Darren Bent joins Fulham on loan (Reply #486)

[brontebilly]

barney ronay from the guardian on Bent's performance v West Ham

There were, of course, no shortage of Things That Went Wrong in Martin Jol's Fulham team. Point at it. You can be fairly sure, in one way or another, it went wrong. From managerial drift to a listless squad, to yet another case of Adelusion, a condition whereby sufferers remain convinced, even with mounting evidence to the contrary, that the answer to the question "how are we going to score goals in the Premier League?" is "by signing a meandering, brilliantly talented Moroccan who's very good at dribbling with his head down". Most striking during Saturday's abject 3-0 defeat at West Ham was the spectacle of England's Darren Bent, scorer of 151 league goals, but just three in the last two years. Bent was not to blame for Fulham's defeat, but he has a symbolic kind of anti-value. At times against West Ham he broke into a jog, most often when finding himself standing significantly offside. For the rest of the match he didn't so much walk around as walk slightly slower than most people walk even when they're not playing a football match. Perhaps he was slowed by the size of his shorts which seem to have grown rather in the last couple of years. Perhaps he was simply waiting to explode into life given the right kind of service. Either way, as the first half began to drag, it was tempting to ponder the interesting philosophical question of whether the presence of Bent in Fulham's attack was having have more or less influence on the match than Andy Carroll's absence from West Ham's.

This is perhaps a little unfair on Modibo Maiga, who was energetic as the lone striker, while Bent, who really should be looking to earn himself an endorsement deal as the face of a popular brand of walking boot, strolled the periphery, starved of the right kind of pass, but also seeming content to remain so. What a waste all round. Bent is still only 29. At a time when possession of a pair of boots and a shirt with the right kind of number on it is enough to earn a call-up, he might have spent the last two years playing for England. Instead his performances at Fulham look like a salutary example of late-career Premier League congealment, not to mention an indictment of Jol's allegedly wondrous contacts book. Barney Ronay

[Dante Lavelli]

Barney Ronay is such a brilliant writer.  He's wasted on sport.

[walsall villain]

Loved that article, a perfect description of the Darren Bent many of us saw but some couldn't.

[Chris Jameson]

Barney Ronay is such a brilliant writer.  He's wasted on sport.

I always start to read his column on a Saturday and never make it to the end, he's not anywhere near as funny as he thinks he is.

[eamonn]

He doesn't take into account Bent's injuries and benched time over the past couple of years which in fairness wasn't really his fault. Both benders - Bent and eke are having poor times though we made the right decision with regard to both.

[Ron Manager]

Barney Ronay is such a brilliant writer.  He's wasted on sport.

I would recommend his book on Sunday parks football 'Any Chance of a Game' . Brilliant!

[Ron Manager]

Loved that article, a perfect description of the Darren Bent many of us saw but some couldn't.

151 league goals. In the top flight. Perfect description of Darren Bent.

[SoccerHQ]

For a top level striker he does touch the ball ridiculously few times. Pretty sure when we went to West Ham last season he only touched it 7 times in the entire game.

Can't argue with his goalscoring record generally but you expect more from strikers in the modern game.

[Hopadop]

That Guardian report on Bent sounds exactly like his performance at Spurs under TSM.

Maybe it wasn't his night, and God knows he wasn't alone, but I can't think of many Villa players so content to amble the game away.

I really took a dislike to him that night.

[PeterWithesShin]

Loved that article, a perfect description of the Darren Bent many of us saw but some couldn't.

151 league goals. In the top flight. Perfect description of Darren Bent.

He hasn't scored a 151 top flight league goals. About a third were in the Championship with Ipswich.

[brontebilly]

That Guardian report on Bent sounds exactly like his performance at Spurs under TSM.

Maybe it wasn't his night, and God knows he wasn't alone, but I can't think of many Villa players so content to amble the game away.

I really took a dislike to him that night.

did you see Benteke v Sunderland?

[Hopadop]

Ha! No I didn't, but I can imagine he does a decent amble as well. But at least he normally looks a bit pissed off in the process.

Bent that night in Tottenham didn't, I'm convinced, care less. I'm not normally one for taking against players but I'm delighted we got shot of him.

[supertom]

Had Bent come up 10 years earlier his record would have been even better. Very similar to Wrighty and a young Andy Cole. He's reliant on his service.
In the last five years the Prem has had a shift. It started moving that way before then but it's become more so of late, that the old school poacher is becoming a thing of the past. Teams favour a big man, or a more all round forward who can get involved in the game.

What also hasn't helped Bent in the last two years has been injuries. They've ruined him because he now doesn't have the pace to play on the shoulder of the last defender. That was a big part of his game and that's gone now. All he has is the danger he poses in and around the 6 yard box. If you don't get him the service, he's buggered. The thing with Bent I guess is, he could touch the ball maybe 200 times a season but still get you 20 goals. The problem is what about all those minutes in games where you're playing with 10 men essentially? What about the points you drop if he misses a chance or never gets it. Or all the times his lack of presence contributes to how effectively the opposition attack. If he scores one but you still lose the game then it's all for naught. Occasionally Bent would also score and that would be him done for the game. He'd go from ambling to reclined on a deck chair, sipping a pina colada. That happened in McLeish's season, also we saw that against Wigan last day last season.

Lambert identified this pretty quickly and dealt with it with real strength of will. To just leave out the clubs record signing took balls.

[Dante Lavelli]

Had Bent come up 10 years earlier his record would have been even better. Very similar to Wrighty and a young Andy Cole. He's reliant on his service.
In the last five years the Prem has had a shift. It started moving that way before then but it's become more so of late, that the old school poacher is becoming a thing of the past. Teams favour a big man, or a more all round forward who can get involved in the game.

What also hasn't helped Bent in the last two years has been injuries. They've ruined him because he now doesn't have the pace to play on the shoulder of the last defender. That was a big part of his game and that's gone now. All he has is the danger he poses in and around the 6 yard box. If you don't get him the service, he's buggered. The thing with Bent I guess is, he could touch the ball maybe 200 times a season but still get you 20 goals. The problem is what about all those minutes in games where you're playing with 10 men essentially? What about the points you drop if he misses a chance or never gets it. Or all the times his lack of presence contributes to how effectively the opposition attack. If he scores one but you still lose the game then it's all for naught. Occasionally Bent would also score and that would be him done for the game. He'd go from ambling to reclined on a deck chair, sipping a pina colada. That happened in McLeish's season, also we saw that against Wigan last day last season.

Lambert identified this pretty quickly and dealt with it with real strength of will. To just leave out the clubs record signing took balls.

Well said.  This should be copied and pasted everytime the Bent debate rears it's ugly head.  I think it sums up his pros and cons brilliantly.

[Ron Manager]

Loved that article, a perfect description of the Darren Bent many of us saw but some couldn't.

151 league goals. In the top flight. Perfect description of Darren Bent.

He hasn't scored a 151 top flight league goals. About a third were in the Championship with Ipswich.

I stand corrected.  128 in the top flight. Obviously he is utter rubbish then.