Darren Bent has lost the Aston Villa captaincy to new signing Ron Vlaar. It is not a bad thing for player or club.
I say it is no bad thing, but it could be. What if Darren Bent goes on a major sulk, submits a transfer request, and refuses to play for the club again? Fortunately the striker is far more sensible than that.
Or so you would hope. Don’t forget this is the player who Tweeted a photo of himself out shopping when injured while his teammates were battling for their Premier League lives at the end of last season.
It was hardly intelligent, committed behaviour befitting of a captain, so now is the time to prove his professionalism, by taking his captaincy snub like a man.
The striker had only been made captain by new manager Paul Lambert recently, with regular skipper Stilian Petrov ill battling leukaemia.
It was a trial by the manager, but it is hard to say it worked, because Bent has failed to score a single goal this season since taking the captaincy.
Lambert said removing the captain’s armband from Bent will alleviate the pressure from the striker, and let the striker concentrate on doing what he does best, scoring goals.
And he is right, if it was becoming a distraction for Bent, its time to remove it. Ron Vlaar is the perfect candidate to take over. The defender is a giant of a man in stature and presence, and he has already shown his commitment to the cause by putting his body on the line in their opening games.
He is similar to an old favourite Olof Mellberg, and has the potential to be a cult hero at Villa Park. But is there more to the Bent snub than meets the eye?
My suspicion is that the reason Lambert wants to remove the captaincy from Darren Bent, is that he now sees the striker as droppable given the arrival of Christian Benteke.
There is no doubt the Belgian has been bought to play alongside Bent, but if the Englishman fails to perform, just like Demba Ba was at Newcastle on Monday night, he will find himself dropped to the substitute’s bench.
The last thing a manager needs when considering his team selection is the worry over the captain’s armband. An ever-present – injury permitting – is needed to effectively lead the team.
So Vlaar is no doubt the more inspiring and enigmatic character in his approach, but he is also more likely to be selected every game. Bent is at present a first choice, but he has real competition now, with Jordan Bowery bought too as well as Benteke, and Agbonlahor fit again.
Modern tactic dictate that managers often like to play five in midfield away from home, and one up front (For Alex McLeish this was a regular occurence at home too) and if Bent is not scoring, he has no automatic right to fill the spot, whether he feels he should or not.
The captaincy would have been an extra reason against dropping him, if required, now that problem has been swiftly taken care of.
Villa fans will hope the now former-captain gets back to what he does best, scoring goals, and that Lambert was right about it being a distraction. But you wonder how long he can go without one before he finds himself watching from the sidelines.
image: © wonker
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