Darren Bent, can he keep us up??

[pedro25]

Yep, Delph, Bannan, Westwood, Kea, N'Zogbia, Ireland, Holman and Albrighton have about 3 goals between them all season, which is really pathetic.  The front 4 have 31 which is pretty good.

[Monty]

Yep, Delph, Bannan, Westwood, Kea, N'Zogbia, Ireland, Holman and Albrighton have about 3 goals between them all season, which is really pathetic.  The front 4 have 31 which is pretty good.

Now that's the point. And you have to ask yourself, who would be more likely to turn provider, Bent or Benteke, or Weimann?

[Summers]

Bent has been shit all season. And yes, he has played and had chances. Offers less than Benteke & Weimann.

[tomd2103]

Bent practically kept us up the season before last scoring some fantastic goals,the two at Arsenal spring to mind.I don't remember anybody calling him lazy then? The fact is we have had two consecutive shit managers who haven't the first clue about how to play to his strengths.Bloody hell even Steve Bruce managed it.The constant chopping and changing of the team hasn't helped and refusing to play him must have dented his confidence( he is human).It's the manager that's overrated and basically useless not Bent.If he went to any other team in the league he'd be scoring hatfuls as he has done all his career

I think the injuries he has suffered have taken their toll and he is not the same player he was then.  He looks sluggish and can't even get off the ground to get anywhere near winning headers.  For the past two seasons, he's hardly had a kick when he's started games and I agree with the previous poster who said that we just can't afford to carry passengers at the moment. 

Going forward, I'm convinced that 4-2-3-1 is the best formation for us.  LB is a problem, but I guess putting Baker there will at least help us with height when defending set pieces.  The defensive midfield options should be Westwood, KEA, Delph and Sylla, and the attacking midfield options should be N'Zogbia, Bannan and Ireland.  Gabby and Weimann out wide with Holman and N'Zogbia as options, leaving a choice between Benteke and Bent up front.    If he is going to play, then we are going to have to completely change the way we play.  We'll have to play through the attacking midfielder and wide players, and have Bent just in the team to be in the box.

[Concrete John]

Benteke scores about the same as Bent does, so can't see how much difference he will make.  Unless we convert him to a centre half!

Benteke plays every game though, Bent doesn't.
I'd stick Bent in a leave him there till the end of the season. I like Benteke but he misses lots of chances. We need Bent's clinical finishing to save us, and as long as we have width (N'Zogbia are you listening?) we have a chance. It's our few remaining big players that will get us out of this god damn mess.

I meant in terms of goals to games.  Someone put the stats on the transfer thread the other day and we actually get more from Benteke than Bent.   

Bent never plays 90 minutes though.
The fairest comparison would be goals per minutes and I imagine Bent would pwn Benteke on that score.

The comparison wasn't this season - it was over their respective Villa careers to date.

[Merv]

Seriously, how badly and anonymously does Bent have to play and how clearly better do we have to look with Benteke and Weimann in the side before people see how overrated Bent is? Seriously, I thought the Newcastle game would have been the clincher. I can't believe this debate is still happening.

I don't know. I thought his 45 mins v Newcastle would have demonstrated perfectly why Lambert is reluctant to use Bent regularly.

As for the 'one chance' debate... my answer's Weimann. More clinical than Bent - Bent actually misses a lot - AND offers a great deal else. It's not a Benteke v Bent argument, it's a Weimann v Bent argument IMO.

Quite apart from getting injured regularly this season, Bent has shown that, almost the minute something goes against him (dropped once) his body language changes, and it becomes about him, nothing else. It's kind of indicative across some of the other senior players. Not sure they want to knuckle down and get us out of trouble.

[Greg N'Ash]

Benteke would be getting exactly the same accusations of lazyness  if the team was set up to play to Bent's strengths instead of the other way around. Bent's not going to come back and retrieve the ball from midfield, hold up the ball or throw himself into tackles - thats not his game, anymore than its any goal poachers in the PL. Might as well complain why Vlaar doesn't cross more into the box from the wing. What you have with Bent is a goal hanger and played on the ground to his feet with him off the shoulder of the last defender, he's as good as anyone. He just doesn't get those balls. At all. If we were set up to play like that i'd he'd be in double figures by now, and we'd be good few places higher.

[danno]

Benteke would be getting exactly the same accusations of lazyness  if the team was set up to play to Bent's strengths instead of the other way around. Bent's not going to come back and retrieve the ball from midfield, hold up the ball or throw himself into tackles - thats not his game, anymore than its any goal poachers in the PL. Might as well complain why Vlaar doesn't cross more into the box from the wing. What you have with Bent is a goal hanger and played on the ground to his feet with him off the shoulder of the last defender, he's as good as anyone. He just doesn't get those balls. At all. If we were set up to play like that i'd he'd be in double figures by now, and we'd be good few places higher.

Who would you supply him with?
Agree that we could've played 4-4-2 this year, but with who wide?
Two from Albrighton, Holman Carruthers and the Zog
and what about our midfield pairing? From Bannan Delph and Westwood?
I can see both sides of the argument.

[glasses]

Benteke scores about the same as Bent does, so can't see how much difference he will make.  Unless we convert him to a centre half!

Benteke plays every game though, Bent doesn't.
I'd stick Bent in a leave him there till the end of the season. I like Benteke but he misses lots of chances. We need Bent's clinical finishing to save us, and as long as we have width (N'Zogbia are you listening?) we have a chance. It's our few remaining big players that will get us out of this god damn mess.

I meant in terms of goals to games.  Someone put the stats on the transfer thread the other day and we actually get more from Benteke than Bent.   

Bent never plays 90 minutes though.
The fairest comparison would be goals per minutes and I imagine Bent would pwn Benteke on that score.

The comparison wasn't this season - it was over their respective Villa careers to date.

It was. I spent the time to do the sums and posted the comparison in the Transfer thread.

[JUAN PABLO]

Bloody hell, never realised or expected we'd get rid of Warnock! The one time I want him in our side over the last 3 years and it's when he's fucked off! ha ha. Sums us up at the minute really.

Has Heskey left yet? 

yes but Salifou is working in catering at VP

[Greg N'Ash]

Benteke would be getting exactly the same accusations of lazyness  if the team was set up to play to Bent's strengths instead of the other way around. Bent's not going to come back and retrieve the ball from midfield, hold up the ball or throw himself into tackles - thats not his game, anymore than its any goal poachers in the PL. Might as well complain why Vlaar doesn't cross more into the box from the wing. What you have with Bent is a goal hanger and played on the ground to his feet with him off the shoulder of the last defender, he's as good as anyone. He just doesn't get those balls. At all. If we were set up to play like that i'd he'd be in double figures by now, and we'd be good few places higher.

Who would you supply him with?
Agree that we could've played 4-4-2 this year, but with who wide?
Two from Albrighton, Holman Carruthers and the Zog
and what about our midfield pairing? From Bannan Delph and Westwood?
I can see both sides of the argument.

i think the "no-wideman" arguement is a bit of a red herring. You don't need to be a winger to pass it on the floor to his feet, you just need someone who can pass! I don't think he's particurly good with crosses anyway.

[glasses]

Benteke would be getting exactly the same accusations of lazyness  if the team was set up to play to Bent's strengths instead of the other way around. Bent's not going to come back and retrieve the ball from midfield, hold up the ball or throw himself into tackles - thats not his game, anymore than its any goal poachers in the PL. Might as well complain why Vlaar doesn't cross more into the box from the wing. What you have with Bent is a goal hanger and played on the ground to his feet with him off the shoulder of the last defender, he's as good as anyone. He just doesn't get those balls. At all. If we were set up to play like that i'd he'd be in double figures by now, and we'd be good few places higher.

I tend to disagree, because I think Benteke would also thrive in the role/team set up you suggest Bent plays best in.

[Greg N'Ash]

Benteke would be getting exactly the same accusations of lazyness  if the team was set up to play to Bent's strengths instead of the other way around. Bent's not going to come back and retrieve the ball from midfield, hold up the ball or throw himself into tackles - thats not his game, anymore than its any goal poachers in the PL. Might as well complain why Vlaar doesn't cross more into the box from the wing. What you have with Bent is a goal hanger and played on the ground to his feet with him off the shoulder of the last defender, he's as good as anyone. He just doesn't get those balls. At all. If we were set up to play like that i'd he'd be in double figures by now, and we'd be good few places higher.

I tend to disagree, because I think Benteke would also thrive in the role/team set up you suggest Bent plays best in.

well thats possible, but we'll never find out with the current manager

[JUAN PABLO]

Benteke wins every thing in the air , we just need Gary Shaw to finish off the knock downs.

[Concrete John]

What you have with Bent is a goal hanger and played on the ground to his feet with him off the shoulder of the last defender, he's as good as anyone. He just doesn't get those balls. At all. If we were set up to play like that i'd he'd be in double figures by now, and we'd be good few places higher.

I think where that argument loses it's veracity is that set up for Benteke he's also got double figures, so how would we therefore be higher up the table?