After a record-breakingly bad start a trip to newly-promoted Sunderland, a place where we’ve got a decent record when they’re in the same division, should have been the ideal time to kickstart the season and put all our worries behind us. Instead, the worries and nagging doubts continue to grow.

As has been the case far too often, the problems began when the team was announced. Unai’s reluctance to start the new signings continues to be a source of mystery and was the inevitable prelude to yet another performance largely full of indecision and negativity.

Villa did start off promisingly and briefly seemed to show that they might be looking to win the match. It didn’t last long. They soon reverted to defensive type with the result that nothing much happened for the rest of the first half. Except, that is, for Sunderland being reduced to ten men after an off the ball incident that left Matty Cash in some discomfort.

Against opposition newly-promoted and a man short Villa should have been pressing their advantage but instead, once again there was a lack of urgency that enabled Sunderland to keep their shape and dig in. Not only that, they came close to scoring early in the second half when they hit the bar after Villa had failed to clear the ball.

Seeing that we were in need of reinforcements Unai brought on Harvey Elliott and Ian Maatsen, both of whom should have been playing from the start, then Cash let fly with a swerving shot from 25 yards and the world seemed a much brighter place.

That should have been the signal to push on but, and stop me if you’ve read this before, they sat back again and allowed Sunderland to take the initiative and get a predictable equaliser. There had been a couple of chances and the one that got the goal wasn’t down to any particularly brilliant play, but rather something from Villa for which the technical term would be ‘fannying about in the box’.

In the final ten minutes Villa finally got more adventurous; substitute Harvey Elliott shot just wide while Jordan Sancho’s inch-perfect cross needed just a touch from Ollie Watkins. Naturally, there wasn’t one.

The only positive to be gained from the afternoon was that Villa have finally realised what that white thing at the end of the pitch is for. The negatives were many – Watkins and Morgan Rogers, both linked with moves to help Villa’s financial situation, continue to depreciate faster than a house built on the edge of a cliff. The recent signings are either not getting picked or, if they are being given a chance, continue to disappoint.

Worst of all, none of them seem particularly bothered. Players who have been with us almost from the start of the journey appear to be shrugging their shoulders and either unwilling or unable to do anything about the situation. The manager, meanwhile, shows no signs of changing what clearly isn’t working.