Aston Villa Sinking - Football (Soccer) News And Picks

Aston Villa Sinking
By Tim Robertson
Posted: 4:00 am PDT 2007-01-16

Aston Villa are in trouble. Whatever magic powers Martin O'Neill was presumed to possess have deserted him, and the Villains are sliding down the table at an alarming rate.

Saturday's 3-1 loss at Manchester United made it 12 games without a win, and in the space of a couple of months, Villa have gone from battling for a Champions League place to nervously looking over their shoulders at the relegation battle.

It seems unfeasible that they could get themselves embroiled in that dogfight, but the table does not lie, and they are now in 15^th place, seven points above West Ham and the dreaded drop zone.

There was some good news before the weekend with the return of sure-handed goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen, but as the performance at Old Trafford showed, he comes into a side understandably low on confidence and one that has been the architect of its own downfall through critical mistakes.

Ji-Sung Park scored United's opener after Gary Cahill botched his clearance, and Cristiano Ronaldo wrapped up the win for the Premiership leaders when Gavin McCann was caught in possession on the edge of his own area, allowing Michael Carrick to cross when there should have been no danger for Villa.

After the game, O'Neill conceded his team had not deserved anything from the game.

"We did not help ourselves by conceding two poor goals," he said. "United did not need to do a great deal of work to put them in the net. Any sort of plan we had was thrown aside. But regardless of that, we were well beaten."

O'Neill is suffering the lingering affects of years of under-investment in the Villa squad under former club owner Doug Ellis. American billionaire Randy Lerner took over this summer and made money available, but O'Neill has not yet brought in the experience that is needed to get Villa on the right track.

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