Darren Bent

[joey55]

I think he'll stay with you. Even if Lambert doesn't rate him, you can't let him leave for nothing and there just aren't many viable options for him. There just aren't many clubs who could realistically afford his wages and transfer fee, that actually need him.

Liverpool aren't going to drop a midfield player in order to accommodate a poacher. Rodgers plays a possession based game. All top sides do. I've read people saying Liverpool just need someone to finish off chances, but they wont have the same amount of chances or control over games if they were to use a player like Bent. He could be used as an impact sub, like Hernandez at Utd, but that isn't realistic.

Jol is struggling to get a player of Petric's quality in the Fulham side, as Ruiz is becoming such an influence playing behind Berba, so they wont be in for Bent. Harry rate's him as much as the average Spurs fan does, so he isn't going to QPR.

Unless a foreign club or West Ham come in for him, he'll be staying with you. I think he and Carroll would actually make a good pairing at West Ham.

[Nabby]

The loan fee would need to be Downing on a permenent deal and guaranteed fee of 20M at the end if it is a loan1

Thats the thing I can not see Liverpools oweners spending that type of money on him.Always rumours of Liverpool wanting him ..think it's all agent talk myself.

[CI]

No, Defoe is playing well.. I doubt AVB would want to let him go.

Can't see Rodgers wanting Bent Either.

Please keep in mind AVB is a raving lunatic

[AVFCforever1991]

Please keep in mind AVB is a raving lunatic

Yes but he knows when you have a striker scoring, you don't mess with the Formula.

But I suppose if QPR come in will stupid money for Defoe, then he would go.

[Big_John_10]

Rodgers let Carroll go because he couldn't fit his system. I don't see Darren Bent being the sort of player Rodgers wants.

[AndyM3000]

Yes but he knows when you have a striker scoring, you don't mess with the Formula.

But I suppose if QPR come in will stupid money for Defoe, then he would go.

Defoe scored a hat trick and was then dropped the next game so I wouldn't be too sure on that one!

[CI]

AVB refers to Defoe as Defoe rather than Jermaine

Says to me there is no love lost there

[ciggiesnbeer]

The Bent saga is baffling. There must be something here we dont know. i wonder if he has already been sold, or we are very close to a deal so lambert isnt playing him to avoid injury?

[coda]

I think Bent's absence is part not fitting in Lambert's system and part having a poor attitude when dropped.

[Ginko]

AVB refers to Defoe as Defoe rather than Jermaine

Says to me there is no love lost there

Wow, you're right, calling him by his surname effectively means he has no future at the club...

[LockStockVilla]

The Bent saga is baffling. There must be something here we dont know. i wonder if he has already been sold, or we are very close to a deal so lambert isnt playing him to avoid injury?

Or maybe there is some clause like with Davies where if he plays X more games he gets a pay rise, but if that was the case it would have made sense to sell in the Summer. Or if he plays much more we may owe more add on's to Sunderland. Personally I do not think either is the case though, and Lambert just does not see Bent as part of the long term plans and will try to bring in another striker of his own come January.

[smetrov]

Rodgers let Carroll go because he couldn't fit his system. I don't see Darren Bent being the sort of player Rodgers wants.

I think systems and principles go out of the window - when there is a 1 goal every 2 games striker up for grabs for between £10 - £12m

Its really fustrating - we had MON who continually played a non scoring Heskey - now we have Lambert who refuses to play the free scoring Bent - it could only happen at villa !

[CI]

Wow, you're right, calling him by his surname effectively means he has no future at the club...

You might be on to something

[TRO]

My guess is.... its all about his attitude towards training.

a bit of prima donna status kicking in, but hey who really knows.

Lambert is building a young squad and attitude and comittment seem high on his agenda.

[LockStockVilla]

Yeah, I'd agree with you TRO. I feel like Lambert was hoping Bent would respond a bit differently after getting stripped of the captaincy and dropped to the bench. I think he hoped it would be a kick up the arse for Bent and that it would motivate him him to work harder than ever, but then Bent after being benched against West Brom goes straight to the media after the game, which probably irked Lambert.

[Daniel]

Mat Kendrick ‏@MatKendrick

Rumours Darren Bent is not being picked because more appearances will trigger a hefty financial outlay for Villa are complete cack, I'm told

Even though he said it was rubbish, i wouldn't put it past that being the real reason.

[ciggiesnbeer]

Or maybe there is some clause like with Davies where if he plays X more games he gets a pay rise, but if that was the case it would have made sense to sell in the Summer. Or if he plays much more we may owe more add on's to Sunderland. Personally I do not think either is the case though, and Lambert just does not see Bent as part of the long term plans and will try to bring in another striker of his own come January.

Interesting. I guess we will find out.

I am perplexed though, maybe in training he just sits around and smokes joints while throwing paper darts at lamberts head or something but on the pitch if anything I have seen him far more commited this season when he plays.

Seems weird.

[Papillon]

I really hope Darren Bent comes back into the team and scores 5 goals in the next 8 games or so, so frustrating to read all these conspiracy theories. The common variable here is that none of us know anything about the "situation" at all, hopefully there isn't a situation to talk about in a few weeks. Now suddenly most people have kind of invented the fact that no team needs a poacher, that all players have to contribute. And Joey; you say Liverpool cannot field a poacher because they play possession football? Newsflash, they are 11th and they always seem to create chances. Sure, Suarez has finally started to score goals but they aren't scoring enough are they. They got Borini and he was supposed to be their new finisher, something he has failed to live up to before his injury. Listening to you talking about Bent is like asking your new girlfriend's ex about how she really is, the answer is always the same. Redknapp would probably love to get Bent in at QPR because realistically what can they get that is better than him in January? Hopefully he will never go there, because we would be extremely foolish to sell our best player to a team placed right under us in the fight for relegation.

And back to the talk about not contributing for the team in the build-up, possession, passing etc. We are 17th! I have seen positive reviews about almost every player in our team this season; from Guzan, Lowton, Vlaar, Clark, Weimann, Gabby, Benteke, Ireland, Holman, El Ahmadi, Bannan, Westwood to even Enda Stevens. Perception changes quickly of course, but after one decent game every player is suddenly the right player for the position. Players like N'Zogbia and Bent are slagged off heavily, even when both are injured and not able to play.. However, my prediction is that especially these two players have to fire on all cylinders to give us a chance at staying up this season. I think people need to be careful with their superlatives; a decent game is suddenly a great game, and when a new, young midfielder manages to string a few passes together he is suddenly the new Gerrard and Lampard reincarnated. I even read positive reviews after the 5-0 trashing away to City, is this how far we have come in denial?

The match tomorrow will give a lot of answers. We have supposedly come a long way in the last few games and I want to see that against a side we should and must win against. We were decent against a very tired Arsenal-team and we could have gotten 3 points, just as we could have lost, but I think I saw something we haven't had in most of our games. A loss tomorrow will be very detrimental and will leave us 19th in the table after 14 games. A draw will still see us in 18th and a win will most likely get us out of there even though both Southampton and Sunderland have home games against weak teams. The common belief is that Lambert's style and new team will automatically gel better with time and that we will be awesome come May, however my belief is that if you are 19th after 14 games (the same as 37% of the entire season) you are actually in deep, deep trouble.

I hope Darren Bent plays tomorrow and scores a goal or two, just to get the feel-good factor back for both him and the fans. Besides, we have fielded the same players in attack for a while now and some players need to rest eventually.

[LockStockVilla]

I agree with alot of your sentiment Papillon, it is obviously not ideal for us to be in this situation with a player who is certainly one of our best and who can help us if in form. I too really hope at some point he does get the chance to stake his claim to start again, and hopefully it is tomorrow.

[AndyM3000]

I don't think a player like Bent is ever on or off form, if you give him a chance or two a game hes likely to score it and if you don't its pointless playing him. Its obvious to everyone we create more without him in the team, if we could create the same chances now with him playing then he would play. He needs wingers, our wingers are shit so we are playing narrow and it doesn't suit him.

However I hope we don't sell him and then buy two wingers, because that would be silly.

I like the system we are using but im not a massive fan of what each player is doing. If we play 4-2-3-1, then we have two holding mids and the full backs are suppose to bomb on, but they don't do that as much as I think they should at all, This would help Bent's game a lot. It creates more space in the middle. If we play the system and our full backs don't get forward then its pointless having two holding mids as well because we don't give the other team enough to worry about and its way too easy for them to cut off all service to Bent with pressure and marking of other players and they can tighten up the back 4 and crowd out the available space.