Opinion: Controversy spoils Burnley's best display of the season in cruel Aston Villa defeat

Yes, they trounced Sheffield United 5-0 in a one-sided thrashing, but when you take into account the opposition they were facing in an Aston Villa side that, at the time of writing, are level on points with the league leaders, this display was far more impressive.

Vincent Kompany’s men went toe-to-tie with a side that, against all the odds, are challenging for the title. The likelihood is they won’t win it and may even fall away, but at this moment in time they deserve to be where they are.

That’s what makes the end result and the manner of it even more galling.

Controversy

Had decisions gone in Burnley‘s favour, had Sander Berge remained on the pitch, had the late penalty not been given, had it remained 11-vs-11, who’s to say Burnley would’ve held on for a draw, won the game or lost it. It’s impossible to say. The game would have played out in a completely different way.

But all we can judge is what transpired during the 90 minutes and during that time, Burnley were exceptional.

Led by the inspirational Lyle Foster (more on him later), Burnley continued their impressive recent form – maybe not in terms of results, but certainly in terms of performances – to prove they are growing into the Premier League and showing they do belong here after all.

Whether they subsequently go on to earn the number of points they’ll need to stay here beyond this season, who knows, because they’ve got a long, long way to fight back. Even at this stage five points is a big gap to overcome.

But the travelling supporters who made their way down to the second city to witness their side’s final game of a memorable calendar year were certainly left proud at the final whistle after witnessing their side push Villa all the way, even with 10 men.

Fine margins

Making the jump up from the Championship last season, we’ve all seen how big the gulf is between the two divisions. It’s been starker than perhaps any of us could have imagined.

Burnley have found a way to stay in games and remain competitive in recent weeks and yet, more often than not, they’ve still found themselves on the wrong end of those fine margins.

It’s one thing remaining competitive in games, it’s another turning that level of performance into results and getting goals across the line on a consistent basis when you have spells of pressure.

In this game, there can be no doubt there were Aston Villa’s equal – and imagine saying that back in August when Unai Emery’s men walked their way to three points at Turf Moor without barely breaking sweat.

Despite trailing 2-1 at the break, you could argue Burnley had been the better side. But once again, they found themselves on the wrong end of what Kompany likes to refer to as the key moments.

In one minute, Foster is ruled inches offside before he broke through on goal, before Ollie Watkins raced through at the other end and stays onside by the tightest of margins before cutting the ball back for Mo Diaby to put Villa back in front.

While it was 11-vs-11 for the first 55 minutes, Burnley were excellent. They belied their league status by consistently offering a big threat in attack and in the process, exposing Villa’s slow and scarily high line.

The only slight negative from the first-half was that Burnley’s defending, at times, left a little to be desired. That’s not to say their defending for the entire half had been poor, because it hadn’t, they were pretty solid.

But in one or two key moments, yes there’s that phrase again, the Clarets allowed Watkins and his electric pace to get in behind too easily and it’s no coincidence that both of Villa’s goals in the first-half came via that route.

Turning point

Seconds after Diaby had scored Villa’s second on the stroke of half-time, Berge was also shown the first of two soft yellow cards.

Yes, Berge put himself at risk by pulling the shirt of Douglas Luiz while already on a yellow, especially when referee Stuart Attwell was so close to the incident. But when you put the two yellow cards together, you can see why Kompany felt so aggrieved at the full-time whistle. They weren’t two incidents that warranted Berge being sent off.

The red came at such a bad time for Burnley because they had started the second-half very well and were continuing to pose a threat.

Inevitably, with a man down Villa inevitably piled on the pressured and it looked as though the home side would go on to win comfortably. They probably would have done too had they found their shooting boots, but some of their finishing for a 10-minute spell was bordering on laughable.

In fact, the travelling Burnley contingent – who were in fine voice all afternoon – took great joy as Villa created chance after chance, only to blaze over in increasingly wasteful fashion.

Amazingly, with 20 minutes left on the clock, Burnley struck back and levelled for a second time. Inevitably, it was that man Foster.

It was nothing short of what the striker deserved for a virtuoso display. He never stopped running, he was a pest (in the best sense of the word) all day long. He chased everything but he also linked up smartly, ran the channels well and gave the Villa defenders nightmares every time he ran in behind.

When he got his chance, he stuck it away with aplomb. He might well have done the same 10 minutes before that when Diego Carlos handled the ball under pressure from the striker, yet somehow managed to escape punishment.

Aggrieved

Despite the joy of getting back level, with so much time remaining with a man down, it remained a big ask to hold on for what would have been a point Burnley so richly deserved.

Yet Villa looked to be running out of ideas. They resorted to hopeful efforts from range and the crowd were becoming increasingly impatient and anxious.

That’s until the 88th minute, when Attwell awarded Villa a generous-looking penalty. And that description is generous in itself.

Aaron Ramsey, returning to his home ground, was supposedly the guilty party, yet he didn’t exactly do a lot wrong. Jhon Duran was the man that fell to the floor in a heap having barely been touched. In fact, I’m still not sure there was any contact at all.

After what felt like an age in what was a really bizarre penalty routine, Luiz stuck the penalty away via the underside of the crossbar to wield a dagger to Burnley hearts. It was a cruel, cruel way to end what had been an excellent display from Kompany’s men.

A point might not seem like much in isolation, but it could have made a huge difference to Burnley’s confidence and momentum levels heading into a huge game against Luton, which is their next league game after a brief break in the FA Cup.

There can be no doubt Burnley’s performance levels are finally up to speed. But will the results follow?

For that to happen, they could do with a little bit of help and good fortune along the way, but when it comes to the officials we might be holding our breath.