OWEN Coyle admits he is running out of options trying to find a way out of relegation trouble.

Wanderers sit bottom of the Premier League pile after Saturday’s demoralising 2-1 home defeat against Aston Villa, with just three wins from 15 games.

After losing Nigel Reo-Coker to a hamstring injury on the eve of the game, Coyle shuffled his sparse pack by bringing Tuncay and Darren Pratley into the team, and dropping Fabrice Muamba to the bench.

But the manager admits his options elsewhere on the pitch are worryingly thin and have forced him to name players out of form when they could benefit from some time on the sidelines.

“It’s not a nice feeling; it’s a horrible feeling,” he said of the current situation. “I have not been used to it in my managerial career.

“We know some players have had to play because we haven’t had the personnel, because of the injuries we’ve had, and with all due respect, without them they probably wouldn’t be in the team.

“When you analyse it, one or two haven’t got to the level they are capable of.”

Coyle was particularly unhappy with his side’s first half performance against Villa, as goals from Marc Albrighton and Stilyan Petrov gave Wanderers a mountain to climb.

“Unhappy is an understatement,” he said. “In the first half it was a nervous start from both teams.

“We’d worked all week on team shape and I’d named the line-up early on so we all knew what to expect. But we can’t go on defending like that.

“For the first goal, not only did we have opportunities to clear the ball, but when the ball went wide to Gabby Agbonlahor, who went one on one with Dedryck Boyata, he’s got to get there and stop the cross.

“Even then, Paul Robinson must be much tighter with Albrighton; he was nowhere near him.

“Because the confidence is fragile for the next five or 10 minutes it looked as though they didn’t believe what they were doing.

“Then the second goal culminated in such sloppy play even though it took a wicked deflection. Our midfield should be dealing with that.”

Some hard words at the break prompted a response in the second half, with Ivan Klasnic halving the deficit. But it wasn’t enough to stop Villa romping to their first away win of the season.

“We got a reaction in the second half, and even though there were still errors made, there were at least some guts and desire to do something about it,” Coyle said.

“I said that even if we do nothing else in the second half, at least show some guts and determination for the cause in the second half for the people who have come along to support you.

“They will come onside if we get a goal, and they did. We had good chances after that to get the equaliser, always accepting that Villa would be dangerous on the counter attack. On another day we could have got the minimum of a point from that.”