Darren Bent

3 Goals already can, he once again reach the 15 goal mark like he did last season?

And be the highest english scoring forward?

Although 2 of his 3 goals have been from the spot, hes doing wonders for my Fantasy team.

No, I think Rooney will pip him this time.

He probably would of done last season, without the injury.

Charlton's defence won't create enough for him.

Defence?!

Sorry, midfield.

I think they will miss Murphy quite a bit, although hes just sitting on the spurs bench.

Darren Bent needs to play for England.

Darren Bent WILL play for England.

Defoe was our worst player on the pitch in the last game

Its not easy for striker TBH, not playing with the team and getting 20 odd minutes to impress, thats why SMC needs to use Friendlys to experiment unlike Sven.

I know what you mean, players like him are generally judged on scoring goals - and that isn't something you can always do as a 20 minute sub.

Bent takes the team's penalties too, Rooney doesn't.. (I'm not sure, now RVN's gone...)

Its unbelievable that Sven was willing to give Crouch unlimited (near enough) when he wasnt scoring but 20 Mins for Defoe and Co.

Tweedledum wrote:Darren Bent WILL play for England.

Defoe was our worst player on the pitch in the last game

You realldy dont like Defoe.
He wasnt actually bad in that game, not great either. He combined well with Lampard for his goal.
I think Bent should play though. Mainly because Defoe does not start for the majority of the time.

I remember Curbishely saying last season, they only got something like 2 penalties in 2 seasons.

Now they've had 2 in 3 games.

Different types of player though. Crouchs game really isn't about getting you goals - he's the guy that will enable all the players around him to get an extra 2-3 goals per season

But main role of a striker is to score Also Rooney didnt score in WC qualf, fair enough he creates stuff but it wouldnt have hurt to play someone else for a game and see what happened.

Tweedledum wrote:Different types of player though. Crouchs game really isn't about getting you goals - he's the guy that will enable all the players around him to get an extra 2-3 goals per season

8 in 12 games for england

24 in 41 games since december

agree though... sven saw what crouch was bringing to the team.... he's a vastly different player to what england already had which also helped him....

I'd go Crouch and Bent up front, see what happens. Johnson spent last year player sub-standard football for a boring long-ball Crystal Palace team. Defoe has been struggling for form, though has more natural talent than Bent and Johnson put together.

Defoe has more natural talent but he just doesn't seem as good.

Denilson had more natural talent than the whole England team put together but look where he is now

A really good young player, his pace is tremendous and his first touch is excellent, while Rooney and Owen are out of England action he should be along with Johnson the main contenders for partnering Peter Crouch

I don't think Owen has it anymore to get in the squad by merit.
After the ACL he'll be more crocked, confidence gone, playing for toon, and how many games did he play/start the last 2.5 years?

good point Dutchman,

It does seem as though Mclaren is trying new things out, but still when fully fit (very rare) Owen is one of the best around IMO