The Magnificent Seven

Despite some early blockbusters, it’s been quite a subdued transfer market overall this summer. Nevertheless, Martin O’Neill managed to match last summer’s influx by bringing in seven new faces, although his hand may have been forced somewhat by the exists of Gareth Barry & Martin Laursen.

Here’s the seven in the order they joined:-

Stewart Downing, 16/07/09, £12m, Middlesbrough
Fabian Delph, 04/08/09, £8m, Leeds
Habib Beye, 07/08/09, £2.5m, Newcastle
Andy Marshall, 12/08/09, Free, N/A
Stephen Warnock, 27/08/09, £8m, Blackburn
James Collins, 01/09/09, £5m, West Ham
Richard Dunne,

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Aston Villa Sign James Collins

It’s been confirmed that Aston Villa have completed the £5m signing of central defender James Collins from West Ham.

Aston Villa Sign Richard Dunne

It has been confirmed that Aston Villa have signed centre back Richard Dunne from Man City for £6million.

More details to follow.

Transfer Window Live Updates

This is it, the last few hours of the summer transfer window.  Have you been obsessed with who is coming in all summer?  If so, you shall soon be out of your misery.

As the moment, there are two deals we know are under negotiation and look likely to be completed – Richard Dunne from Citeh and James Collins from West Ham.  It’s looks like there’s about £11m worth of business there and both are central defenders…  which is nice. 

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StatShack – Aston Villa 2 Fulham 0

I haven’t had chance to do a full review of the game just yet, but I’ve got the basics in place for a stats review I’d like to run regularly. There’s still some work to go, and I’ve yet to nail down the sources for the data, but this will give you a basic idea of what I’d like to produce as soon as possible after games (time permitting):-

2
Aston Villa
Aug 30th 2009
Fulham
0

43
Possession %
57

10
Shots
8

2
On Target
0

9
Corners
4

5
Offsides
1

2′ Pantsil (OG),

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Aston Villa Get Back On Track

Villa beat Fulham 2 – 0 at Villa Park today to close out August in 8th place in the Premiership before a two week International break. As far as the league goes, I think most would have reluctantly taken 6 points from the the first 3 games, although they probably wouldn’t have predicted where the points would have come from.

Villa got off to the best of starts when a mix up at the back by Fulham led to a

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Aston Villa vs Fulham

It’s back to the meat and potato business of Premiership action at Villa Park on Sunday when Fulham come to town in what, at this early stage of the season, is a six pointer. Villa and Fulham both have played two, won one, lost one records right now. Fulham more predictably beat Portsmouth, but lost to Chelsea. Villa don’t do predictable.

Fulham have never beaten Villa at home in a Premiership match and have only managed 4 wins

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The Real European Winners And Losers

I find an inherent beauty in simplicity and truly believe that the best solutions to most of the world’s problems are naturally simplistic. However, I must confess a sinfully lustful attraction to the occasional bit of complication on the side. And if it’s complication that you’re after, you need look no further than a European football tournament administered by UEFA.

Have you ever stopped to ponder why England, Spain and Italy all get to send 4 teams each to

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