FATALISM has already taken root among Villa fans, you could that by the rows of empty seats on the Witton Lane side even before the kick-off.

They know their team is not the complete article and that after a season as Lord of the Lions, Ron Atkinson has yet to collect together a full pride he can lead with the assurance that they are capable of winning a major trophy.

After one home match, realism has surfaced, too.

Fewer than 18,000 spectators turned up and as the recession continues to bite in direct proportion to the rising prices at the turnstiles - £9 at the Holte End against £7 for the corresponding match last season - even this figure may look handsome by the time Wimbledon come round on February 27.

A repeat of that means that more than a quarter of the average working man's weekly wage goes on 180 minutes of football, some of it glaringly ordinary.

The Premier League has pretensions above itself. Nothing has or will change, except the number of times its teams appear on the television screen, and, oh yes, the new carpets In the redesigned Trinity Road stand.

On the only carpet most of us are concerned about, Villa proved disappointing.

We are flogging dead horses, aren't we?

In another three days’ time, Villa go to Goodison Park for third firmly contested match when two attractive teams will find good football has been placed at the mercy of physical conditioning.

There will be no respite until November.

When will Premier League chief executive Rick Parry do something really useful for his £250,000-a-year and persuade the clubs that one match per week is sufficient?

Never, that’s when.

Southampton were moderately tough and modestly talented and Villa should have sunk to the bottom, so clearly superior were they in all areas.

Villa romped gleefully by way of Steve Staunton and Steve Froggatt until you wondered whether Southampton had some mysterious plan to force feed their opponents to death.

Villa, all touch and no thrust, scorned their superiority until Frank McAvennie chased Staunton’s deep cross after 64 minutes and flipped the ball back for Dalian Atkinson to score his third goal in three games.

McAvennie could conceivably be the shirt term answer because neither Cyrille Regis and Tony Daley, missed through they were are other than irregular scorers.

No question about it, Villa with a 25 goals a season man would be top three materials. Without him, the midfield players must take far more responsibility in front of goal.

On Saturday, full back Steve Staunton was more effective in Southampton’s area than all four put together. He created one goal and nearly set up a winner for Ugo Ehiogu.

In midfield, Richardson, Ray Houghton, Garry Parker and Froggatt promised the earth. In the area, they delivered nothing.