You’ll all be aware by now that Luke Young and Jonathan Hogg left Villa, joining QPR and Watford respectively, over the weekend; both signing three year contracts. Although I missed it at the time, Young’s move did warrant an announcement, Hogg apparently slipped away in the night.
I noticed during pre-season that Hogg had been removed from the squad pages on the official site, perhaps that’s got something to do with it. Then again, they’ve currently got Gary Gardner listed as
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Jean II Makoun has been a hit on and off the pitch from the moment he arrived and he may be about to become something of a cult hero. I’m not entirely sure what’s going on here, but Makoun is the star of this music video which appears to be entirely dedicated to him. Better still, he and his friends are rocking out in his Villa shirt, amongst others.
My French isn’t up to much, but I can’t imagine there are
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Blackpool have lost their last five games, Ian Holloway will be desperate to avoid a sixth straight defeat. He’ll have half an eye over the horizon to his next game against Tottenham, perhaps hoping that Wolves might offer an opportunity for points after that. And then Chelsea will come to town.
By the time Holloway takes his men to Ewood Park, inside the final seven games of the season, he knows full well that his team could be in the midst
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Ashley Young and Darren Bent scored both goals for England in a 2-1 victory over Denmark in Copenhagen tonight. It capped a pretty decent performance from England despite conceding an early Daniel Agger goal.
It was Ash’s first goal for England, winning his 12th cap, and Bent’s 2nd goal in what was amazingly only his 8th appearance for the national side. I think they’ll be in Capello’s plans again next time.
Bent played the full 90 minutes and might have scored more,
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Jean Makoun picked up the Man of the Match award against Fulham and has rightly won the plaudits from most quarters. But not everyone is impressed.
It’s true that his tackling isn’t the greatest just yet, but his passing is exemplary; he was the leading passer on the pitch against bother Man Utd and Fulham.
But the devil is always in the detail, passing numbers alone can distort the true picture. For instance, lots and lots of backwards and sideways passes can’t
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You may or may not have noticed that I haven’t been following Premier League games up with Statshacks for a little while. There are numerous reasons for that which I won’t bore you with, but I have still been glancing at the numbers and I have to bring Jean Makoun’s passing statistics from Old Trafford last night to your attention.
I don’t always single individual players out and I don’t keep records, but I do look them over and it’s rare
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Brad Friedel became Aston Villa’s oldest ever player tonight, but you would never have known it as he pulled out a number of superb saves to prevent a much harsher scoreline than the 3-1 this one finished.
Wayne Rooney signalled a timely return to form with two very well taken goals in open play in the first and last minutes of the first half. Darren Bent got one back for Villa only for any hopes of a comeback to be
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Don’t look now, but I think our season may well be back on track after a hard won three points in Wigan thanks to goals from Gabby Agbonlahor and Ashley Young from the spot, despite James McCarthy’s deflected effort setting up the usual nervous final 10 minutes.
Jean Makoun made his Aston Villa debut and Nathan Baker made a surprising Premier League debut in place of the injured Ciaran Clark at left back, both giving a very good account of themselves.
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Five days ago, I wasn’t much looking forward to Saturday, but how quickly things can change; all it took was £24m! Seriously though, it’s amazing what a boost the acquisition of Darren Bent has provided. To everyone, fans and players alike it would seem; Gabby, Ash & James Collins all waxing lyrical about Bent joining the team.
It’s also given Gerard Houllier a massive boost in the eyes of many fans who were doubting him, but ultimately it will still come
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