Darren Bent

[N'ZMAV]

Fuck him, I'm bored of this circus already.

Me too. Darrent Bent, or Paul Lambert are not bigger than Aston Villa. I wish they'd all just pipe the fuck down. And the press.

[eastie]

Pat murphy had a long interview with lambert on 5 live last night and repeatedly pressed lambert on bent, he said bent and benteke can play together as they did at st Mary's, he said bent is fit and available and there has been no bust up between them and that to get picked bent needs to train well and play well.

[ROBBO]

Or maybe it's something that is not for public consumption.

[eastie]

Or maybe it's something that is not for public consumption.

Seems to me that reading into lamberts comments he doesn't think bent is doing enough in training, I can't see bent staying here in January sadly.

[LeeB]

Pat murphy had a long interview with lambert on 5 live last night and repeatedly pressed lambert on bent, he said bent and benteke can play together as they did at st Mary's, he said bent is fit and available and there has been no bust up between them and that to get picked bent needs to train well and play well.

Pat Murphy "On the face of it they look like they could play together "
Lambert "They did at Southampton........"

Eastie pal, Lambert was pointing out that when he played them together it was probably our worst showing this season.

[frank black]

Surely Bent is a better option on the bench than Albrighton.

Or Bowery???

[JJ-AV]

Been away for a week so just catching up with everything.

I think there is a combination of factors with Bent - he's expensive, Lambert is building for the future and he's not totally suited to the system he wants to use.

It's a strange way to go about things, but if he doesn't want him as number 1 long-term and thinks we'll be better for it by not using him in the short term (and Bent hasn't reacted well) then it's understandable that he's been frozen out.

He's our highest earner and if we're skint and selling him enables Lambert to have £12m+ to spend and another 2 players with the wages Bent's departure frees up then it's understandable.

[themossman]

I'm not one for pop psychology but I've never seen someone touch their nose so clearly in response to a question, while raising their voice three octaves, as lambert did last night.

There is clearly a problem on a personal level and it smacks a bit of lambert establishing his status as 'big man' by picking on the fancy dan star player. Which might be to our long term benefit given the discipline problems we've had, but it's a bit of a risk.

[NeilH]

He's our highest earner and if we're skint and selling him enables Lambert to have £12m+ to spend and another 2 players with the wages Bent's departure frees up then it's understandable.

If we want to sell him, at least get him in the shop window. If Bent wants to go, then he'll clearly want to do his best to secure a move away. Start him on Saturday against QPR, if he scores and we win, everyone's a winner.

[eastie]

Pat murphy had a long interview with lambert on 5 live last night and repeatedly pressed lambert on bent, he said bent and benteke can play together as they did at st Mary's, he said bent is fit and available and there has been no bust up between them and that to get picked bent needs to train well and play well.

Pat Murphy "On the face of it they look like they could play together "
Lambert "They did at Southampton........"

Eastie pal, Lambert was pointing out that when he played them together it was probably our worst showing this season.

Did bent score that day ? Yes!
Was bent responsible for our shit second half defending ? No

Bent scored and benteke missed a couple of great chances, the reason we lost was crap defending !

[Dazvillain]

Remember that Bent signed for 18 million rising to 24 million. I wonder when that extra 6 million kicks in? According to wikipedia so far he has played 47 games for us. I wouldn't be surprised if the 6 mill or at least half of it, kicks in at 50 games. I bet Lambert is trying to avoid that on learners direction giving him the option of spending that on a younger cheaper striker. One thing is certain' at the moment' if Benteke gets injured we are going down.

I think you could be spot on. The way RL has controlled the finances in last few years, if Lambert says he doesn't figure long term then we ain't gonna pay another 6 million for a couple of games. We will struggle to get anywhere near 18 million back let alone 24. He's probably agreed that whatever we do get in Jan He can have to spend ?

[chrisw1]

I don't think it is understandable at all.

Last night was a vital game.  It was very tight and we could easily have gone 1 or 2 down.  When you are desperate for points, who would you rather have to come on to save / win a game?

There's clearly been a fall out and it looks irreconcilable.  It could be disastrous if Betenke gets injured or loses form.

[Salsa Party Animal]

It would be interesting to see what would Brian Clough (The proper one) and Arsene Wenger do if they had Darren Bent in their team.

[N'ZMAV]

Surely Bent is a better option on the bench than Albrighton.

Or Bowery???

We don't know what Bowery can do at the moment, but we do know what Albrighton can do, not a fucking lot.

[LeeB]

Pat murphy had a long interview with lambert on 5 live last night and repeatedly pressed lambert on bent, he said bent and benteke can play together as they did at st Mary's, he said bent is fit and available and there has been no bust up between them and that to get picked bent needs to train well and play well.

Pat Murphy "On the face of it they look like they could play together "
Lambert "They did at Southampton........"

Eastie pal, Lambert was pointing out that when he played them together it was probably our worst showing this season.

Do bent score that day ? Yes!
Was bent responsible for our shit second half defending ? No

Bent scored and benteke missed a couple of great chances, the reason we lost was crap defending !

Aye, he gets his tap in and does fuck all else.

If Bent were more flexible as a player he'd be playing, but he's not, and unfortunately we've got a better player in his position.