Following Aston Villa's relegation from the Premier League for the first time since 1987, football fans in general thought Villa would bounce straight back up to England's top division, due to Chinese businessman Tony Xia investing lots of money into the club. 

However, fans were terribly wrong as the Villains has an underwhelming season, which started off in a horrific fashion.

Roberto Di Matteo was appointed at the start of the season and was axed after not obtaining a single win from Villa's first 12 league games.

This led to the appointment of current manager Steve Bruce, who by no means had a spectacular run, but gave the Claret and Blue Army and push up the table which led to their eventual 13th spot finish.

Bruce was able to solve a few problems which had been occurring through Villa's relegation campaign, and under Di Matteo, although there is still some underlying issues which if Bruce wants to take them back to the Premiership must be fixed.

With that in mind, here are TWO issues Steve Bruce seriously needs to sort at Aston Villa in the summer...

Lack of bite in the midfield

One strong point about Villa's last term was they were able to sign some incredible Championship players which could arguably being playing Premier League level.

Unfortunately, they have been unsuccessful in linking up well together.

Very similar to Sven-Goran Eriksson's England side which had the likes of David Beckham, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard who just didn't have chemistry with each other in the midfield.

Villa have Conor Hourihane, Henri Lansbury and Birkir Bjarnason, all on paper outstanding Championship level midfielders, but last season they had zero chemistry.

With this being Bruce's first pre-season with his squad, it should be easier for him to drill his midfield into working together and have a full summer of doing so, as the midfielders may have just been lacking confidence after such a bad start to the campaign.

Anyhow, whether Bruce has to bring in another face within his midfield to bolster it, or sticks with his current players and helps them gel together, it is a serious issue which needs sorting at Villa Park.

Where are the goals coming from?

Another fault in Villa's system last year, was a serious lack of goals, there summer signing Jonathan Kodjia may have been on fire again, with 19 goals but the rest of the team lacks goal threat.

The Villians' second top scorer was Jack Grealish with an unimpressive five goals, followed by Albert Adomah on three goals, which just shows the lack of composure in front of goal is definitely an issue that needs solving.

With Kodjia linked with a move away from Villa Park to clubs such as Fenerbahce, Villa may be without their star man, therefore will need to sign more than one forward who is already capable of scoring goals in the Championship.

A player such as Tammy Abraham or Kenneth Zohore would definitely bolster Villa's attack with both hitting great goal scoring heights last season in the Championship, but Bruce could also use more attacking midfielders that have an eye for goal such as Jota or Marley Watkins, who have both shown their eagerness for a goal, as well as an assist.

Villa fans... What do you think? Do you believe that these are two issues that definitely need sorting in the summer? Or do you think there is a more serious issue that needs solving first? Let us know in the comments below...