Martin O’Neill today admitted performances no longer matter as Villa bid to end their worst run for 20 years.

Villa go into Saturday’s clash with Watford without a win in 12 games, their worst run since their relegation season in 1986-87 plunging them from third to 15th in the table.

It is also O’Neill’s worst spell as a manager, passing his previous worst winless spell of 10 games when he was at Leicester.

“People might say it’s alright to play really well and not get points, but eventually you reach a stage where it doesn’t matter how well you play if you win. That’s the be-all and end-all.”

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Martin O’Neill today admitted performances no longer matter as Villa bid to end their worst run for 20 years.

Villa go into Saturday’s clash with Watford without a win in 12 games, their worst run since their relegation season in 1986-87 plunging them from third to 15th in the table.

It is also O’Neill’s worst spell as a manager, passing his previous worst winless spell of 10 games when he was at Leicester.

“People might say it’s alright to play really well and not get points, but eventually you reach a stage where it doesn’t matter how well you play if you win. That’s the be-all and end-all.”There’s been a spell where we’ve played better this season whereas earlier in the season we played not as well and won.”

Coupled with his failure to so far improve his squad, O’Neill admits he is locked in the most frustrating spell in management.

And he insists only a win against Watford will start to ease his worries.

“It’s a big game, it’s at home and one that now becomes very important for us, one in which we must do everything we possibly can to get three points from. We have to,” said O’Neill.

“Even at Leicester, this is the longest period I’ve gone without winning a game.

“These sound hollow words, but it should stand us all in decent stead.

“Forget about what may or may not happen, the immediacy now is to win some games. That’s how things turned around at Leicester.

“I was a lot younger and I’ve gained experience since. But the one thing that’s remained constant is winning football matches.”