Herd and Bent fallout?

[QBVILLA]

Say what you like about the lass in the photograph, she has a far better grasp of squad  rotation than O'Neill ever did.

I dunno though about her sportsmanship. She positively encourages a dive in the box.

[john e]

i think Lambert would sell Bent if he could,
 i just cant see where he will go, for a start we will have to take a big loss and i'm sure Randy wont be to keen on that, about 10-12 mill i reckon is all we can expect at the best

then the other big problem is where, Liverpool are always mentioned, but under Rogers i cant see them being interested at all, he already moved Carrol out because he doesnt fit into a pass and move type game, so Bent certainly wont. he's to limited a player in all other departments

i reckon he might just be an expesive sub under Lambert untill his contract runs out, he is always a good option coming on from the bench, but 70 grand a week or whatever it is, sugests that he could turn out to be our latest overpaid mistake

[Dave]

I'm not sure how anyone could call his purchase a mistake. Without his goals over the last two seasons we wouldn't even be in the same division as we are now.

[Ron Manager]

Bent and Benteke played with an rampaging winger who can cross a ball(a Ray Graydon type) would scare the living daylights out of any defence. However I suspect like others that Darren Bent wil be joining another club in Jan and he will carry on scoring just as he has always done.

What those on this forum should remember before they start booing him next season is the nine goals in he scored in thirteen to keep us up
two seasons ago (with a supply line of Downing and Young) and the fact that he has scored 20 in 47 for this club.

However if there are problems behind the scenes and Darren Bent is involved yes he should go (if he is responsible) and as soon as possible.

After all we have the beloved Gabby to score the goals now!

[Merv]

As I see it they'd probably play Bent with Suarez behind him, which is where I think he's best anyway.

Not sure. Suarez's goal output has been fantastic this season, which I think is because Rogers has given him the main central role and made him the focus of Liverpool's attack, rather than a support striker playing off another. Not sure he'd want to disrupt that. We'll see, I guess.

[Clampy]

i think Lambert would sell Bent if he could,
 i just cant see where he will go, for a start we will have to take a big loss and i'm sure Randy wont be to keen on that, about 10-12 mill i reckon is all we can expect at the best

then the other big problem is where, Liverpool are always mentioned, but under Rogers i cant see them being interested at all, he already moved Carrol out because he doesnt fit into a pass and move type game, so Bent certainly wont. he's to limited a player in all other departments

i reckon he might just be an expesive sub under Lambert untill his contract runs out, he is always a good option coming on from the bench, but 70 grand a week or whatever it is, sugests that he could turn out to be our latest overpaid mistake

Overpaid mistake? His goals kept us up 2 seasons ago.

People have such short memories.

[JUAN PABLO]

i think Lambert would sell Bent if he could,
 i just cant see where he will go, for a start we will have to take a big loss and i'm sure Randy wont be to keen on that, about 10-12 mill i reckon is all we can expect at the best

then the other big problem is where, Liverpool are always mentioned, but under Rogers i cant see them being interested at all, he already moved Carrol out because he doesnt fit into a pass and move type game, so Bent certainly wont. he's to limited a player in all other departments

i reckon he might just be an expesive sub under Lambert untill his contract runs out, he is always a good option coming on from the bench, but 70 grand a week or whatever it is, sugests that he could turn out to be our latest overpaid mistake

Overpaid mistake? His goals kept us up 2 seasons ago.

People have such short memories.

exactly !

[QBVILLA]

In my opinion the team should be totally geared to getting the best out of Bent as he is the best striker at the club by some distance. Maybe a little old fashioned but a number nine who scores pretty much a goal every other game isn't what i'd call limited. Gabby won't ever be a 20 goals a season man and by the time Benteke is at that level, if indeed he ever is, he'll be playing for another club. I'm fully behind Lambert but i can't see how getting rid of Bent is a good idea.

[Phil from the upper holte]

I'm not sure how anyone could call his purchase a mistake. Without his goals over the last two seasons we wouldn't even be in the same division as we are now.

This! one million percent

[ktvillan]

Bent averages roughly a goal every 2.3 or 2.4  games.  Exclude his time at Spurs where many of his "games" were short cameos off the bench, and it's not far off a goal every two games.   We've been waiting a long term for Gabby to get anywhere near that level, and he seems further away than ever the last few seasons.  Obviously the downside is it's clear you have to play to Bent's strengths or you may as well not play him at all, and it's beginning to look like PL doesn't want to do so.  So I'm also beginning to think his days at Villa are numbered.  Shame, but as long as PL comes up with a viable alternative for getting goals then he has to do it his way. 

I can't see Rodgers signing him in a million years though.  QPR is a good shout, but could also see Allardyce might fancy him as a partner for Carroll, or maybe Jol would be interested.

[Jarpie]

Bent averages roughly a goal every 2.3 or 2.4  games.  Exclude his time at Spurs where many of his "games" were short cameos off the bench, and it's not far off a goal every two games.   We've been waiting a long term for Gabby to get anywhere near that level, and he seems further away than ever the last few seasons.  Obviously the downside is it's clear you have to play to Bent's strengths or you may as well not play him at all, and it's beginning to look like PL doesn't want to do so.  So I'm also beginning to think his days at Villa are numbered.  Shame, but as long as PL comes up with a viable alternative for getting goals then he has to do it his way. 

I can't see Rodgers signing him in a million years though.  QPR is a good shout, but could also see Allardyce might fancy him as a partner for Carroll, or maybe Jol would be interested.

Can't see West Ham paying him 60-70k in wages since they have barely gotten rid of the financial troubles they were in, Fulham is a good shout but they are already paying high wages for Berbatov and QPR is probably only one of those who would pay 60-70k and the transfer fee but can't see Lambert and Lerner selling him to QPR.

[eastie]

Bent averages roughly a goal every 2.3 or 2.4  games.  Exclude his time at Spurs where many of his "games" were short cameos off the bench, and it's not far off a goal every two games.   We've been waiting a long term for Gabby to get anywhere near that level, and he seems further away than ever the last few seasons.  Obviously the downside is it's clear you have to play to Bent's strengths or you may as well not play him at all, and it's beginning to look like PL doesn't want to do so.  So I'm also beginning to think his days at Villa are numbered.  Shame, but as long as PL comes up with a viable alternative for getting goals then he has to do it his way. 

I can't see Rodgers signing him in a million years though.  QPR is a good shout, but could also see Allardyce might fancy him as a partner for Carroll, or maybe Jol would be interested.

Can't see West Ham paying him 60-70k in wages since they have barely gotten rid of the financial troubles they were in, Fulham is a good shout but they are already paying high wages for Berbatov and QPR is probably only one of those who would pay 60-70k and the transfer fee but can't see Lambert and Lerner selling him to QPR.

Carroll is on big wages and not scored a goal for the hammers, bent would be a better option for them but I hope we can somehow find a way to use him in the team.

[Ryu]

After the performances of Gabby and Tekkers in the sunderland game I did start to think for the first time that selling Bent might not be a terrible idea. We would surely make a loss on him but if we could get £15m or more and use the money to strengthen in other areas, such as a genuine right sided player it would possibly improve the team overall   

Having said that its a long season and having bent as an option from the bench or to start is a brilliant one. As long as he doesn't start pushing for a move himself.

We might need to buy replacement for Bent since we don't know is Weimann or Benteke as good scoring as Bent. If Gabby can get back to scoring 13-15 goals in the league, and Benteke + Weimann can pick up scoring when Gabby hits the dry run we wouldn't need to rely on him as much.

That being said, I'd probably rather have two or three strikers who can score 10-15 goals by themselves than rely on one striker who can score 20+.

You're right that it would be a huge gamble to rely on less established strikers to replace Bent. But at the moment he's not getting games and the concern is he decides he wants to leave. On balance I hope he stays but if Lambert was allowed to spend any money we got for him and did it wiseley it wouldn't be the end of the world.

[pauliewalnuts]

Bent averages roughly a goal every 2.3 or 2.4  games.  Exclude his time at Spurs where many of his "games" were short cameos off the bench, and it's not far off a goal every two games.   We've been waiting a long term for Gabby to get anywhere near that level, and he seems further away than ever the last few seasons.  Obviously the downside is it's clear you have to play to Bent's strengths or you may as well not play him at all, and it's beginning to look like PL doesn't want to do so.  So I'm also beginning to think his days at Villa are numbered.  Shame, but as long as PL comes up with a viable alternative for getting goals then he has to do it his way. 

I can't see Rodgers signing him in a million years though.  QPR is a good shout, but could also see Allardyce might fancy him as a partner for Carroll, or maybe Jol would be interested.

Can't see West Ham paying him 60-70k in wages since they have barely gotten rid of the financial troubles they were in, Fulham is a good shout but they are already paying high wages for Berbatov and QPR is probably only one of those who would pay 60-70k and the transfer fee but can't see Lambert and Lerner selling him to QPR.

Carroll is on big wages and not scored a goal for the hammers, bent would be a better option for them but I hope we can somehow find a way to use him in the team.

Carroll suits the they play way, way more than Bent would.

Bent at West Ham would see even less of the ball than he did under McLeish with us.

[Walmley_Villa]

Surely it is up to the manager to find a way to get the best out of Bent? His record speaks for itself and I always thought he was pretty happy ay Villa before his shift on the bench. His performance against Swansea was very good and I was surprised he was then subsequently dropped. The best teams have two striking pairs, we should aspire to have the same.