Lowell Hornby 
Agh. A very classic Burnley game.
A game that we have all seen thousands of times, and desperately plead every time that we will never see again.
We will though, thousands of times again.
Burnley are completely anti-football. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any ‘big’ team, bar Manchester City, play well against Burnley. It doesn’t happen! They stop you from playing completely - your normal game plan cannot and does not work against Burnley.
These are games that you have to win though, one way or another. We didn’t have enough alternative plans. I think this young team may have to learn something about how to play when things aren’t going your way. Saka was hacked constantly, as was Smith Rowe, Ø was given no space, neither was Martinelli.
No Plan B
There has to be a plan B though. Having said that, we did enough today.
One completely clear cut chance for your striker should be enough, but it wasn’t and that might just be the difference between us and the top four - a striker. Lacazette dropped us two points, and on another day a Vlahovic may have gained us two.
Goalless
In my first season at the Emirates, I saw three 0-0 draws in a row.
Sunderland, West Ham, and Burnley (I think). I carried on going. A six year old, in his first full season, was not deterred by these consecutive bore draws.
I think I’m too far gone to be deterred now, but my 19 year old self perversely feels these results a lot more than as a youngen'.
I think I used to cry and be done with it, but now I push away all friends and family who attempt any form of conversation for the next few days.
This pushing away is consistent to anyone that is not also feeling a 0-0 draw at home to Burnley - the inexplicable position of a football fan of only wanting to be around people who are feeling as unpleasant as you.
The pain and disappointment
Also, a question that I think I know the answer to but will ask nonetheless: Has anyone found a way of being able to support a football team and not rely on them for all of your happiness?
I have a sneaking suspicion (having been inadvisably scrolling through Twitter) that no one has.
After the bitter disappointment of Thursday, Sunday was set up to be a steamroller of a performance to send us all into the international break happy - forgetting that these 19-23 year olds have been played into the ground over the last month and injuries/Covid has disrupted training.
No excuses, but external factors do make it much harder to put together the barnstorming performances that December made us expect.
Burnley redux
Burnley are a strange outfit. One that I’m genuinely convinced will never score again.
They have some fantastic defenders, Ben Mee, Tarkowski etc etc. Dwight McNeil is also okay. They don’t attempt to attack, set pieces will do. I won’t go in on Burnley as much as I did in my reverse piece, but I think football is unanimously agreed on the fact that they are an extremely boring team to watch.
We played a makeshift 4-3-3. Sambi as a 6, Ø and ESR as 8s with Nelli, Saka, and Laca forming a traditional front three. I think we lose a lot in this system.
Not having two deep lying midfielders dropping in to pick up the ball causes issues I think, it adds unnecessary time to our build up - which in games like that needs to be as short as possible.
Especially with Holding instead of White at CB, balls to the fullbacks took two passes instead of one, whilst many runs that ESR made went amiss given Holding’s lack of on the ball ability, and the missing presences of Partey and Xhaka to spray balls across the park and play through the lines. I don’t think we played badly to be honest.
We didn’t do much wrong
There was a particularly frustrating excess of aerial crosses in what surely is the one game a year where you’d like to avoid them at all costs, but nevertheless we kept it up!
Ramsdale also went long too much, declining the easier option to guarantee the retention of possession by playing it to the CBs who were essentially roaming free range in their own half for the whole game - Sean Dyche seems to have politely declined the Gegenpress (not that it is something that Ashley Barnes and co would be very well versed in).
Sunday was frustrating, but the overreaction is maddening. Shouts of “Top four gone” and ”Edu out” after a 0-0 draw.
Bumps in the road
What happened to the general consensus, whilst on winning runs, that there would be bumps in the road with this young team?
Didn’t we all agree that we’re all here for the ride? With 18 games left to play, and a very busy seven days left of the transfer window, it seems a very strange time to start throwing the toys out of the pram.
We need players, yes, but is it inconceivable that those at the club know that more than we do? Signings will come, and when this squad is fit and firing I know that the results will too.
Maybe top four is out of reach, we’re nowhere near out of it but maybe it is. If it is, Europa League would be progress - which is what we all asked for.
Top Four?
I think the top four this season would be skipping a step in this process, which would be great if we could do it but not the end of the world if we don’t.
We’re a much more formidable force than we were last season, with better players - and next season we will be even more so.
A break is needed, and not just for the team. Wolves await in what now is a game that we must win, maybe if we’d have won on Sunday a draw may have sufficed.
There are some huge games coming up, and I think soon we will learn a whole lot more about what this squad (when fully fit) is really made of.
We’re on the right path, no doubt about it, but the path is a lot longer than many may be willing to accept. Stick with it, it’ll come good.
Read more from Lowell Hornby:
Life without Aubameyang is bliss as Arsenal power on
Magnificent Martinelli and Arsenal's awesome awayday at Leeds
Arsenal's excellent victory over West Ham moves Gunners into Champions League place
Lowell on Arsenal captain Aubameyang's disciplinary issues after Gunners ease past Southampton
Lowell on Arsenal's defeat to Everton: Absolutely inexcusable
Lowell reflects on Arsenal's 3-2 defeat at Manchester United
Back to winning ways against the Magpies
Lowell analyses loss to Liverpool
Arsenal's victory over Watford at the Emirates on Invincibles Day
Arsenal's stirring victory over land and sea and Leicester
Gunners outclass and overwhelm the Villa
Arsenal's frustrating evening against Palace
Arsenal's rain-check at wet and windy Brighton
My word Arsenal were good against Spurs
Another disappointing performance
Brentford: my first ever away game
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Learn more about Lowell in his own words.
My name is Lowell Hornby.
I’ve been a devout Gooner for all I can remember. I was taken to my first Arsenal game in 2007 and never looked back.
I’ve never really thought of football being in my life as a conscious choice, more of a genetic deficiency.
The relationship my Dad (who some of you may know: Nick Hornby, author of Fever Pitch) has developed with football inevitably has rubbed off on me.
It feels like it’s a lot more than results; it’s the club, the feeling, the fans, the friends - everything.
In my year off, after an unimaginably painful 18 months of fan-less football, I can’t think of anything I’d rather do than follow my beloved Arsenal up and down the country as I attempt to go to every Premier League game this season.
The pieces I write will document not just the games, but my experiences, the cities, the journeys, the people.
I hope in doing so I can capture, express, articulate and transmit the visceral emotions of myself, fellow Gooners and football fans as a whole.
I live and breathe football, and I hope these pieces and my project this season can convey that in a way that’s enjoyable to experience vicariously.
If you’d like to be following me more casually, and be notified of any pieces of course, my Twitter handle is @weststandlowell and I’ll be tweeting over there. COYG
