He said he tried to model his game on Ian Wright, who was his hero and after watching him, he become an Arsenal fan. As he was born in Tooting, I am pleased he started at Ipswich and not his nearest club
Fulham? Power to the people.
Surely Wimbeldon, Plough Lane virtually runs into Tooting.
Bent said when Curbs bought him, he thought he would be back up to Bartlett and Johansson, but was told "You're going straight in" as part of a 4-5-1. He'd never played as a lone forward, but did as he was told.
Bent was our best ever striker imo. The level of football we were playing at and how effective he was were at the highest in our history, he was devastating and in today's football a player like him would have been worth £50/60m
You knew when he was 1v1 he was always going to score. His goal against Birmingham is one of my all time favourites, as is his against Chelsea in the league cup.
I remember seeing DB play in a preseason friendly at the valley (can’t remember who against?) he scored 2 goals I think it was his first game?
He was so quick at the time he glided over the pitch like a thoroughbred,I think he got 19 goals for us that season, you could see he was going to be something special.
I know he does quite a bit of punditry these days, but would love to see him doing coaching on finishing and composure with our players.
He was so good as the lone striker at getting between the centre backs. He had great control, super pace and was a great finisher. One of my faves ever too.
The nice thing about Darren Bent is that he will often say good things about us in his interviews. And he's tweeted lots of supportive messages recently.
Compare that to the likes of Parker and Lee who always seem to airbrush out of history that they played for us.
I don't think we've had a better one on one striker in all my years as a CAFC fan. And he made the space with his late runs to get plenty such opportunities.
Parker you can understand, he didn't leave on the best of terms. Lee is a bit more difficult because he did, and arguably helped us make that final push to the Valley, but they don't badmouth us really do they? I think the sad thing is, Curbs was the right manager for Bent and the club at the time was the right club. It is sad because Curbs left and everything fell off after that.
Bent was always a more than decent striker, but when he was in a situation where he was 'the striker' he was something special. Sometimes when we are critical of players, we forget other factors like whether the team is playing to their strengths. With Bent, Curbs identified the strength and devised a strategy around it. That Curbs hasn't had a career beyond us is very sad too. He was a great manager.
He was so good as the lone striker at getting between the centre backs. He had great control, super pace and was a great finisher. One of my faves ever too.
He mentioned how he would keep working away at breaking through. He said he'd have half a dozen attempts at getting through and be off-side but given enough chances he'd take one or more. He said with VAR he probably would have had half if his goals chalked off
He was super confident that he would get a goal. If his team scored 5-0 he'd be happy, but if he wasn't on rhe score sheet himself, he'd walk off gutted. He wanted to be the complete striker, the best in every facet of his game.
Surely someone with that level of commitment to the game should be in coaching.
Since supporting CAFC since 1986 my 2 best strikers are DB and Mendonca.
I go back to 93 and I have always thought that the only really good strikers in that time have been Clive, Hunt, DB and Yann. That guy with pink hair maybe.
Since supporting CAFC since 1986 my 2 best strikers are DB and Mendonca.
I go back to 93 and I have always thought that the only really good strikers in that time have been Clive, Hunt, DB and Yann. That guy with pink hair maybe.
Same timeframe as me and I agree, although Bradley Wright-Phillips was great for 18 months. Not as good as the others though.
Darren Bent was the best centre forward we have ever had
BWP was great for the job in the 3rd tier but isolated in the 2nd tier and Yann was talismanic. Mendonca was class as was Hunt. David Whyte was awesome for a time too
All round though and for the level we were at Darren Bent wins hands down
Since supporting CAFC since 1986 my 2 best strikers are DB and Mendonca.
I go back to 93 and I have always thought that the only really good strikers in that time have been Clive, Hunt, DB and Yann. That guy with pink hair maybe.
Same timeframe as me and I agree, although Bradley Wright-Phillips was great for 18 months. Not as good as the others though.
Comments
Now there's a bold statement. Not necessarily the biggest favourite ever, but I'm struggling to think of anyone we've had who was far and away better.
but I love Darren Bent Bent Bent
Always had a goal in us when he played for us, worked his nuts off every game and was such an economical finisher
Wish we played with Ambrose behind him or at least gave it a go
He was so quick at the time he glided over the pitch like a thoroughbred,I think he got 19 goals for us that season, you could see he was going to be something special.
I know he does quite a bit of punditry these days, but would love to see him doing coaching on finishing and composure with our players.
Compare that to the likes of Parker and Lee who always seem to airbrush out of history that they played for us.
Bent was always a more than decent striker, but when he was in a situation where he was 'the striker' he was something special. Sometimes when we are critical of players, we forget other factors like whether the team is playing to their strengths. With Bent, Curbs identified the strength and devised a strategy around it. That Curbs hasn't had a career beyond us is very sad too. He was a great manager.
He was super confident that he would get a goal. If his team scored 5-0 he'd be happy, but if he wasn't on rhe score sheet himself, he'd walk off gutted. He wanted to be the complete striker, the best in every facet of his game.
Surely someone with that level of commitment to the game should be in coaching.
BWP was great for the job in the 3rd tier but isolated in the 2nd tier and Yann was talismanic. Mendonca was class as was Hunt. David Whyte was awesome for a time too
All round though and for the level we were at Darren Bent wins hands down
One of my favourite goals by him - our last game in the top level.