#INSERT type:image caption:Tim Sherwood says he is 'jigging' his team selection around. END#
Aston Villa boss Tim Sherwood said he was still searching for his best team after Saturday's 1-0 defeat to Stoke and warned that time was running out for his misfits.
Marko Arnautovic's second-half goal earned Stoke their first away win in the Premier League since they beat Villa in February.
It left the hosts searching for their first league win since the opening day of the season and means they have taken just one point from their last seven games.
Sherwood signed 13 new players in the summer and started seven of them against Stoke and said: "I'm trying to find a right way. You can't persevere with a team who haven't won.
"You have to keep jigging it around to find a solution, and at the moment I haven't done that.
"I am the manager and I have to take responsibility for the performance and the result. That's my job and I understand that fully.
"I'm still learning about the guys, we are eight games in and it's disappointing but I would rather be in the bottom three after eight games than in the bottom three with eight games to go.
"They will take time to adapt and I wouldn't say time is running out, but the clock is certainly ticking.''
Villa are third bottom of the league, now four points adrift of the safety line, and rarely tested Stoke.
Sherwood said: "It was a poor performance and poor result, a fair result would have been a draw. Unfortunately we have got nothing out of the game. We will go back to work and do our best to put things right."
Stoke have now won three straight games in league and cup after Arnautovic knocked in his second goal of the season 10 minutes after half-time.
Boss Mark Hughes said: "It's a great thing because it's something he needs to add to his game, and if he can get that he is going to be a real influential player."