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Burnley Fell to Spell from Hell

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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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57 comments

  • WelshClaret says:

    Interesting reading and quite a diversity of opinion here. I don’t disagree with your viewpoint tmp, but as I said earlier I don’t think the money is out there for borrowing at the moment. CP asked the question how many clubs are increasing their debt, well I haven’t seen any figures but I think the action in the January window speaks volumes. Banks are happy to honour existing debt provided the interest is met, but I suspect there are a few clubs above us who are running to stand still. Man Utd will always survive because of who they are, but how much interest are they paying on 750 million? It’s no secret that they had to sell Ronaldo and Tevez and I still say that without Rooney they would soon drop down the table, and then what – a Leeds United? Back to us, even if the money was available, I still can’t think of anyone that was available and who fitted the bill of being guaranteed saviours. For these reasons I’m fully behind the no debt philosophy of Kilby and Flood, and am looking forward to the return to stability in the form of McCann and Alexander and also Caldwell who I sense is not rated by many on here. Cork is an exciting prospect as is Fox, and I sense they’ll play a big part during the next few months. Add to the mix a return to form for Elliot and Blake , and the ever present threat created by Eagles, Nugent, Fletcher and Pato . . . . the future’s bright , pass me my shades.

  • cubanclaret says:

    It it hard to ascertain to what lengths you think Burnley FC should gamble on staying up Phil. I was quite satisfied with what we did in the transfer window although I did question whether Leon Cort was any better than we already have (and still feel that way), but that was BL’s call, the Board simply supported him.
    If I suggested that the club has already gambled our first year of parachute payments (£11m) in investing in the squad to hopefully earn survival, would that influence your feeling on the subject?
    Or, like I believe a certain former manager wished of our Board, would you like to have seen us spend our second year of parachute payments too?
    The one other major point for me is that after what they achieved last season I wanted to see the players who won us promotion have the chance to prove themselves in the Prem. This remains a genuine thrill of the season for me and I still believe it is these players who will decide our fate.
    The club has set its parameters and I really think they have gambled enough to give us a fighting chance. The biggest jolt has been losing our former manager and this might still be the defining incident, not how much money we’ve spent.
    For the record, Kilgallon didn’t want to come to Burnley, period. I really doubt that such an individual would really have made a whole lot of difference to be honest.

  • ozjean says:

    I know where you are coming from tmp, it’s horribly frustrating being a Burnley fan, but still don’t agree. Spending big, for Burnley, would still mean we would be buying untried players as we can’t afford the top Premier players and anyway they wouldn’t come to Burnley. All the clubs in trouble around us have spent large amounts of money and are in large amounts of debt but are still on the same points as us nearly (Hull, Bolton, Sundertland, Wigan etc etc). Burnley will never be a big spending club, they will survive on finding gems from the lower leagues, slightly past-it Prem players and bringing on young players as they have always done. They will then give the fans the sh**ts by selling those good players for lots of money and going through the whole thing again. This is the way it has always been. The only thing that has changed are the TV riches available to Premier clubs but that comes with the huge wages to pay which makes it a catch 22 for smaller clubs. One of the players we ‘missed’ because he was demanding too much salary is Kilgallen who went to Sunderland instead. I watched him since he moved and he has been absolute rubbish and at fault for several goals. Sunderland have spent big and haven’t won for 12 or so games. I know Cort and Fox were poor for a while on Sunday but it’s only a game or two from us saying how good they were. The problem is we can’t handle really fast players when we play too far upfield in search of a goal. I still think midfield is the problem – McDonald and Bikey were awful and constantly gave the ball away which put us under immediate pressure from fast counter attacks. Bikey (one of our big money signings!) needs dropping – he is slow, constantly out of position, doesn’t mark and gives away silly free kicks. Either play him in his proper position or drop him. Gudjonsson would be better. Keep the faith! We have 7 home games out of the last 12 which is more than our rivals and having watched all the bottom clubs we are definitely better than them. Up the Clarets!

  • turfmanphil says:

    I am keeping the faith and I haven’t given up hope of survival but our chances would have been greatly enhanced had we spent a little more. For heavens sake if we could stay in the Prem League we could once and for all change this club’s ethos round and no longer become the poor man and I hope we do that without having to spend but there is less chance.We look tired,clueless and weary. Yes,I would have spent the parachute payments equivalent (or at least some of it) on players now because the financial advantages of staying up far outweigh the alternatives. Players whose value would have increased so that if we were to still go down the money would still be there to rebuild by selling those players on.

    Let’s say we had gone into debt to the tune of £11 with that spent on high quality players & salaries. Had we still gone down, we could have sold those players on at a profit,added that to the parachute payments and been in a far stronger position to rebuild

    If we go down now, apart from maybe Mears,Eagles & McCann there would be no players worth that much. Kilgallon might be rubbish but that is down to the manager Coyle as much as anybody not the concept of spending.He didn’t want to come because we were going to pay him peanuts. It is a gamble sure spending a bit more, a calculated risk but one that is worth taking in my opinion

  • VinRogue says:

    Have to say this is a really good thread, I will say it again but I wish it were taking place in a pub as there are lots we agree on. I have tried to think who we could have bought that would have an impact on the team and all I can come up with is O’Hara at Pompey, I think I am right he is the midfield lad on loan from from Spurs? Because if money were no object imo we need two central defenders two midfield players a proven goal scorer and a keeper according to my shopping list and that bill comes to around 50 million if you went for established players. That may guarantee safety but we would have to pay them the going rate. Lets build the house with bricks, not straw and certainly not massive debt.

  • JT_daniel says:

    Wow, amazing thread fellas. You lot are having a great discussion going on here.

  • VinRogue says:

    The great thing is JT is as you rightly say its a discussion, no personal attacks on each other just because we differ, bottom line is Vital is not known for attacking each other, we are all Burnley Supporters and we all want them to finish as high as they possibly can. We are debating “possibly” and we all interpret what is possible. Having said that Phil owes me a pint, Kilgallon Burnley I ask you…….lol

  • Albmaleaf claret says:

    In Biblical terms Portsmouth & many other premiership teams are like the man who built his house on sand when the wind and the waves came the house was washed away, Burnley are building their house on solid ground and when the storms wind and rain come they will stand. Istill think we will stay up & think Bolton Hul & portsmouth will be relegated

  • turfmanphil says:

    Wrong analogy sand is cheaper than solid course! 😉 I always remember Bob Lord saying similar things and then the storms came we plummeted down the leagues and added the Orient game to our history!

  • starginga says:

    Jack cork had a great game for Burnley but not as a defender but as a mildfielder, actually he was one of the best Burnely players. He reminded me of another current Chelsea player.

    Who you might ask, well Frank Lampard. He should move into midfield and is more likely to get some games that at the heart of the defence. He set up one goal and had a had in another as well as having a strike hisself.

    It will be interesting to see if he is used in the midfield while at Burnley. I think he could come back a new player and has found his place.

  • Couch Potato says:

    Did you know that Harry Redknapp, the bit-player in Pompey’s demise who is now awaiting his trial to resume, lives in a place called Sandbanks? At the mouth of Poole Harbour it has some of Britain’s costliest houses, and is also one of the places most likely to go under as and when seas rise. It is just a spit of sand that has moved this way and that over the centuries. As for football… Our defenders push too far upfield. As CoyBoy is finding at still longball Bolton, it’s hard to change a team’s habits in midseason. Mears, who is quick, gave away possession miles upfield for one of Villa’s goals. The centrebacks aren’t quick enough to cover attacking wingbacks. Grezza is clever enough to make up for his lack of pace when fit. Bikey is all over the shop defensively as a midfielder and very lazy about tracking back when a player gets goalside of him. We miss Chris McCann. Elliott, although out of form, does a decent impersonation of a ball-winning central midfielder considering he’s a winger; but Coyle pushed him too hard to play killer attacking passes rather than retain possession, and the fans have got on his back, and his head has dropped.

  • WelshClaret says:

    I often wonder how much the fans ?getting on his back? affects the players, not to mention the team. We?ve had this thread before, but I hope the players don?t read what?s written on here otherwise all their heads will drop! All of us, including the players and management want to see the same thing, and that is to see good entertaining attacking football with three points at the end. We need to get behind all the players and the team, regardless of who we think Laws should play, and back them to the hilt. This team is definitely good enough to survive and we’ve got more creative flair than most around us, all we need is a bit more of that essential ingredient in football , the rub of the green.

  • cubanclaret says:

    Cork was brought in to play in midfield Starginga and I’d expect him to keep his place above McDonald for the Portsmouth game. Bikey seems to have come in for a lot if cop but in our last two home games he has been excellent. Away from home he looks out of his depth but we could say that for our whole team.
    Tmp – I believe our first allotted parachute payment has been spent, if this is the case it seems we have already spent to your expectations and technically we have incurred a short term debt. This perhaps begs another question: ca we really point the finger at the Board, who took a huge calculated risk in providing the resources to get us to the Prem, based on assumptions.

  • Claretdale says:

    I dont think we can point the finger at the board CC – I think they have done everything they can! In order to spend money you need to have it in the first place ( or be able to get it). It would be a ‘calculated risk’ for me to buy another house in the knowledge that house prices are likely to increase and I will therefore make a profit – but if i dont have ( or cant get) the funds to start with, I cant!

  • Couch Potato says:

    Responding to WC’s ‘rub of the green comment’, I had been thinking earlier today that Villa scored from one deflection, while our deflection, when we were 1 up, looped up and went agonisingly wide. On telly, I really thought it was going in! Change that luck, and we would have lost 4-3… and we’d have been talking about ‘what a great game’, ‘unlucky to lose’, ‘away win only a matter of time now’ and so on… This thread would have been much shorter, and TMP would probably still be arguing about his plans for spending Barry Kilby’s money. But our heads would have been held high. Up the Clarets!

  • Claretdale says:

    My head is still held high CP ( I hope others are too)- I am still very proud of what we have achieved and how the club has gone about trying to achieve it. I just think that the 15 minite spell on Sunday was incredibly poor and basic ( only the third was anything to do with bad luck IMO) and that is what I am annoyed about. It is probably the first time since our promotion that I have been angry with them! Still, onwards an upwards. We can still do it. And we may just get a slice of luck away from home which coul dbe so crucial!

  • VinRogue says:

    I am with you Dale on the proud bit, wore my scarf all day today even at the golf club! Never took it off. I am proud of the Board, Staff and players. We are ickle Burnley in some peoples eyes but we are Proud Burnley no matter what in my eyes.

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