Darren Bent - worth every penny

[curiousorange]

He's fucking brilliant. It really is as simple as that.

God only knows how things might had panned out, had O'Neill bought him when he went to Sunderland for a modest 10m.

The season he moved to Sunderland the goals for us really dried up after January. With the amount of chances we created that year we could have really threatened the upper echelons of the table. So short sighted of MON not to have seen him as the final piece in the jigsaw.

Was it his choice? Would the board have sanctioned the £10mil as apparently he had spent the over the seasons budget with his summer purchases of Milner, Young and Cueller IIRC.

Had O'Neill pushed for it, it would have been madness not to follow his instruction.

[ozzjim]

Whoever was responsible for getting that signature on the contract deserves the freedom of the city.

I think Gerard deserves much of the credit for selling a Villa in the bottom 3 to a 20 million pound striker. For all the bad things, the Bent signing is a masterpiece.

[Somniloquism]

Where would we be without him?
Need to concentrate on keeping him now.

Amen to that. It won't be good if he is the "best player to leave" the end of next season. Like I said, build the team with him as the focal point in playing down the channels and good balls through and and it would work with Gabby in his stead as although he hasn't got Bents instincts, his pace would help.

[Chris Smith]

He's shown himself to be a top class finisher but the funny thing is that he's also missed some proper sitters and if he'd finished last week like he did today he'd have stopped a lot of the jitters.

[Greg N'Ash]

He's fucking brilliant. It really is as simple as that.

God only knows how things might had panned out, had O'Neill bought him when he went to Sunderland for a modest 10m.

I still think MON made the right decision in signing Heskey instead.

heh! aye. What was Bent doing for the 2nd, goal-hanging off their last defender? He should have been in front of the guy waiting for a punt in the air to him so he could head it down to no-one in particular. Bent's probably MON's idea of striker hell.:0)

[hartman_1982]

He's shown himself to be a top class finisher but the funny thing is that he's also missed some proper sitters and if he'd finished last week like he did today he'd have stopped a lot of the jitters.

You're right. Lets sell him!

[Des Little]

He's been fucking magic.  A legend in the making.

[Toronto Villa]

He's shown himself to be a top class finisher but the funny thing is that he's also missed some proper sitters and if he'd finished last week like he did today he'd have stopped a lot of the jitters.

Chris, I said this a few times myself. Bent will score 20-25 next season, yet we'll wonder at the end how he didn't score 40-50. He's that good at getting in the right spots that he's always going to get goals at any level if the service is there. But just like his miss against Wigan last week, he'll do that also on occasion. For me, as infuriating as it might be at times, the good stuff he does far outweighs those instances.

[Somniloquism]

I am quite sure you have made this up.

I'm sure I remember a General quote or a newspaper one that year which stated that they set a budget but they spent more then expected due to Milner being available, and getting Shorey last minute in and we wouldn't have much if anything to spend in January.

Admittedly my memory is shit and that situation was mostly MON's fault for spending £6 mil over the odds for Luke Young when he could have got him cheaper the season before and not getting squad cover for Bouma earlier.

But it has shown this season that the board do have some limits and TBF we were scoring well up to Feb when Carew's injury flared up and Gabby got tired. So even if MON did want him, persuading the board to spend another £10mil on someone who was in the papers more for his current managers persistence that his wife could have scored when Bent missed and was 3rd or 4th choice at Spurs might have been abit too much. (Not that I believe MON tried)

[RossLeach]

Today showed him at his best and worse. One of the best natural finishers in the league and we need that. But one of the worst at holding the ball when the team are being stifled or penned back.

Intriguing that he gets most of goals (for us) away from home though.
He may not be great at HOLDING the ball up, but does give us an outlet that's very dangerous away from home.

Or (as you say) away from home the system is great for him and us. Clearly not the same at home....

[D.boy]

I big pat on the back to Randy for recognising we were struggling and having the balls to go out and do something about it. Bents goals have kept us up this season. How many years have we waited for a top class striker (no disrespect meant to gabby).
It's just a shame we couldn't have got Bent 3 seasons ago.

[Greg N'Ash]

he can miss 4-5 sitters per game for all i care as long as his goals per game ratio stays at the current level

[The Situation]

Time to bring out the inflatable beach balls next week?

[eric woolban woolban]

His transfer fee has more than paid itself, by staying in the Premier League.

Hat's off and kudos to Houllier on this and to Randy for sanctioning the move.

Bent top Premier League scorer next season? I'd like to see those odds now.

[Toronto Villa]

His transfer fee has more than paid itself, by staying in the Premier League.

Hat's off and kudos to Houllier on this and to Randy for sanctioning the move.

Bent top Premier League scorer next season? I'd like to see those odds now.

I bet he'll be well down the charts despite all of the evidence to the contrary. I expect they'll have Torres, Suarez, Rooney, whoever Man City buy, Defoe, Carroll and one or two others to be expected to get more by the "pundits"