Five nil. Did we deserve that? No. However, football often turns out that way and, yet again, Aston Villa are back in trouble.

Whether we want to get into the finer points of goals, and how they were scored (I’ll leave that for Monday), Villa aren’t winning matches. As we all know, not winning matches is obviously a problem, though the “solution” is not, and never will be, panic.

Set the anger aside, what can we do?

As you might have guessed, I’m not going to go through the game in this article because I’m getting this piece up late, but I wanted to put ask fans what exactly is the plan now?

I should stress, that this doesn’t mean I am having some kind of volte face on Paul Lambert – not at all – but I am eager to see what the “solutions” are that could be put forwards.

Sadly, I know all too predictably what will be erupting across the internet without digging too deeply, and sacking Lambert will be high on certain fans’ minds. Is it a “solution”? Yes, in the sense that it is an option, though I put it in the same section of options as me walking round with a traffic cone on my head – it’s feasible, but it’s also bordering on the crazy.

As many sensible people have said in the comments over the past season, what then? Yes, we can all sit here, angrily wringing our hands and getting increasingly pissed off with the situation. Like any angry situation, we can shout loudly, stomp our feet, or go smash a hole in a wall but, as with every angry situation, the result is nothing besides more damage.

The calls for Lambert to be sacked by certain groups of fans are predictable simply because these people do not think long term, they do not think about what is the solution, just what is, in their minds, not the solution.

The irony of certain rationalities

If we were to follow the “rationality” of this logic, then we would be hiring and firing managers every week, before getting relegated as a certainty. Look at Newcastle under Sam Allardyce – choppy start, he’s sacked, and they end up going down. Mick McCarthy’s last season at Wolves – the board loses patience, says they have “a top manager” lined up, subsequently hire Terry Connor and, surprise surprise, they go down. Anyone see a pattern here?

I’m honestly fed up with reactionary bullshit that gets thrown about by the media and people who just want to support the club when it suits – that or they just want to save the club by, quite illogically, burning the club to the ground.

I’d like to say the mentality is new, or just confined to our club, or easily fixable, but the instant gratification culture of today’s society means that fans demand success now, and suggest change when it doesn’t happen, leaving only gnashing of teeth and seething anger under the surface. Truth be told, I’m sick of it, and it is unsustainable, just like spending money you don’t have is unsustainable – reality needs to kick in.

Soon it will, and people will realise that you can’t just sack everyone without condemning yourself to the drop, constantly leaving every person behind as the last scapegoat, always finding someone else to blame for the problems on and off the pitch. Soon, we’ve got to stand up and be counted, and that has to be behind a manager we can trust, and one that we care about.

Support the team – they need you now

For me, that is still Paul Lambert, and that is despite the fact we lost 5-0. Am I happy? Not at all, but I have to see a future plan for the club, and that means us doing our best to recreate the atmosphere against United when we play Arsenal at home next week, rather than blowing things up in a loud explosion of boos.

It’s not the end of the world, so get behind the team, realise we can’t just sack everyone, and know it will change around if the fans back the team and let us get support when we need it most – when our backs are against the walls.

Angry rant over – I’m off to sort out the articles for tomorrow.

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