Former Aston Villa defender Ritchie de Laet has had some pretty scathing words for his, and the club's, previous manager Steve Bruce.

The Belgian was quoted by The Athletic as saying: "Steve Bruce wasn’t my cup of tea. The football was similar to Tony Pulis but at least Tony had a plan. I remember Steve would throw the ball into the middle in training and say, ‘Let’s play’, like we were under-nines. It was crazy.”

Such a damning indictment of the current Newcastle United manager has certainly drawn interest from Villa fans.

There were fans who found the "shots fired" by de Laet, who now plays for Royal Antwerp, highly amusing, with one fan stating "Bruceball has seen off many a decent player".

The defender joined Villa in 2016 and went on to have two loan spells before eventually leaving for a permanent move to Belgium in the summer of 2019.

Did he really play for us?! No Villa fan has managed to name all of these obscure Villans....

He only played 14 matches for the club in all that time, indicating that the managers didn't think too much of him.

While there were various fans who found the harsh words funny, there were others who found it difficult to join in considering the current Premier League table.

That stance comes with Bruce's Newcastle side currently sitting five places and six points above Dean Smith's outfit, who are currently hovering just above the relegation zone.

This has got one supporter wondering "what on earth are any villa fans laughing or agreeing with", perhaps feeling that more focus should be on what is happening at the moment.

Meanwhile, a player who played with de Laet has been struggling of late.