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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Nike’s Inside The Pro series covers the stories of six US national footballers rising through their careers. This is Michael Bradleys story. He got started early. From youth clubs to a 16-year-old pro to the youngest American player ever transferred overseas, it’s been an amazing journey for the central midfielder who was until recently running the engine of his German club team as well as the US national team.
It’s been the busiest January transfer window I can remember – testament to our lack of activity in the summer and position in the table at the turn of the year – so I thought it worth putting a summary together on a day that will inevitably be dominated by Fernando Torres rumours and counter-rumours.
There are still a few deals in the works, we’re expecting:
Michael Bradley loan to be completed (that is with a view to turn permanent I’m glad
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Edin Dzeko’s late equaliser earned Man City a replay at Eastlands which ought to ensure their place in the 5th round of the FA Cup, meaning that’s where we’ll almost certainly be heading. It wasn’t the re-match with the Blues many fans feared or hoped for, but it’s far from ideal.
I suppose there is still the chance that Notts County could beat City, but it’s slim.
FA Cup 5th round draw in full:
Fulham or Tottenham v Bolton or Wigan
Man Utd v
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There are four American midfielders at the moment that I’d be be happy to see join Villa if we had room to use them; Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan are more than capable of fitting in on the flanks, Stuart Holden would be a useful creative addition in the centre and Michael Bradley would be my choice of a holding, box-to-box water carrier in the middle.
The key being if we had room to use them which I think rules all
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Houllier’s much rotated side ensured their place in the draw for the 5th round of the FA Cup thanks to goals from Ciaran Clark, Robert Pires and Nathan Delfouneso, but were forced to see out just under 30 minutes with 10 men after Nathan Baker was shown a straight red card for a dangerous tackle on David Hoilett.
If you weren’t at Villa Park, you didn’t see this game live, and that includes me, so I’ll just briefly describe what I
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I’m sick of the sight of Blackburn Rovers. We’ve played them eight times in the last two years; four times in the cups, four times in the Premier League. Villa have a 100% record in the cups, but Blackburn have won the last three league meetings.
It’s the 4th round of the FA Cup, form largely goes out the window, but for what it’s worth, Villa are obviously riding high on back to back league wins for the first time this
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Curtis Davies joined Birmingham City in a deal likely to be worth £3.5m after being on the cusp of rejoining what he called “Sven’s revolution” at Leicester on loan. Sebastian Larsson will not be coming as a make-weight, which is just as well as I’ve been racking my brains trying to think of a player making the same switch directly and have drawn a blank. Chris Sutton is the best I could come up with, but he had already been
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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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