Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Rip Van We Go Again on January 22, 2011, 10:29:33 AM
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From sportinglife.com
Aston Villa newcomer Darren Bent has hit back at his detractors - including Stan Collymore - and claimed there is more to his game than scoring goals.
But Villa's £18million signing insists finding the net will always remain his number one target ahead of the home clash with Manchester City.
Former Villa striker Collymore recognises Bent's scoring prowess but claims his all-round game is "D-grade" and that the 26-year-old was "massively overpriced".
But Bent has faith in his ability after his move from Sunderland in midweek and is relishing his first start for his new club.
Bent said: "There's more to me than goals. People always have opinions.
"Stan Collymore might say something and someone else will say something else. The game is about opinions.
"If you are frontman what are you paid to do? Answer, it's to put the ball in the back of the net.
"If I played extravagantly well every week but never scored, people would be like 'what's he doing, what purpose is he serving?'
"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?"
Bent, who has already scored the winner for Sunderland against City this season, added: "People only remember people who score goals.
"If you do that and your team is winning, it doesn't really matter to be honest.
"I always remember my old coach saying to me 'if you score goals, you cover cracks.'
"It's true. You can't play well every game but it doesn't matter as long as you are affecting the game."
Bent has followed up his 25 goals last season with another 11 for the Black Cats during the current campaign but he is reluctant to set targets.
He said: "I never set targets. I just try to score as many goals as possible to be honest.
"If you set targets, you put yourself under pressure."
Bent admitted: "I'll probably get a few butterflies in my stomach because it is my debut and I want to do really well and win so badly.
"For all those reasons, I'll probably be a bit nervous.
"Being live on television (ESPN) will add to that. But it's a good thing and means you are ready for the game and ready to go."
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Darren old lad, if all you do is score goals then i'll be one happy bunny. And somehow I dont think i'll be alone.
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Did he really say "brackets ESPN"? If so I hope they paid him.
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Spot on Darren. You understand.
Goals are exclusively what we require from you.
The whole point of having a finisher is that the only person who should be touching it after them is the Goalie, picking it out of the net.
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I've never seen just an out and out goalscorer play for the Villa (I started going around 1995).
Dwight Yorke not only scored goals, but was also a fantastic player.
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Fair play Darren but ignore the haters and let your goals do the talking!
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I really dont remember a player coming in under quite so much pressure. I really hope that if he doesnt score for a couple of games he gets a bit of slack
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Collymore's 40 today. God I feel old!
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Score 12 goals before the end of the season and that will be fine. 12 x 1 - nil wins should see us safe and lifting the cup?
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Score 12 goals before the end of the season and that will be fine. 12 x 1 - nil wins should see us safe and lifting the cup?
He's cup-tied isn't he?
Pillock!
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Score the winner today and for his celebration jump into the Trinity Road stand in the media area and go 'shhhh' all in front of those journos faces.
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If he stood around on the half way line and then just joined in the attacks and scored I would be happy, Some I suppose would say he was lazy!
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I've never seen just an out and out goalscorer play for the Villa (I started going around 1995).
You were unfortunate to have missed out on John Fashanu by just one year.
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I've never seen just an out and out goalscorer play for the Villa (I started going around 1995).
You were unfortunate to have missed out on John Fashanu by just one year.
Now now he scored 3 in 13 games for us ;) He may have done ok if he hadn't got injured
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Everytime I hear of John Fashanu, I think of this....
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Hmmm SVC is hardly one to talk about being one dimensional. I always rated Stan but does he have amnesia??
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Stan, 40 today? Christ, where are have our lives gone?
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DB scores in debut. That's how to answer critics.
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"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 !
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"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?
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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.
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Here here.
I couldn't care less if he does nothing but score goals; it's exactly what we need.
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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.
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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''.
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Agreed Eamonn, there were a couple of intelligent passes by him yesterday.
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So he's got 12 goals this season now. Can we bend the rules and say he's our leading scorer?! :-)
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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.
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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.
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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.