Burnley v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[PaulWinch again]

Time must be ticking now.

How? He has a four-year contract under his belt. He is hardly going to walk away and Lerner is unlikely to want to pay him off. We are stuck in the middle between a massive rock and a seriously hard place.

I agree, I just hope that Lerner sees the light.

[saunders_heroes]

How did the fans react at full time, did they finally turn on Lambert?

[Percy McCarthy]

I think we can take some positives out of the performance for the first time since September and think Benteke in there instead of Gabby would have seen us win three or four nil.

We can't keep retreating and defending single goal leads though as it's apparent we are too brittle to do it. I have seen probably the worse side we will play all season in Burnley, who were diabolical, yet we still through it away. Not good enough, but at least we used the ball a lot better and there were signs that we can build on elements of that decent passing play. A lot of that may be down to Burnley being poor, but there is no reason to revert to type against Palace, Leicester or the Albion, but our game management must be better and that starts and ends with Lambert.

Agree on the positives. If you squint a little, Okore, Sanchez, Hutton, Aly, Cleverly and Cole look like quite a good standard of player. A bit of a leap given our injury record I know, but if we could get them into the same team as Benteke, Senderos/Vlaar, Delph and Guzan we should be nowhere near relegation this season.

That said, it would all be so much better with a competent manager.

[Matt C]

Decent first half but then such an infinitely predictable second. As Stan so aptly put it earlier this week, that wasn't tactics, it was hoping. Not good enough.

[andyh]

Decent first half but then such an infinitely predictable second. As Stan so aptly put it earlier this week, that wasn't tactics, it was hoping. Not good enough.

Nailed it!

[SamTheMouse]

Slightly unnerving to note that an obviously unfit Joe Cole nonetheless made the rest of our midfield and forwards look like cloggers, quite simply by dint of using his brain.

We looked an effective attacking force in the first half, because Cole has this amazing talent, called actually looking at what everyone else on the pitch is doing and acting accordingly.

Whereas Gabby just tries to run away from or past defenders, and someone like Benteke just runs into them, Cole has a look and runs where the defenders aren't. Rocket science it ain't. Hopefully Kozak will be back soon too, because as far as I can see, he's the only other player at the club who shares this apparently unique talent.

[dave.woodhall]

I think we can take some positives out of the performance for the first time since September and think Benteke in there instead of Gabby would have seen us win three or four nil.

We can't keep retreating and defending single goal leads though as it's apparent we are too brittle to do it. I have seen probably the worse side we will play all season in Burnley, who were diabolical, yet we still through it away. Not good enough, but at least we used the ball a lot better and there were signs that we can build on elements of that decent passing play. A lot of that may be down to Burnley being poor, but there is no reason to revert to type against Palace, Leicester or the Albion, but our game management must be better and that starts and ends with Lambert.

Agree on the positives. If you squint a little, Okore, Sanchez, Hutton, Aly, Cleverly and Cole look like quite a good standard of player. A bit of a leap given our injury record I know, but if we could get them into the same team as Benteke, Senderos/Vlaar, Delph and Guzan we should be nowhere near relegation this season.

That said, it would all be so much better with a competent manager.

Ar.

[Legion]

Nothing wrong with our squad. A lot wrong with our so-called manager. Not good enough.

[SamTheMouse]

He's performing like a chump when it comes to matters on the pitch, but mostly his signings have been pretty reasonable, especially when you consider his budget. You can debate whether we needed certain players as a priority when perhaps we needed more creativity, but by and large his transfer record hasn't been bad.

It's all a bit frustrating, really.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

please just fuck off paul lambert. enough is enough. nice bloke, awful manger.

Getting in the festive spirit I see,

Away in a manger, such fear and dread, The little Lord Lambert keeps down his sweet head.

[hilts_coolerking]

The best thing about today was a gloriously biased Sir Brian on the co-commentary.

[Legion]

Away in a manger, such fear and such dread, the little Lord Lambert keeps down his sweet head.

The stars in the bright sky looked at the tactical stench, the little Lord Lambert asleep on the bench

The players are tiring, the poor subs get the shakes, but little Lord Lambert no changes he makes

I love Thee, Lord Villa, look down from the sky and stay by my side, 'Til Lambert is nigh.

[PeterWithesShin]

Tony Morley was their special HT guest. No surprise he got a better reception from us than he did the Burnley fans.

[Legion]

As I'm getting quite merrily pissed, I'll carry on with this work of art tomorrow.

[PeterWithesShin]

How did the fans react at full time, did they finally turn on Lambert?

Boos at the final whistle, I was at the concourse exit and left straight away so no idea if any songs after the whistle. A couple of hearty "we want Lambert out" were sung during the game after the penalty.