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Darren Bent Wanting Talks Over Future?

The Daily Star says that Darren Bent wants 'showdown` talks with Villa boss Paul Lambert

As we mentioned the other day, there appear to be slight problems and they might only be slight. A good manager I`m sure can settle things back down again. However, Bent did look mightily fed up when interviewed. See: Lazy Darren Bent? Don't Make Me Laugh!

Anyway, the press report says he wants talks. One of the gossip sites say that Liverpool are set to pounce in January as Brendan Rodgers has an obvious need for a striker. Apparently they have a £20m budget. I'll not link to the site though, no flesh on the bone so why give them the traffic!?

Bent said: "The manager has said nothing. I`ve not spoken to him at all about why he left me out. We`ll probably speak this week. I can`t remember the last time I`ve been left out of a side. I only found out when the gaffer read the team sheet out. It`s frustrating and disappointing. All I can do is keep coming on and scoring goals, and take it from there."

He also said again that it has been a crappy couple of weeks, lose the captaincy and then got dropped.

"Maybe he wanted to give me a kick up the backside. Strikers are always judged on scoring goals. After getting the one last week against Southampton, I thought that would build me up for West Brom, but it just wasn`t to be. It was good to get on the pitch and show I am a goalscorer and I can score goals, if given the chances."

A series of tweets from the Midlands correspondent for The Mirror James Nursey on the same subject:

James Nursey ‏@JamesNursey
Bent has taken it personally but Lambert has no favourites & doesn't justify\explain decisions to players. He's old school like Clough

And I have to say Lambert's methods appear justified as never seen Bent so fired up & lively as when came off bench v #WBA!

At #NCFC Lambert often upset players by axing them & changing side regularly but think he believes any aggro from it helps motivate\inspire

Clearly it's a fine line between inspiring #AVFC players & cheesing them off! But vital players know no favourites & are picked on form.

To conclude, can see why Bent miffed after goal v Saints. But if Lambert's axe fires him up & he now scores several, then end justify means

Darren Bent Profile

Darren Bent Forum Thread

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Writer: J P Fear

Date:Wednesday October 3 2012

Time: 12:00PM

Your Comments

No player should think he is untouchable although for senior pros it might be worth a word in the ear to forwarn them. No player is bigger than the team or the club although I do wonder if the press are blowing this one up rather than the player.

Merlin128777

Quite sure the press are blowing it up, it's what they do. They wont sell papers any other way. I am quite sure Bent knows he is part of a team and PL is the manager.

Charizma

I can't believe all this fuss, and I'm a little disappointed in Bent to be honest. He was dropped for ONE game, and still got to come on and score the equalizer. But maybe as Merlin says, the press are making far more of this than Bent is. I can't see why there would be any problems between Lambert and Bent.

Stephen Jay Hawkings

I think it's great that he's *****ed off, it shows he cares and look how he responded. Great management by PL, it's not all about pandering to peole to keep them happy, it's about getting the best out of the players and with Bent scoring coming off the bench PL did exactly that.

As far as Bent's general comments, I don't see too much here, he said he expects they will talk later in the week - I don't see where that means that they need "cear the air" talks, probably just an informal chat to make sure they both understand how things are.

At the end of the day PL picks the team he thinks will win, not the one that played last time regardless of individual performance. There is much more to winning than form, there's something called tactics too and different players fulfull different roles. It's just typical journos picking up on something and blowing it up to make a story.

villan of the north

Benty you have a auroa surrounding you that you are some sort of goal machine, lets not kids ourselves you have scored 20 goals in 1 season only in context so has Heskey. You do not get picked on your ego or your own self belief you get picked if you score goals, so stop whining to anyone that will listen and do your talking with your goals. If not 20 million for someone who doesnt work as hard off the ball and at 28 isnt getting any younger might not look at bad idea although this has been blown up a little i feel

Chiefy

He needs to shut up and get on with it. PL is the manager and is paid accordingly to make team decisions. End of. Have some respect FFS.

evoflash

It always amazes me when players speak to the press instead of knocking on the door of the Manager and keeping it in house. The press will always blow something small into something massive. There should be some law as to press, agents and other clubs unsettling players. However if its true, then as stated by Chiefy, Bent is 28 and maybe he should be moved on, or maybe some type of swap deal for Carroll. I don't believe in keeping players that unsettle the dressing room or don't want to play for Villa and it does seem as though Bent is getting to big for his boots.

tvrwhitey

He needs to give everyone in the team a chance. If they do well in training and on the pitch they will retain their place. Darren is known for his lack of efforts off the ball and playing as a team..... Perhaps Lambert is just reminding him of that and rightly so.

leelindsay

Where is the story here??? "We`ll probably speak this week" is what he said on MOTD, and what the media claim means he is demanding showdown talks. On top of that he said he is frustrated not to start a game...isn't everyone?!?! Anyone reading to much into the media's spin on the fact that the 2 strikers who performed brilliantly against the champions of England and kept their place in the team need to have a look in the mirror.

Francobaresi13

Chiefy, Bent's Villa record is nearly one in two. You have a problem with his form? What do you expect from him? I thought we all knew, when we got him, that we were getting a player who is primarily a goal scorer. Well one in two proves that he is exactly that. A player can do all the off the ball running, tackling and creative work you like but it all comes to nothing if there is no one there to put the ball in the back of the net and not only is Bent our best at that by a country mile, he's also one of the best currently plying his trade in the Premier League.

villan of the north

He was disappointed, any top player is when on the bench, then the media stuck a microphone in his face when pumped full of adrenalin .... I don't read it as him having a serious issue with Lambert at all, Lambert has constantly made his views known about hunger and getting a place on merit, he also constantly maintains it's a squad, not a team of individuals. Gabby and Benteke deserved their place after the Man City game, it didn't quite work against West Brom so Bent got his chance and gave the gaffer something to think about ..... welcome to a competitive squad Darren, you will certainly start against Spurs come Sunday. Keep up the good work and you'll keep the place. This is how it should be. UTV

astonmilan

villian of the north : 24 million 1 in 2 compared to stephen fletcher 12 million and so far 5 in 4 and works harder off the ball, I wouldn't mind a player like that thanks

Chiefy

I've read the transcript of his "interview" in several online newspapers and where the "talks on future" and "showdown talks" headline come from is not Darren Bent. A "chat with the manager later in the week" is translated by the news hacks into these headlines. Don't worry, PL is building a squad, not a team, it's what we have been calling for over recent years.

Nat999

I think the only truth to care about in all this is that he didnt know he was dropped until the team was read out. Unless Lambert decided two minutes before, that seems a bit bogus. Dropped is dropped, regardless of how you tell them. I cant see how anyone can argue that this was a better way of doing it, than having a quiet word that morning or on the Friday. Man management is not simply treating everyone the same regardless - at the end of the day Bent costs the club a lot more per game than anyone else right now...so he should be classified as KPR (Key Personnel Resource). Anyone who thinks these players care about if they are "treated equally" in these matters when some of them earn 10-20 times more than others is kidding themselves. It is about the Ben(t)jamins. Also want to know if this is how you do paragraphs in this application....like the post before this one....

malacaxeta

Er no...obviously. How do you do that VOTN?? Is it a control character.....

malacaxeta

Dont use Steven Fletcher as an example look at a players whole career not 4 games for a new team...

CDX_EIRE

For goodness sake he hasn't said anything remotely controversial only that he's had a bad couple of weeks. Headline to wind up the story here...

daveyboyr

Fletcher is a food example. If you want to look at a player's career, look at Brent's. what has he won???? Football is about end products and EVERY team that he's played for, which has been set up to give him the ball inside the 12 yard mark has done sweet ***** all. It's like saying one of our midfielders has the most amount of accurate passes under Houllier. It was on the halfway line so it's completely pointless. DB9 has a good goal scoring record at most teams that he's played at. BUT IT'S TO THE DETRIMENT OF THE TEAM. He's won ***** all and should be looking in the mirror to see how he can get the team to win games and forget his selfish goal record.

Villan444

444: What food is Fletcher? Who is Brent? Where's my duvet...I was cold last night and had to break out the "Savo" 12 tog, usually reserved for special occasions!

koolbill

Villan 444 or AVFC48...or whatever you name is...WHAT A LOAD OF OLD TOSH...

Steve64k

oh and when Bent left Charlton (no one can argue his goals kept them up) they were relegated....So his goals have never been to the detriment to any team....Houllier would have taken us down without his goals...

Steve64k

Lol. Some have stooped so low as to be begging for survival?!?!?!? Personally I hope for more. Bent works in a basic format (which won't work against decent teams and is basically similar to a long ball game) but will NEVER EVER be part of a successful team. Wake up and look at the bigger picture!!

Villan444

Steve, there's no point explaining anymore to people who are incapable of understanding.

Villan444

Saying that, I'll try again. Lol. Bent scores a few, Charlton stay up, Curbs leaves (not Bent,) and they get relegated. This was 15 years ago anyway. Football has moved on, some supporters need to also!!!

Villan444

Er, about my duvet?

koolbill

So was Bent 13 years old when plying his trade with Charlton 444? Can't see goals being a detriment really. Can understand the words typed but can we really evidence over Bents injury time out that it positively affected the team? You seem better with the stats 444, so, I'll leave you to prove your point with them. I think bent looked awesome when linking with Benteke to supply with goal chances via headed knockdowns...what did you think?

koolbill

444......if a striker does what he's paid to do...ie score goals....then how is that a detriment to them team?...Andy Wieman scored a goal against Fulham...That in the end was the difference between survival and relegation.....Bent has been too often as a lone striker last season with no midfielders gong beyond the striker(s) so it's very difficult to assist when you team mates weren't venturing beyond the half way line....as per McNuggets tactics...but have it your way if you like...but I'm more than happy to see Bent score goals.

Steve64k

444 you talk total and utter tosh. Were Liniker and rush players that were detrimental their teams? They basically had the same game as bent were arguably even more lazy as I think bent has up'd his work rate recently. Your starting to sound a bit too blinkered with this blind crusade against bent. He played 20 minutes at the weekend and scored that's a good return in my book, 2 in 2 games to boot.

daveyboyr

LOL, Lineker and Rush were world class finishers. Lineker won the golden boot at the Euros. Rush is still the top goalscorer for his (pretty average ) country. Bent doesn't even seem to be anywhere near the England team. No contest. IMO Bent is pretty much useless at everything other than finishing. There's a place for him in our squad but this is NOT as a guaranteed starter. There's no end product to his goals. He obviously scores them but this has an adverse affect on the teams that he plays for shown in his non winning of anything ever. The team has to be set up in such a way to accomodate him and he really isn't good enough to build a team around. Not Villa anyway. Nothing personal, just don't see the hype that some think that they do.

Villan444

I have to disagree and chiefy, do you really want to swap a donkey like caroll for a proven goalscorer?? It's like asking for Heskey back!

thorpyuk

what a stupid statement 444..."no end product to his goals"...excuse me but 1) a goal is an end product 2) gaining points via said goals is another end product.

Steve64k

444 you missed the point tell me what Lineker and Rush were good at other than finishing? Would you rate them as bad players their strike rate was similar to that of Bent for their clubs? No of course not I think we are lucky to have Bent... The reason he hasn't won anything you complete dumb ass is because he's played for teams not capable of winning anything Charlton, Tottenham (when they were crap) Sunderland and yes us hardly teams that challenge year in year out, get a grip.

daveyboyr

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