Curious Case of Darren Bent
Article by Matthew Grant
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It's been a very strange journey for our record signing, since signing from Sunderland for over £20million he has gone from fan favourite and Villa hero to training with the development squad and being shipped out on loan to struggling Championship clubs.
So what do we make of his Villa career? Initially he was a hero, I was at Villa Park when he scored on his debut against Man City. Finally I thought, we've finally got a proven goal-scorer, something we've not had in years. His record before joining Villa was unbelievable, he bagged 24 goals in the league before he joined so we were all delighted that Lerner had been generous. Under Houllier and McLeish he was phenomenal, a fan favourite that was scoring goals regularly. So where did it all go wrong?
In August 2012 news broke that we had signed a young Belgian striker from Genk for around £7million. At the time we didn’t know much about him, but you knew the club wouldn’t spend that much money on a player to sit on the bench behind Bent. In the end that seemed to be the case, Benteke was started regularly and was playing well, Bent however had to get on with being a bit-part player and in the end he was forced into the “bomb squad” with players like Alan Hutton and Stephen Ireland.
When he was scoring regularly for Villa he had players like Young and Downing assisting him and his predator style of play could thrive on service like that. Then they left and Paul Lambert came in. Under Lambert there was a completely different mentality on the pitch, players were expected to press the opposition a lot more, work hard and contribute to more areas of the game. In that type of system, a poacher like Bent would struggle to impress and contribute. In essence Bent was a luxury player, and in the system that Lambert was trying to build on he didn’t fit, Lambert couldn’t afford to have a player that only contributes in the 18-yard box.
Don’t get me wrong I highly rate Darren Bent, his goal-scoring record speaks for itself and he’s a player that naturally knows where the back of the net is. It’s a huge shame that we never got to see a relationship between Bent and Benteke blossom. A little and large combo could have been clinical, at Sunderland Bent played alongside Kenwyne Jones and it worked a treat. Benteke could have done the physical work and Bent could’ve done the running in behind and putting the ball in the back of the net. We’ll never know how effective the partnership could have been, and that’s down to the manager. Lambert is a defensively minded manager and I struggle to think of an occasion where he has played two out-and-out strikers together upfront for a full 90 minutes. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing to be defensive but in certain situations fans just want to see you gamble and go for it and under Lambert we rarely see that.
I personally hold no grudges against Bent, he’s currently on loan at Derby and he’s doing well. It’s unlikely that we will see him in Villa shirt again, unfortunately he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and we wish him well.
© e-Football 2014 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football
Subscribe to the e-Football Podcast for FREE!
It's been a very strange journey for our record signing, since signing from Sunderland for over £20million he has gone from fan favourite and Villa hero to training with the development squad and being shipped out on loan to struggling Championship clubs.
So what do we make of his Villa career? Initially he was a hero, I was at Villa Park when he scored on his debut against Man City. Finally I thought, we've finally got a proven goal-scorer, something we've not had in years. His record before joining Villa was unbelievable, he bagged 24 goals in the league before he joined so we were all delighted that Lerner had been generous. Under Houllier and McLeish he was phenomenal, a fan favourite that was scoring goals regularly. So where did it all go wrong?
In August 2012 news broke that we had signed a young Belgian striker from Genk for around £7million. At the time we didn’t know much about him, but you knew the club wouldn’t spend that much money on a player to sit on the bench behind Bent. In the end that seemed to be the case, Benteke was started regularly and was playing well, Bent however had to get on with being a bit-part player and in the end he was forced into the “bomb squad” with players like Alan Hutton and Stephen Ireland.
When he was scoring regularly for Villa he had players like Young and Downing assisting him and his predator style of play could thrive on service like that. Then they left and Paul Lambert came in. Under Lambert there was a completely different mentality on the pitch, players were expected to press the opposition a lot more, work hard and contribute to more areas of the game. In that type of system, a poacher like Bent would struggle to impress and contribute. In essence Bent was a luxury player, and in the system that Lambert was trying to build on he didn’t fit, Lambert couldn’t afford to have a player that only contributes in the 18-yard box.
Don’t get me wrong I highly rate Darren Bent, his goal-scoring record speaks for itself and he’s a player that naturally knows where the back of the net is. It’s a huge shame that we never got to see a relationship between Bent and Benteke blossom. A little and large combo could have been clinical, at Sunderland Bent played alongside Kenwyne Jones and it worked a treat. Benteke could have done the physical work and Bent could’ve done the running in behind and putting the ball in the back of the net. We’ll never know how effective the partnership could have been, and that’s down to the manager. Lambert is a defensively minded manager and I struggle to think of an occasion where he has played two out-and-out strikers together upfront for a full 90 minutes. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing to be defensive but in certain situations fans just want to see you gamble and go for it and under Lambert we rarely see that.
I personally hold no grudges against Bent, he’s currently on loan at Derby and he’s doing well. It’s unlikely that we will see him in Villa shirt again, unfortunately he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and we wish him well.
© e-Football 2014 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football
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