickly learn from that because at a top level it is full commitment and 100 per cent in all the duels in a controlled way. He got a yellow card because he made a mistake to go down on the tackle.
on if Arsenal are still in the title race…
I don’t know because I don’t know what to say about that. Everybody drops points so let’s see what happens over the weekend. I think we have to take encouragement from our performance today and we have to produce that until the end of the season then we might have a chance.
on the best chance they have had…
I don’t know. Maybe yes. Last year we had no chance but now I don’t know. Three or four years ago we were in the race. It shows that the team has quality and spirit and our balance was right today. We looked dangerous going forward, well organised in midfield and at the back and we moved the ball well. We had a solid performance.
on Alexis…
He had a great attitude today. I hope that will give him needed confidence and encouragement to continue and the goal will give him a lift. Certainly, it will give him a bigger a lift now.
on why Dier didn’t get a caution…
I didn’t see a reason.
on the referee…
I think the referee should come into the press room after the game as well. We are questioned, they should be questioned as well. Then he could give you an answer.
on the pressure…
I must tell you that the pressure from our supporters is relentless and I’m in a good position to tell you that. We have to deal with that. We have to go on a run again. We play on Tuesday night an important game and then we will see if we will play in the FA Cup or the Premier League. We want to win our games.
on last year’s run…
We will see. Leicester plays at Watford, if they win the game they are in a strong position. We are in a position where we not only depend on our own results but the results of teams like Leicester.
Copyright 2016 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to http://www.arsenal.com as the source
Read more at http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20160305/wenger-on-the-draw-character-and-alexis#oR1oJLCJ4c9oQSZ3.99
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man city going 2pts behind us with a game in hand, 2 up now
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I notice that spurs have an easy 3pts next week, they are away to Aston Villa, and LCFC are at home to Newcastle.
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Who knows – football is a bit complicated this season – Toon won at WHL and as for our easy 3 points against Swansea eddy ?
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Ospina, much like last season, answers the call the moment it is given and, I thought, was outstanding. OK he spilled a few but that just added to the excitement.
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I reckon Villa will get back into this.
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If only they could pass the ball to somewhere vaguely in the vicinity of one of their team mates.
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