SOCCER ANGLES:Owner has made two key appointments in the last 20 months that have rebounded on Villa, writes MICHAEL WALKER

GIVEN WHAT has just occurred with Stilian Petrov, using inappropriate language about Aston Villa could be considered distasteful, but in purely 4-4-2 terms, the famous old claret and blue club are showing signs of distress. And it could get worse before it gets better.

Villa have won one of their last eight league games. The team that finished ninth in the Premier League last season is 15th this morning. They are five points above relegation.

At this stage of the season that should be a big enough buffer, especially as Villa have a superior goal difference to those below. Effectively, their advantage is six points – and they have a game in hand on all except Bolton.

Villa, moreover, travel to Anfield today and Liverpool’s form should encourage claret optimism.

Wigan won at Anfield a fortnight ago.

Then Villa have a home game with Stoke on Monday night. By Tuesday Alex McLeish could be asking what all the fuss was about.

But fuss there is and fuss there will be, because there is not a sweep of expectation that one win in the past eight will suddenly become, say, five wins in the next eight, never mind two in two.

Villa do not feel as if they are on the cusp of rapid improvement.

It is a scenario McLeish will recognise. This time last season he was manager of neighbours Birmingham City. They went into the last eight games, funnily enough, in 15th place.

Birmingham won one of those last eight and lost five. They were relegated on the last day of the season, at Tottenham.

Birmingham went down with 39 points (and the League Cup).

Villa have 33 points. They managed two games in the League Cup this season and two in the FA Cup.

Theirs has not been a “campaign” in which cup ties have drained league stamina. So Villa should look fresh; instead they look worried. Their season feels as if it never got started; they are yet to win consecutive league games.

Villa owner Randy Lerner arrived from America this week to check on Petrov primarily, but he took the opportunity to check on his other players too.

Lerner’s publicly recorded instruction to the Villa squad was to believe in itself but that might be easier said than achieved. If, privately, Lerner had also some harsh words, you could understand. Though he also needs to look at himself.

Villa are dangerously close to the question that Newcastle United and Leeds United have faced in recent times: are they too big to go down? The answer of course was no, they weren’t.

Nor are Villa. They are averaging just over 34,000 fans this season, down from 38,500 two seasons ago. Along with many others, they are anxiously recruiting season-ticket holders for next season. It cannot be an easy sell.

Two years ago Martin O’Neill was manager and Villa were finishing sixth, sixth and sixth in consecutive seasons – having previously been 16th under David O’Leary.

In those three sixth-place seasons under O’Neill the club’s points tally increased season on season. If ever there was a case of banging your head against a glass ceiling, or running faster to stand still, this was it. The internal frustrations – and confidentiality agreements mean we will not know what they were – did for a relationship that once seemed only prosperous.

Lerner chose to appoint Gerard Houllier after O’Neill, which puzzled many. Houllier had been out of English football for six years and had his known heart condition. Sadly the pressure told on the Frenchman.

He did not last a year at the club due to medical problems. During that time Villa slipped into the relegation zone.

Lerner, who had concerns about spending on players and wages under O’Neill gave Houllier an amazing £24m (€29m) to buy Darren Bent last January and another £6m (€7.2m) to bring Jean Makoun from Lyon.

Bent, especially, performed and brought some respite. Villa climbed the table. Makoun went on loan to Olympiakos and is still there.

Houllier had to go to hospital and Lerner went in search of Roberto Martinez. Wigan Athletic confirmed a written request to speak to their manager. Martinez chose to stay with Wigan; Villa bought their winger Charles N’Zogbia.

That felt like a welcoming gift for McLeish, who otherwise saw Villa fans protesting at his arrival from the city’s Blue side. No matter how personable McLeish can be, they did not want a man who had relegated their biggest rivals.

It can be said that Lerner has made two key appointments in the last 20 months that help to explain why in a Premier League season as average in quality as this, Aston Villa are five points behind a Stoke City squad that has, in all competitions, played 15 games more.

O’Neill, who has not been back to Villa Park since he felt compelled to walk away in the week before the start of last season, returns in a fortnight. You can imagine Sunderland being motivated that day.

On top of the McLeish memory of last season with Birmingham, it will be another managerial reminder of recent Villa Park turbulence.

There is another, though historic. It is 25 years since Aston Villa were last relegated, itself a shock as it came just five years after they won the European Cup.

Villa finished bottom of the old First Division in 1987. Their manager at the time was a Scotsman who’d just arrived at the club, a former heroic centre half in his playing days. Billy McNeill lasted just nine months at Villa Park.

Hyypia takes over at Leverkusen

SAMI HYYPIA was another distinguished centre half, a man who, like McNeill and McLeish, brought a natural authority with him on to the pitch and in to the room.

Now, at 38, Hyypia has been handed his first manager's job, at Bayer Leverkusen. It is temporary initially, until the end of the season, but judging from the noises of the Bayer factory team, it may be Hyypia's role to refuse come the end of the Bundesliga season.

Hyypia left Liverpool for Leverkusen three years ago and spent the first two playing.

Some at Anfield regretted this. Hyypia was then asked/instructed by Bayer to spend this season learning and developing as a coach. He has travelled around.

But then came the club's call, not long after the embarrassment of the Nou Camp.

Promotion has come quicker than expected. It begins tomorrow at Hamburg. Sudden it may be, but Hyypia is already speaking like a manager. Asked his assessment of Leverkusen's last performance, Hyypia replied: "I saw 11 players but no team."