Morpheus Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 An able replacement is someone that can do what Lambert wants. Benteke is the focal point of our play, most of what we do goes through him, swapping him for Bent wouldn't work, I think if we were to replace Bent it would be for someone more in the Benteke mould, or at least someone who is good with the ball outside of the box and can contribute to the teams overall play, rather than someone who is only good in the penalty box. I was of the view that we should be building the team around Bent. It's quite obvious that in order to get the best out of him you need wingers and creative players behind him to give him chances, he doesn't offer a fat lot else without service. Gabby and Weimann aren't exactly great chance creators, pushing them wider isn't going to achieve much when both are more effective coming in central when attacking. I think you either have to build around Bent or get shot, he's too one dimensional. Again all very fair points but lets say then we do replace Bent with someone more in the mould of Benteke. Do you think he would come knowing that since Lambert likes to play one upfront he would be understudy to Benteke? If your going to do that then we'd be better off using Bowery as the understudy and using the Bent money to strengthen the team elsewhere which takes me back to the original point of selling Bent now would be leaving us very weak upfront. We also have N'Zogbia coming back and Albrighton is still available so we could still use Bent as plan B if plan A isn't working and again Benteke cannot be expected to play every game. He will need resting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Not a lot of love for Whelan, eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob182 Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 A cheap option to replace Bent as back up striker could be Nikola Djurdjic, who'd probably cost £1.5m. who has a 1 in 1 ratio in the swedish league and did well in UEFA competition this fall. Skillful striker who makes others around him perform better. This gets a thumbs-up from Me, because I bought him on FM and he scored 18 all season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyp102 Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Bent has been ineffective as he is a one dimensional luxury player we cannot afford at this time. HIs performace against Norwich was a disgrace as he didnt know how to keep the ball up which led to lots of pressure on our defence and the inevitable goal conceded Don't think you can blame bent for Norwich, he wasn't given a chance... The ball was launched either miles away or above him... PL got his tactics wrong in that match by taking off gabby and benteke and bringing on bent with albrighton left on... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 well Benteke was knackered after international duty and an early kick off and think him or Gabby picked up an injury in the game IIRC. his lack of ability to hold the ball up meant constant pressure on the defence when a 15-20 break was needed. for me his performance that game proved and showed the manager he cant fit the system Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodytom Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Selling Bent is a huge decision and one that would put a lot of the blame if we were relegated on Lambert. Yeah from people who don't seem to realise that we were shite and lacking in goals with Bent! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted December 5, 2012 Author Share Posted December 5, 2012 Bent isn't the problem, the midfield and it's lack of service is. In theory, a Bent-Benteke partnership should be deadly, as long as they get decent service, but we don't have a single midfield player who can be relied on to execute a consistently good cross or slotted ball. It's painful how totally inept our midfield is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_John_10 Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Yeah from people who don't seem to realise that we were shite and lacking in goals with Bent! Bent is still one of the best goal scorers in the league. If you sell that player and then get relegated you have to take a big chunk of the blame. Surely that's not crazy thinking is it? Bents goals kept us up under houllier. Bent has played in many different systems, with a range of quality behind him and for different managers and Lambert is the first to not get anything from him. You can't drop and sell a goal scorer like bent and not then take the blame if it results in relegation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brumerican Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 If things were to go as badly as you suggest and Lerner does indeed deserve to be blamed then how would the whole blaming thing happen ? What would it actually entail for us fans and for how long should we do it ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delphinho123 Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Would love Zaha and Ince here in January: ---------------------------Benteke--------------------------- Zaha-----------------------------------------------------Ince Never going to happen though. Hopefully we can find players of similar quality abroad for much cheaper. I think Lambert will surprise us in January. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morpheus Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 A wee bit less of a surprise would be welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 A wee bit less of a surprise would be welcome. Surprises can be good you know. Benteke was a surprise and look how good he's been. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roonst83 Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 It's not just that I don't rate Dawson (but I don't, he's an average player) But he's english and at Spurs. Signing him would probably cost us the best part of £8-10 million, he'd want wages of £60,000 at least. Now don't get me wrong, I'd be happy to pay that for a player who is worth it. But Michael Dawson is worth half that, if not less. Add to that the fact that Dawson would pull a hamstring signing a contract. Waaay too injury prone to take the risk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nycVILLA Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 I would love to see Dunne (allegedly injured) Ireland and Bent played for a couple of games. It's great blooding the kids, but bagging a few points would also be nice! Let's face it, we need a spine. But odds are they will all be gone by the summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chappy Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 Bent isn't the problem, the midfield and it's lack of service is. In theory, a Bent-Benteke partnership should be deadly, as long as they get decent service, but we don't have a single midfield player who can be relied on to execute a consistently good cross or slotted ball. It's painful how totally inept our midfield is. Ireland. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quizme Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 Back to transfer speculation. I want these positions, not especially these players just suggestions who we might go for: 1 CD, right footed. James Chester? (We have been linked with him) 1 CM, Powerhouse. Liam Trotter? (Havent seen him much, whats he like?) 1 Striker/Winger/Forward. Jozy Altidore? Aaron Hunt? (would love both of them) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaCas Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 Bents goals kept us up under houllier. Bent has played in many different systems, with a range of quality behind him and for different managers and Lambert is the first to not get anything from him. Football tactics have moved on. Bent is an anachronism to the modern game. If we played Bent up front all season we would go down for sure Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler, Darren Bent, Fernando Torres-type players are all yesterdays men - the Ibrahimovic, Drogba-type centre forward who has more to his game is the way forward. Benteke gives us a lot more - Holding the ball up, bringing players in, Goals and assists. Lambert has been very smart and very brave in dropping Bent. Chelsea (Di Matteo and now Benetiz) should have dropped Torres but were not brave enough to do so - consequently they are in their worst run of results for 17 years and out of the CL (good) Lambert knows what he is doing - we are moving up the league and will finish this year comfortably mid-table 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrentVilla Posted December 6, 2012 Moderator Share Posted December 6, 2012 We have a whole thread about Bent so please discuss him there not in a transfer speculation thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 Sunderland are again after John Guidetti, would hate for us ro miss out on him to MON. I know he's been injured and is unproven in the PL, bit i'd love to have him at Villa. I firmly believe he'll turné int à really special player Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomaszk Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 Like the look of Guidetti, but hasn't been playing at a hugely competitive level for a while. Put on a smidge of weight as well. Wouldn't mind a loan, but we need another forward as well I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts