Summer 2010 Transfer Thread: B*llsh*t, Rumours & Wishes

[Mazrim]

Don't want Bent, as good as he's been this season I think he's a limited player and you've got to play a certain way to get the best out of him.

And which way would that be then? By getting the ball to him and allowing him to score?
Is this certain way the way Ipswich, Charlton, Spurs and Sunderland all play/played?

Sorry, its just nonsense.
Just play how we do now, add Bent and maybe another playmaker to mix it up. Simple.

[Lv]

I'd have Bent over Berbatov any day of the week but thats just me.. Bent would be on silly goals if he were in Berbatov's shoes at ManUre..

[Chris Smith]

I really can't understand why people don't want Bent. I was rattling on about us signing him last season as well.

He scores goals and lot's of them and that is exactly what we need in a striker.

He's good at what he does but what he does is very limited.

He's a a score one miss three sort of striker and the rest of his game is not up to scratch, in tight games where you don't get many chances that's not enough.

[JJ-AV]

Don't want Bent, as good as he's been this season I think he's a limited player and you've got to play a certain way to get the best out of him.

And which way would that be then? By getting the ball to him and allowing him to score?
Is this certain way the way Ipswich, Charlton, Spurs and Sunderland all play/played?

Sorry, its just nonsense.
Just play how we do now, add Bent and maybe another playmaker to mix it up. Simple.

It's certainly the kick and rush stuff Charlton and Sunderland employed with him, yeah. It get's good statistics out of an individual but not the the team.

Quick look up on stats suggests he's never played for a club thats finished in the top half of the top flight. Not saying if we signed him we'd miraculously fall into the bottom half, but I don't think he'd be that much more clinical than Gabby to warrant the fee when there's others out there.

Good top flight player, but I'd want a lot better for circa 20million, personally.

[Chris Smith]

I'd have Bent over Berbatov any day of the week but thats just me.. Bent would be on silly goals if he were in Berbatov's shoes at ManUre..

His poor touch and awareness of others would ensure he spent even more time on the bench that Berbatov does if he was at Manu.

[jembob]

We need to start playing with a bit more intelligence and should sign players who can bring something different to the way we do things. At the moment we are good at some things but fairly predictable and prone to conceding possession far too easily.

Signing a player like Bent would probably improve on what we've got but would not in my view give us a smarter alternative. If Bent could latch on to some of the crosses which we deliver every game then he would score plenty of goals for us. However, in difficult games at VP I could not see how he would give us anything different. I'm sorry to say that we need a bit of foreign nous to bring a bit of intelligence in specific situations.

By the way, I don't currently have any suggestions!

[Lv]

I'd have Bent over Berbatov any day of the week but thats just me.. Bent would be on silly goals if he were in Berbatov's shoes at ManUre..

His poor touch and awareness of others would ensure he spent even more time on the bench that Berbatov does if he was at Manu.

I'm pretty sure United's delivery would suit him better than Sunderlands.. Berbatov is too lazy for my liking.. Everything he does is in slow motion..

[Mazrim]

I cant believe the explanations for not wanting Bent. They're just lunacy.
Oh well, its all about opinions though I suppose. My opinion being that we need a goalscorer and the fact (it cannot be argued) that Bent is exactly that.

[barrysleftfoot]

Think theres a touch of football snobbery about Bent, of which i was probably one........he has a poor touch, you have to play a certain way, technically inferior to Berbatov/Keane et al.

  Th fact is he scores goals, even at Spuds where his time was'nt the best, he scored goals, and to do it at Charlton and Sland, suggests he would do it at us.

  We should sign him just for the comedy value of seeing him and Gabby trying to play together.

[Greg N'Ash]

i'm saying redknapp brought in crouch and defoe, and needed to sell. keane he couldn't give away so bent was sacrificed

So? What's that got to do with anything?
You said; "Surely there's SOMEONE better than spurs' 4th choice striker?"
Firstly, he's the third highest scorer in the league (5 more than Defoe, even though Defoe scored 5 in one game), secondly he isn't Spurs' 4th choice striker now, should never have been so and has outscored all their strikers despite being in a poorer team.

This is the guy you're sugegsting we shouldn't sign? That we should do better than?
This is probably why you're loathe to name players we should sign, yes?

You're not alone though. A few people were saying at the start of the season things like "Darren Bent? pfft."

 i wouldn't disagree with you Maz. We seem to be at cross-purposes here..i'm not exactly sure why you brought Bent up at all really. He's not at Spurs as far as i know or their 4th choice.

[Concrete John]

I cant believe the explanations for not wanting Bent. They're just lunacy.
Oh well, its all about opinions though I suppose. My opinion being that we need a goalscorer and the fact (it cannot be argued) that Bent is exactly that.

I personally wouldn't argue if we signed him, but think we do need a different type of striker to help evolve our style of play.

[Merv]

I can't see how playing in a better team (ie us, over Sunderland and Charlton) can fail to have anything other than a positive effect on Darren Bent. I think he'd absolutely thrive on the service he'd get here; you talk about the much-fabled 20-goal a season man. This is him.

Sunderland, Charlton et al didn't play 'kick and rush' football. They just got the ball to Bent. Bent scored. He hasn't got a silky touch but give the guy a chance and he'll take it. His scoring record is pretty good and always has been in the top flight and again, for those judging him on his international record.... well, so what? I don't expect Villa to be playing in a World Cup anytime soon.

I think we dropped a clanger not signing him last summer. Now the fact he's had a good season at Sunderland, meaning his transfer value is right back up there, means he's almost certainly out of our reach.

[jonzy85]

While we are on the topic of strikers, I think this weeks CL semi finals have illustrated the lack of top quality strikers around these days.

Barca had Ibrahimovic and when they took him off had to put Messi in the centre.

Inter have Etoo, still class in my book, but not in his prime, after that, nothing special.

Bayern have Gomes who looked a waste of space last night and Olic who is decent, but not near as good as what you would expect from CL semi final striker.

Lyon had no strikers that stood out to me.

If you further consider that the English 'Big 4' all rely on one striker each for their goals, it really does show that someone who can put the ball in the net on a regular basis is a very rare commodity.

[pedro25]

That's true jonzy, a Liverpool mate of mine was bemoaning the fact that we have far greater options up front than they do, they have just Torres as a frontline striker, with that kid Ngog being blooded this season also.  We have 3 international forwards, and our kid Nathan as well.  

We have enough in numbers, but should never have signed another target man in Heskey, proper money should have been paid for Bent and we would have great options. Great finishes from Carew, Gabby and Fonz in the last two games, but for me Bent/Defoe etc will always score 8-10 goals more than Gabby/Carew each season because they take those sort of chances more frequently.  Gabby has been especially poor in one on ones this season, if he was more clinical here he would be past 20 already.

[Concrete John]

he's almost certainly out of our reach.

Not sure I agree with that!

If he were to leave Sunderland, which I think is doubtful, I don't think the current top three would be interested due to the technical limitations we've been discussing.  Man City would simply want a 'bigger name', he obviously wouldn't go back to Spurs and Liverpool would only be interested if Torres leaves and even then are more likely to go foreign.

So, should be move I think we'd be a contender, even if we would have to pay through the nose!