Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert denies rift with Darren Bent

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Managers should look on situations like this as a chance to assert their authority over the team.
At the end of training you pin him up against a wall and threaten to beat the shit out of him, out of sight of the other players but you make sure it gets back whats happened. Either that, or throw hair dryers at him.

[Villafirst]

Whilst no player has a divine right to start every game, I can see Bent's point when PL never said a word to him - come on, they're grown men, a simple: ''I'm starting with Gabby and Benteke today'' but, this silent treatment is childish. FFS talk to one another!!

[Monty]

Whilst no player has a divine right to start every game, I can see Bent's point when PL never said a word to him - come on, they're grown men, a simple: ''I'm starting with Gabby and Benteke today'' but, this silent treatment is childish. FFS talk to one another!!

Did Lambert talk to anyone else? Especially anyone else who wasn't in the team for the last match the club played, the superb performance at Man City? Seems to me that he felt a bit like he should have special treatment. He shouldn't.

[Ad@m]

Whilst no player has a divine right to start every game, I can see Bent's point when PL never said a word to him - come on, they're grown men, a simple: ''I'm starting with Gabby and Benteke today'' but, this silent treatment is childish. FFS talk to one another!!

Did Lambert talk to anyone else? Especially anyone else who wasn't in the team for the last match the club played, the superb performance at Man City? Seems to me that he felt a bit like he should have special treatment. He shouldn't.

If you were one of the most senior people at your place of work, considered to be one of the most talented, and were always involved in all the major projects, would you just accept it if your boss decided to not involve you in the latest one and not even speak to you about why?  I can understand why he's a bit pissed off.  The bottom line is how he deals with it.  Spouting off to the press is generally not the best approach though.

[Percy McCarthy]

Oh for God's sake, does he really need it explaining to him? Presumably he was okay having a rest for the Man City game, or he would have got his agent or somebody to spout off about being dropped for that game. Then his replacements did the business, and earned another chance. What's so complicated?

[JJ-AV]

Lambert has done it that way for a reason. Ferguson does exactly the same.

Bent should be pissed off, it's the reaction Lambert wanted and it's good he's not happy he's not playing. However he shouldn't have sulked publicly and instead said something along the lines of 'manager makes the decisions and I have to respect that'.

I think this a nothing though and it'll blow over when Bent starts on Saturday.

[Rigadon]

Oh for God's sake, does he really need it explaining to him? Presumably he was okay having a rest for the Man City game, or he would have got his agent or somebody to spout off about being dropped for that game. Then his replacements did the business, and earned another chance. What's so complicated?

Absolutely.  Darren Bent is good goal scorer and probably the best of his type we could hope to have, but he isn't above being dropped.  He certainly isn't a captain either.

[JJ-AV]

The captain thing is just a coincidence. It was Lambert that selected him in the first place, but he could hardly give it to Vlaar from the off as he was new to the league and had enough to concentrate on himself.

The media are just using it to boost their angel... And Bent is out of order for mentioning it and giving them the ammunition.

[eastie]

The captain thing is just a coincidence. It was Lambert that selected him in the first place, but he could hardly give it to Vlaar from the off as he was new to the league and had enough to concentrate on himself.

The media are just using it to boost their angel... And Bent is out of order for mentioning it and giving them the ammunition.

Agree that bent is not captain material and I'm surprised he was given the role in the first place- Vlaar is much more suited to it.

[Risso]

If you were one of the most senior people at your place of work, considered to be one of the most talented, and were always involved in all the major projects, would you just accept it if your boss decided to not involve you in the latest one and not even speak to you about why?  I can understand why he's a bit pissed off.  The bottom line is how he deals with it.  Spouting off to the press is generally not the best approach though.

That's one of the very worst analogies I've read on here!  He's a footballer, not lead engineer on a new major construction project.  Players get rested and rotated all the time, it's the nature of the industry.

[Brian Taylor]

He must see him as replaceable. By using him as a sub PL illiminatates DB's prima donna assumption of a guaranteed place, unless he scores goals, lots of them. Goal scoring is what he there for, and he is good at it on his day. PL made him work for it against the Bags and he saved the day.
Then PL could probably use the money he'd get for DB wisely, as he has with the Dutch trio and get another up and coming youngster with talent and long-term potential, at a fraction of the cost. So sell DB to the likes of Liverpool and be done with it. Everyone will be happy!
We need a team of fully committed triers now! Gabby is 100% in my book and has blossomed again given the right management approach.

[Ad@m]

If you were one of the most senior people at your place of work, considered to be one of the most talented, and were always involved in all the major projects, would you just accept it if your boss decided to not involve you in the latest one and not even speak to you about why?  I can understand why he's a bit pissed off.  The bottom line is how he deals with it.  Spouting off to the press is generally not the best approach though.

That's one of the very worst analogies I've read on here!  He's a footballer, not lead engineer on a new major construction project.  Players get rested and rotated all the time, it's the nature of the industry.

Absolutely not so.

When was the last time Peter Cech got dropped?  What about Gareth Bale?  What about Clint Dempsey when he was at Fulham?

The Champions League clubs rotate their teams in certain areas, absolutely.  But the rest of the division have their best players who generally play almost every game.  As Bent said in his whinge to the press, he can't remember the last time he was fit and not selected.  That's not him being whingy - that's him pointing out a fact that he's used to always being selected over several years.  In that context I can understand him being a bit pissed off at being dropped without any kind of explanation.  But again, mouthing off to the press is not the best way to go about it.

Also, as others have said, Lambert probably did this deliberately to get a reaction from Bent.  If Lambert predicted this reaction would come from his action then again it supports the fact that his reaction is rational.

[olaftab]

There is nothing wrong with PL dropping ....sorry not starting with Bent and there is nothing wrong with Bent's comments.

[eastie]

There is nothing wrong with PL dropping ....sorry not starting with Bent and there is nothing wrong with Bent's comments.

Agreed- nothing to worry about here.
The press are trying to make it look a big issue but it's trivial.

[Phil from the upper holte]

I wouldn't even use the word "dropped" it's rotation