Sunderland’s performance was so miserable that it amounted to a sackable offence. There have been few moments during his difficult tenure at the Stadium of Light that Gustavo Poyet’s position has not been under one form of scrutiny or another, but it will be sharper and less forgiving than ever after a game which highlighted his team’s inadequacies in a fashion which veered way beyond humiliation.
Unlike a year ago, Poyet’s side have been unfamiliar with the bottom-three and they still remain four points clear of Queens Park Rangers and Burnley, but managers - or, in this case, the head coach - have been sacked for far less. There has been no appetite for more regime change on Wearside and Ellis Short held firm when other owners would have embraced panic last season, but he is now presented with another set of questions.
Sunderland’s poor form and dreadful football are both entrenched. They have mustered one victory in 12 league matches since Christmas Day and have only beaten Stoke City and Burnley at home and, just as importantly, have provided their closest opponents with succour. When QPR came to Wearside, they had not collected a single point on their travels, but left with three. Aston Villa were made to look like Barcelona.
The first-half brought Tim Sherwood’s side a quartet of goals, extraordinary considering they had only scored 15 in eight months. There was a pair each for Christian Benteke and Gabriel Agbonlahor, giving them their third win in succession in all competitions and taking them above Sunderland, whose supporters responded with an understandable combination of fury and despair. There were no redeeming features, no positives, aside from a meaningless late flurry of resilience.
Within 44 minutes, Villa had doubled their total for away goals this season. It should have been more. While Sunderland began with a modicum of urgency in attack - modicum is probably the key word there - at the back, they were hesitant and witless and they crumbled on the first occasion they were presented with anything resembling a challenge. On the touchline, Poyet appeared bereft of answers.
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His team, meanwhile, lacked leadership, cohesion and shape, all of which should be pretty basic. Villa profited, in a manner which must have startled them as much as anyone else. Before traveling to the North East, they had lost six consecutive away games without scoring a goal - a barren stretch of 9 hours 58 minutes - but the time and space they were permitted gave them the freedom to play as if it was a training exercise.
In the 16th minute, Charles N’Zogbia flicked on a pass from Tom Cleverley and the outstanding Leandro Bacuna was counter-attacking down the right. His cross was accurate and Benteke, who was unmarked, finished unerringly. Two minutes later, John O’Shea reacted sluggishly to Matt Lowton’s long ball and Agbonlahor cut in from the left, slotting his shot beneath Costel Pantilimon. The simplicity was brutal.
Scott Sinclair should have made it 3-0, but contrived to miss an open goal and Bacuna again squared from the right, where he was inflicting a form of torture on Patrick van Aanholt, Sunderland’s left back. It scarcely mattered. N’Zogbia fed Agbonlahor, who was able to ride a pair of half-hearted tackles before scoring. Another came when, from Bacuna’s deep cross, Benteke climbed above Anthony Reveillere to head in.
By that stage, the steady stream of supporters - more than 45,700 people were here to witness this, Sunderland’s biggest crowd of the season - heading for the exits had become a flood. After Villa’s third, there had been scuffles near Poyet’s dug-out, one fan threw his scarf to the floor and another did the same with his season ticket card. The Uruguayan stood motionless at the edge of his technical area, his arms folded.
As the boos rang out at half-time, it felt as though a trapdoor was opening beneath Poyet and the club and there was another element of farce when Sunderland started the second-half with ten men. Sebastian Larsson reappeared three minutes later, apparently after receiving treatment, and although that was a quick counter-argument to the suggestion the midfielder might have been dismissed for dissent, it added to the chaos.
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They stiffened up, with Connor Wickham replacing the ineffectual Ricardo Alvarez and Sunderland even deigned to muster a couple of shots - Larsson went close with a whipped free-kick and Steven Fletcher hit the post - but the damage was already terminal and Villa were not obliged to chase anything.
The Sunderland fans who remained did so in a state of murmured frustration. What happens next will be interesting and it will also be important. They have been here before.