O'Neill: Villa have lost their way

Villa's Champions League ambitions are rapidly fading after five league games in succession without victory.Their latest result was the worst yet, a humiliating drubbing at the hands of Rafael Benitez's Reds.Dirk Kuyt had already given the hosts an eighth-minute later when Villa failed to deal with a high goal kick from Jose Reina, and Albert Riera stole in to slam in the second goal on the half-volley.After that, Steven Gerrard hit a hat-trick with two penalties and a free-kick, with Brad Friedel somewhat harshly shown a red card for impeding Fernando Torres for the second spot-kick.Nevertheless, O'Neill conceded his side were overpowered."We were well beaten by an exceptional Liverpool side," he said."But we did contribute to our own downfall. At 1-0 down, we gave away an unbelievably bad goal. It was a shocking mistake."Liverpool have had two remarkable results before this game, beating Real Madrid and Manchester United - and they certainly did not need any help from us to achieve what they wanted."We played poorly. We gave away some lousy goals and we have to get back on track."We were doing fine four or five weeks ago, but we were well beaten by a better side. But we are a better side than we showed in this game."Villa, who remain three points behind fourth-placed Arsenal with eight games left, have another extremely tough fixture when they return from the international break, against leaders Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday April 5.

Source: Team_Talk