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RON ATKINSON threw his eyes towards the freezing midland skies and prepared for the "parasites" to take aim.

Villa's defeat, the seventh in their last eight Premiership games, plummets the former European Cup winners ever deeper into relegation trouble.

And, coming just five days after their UEFA Cup exit at the hands of Trabzonspor, it throws Atkinson's position as Villa Park boss under an increasingly harsh light.

Despite dominating for long periods and finishing with an onslaught on Gary Walsh's goal, Villa fell to strikes from Paul Ince (44 minutes) and Andrei Kanchelskis (51).

"To take one point from three games would be a worry," snorted Big Ron. "But to take just one from eight games is a disaster.

"I know there will be calls for change in personnel whether it involves me or the players. The parasites will come out of the woodwork.

"We're going to take a lot of flak but I have faith that we’ll get it right. That could have been any one of the last eight games we've played. Someone at this club must have driven over a cat!"

Villa. starting the day in a depressing 19th position, got the perfect opening when Dalian Atkinson's 29th minute piledriver deflected viciously off Steve Bruce's shin to spin over the head of a helpless Walsh.

United, still visibly shaken from their midweek trauma at the Nou Camp, were being overrun in midfield, where the Irish trio of Steve Staunton, Andy Townsend and Ray Houghton all moved with impressive conviction.

Staunton was involved in a compelling tussle down the left with the excellent Roy Keane. who was again employed on full-back duty.

Seven minutes from the interval, Staunton cut inside his Irish team-mate to unleash a ferocious drive that Walsh did well to parry after it took a ricochet off Bruce.

But Ince's stunning 30-yard volley after Ugo Ehiogu had cleared a Kanchelskis cross utterly undermined Villa on the stroke of half-time. As Paul McGrath observed:

"It was a bad goal for us to concede. The ball had been cleared and someone in midfield should have closed in on Ince before he had the chance to shoot."

Worse was to follow for Villa just six minutes after the resumption when Denis Irwin skipped past Houghton down the left wing and drilled over a perfect cross for Kanchelskis to pick his spot from the edge of the area.

With the impressive Ryan Giggs now moved forward to partner Eric Cantons in attack. United threatened to take complete control especially when Staunton had to leave the field with an injured shoulder in the 58th minute.

But Staunton's replacement, Dwight Yorke, proceeded to terrorise United with some excellent runs from deep positions and the last quarter of the game was played almost exclusively around the United penalty area.

Walsh, who looked uncomfortable when dealing with crosses, produced a series of breath-taking saves as Villa frantically searched for an equaliser.

Two saves in particular from Atkinson and Yorke had the 32,094 attendance gasping in disbelief.

Ultimately. the statistics of the game identified the source of Villa's current poverty. The home side forced a total of 13 corners and had more than twice the number of shots on goal that United could muster. They need a goalscorer.

"You saw it for yourself," groaned Staunton when it was over. "We've played like that all season and the same things happened. lt's got to change. Maybe we’ll start playing garbage soon and get a win"

United boss Alex Ferguson suggested: "Maybe we got a bit more than we deserved today. We spent the last 20 minutes just defending but at least we did that well. - It wasn't one of our best performances. We had to dig in for the result. But you're got to ignore Villa's position. Believe me. we played a good side today."