Quote from Bent

[garyshawsknee]

I fear Mcleish will point to being unbeaten while we are as a reason that his tactics are working.

Sadly I think you have that exactly right.

Mark Lawrenson pointed out on MOTD that Villa, like Newcastle are a team that has sold high end players, and got in low end replacements, and perhaps that is the way forward for teams like Villa and Newcastle etc.

I saw that last night,what his says makes sense,but he didnt mention that we've been pretty poor so far this season,and thats with a good run of fixtures.

[not3bad]

The beginning of the  end, he'll be gone in January.

To where?  And for how much?  I guess the most likely answer is Arsenal, if they finally become desperate enough.

[Ad@m]

Agree, Monty but for a 4-2-3-1 to work the first thing we have to do is get Petrov to play as a defensive midfielder and guide Delph along. Problem is, he now thinks he's bloody Frank Lampard.

I'm sorry but yesterday Petrov was one of the best players in a Villa shirt - he was getting tackles in all over the park which he had to do given Delph was watching the game go by.

442 just didn't seem to work for us yesterday, which is a shame because I prefer it as a formation.  Bent just wasn't at the races (for whatever reason) and because Delph was struggling we were overran in midfield.  Going with a 451 would've given us the extra man in midfield to stop them dominating the game.

As for Bent, I worry that it's him letting the rest of the world that he's looking for a move now his England colleagues have jumped ship.  Let's face it, he's hardly got a reputation for loyalty.

[Nastylee]

Which team is going to spend the £20m+ it would take to buy Bent? None of the big clubs would want him anyway since he does bugger all when he's not scoring. 

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Agree, Monty but for a 4-2-3-1 to work the first thing we have to do is get Petrov to play as a defensive midfielder and guide Delph along. Problem is, he now thinks he's bloody Frank Lampard.

I'm sorry but yesterday Petrov was one of the best players in a Villa shirt - he was getting tackles in all over the park which he had to do given Delph was watching the game go by.

442 just didn't seem to work for us yesterday, which is a shame because I prefer it as a formation.  Bent just wasn't at the races (for whatever reason) and because Delph was struggling we were overran in midfield.  Going with a 451 would've given us the extra man in midfield to stop them dominating the game.

Delph was countless times the only man defending as Petrov went walk about, so it's no surprise he was overran. Stan did have a good game but at the expense of Delph, allowing Newcastle to either charge or pass their way through our central midfield. Maybe NRC would have been better, certainly more experienced to allow Stan to get forward more often but Delph is still learning his new role. As Newcastle's midfield showed yesterday, if you work as a unit you can both attack and defend as a team. We were just disjointed.

[TimTheVillain]

A cry for help; a dig at the manager; just stating what the problems are at Villa at the moment or a striker making his excuses?

He's been asked a question. It's something the club knows all too well and they are working on the right system to get him the ball as much as possible. A cry for help is very dramatic. It's a man doing his job and likeall of us he is a little frustrated right now. I don't think it's a dig at the manager at all and I certainly don't think he'll be sold.

Exactly this.

[john e]

Which team is going to spend the £20m+ it would take to buy Bent? None of the big clubs would want him anyway since he does bugger all when he's not scoring. 

Have to agree with this

[The Situation]

Under Houllier's style Bent played really well, 9 goals in 15 games... we played in a system and style which allowed Bent to get the goals. McLeish is a horrible, negative and defensive-minded manager so he focuses more on being tight at the back instead of scoring goals.

People can say that Bent has Downing and Young to help him, but all of his goals were not supplied by Young or Downing - it was how we played which let Bent get the goals.

[JJ-AV]

Liverpool, Spurs and Arsenal are all possible destinations in January and next Summer for Bent.

Spurs you can discount while Redknapp is there, I suppose. He'll be off.

[Villanation]

Agree, Monty but for a 4-2-3-1 to work the first thing we have to do is get Petrov to play as a defensive midfielder and guide Delph along. Problem is, he now thinks he's bloody Frank Lampard.

I'm sorry but yesterday Petrov was one of the best players in a Villa shirt - he was getting tackles in all over the park which he had to do given Delph was watching the game go by.

442 just didn't seem to work for us yesterday, which is a shame because I prefer it as a formation.  Bent just wasn't at the races (for whatever reason) and because Delph was struggling we were overran in midfield.  Going with a 451 would've given us the extra man in midfield to stop them dominating the game.

As for Bent, I worry that it's him letting the rest of the world that he's looking for a move now his England colleagues have jumped ship.  Let's face it, he's hardly got a reputation for loyalty.

This for me, maybe not quite yet but its the obvious next step, said earlier this last week Darren Bent's job just got a lot harder, first in coming to Villa then when sold his lifeline in Young and Downing making it harder still, Bent is known for jumping ship when it suits him, did it at Spurs and lets face it he did it at Sunderland much to the annoyance of Steve Bruce.

I think this statement is prelude come warning that if things don't change (system) to suit him and he carries on questioning his game? January!!!.

No question we need Bent, wouldn't for a moment imagine he is the be all and end all of our attacking options, he can be a dynamic goal scorer, he can also be a white elephant but what slightly bothers me is this lack of focus he as all of a sudden developed.

[darren woolley]

We do need to find a system that makes us more of a goal threat up front we need to give Bent better service I think we need to bring Albrighton back in from the start.

[Rigadon]

Really, if Bent does clear off, and I can't see anything in the quote that would indicate this one way or another, I'd struggle to care.  After the dismantling of the a side containing Milner, Barry, Young and to a lesser extent Downing I'm desensitised. 

[Villanation]

I seriously think we need to get a midfield...to centre's to stand in front of the back 4 when being attacked, then to go forward to push the front men on, the wide men into play, moving the whole field forward when attacking, we don't have that.


I think we need to get Ashley Young, James Milner, Gareth Barry and maybe Stuart Downing

Think we will be OK then.

[Legion]

He is still suffering from a groin strain, plus his supply lines have dried up somewhat. Be patient. He'll come good.

[PaulMcGrathsNo5Shirt]

I like the 4-2-3-1 formation, as long as we're playing away from home. At home it needs to be more of a 4-4-2 with a diamond midfield. If we are to have any creativity we need to play either Ireland or Bannan (and give them a few games) playing off Bent.