Villa 5 Burnley 2! Oh woe is me! Where do you start with this embarrassing score line?
The joke seems to be that for the first 55 minutes of this match we were coping with Villa and playing them at their own game. We even managed to score our first goal on the road in over 540 minutes of football not to mention take the lead for the first time since the game against Manchester City at Eastlands back in November! Yes we were one nil up after just ten minutes thanks to some nice play between Cork and Nugent to set up Fletcher. The weary travelling Clarets fans yet to see a victory on the road this season in the league could once more begin to dream. The dream though was about to become a nightmare.
A cross from Ashley Young on 32 minutes started the rot; somehow it went through a mire of players and finished up in the back of the net. On close inspection, it looks like Fox should have done better but the ball glanced off him to deceive Jensen and ensure that Villa went in at half-time on equal terms. There was no panic though, Burnley were still in this game and a point on the road would be both vital and a great achievement against a side pushing for a Top 4 finish. We still looked comfortable for the first ten minutes of the second half and then the spell from hell arrived.
Wham on 56 minutes, Downing puts Villa 2-1 up. Bam, he gets another to make it 3-1 just 2 minutes later. Thank You say Villa as the Clarets wilt and Heskey makes it 4-1 on 61 minutes and Man it`s suddenly 5-1 with Agbonlahor getting in on the act seven minutes later.
In just 12 minutes we had folded, capitulated and been destroyed! Thankfully for the Clarets, Villa did not push much after that to make the score even more embarrassing probably now sitting back and dreaming of Wembley and the Carling Cup final next week against Manchester United.
Deep into added time we actually pulled one back to make the final score 5-2. That might even turn out to be a vital goal if goal difference comes into play at the end of the season. Paterson scored and that was good for him after a long lay-off with injury for most of the season. This was his first goal in the top flight and will be a great boost to his confidence.
Although we can`t use this as an excuse, I also thought this young referee that has been fast-tracked through the system, Stuart Attwell was woeful in charge of the match yesterday. Naive and an easy ‘homer` accusation target he booked three of our players to none of theirs and for the first time that I can recall the Clarets fans actually cynically applauded the referee a few times at one point with hand-clapping when he actually decided to give us a couple of decisions.
In the end though it was same old, same old for Clarets fans once again making a pointless journey and coming away pointless!
The result thankfully did not turn out to be a great disaster in terms of the Clarets staying in touch with our rivals to avoid the drop. Clarets fans just before our kick off yesterday had been strangely buoyed by the fact that Blackburn (normally the ones we hate the most) had just thumped Bolton, (the now most hated) 3-0 at Ewood Park! Wigan also lost 3-0 at home to Spurs yesterday and with Portsmouth, Wolves, Hull and Sunderland also all losing on Saturday it is very much as you were with only West Ham taking advantage after their 3-0 victory against Hull City at Upton Park.
The Clarets remain second from bottom in 19th place on 23 points but just three points off 14th spot so there is still all to play for but once more we are now going to have to rely on Fortress Turf Moor to survive with no allowance for any slip ups.
I am now going to have a rant but sorry. I think I am entitled to have one after going or attempting to go to every league game this season, home and away. I have only missed two matches so far all season; away to Rovers and Manchester United and it wasn`t for the want of trying going to those two either, I just got caught out with the club`s ticketing fiasco and so-called Loyalty Points system. But I am not going to rant against the ticketing system that`s for another day.
Today`s rant is based on the fact I must have spent well over £1200 travelling to away games so far this season and have still not seen the Clarets win an away game and sorry it is just not good enough!
It doesn`t matter what tactics you play, if your squad comprises basically of Championship level players you will not have a cat-in-hells chance of defeating clubs like Villa on the road, nor for that matter Portsmouth! It`s time for Clarets fans to smell the coffee! It has taken 33 years to get back into the top flight but if the Board make statements that they would rather be in the Championship than go into debt then I am afraid their wishes will more than likely come true. Of course those that support the Board wholeheartedly suggest if we go down we will be better placed to come straight back up. I am sorry but I don`t see it. Half the squad will be leaving in the summer, eleven are out of contract and we won`t be keeping most of them. The likes of Eagles and Mears will also no doubt be snapped up by Premier League clubs and both would probably not want to stay anyway. In effect we will have to rebuild and although parachute payments will help, we will be back to gates of under 12,000 and no doubt the club will be tight-fisted and plead poverty again! We will have a team full of Championship quality players again with no guarantee of promotion and even if we did go straight back-up the cycle will start all over again. Apparently Coyle said we had bought for the future so we are going to be relying on Penny, Easton, Eckersley, Edgar, Guerrero and van der Schaaf. Tis a joke!
We simply do not have the players with enough quality and experience of playing in the Premier League and all our new January signings were woeful yesterday (except Cork). If you are not prepared to bring in players with better quality and accept higher salary expectations than the ridiculous £15k/week cap then you will reap what you so. Some Clarets fans might be proud of this stance, I am not.
Whilst being debt-free is admirable the problem is all the other clubs in the top flight lap up the concept of taking calculated risks and going into debt be that right or wrong.
Burnley simply cannot compete and now it really is beginning to show. Now we are on a wing and a prayer hoping we can at least win our home games at Fortress Turf Moor with just 12 games remaining to escape the drop. 33 years to get back and now we are on the praying mat with no real confidence we have enough quality.
No I am sorry, we should have done everything we could have to stay in the top flight even if that meant taking some calculated risks and going into some debt and I am not talking about the scale of Pompey`s either. We have not done that and I hope it doesn`t come back to bite us in the bum. We could have missed our opportunity it seems to stay in the top flight and reap the even greater financial rewards that would have brought. Let`s hope our prayers are answered and we can somehow survive the drop.
Rant over!
The Clarets Team Sheet
Brian Laws decided to change a few things round for this game. Chelsea loan midfielder, Jack Cork was given his first start in the team and at long last Elliott was dropped to the bench after a spate of woeful performances. Laws opted for a 4-5-1 formation with Nugent playing a wider role supporting Fletcher alone up front.
The line-up in summary was therefore as follows:
Jensen, Mears, Carlisle, Cort, Fox, Bikey, Cork. McDonald, Eagles, Nugent, Fletcher.
Subs: Weaver, Duff, Elliott, Blake, Nimani, Thompson, Paterson
The Full Match Report
Thankfully the weather was good enough for the match to go-ahead after an early scare of snowfall and indeed in the end it was a pretty nice sunny day for a game of footy!
In this battle of the Claret & Blue obviously the Clarets came out in their away strip. They marched out in front of a pretty large crowd considering the game was not only on a Sunday but an early kick-off and featured live on Sky Sports. Stuart Atwell got the game underway and it was the Clarets who did the early pressing against both a subdued Villa side and set of pretty quiet Villa fans. They were even quieter when the Clarets took the lead after just ten minutes of play.
It was Cork who set-up the move linking well with Nugent. The on-loan Pompey striker then squared the ball to the far post for Fletcher on a well-timed run to simply tap home and put the Clarets 1-0 up.
The Clarets seemed to be buoyed up by their early lead with Villa now looking even more subdued. This would most definitely prove to be our best period of the whole match and we began to put together some attractive attacking football. A shot by Nugent after some neat passing moves glanced off James Collins to go just wide of target. Chris Eagles was also having his best spell of the game after returning to the starting eleven and was becoming a handful for the Villa defence.
Villa though suddenly woke up after 24 minutes when Heskey put a header wide from an Ashley Young cross. Although Villa were not looking too impressive in open play, they always looked a danger from set-pieces and with 32 minutes gone they got their equaliser which started from an Ashley Young free-kick. Jensen saved the danger but only at the expense of a corner. Villa took a short corner which ended up at the feet of Ashley Young again. The Villa winger thumped a low ball into the box through a crowd of players and it took a deflection off Danny Fox`s heel to wrong foot Jensen and sail into the back of the net to make it 1-1. Fox arguably should have done better but both teams had to be happy with honours even at half-time. The Clarets though could have been proud of their first half performance and no changes were made by Laws for the start of the second-half.
The Clarets again looked comfortable for the first ten minutes of the second before disaster struck and we suddenly found ourselves 5-1 down with about 25 minutes still to play! Up until then Eagles had seen a cross cleared whilst a shot by McDonald had been blocked by the Villa defence.
A throw-in though confused the Clarets who were too slow to react. Agbonlahor was quick off the mark and charged forward picking out Young. He saw Downing in space and the former Middlesbrough winger worked hard to finally get in an angled drive that beat Jensen with Cort on the line trying his best to get to the ball and clear the danger! He couldn`t and Villa had the lead.
Two minutes later it was 3-1 with the Clarets having lost all their composure and concentration. This time Jensen managed to save from Agbonlahor who had been put clear but it fell to Downing who shot for goal. Danny Fox having a torrid afternoon once more took a deflection with the ball sailing into the bottom corner of the net.
Villa were now on fire and we were playing like a bunch of damp squibs. They then punished us even more as our defence lost the plot and capitulated. Agbonlahor at the centre of things again went on yet another penetrating run before getting in a low cross for Heskey to make it 4-1! Clarets fans by now had been destroyed and had lost the will to live. On 68 minutes, it was 5-1 and this time Agbonlahor got on the score-sheet himself after some nice play between Milner and Heskey. A side-footed finish was enough to add even more salt to the Clarets wounds with all Clarets fans wondering when the torment would end and whether we might do a Wigan against Spurs and be able to demand our money back!
It may have been a rugby score but for the fact that Martin O`Neill decided to take off three of his impressive strikers with one eye on the Carling Cup final at Wembley ! He left Downing on in case he might get his hat-trick. He didn`t and in all honesty things calmed down a bit after that with Villa noticeably taking their foot off the accelerator.
Laws made some further substitutions. Elliott had already come on to replace McDonald after Villa`s fourth goal but had been largely ineffective. On came Nimani N’galou after 70 minutes to replace Nugent and then Paterson came on to replace Fletcher with eight minutes of play remaining.
Two minutes into added time we got a consolation goal after Martin Paterson latched on to a nice cross from the impressive Cork after the on-loan Chelsea midfielder had linked well with Eagles.
In the end another disappointing result on the road for the Clarets but at least none of our rivals trying to avoid the drop gained much ground over the weekend.
Match Detail
Aston Villa: Friedel, Dunne, Cuellar, Warnock, Collins, Downing, A Young (Sidwell 82), Milner, Petrov, Agbonlahor (Carew 71), Heskey (Delfouneso 76)
Subs Not Used: Guzan, L Young, Beye,Delph
Goals: A Young (32 mins), Downing (56 mins, 58 mins), Heskey (61 mins), Agbonlahor (68 mins)
Booked: 0
Burnley: Jensen, Mears, Carlisle, Cort, Fox, Bikey, Cork. McDonald (Elliott 64), Eagles, Nugent (Nimani N’galou 70), Fletcher (Paterson 82)
Subs Not Used: Weaver, Duff, Blake, Thompson
Goals: Fletcher (10 mins), Paterson (90 +2 mins)
Booked: Yellow Cards for Carlisle, Fletcher and Nimani
Possession: Aston Villa 51% Burnley 49% (Source: BBC Sport)
Referee: Stuart Attwell (Warwickshire)
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We will consolidate and then establish ourselves if we stay up this time. LHrover we do not have a Jack Walker like you did.
Cork I would say 7-8, the rest I would say under 6 and some woefully in the 2-3 region
I am curious. Does anyone have any figures on how many PL clubs have increased their indebtedness since 1 August 2009; and by how much? I am guessing that almost all are steadily paying off their debts. Anyway, back to football. Cork looked excellent on SKY. I want to look harder next time at his ball-winning and tackling, but I think it was an all-round strong performance. Bikey won a fair bit of possession. But if BL had told him to play a holding role, he must have driven him bonkers. Often drifted a long way forward, and gave up too early when tracking back. Hoping McDonald will learn from his recent uncomfortable experiences, but has he got the bite? Get well soon Chris McCann. Can you reverse the aging process Grezza?
Ok Phil I understand your rant and like me you have certainly paid enough to have a rant but you are wrong imo on many issues.
a. At the start of this season Owen Coyle had brought in a number of players and we were optimistic God had secured some great signings. I don’t think back in August you were saying we had not made the gamble? I maybe wrong but I don’t remember you saying that.
b. The January transfer window, how the hell do you see Brian Laws in 10 days signing someone for Burnley who is of the standard you describe? Tell me who we should have signed, name names Phil because I think we were lucky to get Cork on loan, Fox, Cort and keep Nugent. As for spending money on players we signed more than Bolton, perhaps Coyle didn’t have the players lined up either?
c. I am with Claretdale the club must never again be in danger of over exposing itself to debt no matter what. I want to support our club at the highest level they can be, but most importantly I want there to be Burnley Football Club, if Pompey cease to exist maybe that will be the wake up call we all need about debt. Hoping for a rich sugar daddy is like buying a lottery ticket…..what Brian Kilby and Brendan Flood have done is ensure our club have a real future.
d. Lastly for my rant, Coyle got us 1 point on the road and then thought we were doomed. I do not think we are doomed at all and really think we have the players to survive because we are better than Hull, Wolves, Pompey, Bolton and possibly Wigan. I look forward to BL getting rid of all the players that as you say are not good enough for the Prem….at least our wage bill will be tiny along with the amount of players left at training….2 a side will be intersting!
Keep the faith and UTC
Have to agree with VR and CD: the club is the most important thing. I will always support them, and now we’ve had a season in the PL, I couldn’t say that I would be really hurt by relegation this season. I don’t want us to go down, but the future of the club is much more important. From what I have seen on this thread, Phil, most fans would agree with me.
We have a Championship mentality and have been preparing for a return to it since Day one in the top flight. We should have had a Premier League mentality and been determined to stay in it more so than we have.
The fact Laws only had a few days to bring in a certain number of players is somewhat immaterial. if Coyle had stayed he wouldn’t have been given the money to bring in the high quality players we need. In fact thats why he left wasn’t it? Kilgallon was just one that escaped the net. Look at West Ham’s signings? Yeah we beat them recently but we hardly dominated in the end.
I did not say we are doomed but what I am saying is we haven’t given it our best shot of stayiing up because of this fear of going into debt. We could have bought the players and had we not survived sold the assets at a great profit just like the lad from Rovers indicated above. Instead of that we have a bunch of Championship players that will bring in very little with the exception of Eagles and Mears.
Yes of course most would agree with Kilby’s view it’s the easiest option to take but it still doesn’t mean its the best option and nor does it mean going into debt would force this club into administration.
Again Phil I disgagree with you, I don’t think Kilby see’s this as the easiest option to take. I think Kilby would love to spend 20 Million on players, because to buy proven players that is going to be the amount for 2. Kilgallon is if I am right not a proven Prem League player, he is a Championship player who maybe good? Cahill would have been a better buy than Kilgallon and how much would he have cost? This is a great pub debate sadly having to be typed, respect your opinion Phil and hope its ditto which I am sure it is.
Yes of course VR we respect each others opinions and it is one of the great benefits of this site, we can all agree to differ without any childish personal attacks unlike some sites I can mention! The thing is we wanted Kilgallon but another PREM side got him (one in debt) and a rival to avoid the drop at that! There is the difference [Edited by turfmanphil]
Happy to accept that the team that got Kilgallon is ‘in debt’ (even though I cannot remember who it was). But have they ‘increased their debt’ this year? I am far from being convinced that clubs are being allowed by banks to increase debts this year, and have yet to see any hard data on this. Another point possibly worth debating is whether Bfc can actually already be considered to be ‘in debt’ in that we don’t own our ground. Finally, I would suggest that if we are relegated (and it ain’t over yet) we will definitely be a stronger club than we were in May 2009 and that the manager will have money (from sales and parachute payments, which are not available now) to build on a better financial base than a year ago, on players who will have learned a lot, and on what I suspect will be slightly bigger crowds than a year ago. So I don’t think it will be back to pleading poverty in the same way as before. Great job at starting a debate TMP! Keep up the good work.
The thing about Kilgallon (Sunderland he went to by the way) was the fact we were not willing to break the salary cap of £15k/week. It wouldn’t have put us into immediate debt to bring him in and had we been demoted we could have sold him on at a profit
OK, my turn to post twice in succession. I see that the just-formed Pompey fans trust is probably going to turn down being given a 10% stake in the club, because of fears over what would be involved in that, given Pompey’s debts. Presumably the Clarets Trust would have no such anxiety about obtaining 10% of Bfc shares at the moment? But would they want to shoulder the responsibility debts, law suits, etc?
Pompey is rather an exception to the rule and their debts are what £60 million so I would not be talking about anything like that. The Trust might love to have 10% of Burnley shares but considering each of those cost £200 and we currently have a float of about £2000,it aint going to happen unless we get thousands joining the Trust. We have 100 shares at the moment and that puts us in the Top 10 of shareholding not counting Directors! The irony is that the Trust membership increases like the clappers when a club is in crisis and we cant seem to get the levels we need during relatively good periods
I was watching on Sky yesterday which, though not the same as being at the game, does at least allow a wider view and the chance to watch some of the analysis which yesterday was spot on. Gary McAllister said that teams at the bottom need to retain concentration, discipline and focus if they want to give themselves a chance. We didn’t do that and the reason is that the players, in most cases, are playing at a level that is too high. Not their fault – that’s just the way it is. Bikey was poor yesterday and is clearly not a defensive midfielder at this level. Eagles showed flashes of why he was once at Manchester United – and plenty of evidence why he isn’t there now. Cort and Carlisle were totally outpaced and The Beast just looked a broken man. Mears had the look of a player who knows he will be moving on and, in my view, will be at Villa Park next year. Thought Cork looked good and even Nugent – who I have slated in the past – looked lively early on. Fact is though we weren’t sharp enough all over the field and sadly it doesn’t look too good from here on. However, it isn’t over yet and we do have some slightly easier games coming up that are winnable. But it ain’t no good saying we are unlucky, or blaming the ref, the manager or the tea lady. We just have to keep clean sheets and score goals now and it doesn’t matter how. Regarding Phil’s rant I can see why he is frustrated and I share some of those feelings but, frankly, I’d rather support us in the Dog & Duck League than not at all. Kilby and the board clearly gambled last year and, had we not have achieved promotion through the back door of the play offs, our financial situation may have been perilous. None of us know the true story of course but I suspect Kilby’s fingers are only just cooling down now and clearly he wants things on an even keel financially before making any bold moves. I don’t blame him and, after all, where would the money come from ?
Money does not and never will gaurantee survival. I’m glad Sunderland have been brought up because they are the perfect example at the momet. How many million have they spent in pre-season and January? Bent, Cattermole Campbell, Kilgallon, Cana? How much did they cost? A s**t load. How far ahead of us are they? 3 points. Gauranteed survival? No. As has already being said, Burnley Football Club is more important than Burnley Football Club in the premier league. I remember people volunteering to carry buckets outside the ground matchdays in a desperate bid to save the club a few years ago. We were fortunate to escape from that and we should make sure we are never anywhere near such a thing again. I get the impression tmp that you would exchange 5 years of premiership football for no BFC thereafter. I would not! There are many other similar arguments presented here I agree with but I will not resate them.
No but no money spent will make survival more of a struggle. I just don’t get this assumption that some debt=no survival/administration. Its bizarre, having a mortgage doesn’t mean not having a house. Debt’s are calculated risks that can go either way but the financial rewards can be hundreds of times greater than living in a shoebox and licking road clean with tongue! Sunderland have been how long in the Premier League being in debt? If the money spent does not mean success a la Sunderland in this case that could be down to the manager and the players he brings it not the concept of spending
I also disagree Phil. The easy option is to throw money at it. BK and BF and the rest of the board would love us to be in Brum’s position, but we couldn’t and can’t afford to match that level of “ambition”. Who’s to say big money signings would go for more money if we went down. Then, you end up paying stupid wages a la Bradford. For every success, there are two complete failures through the “buy success” route.
TMP – Portsmouth Supporters Trust are not being offered a changce to buy 10% of the club, but as I said, are “probably going to turn down being GIVEN a 10% stake in the club”. Sulaiman al-Fahim owns 10% and he wants to give it to the Trust. Supporters Direct are saying the trust is right not to accept the offer.
Fully agree with CC, Sunderland have spent and gambled, knowing that there fan base is big. Yet they have not won a game since last November if my memory is right, they are in freefall. It would take us more than a Kilgallon to guarantee Prem League football next year. We have to be patient, develop Eagles, Mears, Edgar, Eckersley, Fletcher, Patterson, Fox, McCann, McDonald and if in the summer we get a bid of £8 Million for Eagles, take it and re invest just as we did with Lafferty. Take the Chelsea lad on a year loan. Build the team up don’t try and buy the club up when it’s just not the guarantee it appears and we don’t have enough cash to buy a guarantee.
There is no guarantee of Premier League football whether we spend or not but there is more chance we will stay up if we have higher quality players with more Prem League experience and that costs. No we cant do a Brum but we could have one or two higher quality players by now that would have improved our chances of staying up. History must surely prove that. Money is not the total answer, tactics,managerial style and getting new players to blend into the team are also factors. At the moment though we are stuck with Championship level players in the main and we are struggling to survive. On the flip side just as money doesn’t guarantee success,neither does going into debt guarantee failure. There are more successful clubs in debt than failed ones. It is the EASY option not to spend,you have to be braver to take risks. But let’s see what happens we will just have to agree to differ on this. If we are a Championship club next season, I do not believe for one minute though we are going to be in better shape to get promotion despite the parachute payments. There are just as many clubs with that money that have dropped further down than gone up. Build a team up? 11 of current squad are out of contract in summer and most will go. Mears, Eagles and probably McCann will all be off to more ambitious clubs. We will have a MAJOR rebuilding operation on our hands and if we are midtable by Xmas it will all be pleading poverty again