Darren Bent

[peter w]

So we're all narrative changing revisionists and Bent bashers (errrrm...). I also don't give to charity. Where's the General's thread?I needto bring down Mammon.

[brontebilly]

hope to see him get some game action today. going to be a tight game of few chances. dont think the direct ball to benteke will work at all. maybe bent to come in the second half and sniff out a goal like he did v west brom

[Brian Taylor]

So he came on and....??

[wozwebs]

Touched the ball 3 times in 28 minutes

[paul_e]

Touched the ball 3 times in 28 minutes

Mainly as a result of the massive holman shaped hole that Ireland completely and utterly failed to fill.

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

Not his fault at not getting much attention. Think we'd come to a dead end by that point and Stoke had been Stoke for far too long.

In this formation, I can see him playing, but he & Benteke must put the effort in all the time to put pressure on when we don't have the ball.

[Villadroid]

The Bent bashers won't be glad to hear that according to today's Times, Darren has a place in the top 20 Premiership players of the decade, based upon statistical analysis.

Drogba does not.

If ever there were a time to whip out 'Lied, damned lies and...', then this is it.

It seems likely that The Times knew exactly what they were doing when they wrote the sentence about Bent and Drogba.

They were obviously trying to entice people to sign up to The Times site to find out what were the parameters which produced such a surprising result.

But if I were to guess based on their previous output, I would say that their parameters probably are based on how many points a player adds to his team and the difference between when he plays and when he doesn't.

So if Bent has played for teams who have heavily relied on him to score their goals (Charlton, Sunderland, Villa) then that would be the outcome.

Chelsea having more than one good striker to call upon would be less dependent on Drogba's goals and would miss him less when he was out of the team, so the value he added to the team would be less.

Such a method would produce the outcome they mention.

[Dan England]

Doesn't work with the way we play under Lambert. He had an opportunity to stake a claim on a place today and then was, at best, anonymous. Get the cash for him and move on. At the right team he will be very very successful but it won't be us.

[danlanza]

Touched the ball 3 times in 28 minutes

Mainly as a result of the massive holman shaped hole that Ireland completely and utterly failed to fill.

Agreed. Holman going off was a bad move, imv.

[silhillvilla]

Reckon he'll play either Tuesday or at Anfield.

[Irish villain]

Bent wouldn't be the first big money and talented player to find himself not being able to make an impact because his game didn't happen to fit his manager's style of play.

There are countless examples of this. Bent suits a certain style. That's why we fans are even able to rule out certain potential transfer destinations because we know he wouldn't fit that team's style.

He has looked out of place under both TSM and PL. Under Houllier we were set up perfectly to utilise his strengths, that's why we splashed that cash. Times have changed and these days we actually look less likely to score with him in the side.

[Phil from the upper holte]

As soon as he came on we lost shape and stoke came info the game more, not Bent bashing either

[Monty]

As soon as he came on we lost shape and stoke came info the game more, not Bent bashing either

I agree, apart from the not Bent bashing bit *winky thing*.

It does look more like not fitting into the system more than anything, but he doesn't help himself. He just doesn't do anything in particular outside of the box, and that fundamentally limits our ability to create the type of chance he thinks his job is to convert. It just doesn't go.

[rutski]

totally ineffective within our style of play. he doesnt fit, he was a total spectator for the half hour he was on the pitch. i feel this may have been his epitaph. if lambert wants him out then he will show any doubters this half hour of football.

[Bottom Right 89]

Unless we get some more width Bent is surplus, Gabby and Benteke are not on the same page on yesterdays evidence so I'd have another go with Weimann and Benteke.

Either Lambert is; a) playing him to show everyone that he doesn't fit our system and try and subdue the media pressure b) realises that with only a couple of games till the transfer window opens he won't reach 50 league starts to trigger the Sunderland payment so won't cost us anything before he leaves or c) the hatchet has been buried and we'll play a different formation for the goal machine to start the next game. If I was on million pound drop I'd be looking at splitting between A and B, if Benty is still here in January I'll be amazed.