Bent hits back at critics

[el león Benidorm]

Hmmm SVC is hardly one to talk about being one dimensional. I always rated Stan but does he have amnesia??

[eamonn]

Stan, 40 today? Christ, where are have our lives gone?

[manic-road]

DB scores in debut. That's how to answer critics.

[gerags]

"You only win games by scoring goals. People say 'well your all-round game is all right' but who cares as long as the ball goes in the back of the net?"

And long may you keep scoring !

[jeff]

"It's true. You can't play well every game but it doesn't matter as long as you are affecting the game."

I think he only had 23 touches of the ball today but he did have THE most important touch of the game!

When was the last time we only had 1 real clear cut chance in a game and we won it?

[pauliewalnuts]

Seeing Bent getting himself into the perfect position for his goal, and seeing him doing exactly the same thing once or twice during the game later on, reminded me of exactly what we have missed.

Gabby hasn't got that anticipation, Heskey isn't that kind of player, and Carew would have been nowhere near that tap in today.

It makes me chuckle when people say "but he contributes nothing else, he just scores goals" as if that's a bad thing. Gary Lineker was one of the best strikers England ever had, but other than scoring, he too contributed absolutely feck all.

Who gives a shit, so long as you score? Bent showed today that he's just the sort of predatory, right place, right time striker we've missed for far too long now.

[Matt C]

Here here.

I couldn't care less if he does nothing but score goals; it's exactly what we need.

[Monty]

Not to put a dampener on it, but if he doesn't contribute to the rest of the team scoring goals then he might well get 20, but the whole side might not get a whole lot more, meaning not enough goals overall to really challenge - probably enough for mid-table. Granted, most of us would take mid-table right now, but for £18m you'd hope your forward not only scores but helps others to score - and I think Bent WILL do that.

[eamonn]

Yeah, his hold-up, waiting and perfect pass set up Ash's shot midway through the second half that Hart had to palm away, again. Even from the relatively quiet game he had today, there was ample evidence to suggest that there's more to his game then poaching, and he's a lot better on the ball than people are giving him credit for. He's difficult to tackle and muscle the ball off and he seems to be able to spot a ''progressive pass''.

[Percy McCarthy]

Agreed Eamonn, there were a couple of intelligent passes by him yesterday.

[villa1]

So he's got 12 goals this season now. Can we bend the rules and say he's our leading scorer?! :-)

[Rip Van We Go Again]

There was one superb touch from Bent in the 2nd half, he was crowded by two Man City players near the touchline, he shielded the ball and played a perfect pass to Ashley.

Nothing else to his game, my arse.

[sfx412]

For those who think he did nothing other than score, perhaps they should view the game again.

He did more running around in the last 15 minutes than Carew, the Legend, has done for 2 seasons

Also what did we pay for him . I thought it was 18 million, not 24. I appreciate it looks good if you want to knock Houllier but the 24 mill tag as I understand it is only with additions in the future.

[Chris Smith]

There is more to his game but let's not kid ourselves that he's Tevez like. He works hard and he makes intelligent runs but he's in the side predominantly to score goals and he delivered instantly.