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Darren Bent, giving up the ghost?

Benty is one of my all time favourite players, so it really depressed me to read this from Barney Ronay in the Guardian today:

Most striking during Saturday's abject 3-0 defeat at West Ham was the spectacle of England's Darren Bent, scorer of 151 league goals, but just three in the last two years. Bent was not to blame for Fulham's defeat, but he has a symbolic kind of anti-value. At times against West Ham he broke into a jog, most often when finding himself standing significantly offside. For the rest of the match he didn't so much walk around as walk slightly slower than most people walk even when they're not playing a football match. Perhaps he was slowed by the size of his shorts which seem to have grown rather in the last couple of years. Perhaps he was simply waiting to explode into life given the right kind of service. Either way, as the first half began to drag, it was tempting to ponder the interesting philosophical question of whether the presence of Bent in Fulham's attack was having have more or less influence on the match than Andy Carroll's absence from West Ham's.

This is perhaps a little unfair on Modibo Maiga, who was energetic as the lone striker, while Bent, who really should be looking to earn himself an endorsement deal as the face of a popular brand of walking boot, strolled the periphery, starved of the right kind of pass, but also seeming content to remain so. What a waste all round. Bent is still only 29. At a time when possession of a pair of boots and a shirt with the right kind of number on it is enough to earn a call-up, he might have spent the last two years playing for England. Instead his performances at Fulham look like a salutary example of late-career Premier League congealment, not to mention an indictment of Jol's allegedly wondrous contacts book.
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Comments

  • get him back. powell will sort him out.
  • Come back Darren. Rediscover your mojo with us.
  • Isn't that just a rather more eloquent and long winded version of the type of posts we get on here that label players "lazy"?

    Playing in a poor team low on confidence and surprise, surprise an off the shoulder striker isn't doing that well.

    Would have him back at the Valley in a second (if we could afford him) but let's wait and see how the new manager uses him at Fulham.
  • Bent does seem to have lost his mojo from his performances for Fulham.

    Thought it would have been a great move for him and the chance to prove the doubters wrong but he's not taken the opportunity yet.
  • I was at that game and was disappointed with his play, I used to idolise bent when I was younger.
    He does seem to have gained a few and doesn't seen to have that energy or desire for the ball anymore, hopefully it's just a temporary thing
  • Favourite charlton player would love him back
  • Three in the last two years is a bit harsh considering he was dropped by Villa for about a year of that time and injured the rest of it.
  • edited December 2013
    One of my mates is a Villa fan ... states that he was very unimpressed for much of Bent's stay as he didn't try at all ... such a waste
  • When we are taken over - should be the first bit of business Chrissy does. This is the place where he can resurrect his career.
  • Still waiting for his interview to be put up that he had with charlton live in august...
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  • As a mate of mine just said on the phone. "Money...it rots people" - and he has enough...
  • Thought the same. By the time he'd completed his move to Villa, his combined career transfer fees were topping £50m (including add ons) - he's probably picking up a hefty signing on fee with each and has been a big earner since he was a teenager.

    Now on loan, in a struggling team, I'm guessing the hunger has gone.
  • Playing alongside Berbatov and seeing him casually strolling about doing fck all can hardly inspire you either
  • He has had injury problems and for me, he is a player who you have to adapt your team to suit. I think where a team has done that, he has been most effective in his career and can be again.
  • I'd be willing to stump up his bus far across London if he wants to come home.

    In fact, f**k it, i'll drive him myself.............
  • I'll carry him on my back from Fulham, he can even bunk over at mine until he finds a place if he wants. I'll cook for him, let him play my PlayStation, he can even borrow my bike if he wants.

    Come back Benty, please
  • Carrying some timber now. Just be grateful that his golden years were spent at The Valley and move on.
  • sam3110 said:

    I'll carry him on my back from Fulham, he can even bunk over at mine until he finds a place if he wants. I'll cook for him, let him play my PlayStation, he can even borrow my bike if he wants.

    Come back Benty, please

    I'll raise you will "free access to the missus", although he'd have to share his..........:-D
  • If anyone can inspire him again then I bet it's Powelly (and Sam3110's hospitality).
  • I think there is a direct link that since he got married (quite recently) he has given up trying. With just about anything
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  • Dizzle said:

    I think there is a direct link that since he got married (quite recently) he has given up trying. With just about anything

    Well, looking at his missus, he's probably not got any energy left............
  • sam3110 said:

    I'll carry him on my back from Fulham, he can even bunk over at mine until he finds a place if he wants. I'll cook for him, let him play my PlayStation, he can even borrow my bike if he wants.

    Come back Benty, please

    I'll raise you will "free access to the missus", although he'd have to share his..........:-D
    i hope I'm reading this wrong.
  • Baby bent upfront with kermorgant....
  • I feel sorry for Benty since he left us he has had a succession of mangers who have ridculed an exceptional talent, starting with Erriccson selecting a kid in front of him when he was the leading English striker, Martin Jol who claimed not to have wanted him at Spurs, Harry Rednapp and Paul Lambert. He needs a new manager who is going to appreciate him and his ability, he is not that old so he can easily come back and be a top striker again.
  • But it's down to the player as well. Looking at Bent, I'm reminded of JFH when he was with us, someone whose glory days seemed in the past, who for various reasons is a shadow of the player he was.
  • He's always been a player that you have to use the right way - Curbs seemed to crack it, but a lot of the others haven't. Give him crosses or a ball over the top and he'll do it for ya. If you don't play that way, don't sign him. I haven't followed Benty that closely since he left us, but I wouldn't mind betting thats a lot of the trouble.

    In a similar vein, there's a piece in todays paper about Spurs' latest striker, they are saying that the way AVB set's up his wingers, he'll never get anything to attack.
  • I always felt he plays better as a lone striker.
  • Think Ronay was saying more than just that he was "lazy". He was describing a player who has clearly lost his mojo. There was a graphic on Sky or MOTD, can't remember which. It showed that Bent had just ten touches in the opposition's half and only one of those was in the box. However bad the service to him, that suggests a player who had pretty much given up in the way Ronay decribes.
  • I was talking to a Fulham friend on Friday who said what Barney Ronay said, and basically the rest of the team are the same.
  • 3 goals in 13 games at Fulham (8 starts, 5 subs), ave 274 mins per goal (official club stats). Not up to his past strike rate, but not that bad for a few games at a losing team with a serious crisis of confidence.
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