DCJonah

I'd like to think that but I think we have other concerns. We don't have someone we can rely on scoring enough goals. With benteke and kozak coming back from injuries I'll think we'll struggle to score. We have a manager who struggled last year and I worry fans will be on his back if things don't start well. And although okore will be back and we've signed senderos I don't think we're organised enough at the back.

21 years old and has scored around 30 premiership goals in his last two seasons. Surely that's not crap.

Would Lerner put the money back in while looking for a sale?

Still not sure about this guy. Looks decent in the air when attacking balls in the box but poor in the air everywhere else. Touch seems hit and miss and has a serious lack of pace. Seems to have a good attitude and puts the effort in and gets himself in good positions. I would imagine its going to take him some time to get himself match fit and sharp for the upcoming season.

I thought statistics showed we were one of the most direct teams in the league last year. That could well change this year but my memory of watching us was that we relied far too much on a long ball to the strikers.

He was an absolutely superb player and IMO one of the best players in the league during his prime. He's clearly got a good attitude as well and offers something we haven't got.

Not announcing to the world that he's fed up of owning Aston Villa, leaving the club in complete limbo with no takeover on the horizon would have been a good start? I can only assume a deal collapsed and the message Lerner sent out was when he was confident of a sale going through. There's not much he can do now apart from maybe accept less money.

The fitness side of thing slightly concerns me. Big Sam is under a lot of pressure from his fans and he's let go a fan favourite who is the kind of player to entertain and help play the attacking football desired. Did sam know something about Coles fitness that we're about to find out or is it just another poor decision from a very poor manager? I guess its going to be a wait and see type signing.

For some reason I've always been a fan of him and always thought he had something about him. I'm not sure I believe the link as he doesn't seem a Lambert type of player, I'd be pretty happy if it happened. I don't think bent can offer much, clearly helenius isn't cut out for it yet and kozak and benteke will not be fit and especially match fit till well into the season. Think he could be an asset and probably an improvement on weimman.

I could understand gambling on young talent like Bennet, lowton and Westwood but this one I never got. I just couldn't ever see how he was going to make the step up or what he previously achieved to make the manager think he could make the step up. He's cost us barely nothing and good luck to him but if i'm honest I didn't expect any other outcome from the day we signed him.

Don't know what to think about this signing. On the one hand he's a big name and was a fantastic player but on the other is he still someone who can offer something at this level? Slightly concerned why west ham had no interest in signing him but hoping he still has some magic left. With benteke injured he will be one of the few players that's actually exciting to watch. I guess with Lerner trying to sell the club this is the level we're at and Joe Cole is probably top of that level. I would also imagine this means a takeover is not happening. I'd be surprised if Cole turned down other opportunities to join a club where he might not be needed or wanted at the start of the season. Good luck to him and let's see if he can make a difference.

Evening chaps! After an 8 year break from PC gaming, I'm making my return this weekend! If you would be so kind, I'm looking for any recommendations of the must play games that I may have missed? I've had a 360, PS3, and now PS4 during this time, so I've played the majority of big multiplats. Thanks!

Thanks for your help! I'm really hot on closing all apps in the background to be honest. I'm new to Android, but I assume clearing the apps from multitasking is closing them down completely? As one more test, could you possibly watch the first minute or so of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v2L2UGZJAM on your Nexus? The lack of smoothness is pretty much constant from the moment it gets to the Planet Earth titlescreen on my phone. The audio however is completely fine. I can definitely see it more on there. Again it's not huge but you can detect a frame dropped every now and again. Yeah, that's what I'm experiencing. Maybe stuttering is the wrong word to describe it. Thanks for checking though. Nice to know I'm not going mental! Hopefully something they can fix in a software update.

Thanks for your help! I'm really hot on closing all apps in the background to be honest. I'm new to Android, but I assume clearing the apps from multitasking is closing them down completely? As one more test, could you possibly watch the first minute or so of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v2L2UGZJAM on your Nexus? The lack of smoothness is pretty much constant from the moment it gets to the Planet Earth titlescreen on my phone. The audio however is completely fine.

Odd. Mines fine and you'd think it would be all over the internet if there was an issue with playing YouTube videos on them. I'm not sure if I'm just being really picky. It's definitely watchable, but it's just enough to annoy me! I've found a few people that seem to be having similar issues http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2526265. It looks like it might be related to 4.4 as people are having the issues on the Nexus 7 as well. Could you do me a favour and watch the latest X-Men trailer on your phone (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK2zYHWDZKo)? It's really noticable when zooming out from Patrick Stewarts eye/face.

Got my Nexus 5 the other day and I'm loving it so far. My one complaint is that there is definitely something wrong with the YouTube app though. I've tested it on 3 different Nexus 5's, all on different wireless networks and the videos stutter. It isn't terrible, but it's no where near as smooth as watching the same video on my iPhone.

This was happening in the YouTube app. Do you watch videos through the app, or the web browser?

I'm due an upgrade and the Nexus 5 is currently winning as my next phone. I went into Carphone Warhouse yesterday to have a play, and the videos on YouTube seemed to stutter/be choppy when playing. After doing a bit of research, it seems like quite a few people are suffering similar issues on a variety of Android phones. It definitely wasn't the connection as it was happening at the start when 2/3 of the video had been downloaded. This would be my first Android phone so I'm just wondering if you guys have experienced this?

Yeah, I'd probably change from buying a PS4 to an Xbox as well. After owning both current gen consoles I have so much more faith in Xbox Live.

Completely agree with this. Forcing the Kinect on people is probably the main reason I'm planning on buying a PS4. I really don't want to spend an extra £80 on a device I have no intention of using. After this news I fully expect a Kinectless Xbone to be announced at Gamescom that's the same, or cheaper than the PS4.

I don't think Conquest works on consoles because it's limited to 12 v 12. A lot of the maps are to big for that many players, meaning you can go long periods of just running around doing nothing. I exclusively play Rush and it's a lot of fun. It's basically attack/defend. The attacking team have to destory 2 MCOMMs and the defenders obviously have to stop them. If the attackers are successful, the map opens up further and there are another 2 MCOMMs to destroy. This happens a few times until you finally destroy the last 2 MCOMMs and win the round. You do need to keep look at the server information though. As people rent their own servers, they change the settings (which is why you're seeing servers with 700 tickets). That's not normal. I'm unsure with Conquest but with Rush you want the ticket count to be set to 100%. If you play on the official EA/DICE servers, they'll always have the default settings.

I don't think it was overrated at all. It definitely starts off a bit slow but just gets better and better as the game progresses. I usually don't care about a games storyline but this had me hooked. As with all Naughty Dog games the voice acting was incredible. Probably the best I've ever seen. I'm giving it the number 2 spot of game of the genration (RDR being number 1).

That's just an aid you can to have if you're playing with manual passing. You can turn it off it you want. I think the gameplay looks really good. I obviously need to see more but it certainly looks better than FIFA.

Making an appearance at the Xbox reveal tomorrow. Unless there are major improvements, I think this will be the first year since 2008 that I won't buy FIFA on release day. It feels like they've been getting worse and worse since WC 2010. The following frustrates the hell out of me: - Speed being the only stat that matters - Chip through balls are always perfect (even though the same players mess up 5 yard passes) - Completely broken impact engine - Contain button which allows people to defend with one button - Exploitable formations/custom tastics - Putting defenders on the goal lines for freekicks The higher up you get, the less fun the games becomes. People just exploit all of the above to do anything to win.

I thought he was very lucky with the throat grab/push. You always run a risk when you raise your hands. He was poor today, but he's got more than enough in the bank for his performances this season.