Sunderland striker Darren Bent is to wed Sir Alex Ferguson's former daughter-in-law Nadine Ferguson, who separated from Sir Alex's son Darren in 2007. Nadine announced the news on social networking site Twitter.
Zamora surely an alternative to Carlton Cole as back up for Heskey. Capello likes having a big target man, if somehow Bent makes it, it'll be in Defoe's place (hopefully not Rooney's...!) as a goalscorer rather than a target man.
Carlton Cole has been pony recently so he can't seriously be considered!
It is Rooney, Crouch, Heskey, Defoe and one other if Capello goes with 5. Surely it is between Bent and Zamora for the 5th spot! Zamora offers nothing different from Heskey or Crouch so surely Bent has to be 5th striker.
I am looking forward to seeing England play on 24th May v Mexico just before the 30man squad goes to 23. Mexico should offer Bent a better opportunity to impress than the 45mins he had v Brazil
He won't go. He should do, but only as a goalscorer. I love the guy obviously, but he's not a great player, there is nothing outstanding (or particularly bad) about his game besides his goals ratio. He should go, better finisher in my opinion than possibly all of them (barring Rooney of course). I could see him being dead handy last 20minutes with someone coming onto us with them being stretched at the back...perfect situation for him.
Rightly picked ahead of Agbonlahor, Zamora and Carlt*n Cole, but when you look at the list of strikers other than Rooney it ain't exactly world class (Bent, Crouch, Defoe, Heskey).
Unless someone gets injured though DB won't make the 23.
The World Cup 23 should be a first choice 11 and then 4 or 5 direct replacements for first team players.
The rest of the squad should be impact players - and given Crouch and Rooney should start for England, if you wanted the ball to fall to any English player in the box outside of the first choice 11, it would be Darren Bent.
Record is actually a lot better than Defoes, if you look at Bents record in terms of starts (his record would be a lot better if it was not for so many sub games for Spurs), it is excellent. Scores against all the big sides, even without Charlton bias it is hard to see why Bent should not go.
[cite]Posted By: Southendaddick[/cite]Nice little pay out today on my pre season e/w bet on him to be top scorer at 40/1
I'll be popping down to the bookies this weekend to pick up a little extra holiday cash from the cocky little Spurs fan behind the counter who laughed when I put it on telling me that "there's no way he'd score more than Defoe."
Short of scoring 3 and a MOM performance next week he still won't be going to the World Cup though :-(
[cite]Posted By: Southendaddick[/cite]Nice little pay out today on my pre season e/w bet on him to be top scorer at 40/1
I'll be popping down to the bookies this weekend to pick up a little extra holiday cash from the cocky little Spurs fan behind the counter who laughed when I put it on telling me that "there's no way he'd score more than Defoe."
Short of scoring 3 and a MOM performance next week he still won't be going to the World Cup though :-(
I'd backed him to outscore torres... happy days all round!
As a Charlton fan I naturally worship Darren and all he did for us, but trying to take an objective view in terms of the team, I can't see where his place is.
Firstly, Heskey has to start.
Why do people always bang on about Heskey's goalscoring record? He's not in the team to score goals, he's there to create space for others. It doesn't matter who scores the goals as long as goals are scored. The game plan is to try and get the most out of the attacking midfield where we have some exceptional quality, and seeing as we qualified as the top goalscorers in Europe, I would humbly suggest that Mr Capello knows what he's doing.
I often see 'Ok so we play better when Heskey plays but..' Where's the but? The team plays better, end of. Football is a team game and Heskey is currently an integral part of that team. If Bent comes in, scores a couple of goals, but partly nullifies the effectiveness of Rooney, Gerrard and Lampard then the team has not been improved.
Now if Bent could perform Heskey's role plus goals then that would be ideal, but that seems unlikely, and even if he can there's not enough time pre-world cup to ascertain that. Bent is a better player than Heskey, but the Sven era was plagued by trying to fit the 11 best players into a team for the sake of it, rather than picking the best team. At the moment, Heskey plays an important role in forming the best team.
So, that leaves a slot as an impact player to consider, which is a trickier one. Crouch and Defoe currently have those nailed down and not undeservedly. Crouch's international scoring record is excellent and he's proven many times that he will get goals for England. Admittedly, one of the accusations leveled against him is that he's a bit of a flat track bully and doesn't have the quality against the likes of Spain, Brazil etc.
However, there's a few games to play before we can start thinking about semi finals against Spain and it must be remembered that Algeria, Slovenia and USA have to be put away first. I for one will be very happy if Crouch performs his flat track bully thing at an important time in any of those games. He's proven that he's a fine squad option and therefore has to be on the plane.
With regards to Defoe, I think he is the one that Bent has the best chance of displacing, as they are directly competing for the 'nippy poacher off the bench' slot. Yet Bent is at a disadvantage of still being a relatively unknown quantity at international level whilst Defoe has proven to be effective at this role several times (one example being when he came off the bench to score two goals against Holland in Amsterdam). Whether or not Bent is better than Defoe is open to dispute but it's probably too late for him to stake a claim stronger than Defoe's.
I feel desperately sorry for Bent considering he's done all he can by scoring 24 goals this season. But I think it's too late for him to prove that he will be important to the team's chances of winning the world cup. The idea of 'he's scored 24 goals, he has to go' is too simplistic. I think his time will probably come, but he needs a prolonged opportunity to see how he fits into the side. As it stands, there's not enough time for that and he may well be one for Euro 2012 instead.
Comments
Sunderland striker Darren Bent is to wed Sir Alex Ferguson's former daughter-in-law Nadine Ferguson, who separated from Sir Alex's son Darren in 2007. Nadine announced the news on social networking site Twitter.
Name that film for an extra 2 points......
Whaddaya say we get the prom queen... impregnated?
I forgot my pencil....
Rooney Man Utd 26
Drogba Chelsea 25
Bent Sunderland 24
Surely he HAS to go to the world cup.
Defoe got a pen v Chelsea and one against United. He has been average imho since xmas yet will go to the WC as third choice striker.
Couldn't believe last night Shearer describing Defoe, Heskey and Crouch as 'nailed on' for a place in South Africa.
Hopefully he bags another few against Man U and Wolves.
I think Zamora might even be ahead of him in the pecking order - wouldn't be surprised to see him get a chance in the friendly alongside Zamora
IMO he deserves to go. I think only a couple of people have more goals than him over the last 5 years. Lampard and Drogba maybe..
It is Rooney, Crouch, Heskey, Defoe and one other if Capello goes with 5. Surely it is between Bent and Zamora for the 5th spot! Zamora offers nothing different from Heskey or Crouch so surely Bent has to be 5th striker.
I am looking forward to seeing England play on 24th May v Mexico just before the 30man squad goes to 23. Mexico should offer Bent a better opportunity to impress than the 45mins he had v Brazil
not in favour, his time at "unfashionable" charlton ruined his chances...
Unless someone gets injured though DB won't make the 23.
Some justice has been served, a total scandal that he missed out in 2006.
74 in 171 appearances, or 1 in every 2.31 games.
Rooney has 106 in 256, 1 in every 2.41 games.
Defoe, 97 in 286, 1 in every 2.95 games.
Heskey, 106 in 469, 1 in every 4.42 games.
Crouch, 59 in 225, 1 in every 3.81 games.
Says it all don't it?
The World Cup 23 should be a first choice 11 and then 4 or 5 direct replacements for first team players.
The rest of the squad should be impact players - and given Crouch and Rooney should start for England, if you wanted the ball to fall to any English player in the box outside of the first choice 11, it would be Darren Bent.
STATS DO NOT LIE - NOT OVER 7 YEARS!
I'll be popping down to the bookies this weekend to pick up a little extra holiday cash from the cocky little Spurs fan behind the counter who laughed when I put it on telling me that "there's no way he'd score more than Defoe."
Short of scoring 3 and a MOM performance next week he still won't be going to the World Cup though :-(
I'd backed him to outscore torres... happy days all round!
Firstly, Heskey has to start.
Why do people always bang on about Heskey's goalscoring record? He's not in the team to score goals, he's there to create space for others. It doesn't matter who scores the goals as long as goals are scored. The game plan is to try and get the most out of the attacking midfield where we have some exceptional quality, and seeing as we qualified as the top goalscorers in Europe, I would humbly suggest that Mr Capello knows what he's doing.
I often see 'Ok so we play better when Heskey plays but..' Where's the but? The team plays better, end of. Football is a team game and Heskey is currently an integral part of that team. If Bent comes in, scores a couple of goals, but partly nullifies the effectiveness of Rooney, Gerrard and Lampard then the team has not been improved.
Now if Bent could perform Heskey's role plus goals then that would be ideal, but that seems unlikely, and even if he can there's not enough time pre-world cup to ascertain that. Bent is a better player than Heskey, but the Sven era was plagued by trying to fit the 11 best players into a team for the sake of it, rather than picking the best team. At the moment, Heskey plays an important role in forming the best team.
So, that leaves a slot as an impact player to consider, which is a trickier one. Crouch and Defoe currently have those nailed down and not undeservedly. Crouch's international scoring record is excellent and he's proven many times that he will get goals for England. Admittedly, one of the accusations leveled against him is that he's a bit of a flat track bully and doesn't have the quality against the likes of Spain, Brazil etc.
However, there's a few games to play before we can start thinking about semi finals against Spain and it must be remembered that Algeria, Slovenia and USA have to be put away first. I for one will be very happy if Crouch performs his flat track bully thing at an important time in any of those games. He's proven that he's a fine squad option and therefore has to be on the plane.
With regards to Defoe, I think he is the one that Bent has the best chance of displacing, as they are directly competing for the 'nippy poacher off the bench' slot. Yet Bent is at a disadvantage of still being a relatively unknown quantity at international level whilst Defoe has proven to be effective at this role several times (one example being when he came off the bench to score two goals against Holland in Amsterdam). Whether or not Bent is better than Defoe is open to dispute but it's probably too late for him to stake a claim stronger than Defoe's.
I feel desperately sorry for Bent considering he's done all he can by scoring 24 goals this season. But I think it's too late for him to prove that he will be important to the team's chances of winning the world cup. The idea of 'he's scored 24 goals, he has to go' is too simplistic. I think his time will probably come, but he needs a prolonged opportunity to see how he fits into the side. As it stands, there's not enough time for that and he may well be one for Euro 2012 instead.
If I had to bring someone off the bench to make something happen it would be Defoe ahead of Bent. Defoe has that bit more about him.
Bent as you say needs to improve other parts of his game, such as holding it up, before he can usurp Heskey.