Express & Star

Aston Villa: The gift that keeps on giving - match analysis

By
Published
Last updated

Hope springs eternal for a club handed a lifeline at Villa Park. Unfortunately for Villa it was again the visitors.

Fulham breathed fresh life into their season to give them a chance of beating the drop while at the same time consigning Villa to more misery.

The gift which keeps on giving, the claret and blues are adept at handouts.

They recently raised more than £200,000 for Acorns but it is their charity to other Premier League clubs which underlines their real generosity.

A 10th home league defeat of the season – for the first time in the club's history – leaves them staring bereft at a once proud stadium. Villa Park lies in smouldering ruins, the fires of defeat raging as much as the fans.

Boss Paul Lambert has insisted it has been "night and day" when comparing this season to last, but the manager will need to be at his persuasive best to continue that mantra.

Following Saturday's loss Villa are only a point better off than this time last season. The self-congratulation has to stop. Fans aren't blind and the words 'transitional' and 'patience' are wearing thin for even the staunchest supporter.

The rebuilding process is a long one and Villa are a shadow of their former selves. Lambert is two years into a five-year project designed to revive the club and there is still a little hesitancy to castigate him fully if the job is supposedly only half-done.

But there need to be short-term gains to supplement that long-term aim and, simply, there are none. In order to buy into a vision, you need to feel part of it and it is difficult to feel wanted when you are kept on the outside.

From the rhetoric of the manager to the silence of the chairman, there need to be clearer messages from the top.

Owner Randy Lerner owes fans an explanation over his continued absence and the direction of the club. He may want to leave but that is no reason to keep the paying public in the dark.

He and Lambert must come up with a strategy which will win over the ever-growing doubters.

And the pair will also talk about the loss of Christian Benteke. It will be a surprise to see the striker play again much before Christmas after the Achilles injury which ended his World Cup dreams.

It will shape their summer transfer plans and while Benteke's injury is horribly unfortunate, Lambert will be a relieved man to have points on the board.

Villa will crawl across the line. They will not get relegated, but without Benteke, the ill Gabby Agbonlahor and injured Fabian Delph an ordinary side becomes poor.

Fulham – who have done the double over Villa despite spending most of the season in the bottom three – could afford to bring on Hugo Rodallega to change the game. Three years ago he scored the goal to keep Wigan in the Premier League and how Villa crave to have someone like the Colombian in reserve.

Ultimately, some lack the quality to compete in the Premier League. Maybe Joe Bennett, Aleksandar Tonev and Antonio Luna will prove themselves in time – but time is not a commodity given freely on the Villa Park terraces now.

That Villa still get attendances over 30,000 is a testament to the fan base, but cracks are appearing. The jeers which greeted the final whistle were the biggest of the season.

A forgettable first half was punctured by David Stockdale's save from Leandro Bacuna and Brad Guzan's similar stop to thwart Cauley Woodrow. As far as entertainment went it was akin to watching grass grow while paint dried on the fence.

Rodallega's introduction at the break raised Fulham, though, and – after Stockdale pushed Bacuna's drive onto the post – the Colombian took charge.

He was involved in the build-up to Richardson's 61st-minute strike as he fed Ashkan Dejagah to tee up the ex-Albion loanee to smash into the top corner.

Nine minutes later Grant Holt nodded in the leveller but, despite Tonev testing Stockdale and Weimann heading over, there was little sign of a winner.

Only Matt Lowton's fabulous goal-line stop from Lewis Holtby, after he had danced around Guzan, denied Fulham a second – with the ball millimetres from completely crossing the line. But it was merely a stay of execution as Westwood's stray pass fell to Holtby whose cross was flicked in by Rodallega. Villa were beaten at home again. It wasn't the first time and you fear there is more to come.