Oh yes, we've seen the same so many times in recent years, and if the truth was known ... THAT was why Mike Ashley sacked Chris Hughton.
We start the season knowing we cannot win the Premiership, but there is always the dream of Wembley and winning either the League or FA Cup.
So isn't it 'respect' to the competition to at least go out with all guns blazing?
I cannot understand why managers - Hughton in our case - don't give their supporters a cat-in-hell's chance of glory.
We have three competitions to go for, so why the hell did Hughton ruin the chance of winning the two we could seriously have a crack at?
More than 2,000 Villa fans went to Manchester and saw their team fall behind four minutes into the game, and that was their chance gone for another season.
Former Aston Villa skipper Gareth Southgate believes manager Gerard Houllier "runs the risk of a lot of criticism" after fielding a much-changed side for the FA Cup clash at Manchester City.
Gareth Southgate: "I was really looking forward to seeing Young and Downing who have been so in form for them.
"But Houllier completely shuffled the pack. There were five players who were 21 or under.
"It was a statement of intent but I'm not quite sure what the intent was.
"It seems to me as if he was saying 'we've got a problem in the league, we're only four or five points outside the relegation zone' and that is his priority.
"But I don't think Villa are relegation candidates at all. He didn't need to worry about that.
"The Villa fans will have gone home feeling very flat. They could have had a quarter-final against Reading at home."
IF YOU ENTER A COMPETITION - THE VERY LEAST YOU CAN DO IS TRY TO WIN IT! OTHERWISE ... WHAT'S THE POINT?
