Aston Villa vs. Southampton: Final score 0-1, much like a funeral

Paul Lambert is a well-respected manager who did great things at Norwich City, and he will have no problem finding gainful employment if his time at Aston Villa comes to an end shortly. He might need to start telling himself that shortly, because watching his team's meltdown against Southampton felt a bit like watching a man's funeral. The Saints won 1-0, and had almost no business doing so.

The volume of missed chances that Villa racked up was truly astonishing. They had opportunities to score a dozen goals, and yet found a way to miss sitter after sitter. Christian Benteke, in particular, found a way to miss four very clear chances in the final 12 minutes of the match. His worst miss of the game came much earlier, in the 51st minute, when he put what should have been a simple finish over the crossbar.

Southampton's winner came in the 34th minute, on a bit of a dubious penalty. Rickie Lambert drew the spot kick by going down under a challenge by Enda Stevens, when it didn't appear that Stevens made any contact at all. He stepped up and buried the penalty to grab three points for his side.

Given Villa's recent results and the complete lack of confidence and composure that Lambert's young side appears to have from week to week, he's almost certainly on borrowed time. Even if Villa's demise is nowhere near his fault, a change probably needs to be made given the embarrassing nature of this, loss, the loss to Bradford City in mid-week, and previous slaughters at the hands of Chelsea, Wigan and Tottenham.