Darren Bent - so what now?

[Brend'Watkins]

Ahead of Holt most certainly.  We're without Benteke till around November, Kosak too might take time to get up to speed.  Bent has experience, okay he's not the player he once was but will still do a job of sorts.  We need him.

[rob_bridge]

I think he will sit out the remainder of his contract unless Martinez or Hughes fancies a punt on him.

[phantom limb]

Sell him to QPR, they'll probably double his wages.

[Villafirst]

I wouldn't write off Bent just yet. Let's face it, he's had pretty shoddy treatment from our management. A new owner/manager might just be the answer. He still has that goal scoring ability which is a precious commodity. I'd let the new manager decide.

[kippaxvilla2]

For some reason as footballers and their ego's go I like the bloke.  And I do have some sympathy with the way he has been bombed out.  Not saying managers didnt have justifiable reasons, but he does have an incredible scoring ratio and us and decent number 9's have been rare as rocking horse doo doo in recent years.  I would love to get him back to the way he was before - especially if Benteke left.

[Toronto Villa]

depending on how the next manager tries to set us up and play Bent might be decent off the bench. We're paying him anyway. If Lambert is still here there is no future for Bent so he'll somewhere other than with us, playing or not. But the next bloke might just think he's not bad to have around in his final year and might even find a use for him. In truth though, Bent is a spent force and the type of player you have set up very specifically for. It's why there have been so few takers despite his excellent PL goalscoring record over his career.

[Somniloquism]

Ahead of Holt most certainly.  We're without Benteke till around November, Kosak too might take time to get up to speed.  Bent has experience, okay he's not the player he once was but will still do a job of sorts.  We need him.

Yep, he can play instead of Gabby and / or Weimann as the goals/ per game ratio will probably be the same.

[supertom]

If we were set up in the right way with players in midfield able to retain the ball and more tactical cohesion then I'd think Bent might have something to offer as an impact player.
You have to account for him not being part of the general play though and also provide him with plenty of service. Ironically I think he'd have thrived on Albrightons service in the last couple of months.

However if we stay similar in terms of set up then we need a front man who's going to cover some ground, run the channels etc. I'd honestly play Bowery ahead of Bent at the moment. If we were set up more like we were in latter Houllier then Bent would be useful still, even with his pace all but gone.

I suspect if a new manager comes in and is eyeing up new players then they might want to bring in another front man. You would imagine a few of Lamberts signings might be rendered obsolete. Helenius perhaps. Maybe Bowery. Possibly even Kozak, even though he did well on the whole this season. I think Bent is a goner to be honest. If we're going for anything like a progressive manager next up, he'll not be using a front man like Bent.

[PeterWithesShin]

I'm not trying to re-write history, but I dont buy this "without him we'd have gone down" stuff.

The day he signed only GD was keeping us out the bottom 3. We may not have gone down anyway, but signing Bent guaranteed we didn't.

[Ads]

We were bottom of the league when we drew 2-2 at Chelsea in January.

[PeterWithesShin]

We were bottom of the league when we drew 2-2 at Chelsea in January.

We drew 3-3 and were 15th. We were 19th before the 1-1 draw at small heath a couple of weeks later. Then Bent signed with us out of the bottom 3 on GD.

League table when Bent signed

[Villa in Denmark]

We were bottom of the league when we drew 2-2 at Chelsea in January.

We drew 3-3 and were 15th. We were 19th before the 1-1 draw at small heath a couple of weeks later. Then Bent signed with us out of the bottom 3 on GD.

League table when Bent signed

At the risk of being a pedant, according to that table, it was only goals scored holding us out of the bottom 3 at that point.

[Matt Collins]

Surely the fact that he's done the square root of fuck all at Fulham tells us something?! Can't believe people still think he could do a job for us. He doesn't participate in the game and football can't tolerate players like that any more.

[Meanwood Villa]

Surely the fact that he's done the square root of fuck all at Fulham tells us something?! Can't believe people still think he could do a job for us. He doesn't participate in the game and football can't tolerate players like that any more.

This. Can't see him playing for us again. He's yesterday's man.

[eamonn]

Surely the fact that he's done the square root of fuck all at Fulham tells us something?! Can't believe people still think he could do a job for us. He doesn't participate in the game and football can't tolerate players like that any more.

He won them a point with a last-gasp strike at Mould Trafford. Wouldn't you like him to do that for us?