Ok Villa fans, just how bad were we against Middlesbrough? writes Villa blogger Gregg Williams.

Well I’ve had 24 hours to reflect on it and I have to say i’m just as disappointed now as I was after the game.

It’s one thing to be outplayed by another team, but to be outfought as well, when over 39,000 fans have braved awful weather to make a rearranged match and give decent support throughout the game, well, it was just terrible to see.

I know Zat Knight is taking some stick over the first goal, but the way I saw it from the Holte was that he looked back at Scott Carson, who had started the game very nervously with some bad kicks, and decided not to play the back pass in favour of a clearance himself.

Indecision breeds indecision when it comes to defenders and goalkeepers, and that is what I saw on Wednesday night.

We didn’t just make a few basic errors that cost us, i’d say that only Bouma, Laursen and Young, along with Harewood when he came on, showed the desire and ability required at this level.

Gareth Barry put in a truly woeful performance, the penalty aside, and as captain must shoulder extra responsibility.

John Carew did nothing except give away needless free kicks over and over again, and Gabby Agbonlahor was completely anonymous.

We were lucky to get a point to say the least, and at least Martin O’Neill has come out with an unequivocal ‘not good enough’ stance where other managers would have made excuses.

Did we bottle it, crushed by the expectation of keeping pace with Liverpool and Everton?

Were we over-confident, expecting to beat a team who lost to Cardiff at the weekend without breaking a sweat?

Or did the players think their summer holidays had begun now the UEFA cup looks so difficult to achieve?

It is hard to swallow, whatever the reason.

The harsh reality was that Southgate had his team set-up to spoil the game, putting in a performance of persistant fouling, diving, and time-wasting as well as twice the commitment and desire of our lads, and the result was too much for us to handle.

We are so much better than that, but we can’t live off our last good performance every time we face a difficult game.

If we want to finish in the top six we will have to be more consistent, and that means the players have to show the same commitment week in week out and apply themselves in every game.

Lets hope this was a one off, and that the players have learnt a valuable lesson.

Villa fans have your say below