Darren Bent

Southern Villan wrote:Unfortunately I think he is done with football in general. Agree that losing his supply line was beginning if the end. But now he is married, has a kid, one year of £65k to go... I think mentally he had moved on.

I am also concerned that the same goes for NZog, in that mentally he is just not up for the challenge any more, because of behind the scenes treatment by PL, but hope I am wrong on that

Zog is an end of season player ! He's got ability , is lazy, he's not a team player but come end of season he makes some effort so that in a team that's struggling he looks good

cgale wrote:

Southern Villan wrote:Unfortunately I think he is done with football in general. Agree that losing his supply line was beginning if the end. But now he is married, has a kid, one year of £65k to go... I think mentally he had moved on.

I am also concerned that the same goes for NZog, in that mentally he is just not up for the challenge any more, because of behind the scenes treatment by PL, but hope I am wrong on that

Zog is an end of season player ! He's got ability ,  is lazy, he's not a team player but  come end of season he makes some effort so that in a team that's struggling he looks good

Not sure I agree with all of that, as he has shown form earlier in the season, but he does drift out of games even when fit. That said, I would take an impressive NZog cameo next March with both hands right now.

Last chance for Bent or he can bugger off out of the game all together, if we play him with 2 up top and he fails he should mutually terminate.

It's maybe a good opportunity with Benteke not fit enough to start the season to change our system slightly to accommodate Bent and see whether he does have anything left in the tank. That change will need to incorporate more delivery from wide areas if we are to give Bent every chance to succeed and I suppose we could try that out in pre-season but with Albrighton gone where will that delivery come from?

Morpheus wrote:It's maybe a good opportunity with Benteke not fit enough to start the season to change our system slightly to accommodate Bent and see whether he does have anything left in the tank. That change will need to incorporate more delivery from wide areas if we are to give Bent every chance to succeed and I suppose we could try that out in pre-season but with Albrighton gone where will that delivery come from?

???? Robinson & Grealish

It's asking a lot for both those young players to produce right away.

I really do think we will need to bring at least one wide player in with Premiership experience to give Bent a chance.

I wonder could we get Young in on loan from Man U?

His game isn't suitable to the way Lambert sets up teams so unless Lambert leaves, I can't see him being picked in a first 11.

Perhaps another impact sub like Gabby should be if we are chasing a game?

Bent in Turkey link.

Sorry couldn't resist.

http://www.turkish-football.com/news_read.php?id=6080

Would be very surprised if we got as much as £4m for him .

Eastie wrote:Would be very surprised if we got as much as £4m for him .

well talk is of £5m but more importantly it's £65k/week off the wages bill & if the rumour is true that the transfer pot includes wages of new players that's £3.3m extra for the pot

Personally I'd keep Bent and play him every week, if he gets going in the right direction and has the right attitude then he'll score more goals than Gabby & Wiemann combined and that can only be a good thing for us, UTV SOTC.

Welcome back Bent

Bent has a role to play certainly until we get Kozak and benteke fit.

As long as he doesn't eat too many rolls he will be fine.

One of the big criticisms of Bent is that he just scores goals, which is obviously not what we need when we have strikers who just don't score goals.

It's no coincidence that those who knock Bent are so eager to sell Vlaar who just defends.

Elagabalus wrote:One of the big criticisms of Bent is that he just scores goals, which is obviously not what we need when we have strikers who just don't score goals.

It's no coincidence that those who knock Bent are so eager to sell Vlaar who just defends.

I agree , people who say he just scores goals need to realise the ball doesn't just go to where he is by luck - it's a skill in itself getting in the right position.
I'd rather have bent than gabby or Weimann in the team.

Bent needs to be involved, even if it is just from the bench.

Eastie wrote:

Elagabalus wrote:One of the big criticisms of Bent is that he just scores goals, which is obviously not what we need when we have strikers who just don't score goals.

It's no coincidence that those who knock Bent are so eager to sell Vlaar who just defends.

I agree , people who say he just scores goals need to realise the ball doesn't just go to where he is by luck - it's a skill in itself getting in the right position.
I'd rather have bent than gabby or Weimann in the team.

Goals win games, and Bent has made a career out of being in the position to knock the ball home. Not the most exciting of players but he does a job, I wanted MoN to sign him - I think if he had then Bent's goals would've got us Top 4.

Problem is that we don't have anyone creating chances!

Villa_Dan wrote:Problem is that we don't have anyone creating chances!

I believe you may just have hit the nail directly on the head. You'd probably have to pay a football manager more than £2 million a season for him to notice such a thing.

A bloke called Albrighton has been putting in man of the match performances for Leicester in pre-season. Shame we can't afford to buy a supplier like him!

villabromsgrove wrote:A bloke called Albrighton has been putting in man of the match performances for Leicester in pre-season. Shame we can't afford to buy a supplier like him!

It really is a shame if we're at the level where we aspire to recruit players of Albrighton's extremely limited ability. Oh, hang on, we may well be at that level!

Albrighton was not the answer - we need better than him.
Look how bent thrived with decent supply from wingers under houllier.

Bent will only score goals by Lambert changing our whole approach on how we play. So far, and they are only friendlies, there is no evidence that he will.

I'd like to thank Darren Bent who kept us up in his first season & for in my opinion acting professionaly when the club have treated him pretty badly.

I've always been surprised at how much he splits opinion. He's not a useless oaf nor is he a world beater. He is what he is, and sadly with how few chances we've been creating the past 3 & a half seasons, 'what he is' was never going to work.

He could have been a complete prick about things in public though, but he never was. I can think of many players who would have been.

As long as he doesn't score against us, I wish him all the best, wherever he ends up!