Downing demands action, not words

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Defeat left Boro in 14th place and England winger Downing said: "With the players we have, we should be nowhere near where we are in the league.

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"It was always going to be a hard transitional season and I can understand the fans being frustrated.

"Sometimes things work like clockwork, sometimes they take time. Next season is obviously going to be a big season for us, because there will be no excuses then."

Boro manager Gareth Southgate was furious on Saturday evening while Villa's Martin O'Neill was all smiles.

O'Neill was not smiling, though, when Thomas Sorensen threw Fabio Rochemback's free-kick into his own goal after 13 minutes.

However, Boro hit the self-destruct button just before half-time when Craig Gardner equalised after defensive errors. Luke Moore slipped in a second after 70 minutes and Stilian Petrov drove in the third seven minutes later.

O'Neill said: "It was premature to shout about things after we had a decent start to the season. But it was also premature to write us off a few months back. We've got ourselves through a really tricky period."

Southgate is already looking to the future. "I already know where I'm going to have to be looking in the summer," he said.

"I know the strengths we have and I also know the weaknesses, but there's not much you can do about it until the summer comes along.

"People have an opportunity to make an impression between now and then, and we have to make sure that we get the results that get us as close to the top half of the table as we can."