Bent justifies Houllier’s faith

WHEN Gerard Houllier spent £24 million to sign Darren Bent in January, the world thought the Aston Villa manager had gone mad.

Three months on, after six invaluable goals that have lifted Villa out of relegation danger, no-one is questioning Houllier’s judgment.

Bent scored in the 36th minute after Ireland captain Robbie Keane, on loan from Tottenham, had given West Ham a second-minute lead.

When Gabriel Agbonlahor headed Villa’s winner in the first minute of stoppage time, it was a just reward for the midlands side, who were far superior to the unhappy Hammers, who now look doomed.

Keane is one of five forwards Grant has signed in the past year, yet they have managed just 15 goals between them in all competitions — two less than Bent.

“When he came to the club he lifted everybody,” said Houllier.

“We were creating many chances but losing (beforehand), but it didn’t take him long to adapt. We knew exactly what to expect from him.”

Houllier believes the player, who has had his fair share of critics, is underrated.

“He’s better than people think. He’s not spectacular but clinical in his finishing, a bit like Robbie Fowler, who was lethal.

“His fitness has improved a lot, his workrate is phenomenal and his movement is fantastic. He is a likeable person, not only a good player but a good man.”

Houllier is adamant his players have shown the character needed to fight against relegation, The turning point came at a meeting towards the end of March, with talk of dressing room bust-ups and unhappiness in the camp. The Villa manager revealed: “We had a meeting and said we are starting anew with three games. In that time we picked up seven points and twice we came back from behind.”

Bent added: “It’s all well and good being a good football team and playing good football, but sometimes you have to show fight and heart. That’s what we are doing at the moment. I think we are showing those things at the right stage of the season. There are a lot of teams around us that would give anything to play like we are at the moment.”

Certainly West Ham would fall into that category. They looked to have turned things around after a disastrous January, when they had hit rock bottom, and were lifted by a run of three wins and three draws in seven games until the end of March. But they have now thrown away leads to lose to Manchester United and Villa, either side of a 3-0 thumping at Bolton.

Grant has set a target of nine points from five games, starting with visits to Chelsea and Manchester City, where they are not expected to do well, especially if their talisman Scott Parker does not recover from the Achilles tendon injury that kept him out on Saturday.

“If Scotty cannot play we need to play without him,” reasoned the manager. “The next two games are very hard but we won’t give up on them. We need to take points from one of the next two games.”

Grant was disappointed that referee Mark Halsey did not award a penalty to West Ham and red card to Richard Dunne when the Villa defender bundled Carlton Cole off the ball in the 16th minute, although Bent can feel aggrieved to have had a goal disallowed eight minutes later.

“We started well but there was a mistake from the referee that could have changed the game,” said Grant. “They (Villa) scored from a big mistake from us before half time and got the winner in the last minute.”

He believes his players have a mental barrier to winning. “Everything we should have done easily was hard for us today. The players are very committed but there is a psychology problem. But there is also a solution. We dealt with it after January when we were bottom.

“We must not give up, deal with the situation, not be nervous and realise there are still opportunities to stay in the league.”

But they are fast running out.