Crystal Palace 1-0 Villa - match analysis

Questions are piling up, but whether anyone is prepared to respond is another matter.

As the season lurches towards an inauspicious close, Villa are drifting in a sea of ambivalence with their enthusiasm-sapped fans querying their direction.

Saturday's defeat at Crystal Palace was just another chapter in a campaign which leaves the claret and blues without momentum or certainty.

Progress has been the buzz word, but it is hard to make a case for the beleaguered side. Villa have the same record this season as last – 34 points from 33 games – and the club cannot claim so blindly that things have improved.

On the terraces there is little sympathy for Paul Lambert. How things have changed since Villa fans serenaded him as Norwich boss two years ago. At Selhurst Park, they sang different songs to the manager.

And before the game one had even commissioned a banner asking: 'Where has the ambition gone?'

It is a pertinent question given the absence of information at the club. Villa's lack of communication from the top has left the manager exposed and the one trying to convince disillusioned fans of the project. The failure to deliver a clear and concise message of their direction has been one of the major issues under the current regime. Fans will only embrace a project if they understand it, are involved in it and feel wanted – but they have been left in the cold.

Chairman Randy Lerner and chief executive Paul Faulkner are guilty of that and Lambert cannot escape criticism for his own stance.

When pressed after the game he refused to elaborate on his perceived problems and why he believes Villa have made progress. Without that detail and reasons it is no wonder supporters are tired of the Villa Park rhetoric.

Lambert has been given every opportunity to justify himself but has always refused. But there are two sides to everything and Lambert needs to help himself by opening up. Nobody is expecting state secrets, but he must paint a clear picture.

While Lambert cannot hide from a series of limp displays – and his claims of progress are erroneous – there are quite clearly issues. Financial constraints and the mess he inherited have made it his hardest challenge.

Although many will point to the £20m per year he has had to spend, Villa's wage structure and current status no longer attract enough quality.

Any other manager would be confronted by the same problems and it is doubtful they would do much better.

Expecting a sudden upturn on the pitch with another manager is wishful thinking. The problems run deeper.

It is a dereliction of duty from Lerner to keep quiet and not to address the fans who are openly questioning his leadership.

He cannot sit silent and expect support. There is little goodwill left and the longer Lerner keeps quiet, the longer his future will be debated. No-one knows for sure if the chairman wants out, but his actions do little to suggest otherwise.

Villa should survive, but with just four points between them and third-bottom Fulham there are still genuine doubts. Palace's win moved them above Villa and the Eagles showed more verve and invention in 90 minutes than their visitors have done in the last four games.

Lambert's claim that there wasn't much between the teams was strange. Villa only threatened at the death when Julian Speroni's excellent stop denied Andi Weimann an undeserved equaliser.

Up until then they were uninspired – devoid of ideas as Grant Holt and Gabby Agbonlahor barely made an impact.

Jason Puncheon's late goal was fully deserved as Palace showed the necessary guts and quality to all but guarantee their Premier League place next season.

Even a brief mistake from Howard Webb failed to derail them. The official first awarded a second-half penalty against Nathan Baker for handball, only to correctly reverse the decision after talks with his assistant.

Soon after the break Cameron Jerome hit the bar and Yannick Bolasie kissed the post before Puncheon turned to fire in the winner from 12 yards. He then shuddered the post himself before Speroni's late intervention thwarted Weimann following Holt's knockdown. Anything would have been undeserved, though.

A penny for your thoughts, Randy?