It could hardly have been better scripted; Darren Bent silenced his critics with a clinical poacher’s goal 18 minutes into his Aston Villa debut before a 2nd half of sometimes desperate defending kept Man City at bay. It was Villa’s first league win of 2011 and sets up the opportunity to record back to back wins for the first time this season with the visit to Wigan on Tuesday.
Gerard Houllier signalled his intentions with what looked like a very attacking
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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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When you drop a club record £18m on a player during any window, but especially in January, there will inevitably be a lot of opinions voiced and a few feathers ruffled. I’ve read a lot of ill-conceived nonsense that I won’t dignify by linking to, but it’s fair to say that outside of Villa circles the reaction has been decidedly mixed.
For example, watching the opinion rolling by my screen on Twitter, I happened to spot a Man City fan scoffing
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Done deal. Four and a half year deal.
Darren Bent has officially completed his move from Sunderland in what will be a record transfer deal for Villa (£18m rising to £24m the most popular claim) and will be eligible for Man City on Saturday. I think he’ll probably play, don’t you?
Bent brings undoubted quality exactly where we need it the most. The fee is huge and can be read as a sign of intent or desperation depending entirely on your own
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With Darren Bent looking like a racing certainty at this stage, I figured it was safe to take a look at his career stats in the same format as Jean Makoun recently.
Bent has been successful throughout his career with a couple of notable exceptions; his eyebrow raising £16.5m move to Tottenham won’t be remembered all that fondly and for some reason it just hasn’t clicked for him at senior level for England.
That said, after the season he put together
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OK, I’m kidding, it’s pretty far from a secret. In fact it’s everywhere and I must be the last person to find out. Ironically, I checked all the latest news just minutes before this one broke and then went off the grid. I came back and all hell is breaking loose!
This is a story that will evolve as the day goes on so I’ll continue to update this post as we learn more, but at the moment it would appear
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James Collins grabbed a point for Villa with a well taken half-volley from close range to cancel out Roger Johnson’s fortuitous opener early in the 2nd half in a game that was low on quality, but high on chances, and will have done little to ease the nerves of fans of either team.
Once again it was a case of early chances wasted, Gabby practically served the opener on the plate thanks to some comedy goal keeping from Ben Foster, only
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I know I’m in the minority here, but I’ve never really drunk the Holloway Kool-Aid. It’s not that I necessarily disagree with much that he says, most of it is basic common sense, it’s more that I’ve met a thousand Ian Holloways and they’re all the same; entertaining enough, but only in small doses.
I can’t fault his approach on the pitch, Blackpool are truly a breath of a fresh air, but we have to be careful not to be patronising.
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Aston Villa have completed the signing of Jean Makoun from Lyon for a fee thought to be in the region of €6m* possibly rising by a further €3m depending on performances. The 27 year old brings a wealth of experience with almost 250 Ligue 1 appearance, more than 50 European appearances and 56 caps for Cameroon including four African Nations Championships and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
He’s a robust and competitive defensive midfielder, not dissimilar to Nigel Reo-Coker,
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