Tomaszk

Tottenham are different to the other two, especially Southampton. Yes they'll sell a Bale. But I'm afraid you can't stop Real Madrid on the charge. If they were to sell Kane or Alli in the current environment, I honestly think they'd be getting something beyond comprehension like £175m. If they can sort out their Wembley form, they are definitely making a run at the title this year. Selling Walker to City was a bad message, but he is limited. If we get to that level... I'll take it I suppose.

If he stays fit I don't think we'll be conceding even half the goals late on we did last year.

He hasn't charmed them into bed to get them to sign. Certainly Terry and Whelan have signed on very very large wages. If he'd got them both on 25k a week I'd give him more credit. He's been the best backed manager in the league since he joined. He's been better backed than most Premier League managers since he joined. Promotion is a must and Bruce has been less than adequate so far. It's so been so disappointing watching him serve up garbage with the squad available. I'd wouldn't shed a tear if he left today. I'm convinced he's missing a decent coach in his management team - a new appointment in that department could rejuvenate us, and leave Bruce to what are hopefully his strengths... managing the squad. But here we are. He's not going to be leaving before Christmas and the season starts this week. If we play the same way this year and go up, I still hope we replace him. I'm sick of not enjoying watching Villa.

Looking forward to watching him this season. Once we collapsed again in January, I watched much less of it, couldn't face it. Of the few games I did see, I didn't think much from him but he has raw materials, and most seem to think he's got something about him. Should be good fun. Have no fear Andre.

Or following instructions like he surely must have been last season...?

Good defender at Champ level. Can head. Gets injured a lot. Will probably do alright. £4m decent money.

Apparently he thinks so from his twitter as well.

Who was better in their prime? Gabby or Darius? I was a big fan of Darius but he did miss a lot of chances.

Can we throw Richards in as well? We'll even throw some money in for you to take him.

Enjoyed both of them. Art imitating life!

Great to get a few wins, confidence will be massive for this side. He knows we should be getting promoted with this squad. We probably should be winning the league bearing in mind the money spent on proven players at this level in the last 12 months.

He'll do some great blocking for Terry ala Huth.

Agreed.

Shame he's been left at home. That's that for him at Villa then. Although we'll probably get fleeced again and loan him out again, paying half his wages. Always showed for the ball, which Bruce's teams need as he sets them up so defensively. Him and Grealish showed some nice interplay at times - two men who want to get it down and play. I think there could have been a good spot for him in a 4231 shape behind a forward. He'd have brought the best out of Hogan I think. Guess the plan is rely on Kodjia to carry us and score solo goals while refusing to pass it again.

God I forgot he scored that goal! Left foot zipper from bloody miles out. Yeah, that game really was the start of a crap crap 8 years.

He did OK at Barnsley, who were above us when we signed him. This sort of player should certainly be starting the season in the team for me.

Passing the ball.

Bruce out.

The squad is good enough to win the league as it is. Easily. Need a coach to sort them out though. If given shape/freedom to dish out some pastings at home, we could easily romp this division without any more additions. I couldn't believe how low in quality it was last season. Exciting, tight races for play-offs ≠ quality of play. Buying a good keeper wouldn't have hurt though.

Oh dear Can see it happening. Would happily see Bruce go now. Would happily see him go the day before the season starts. Feel sorry for Tone.

As with last year, it'll get pretty old pretty fast if we're conceding from one of the three soft shots they have on target the whole match. Showed nothing for me last year.

Let's see how long it takes Garry Monk to get Boro playing more attacking football - the polar opposite to what they've done under Karanka for 2 years. He was an option for us that would've been better going into this season. Even non-manager & useless tosspot Tim would have got better performances out of this squad than Bruce last season.

3 Champions Leagues for Madrid in 4 years. But they don't feel nearly as good as recent Bayern and Barca sides. Weird. I could watch Modric play all day long.

He should bring a fair amount of composure to the side which we certainly need. Bit of a concern that he'll be coming for a final pay day but as long as he does the business IDGAF.

The squad is still new and impressionable for me. Any decent coach coming in at this stage would be able to make a big impact before the season starts as it the team so unsettled anyway. Bruce had over half a season and a very well backed transfer window - we looked slightly better in some games and just as crap in many. There was no consistency with positions, formations or personnel. If we'd even had a good final four or five games I'd have been up for it. Banging the Brucie drum. But we looked clueless and dull time after time. He's obviously no going to get sacked. But he's had a bad first 8 months, lots of improvements to make.