[Archived] Bentley Called Up

[modes98]

If McClaren had balls he would do that and it would be a positive step for england. The big names need to learn that having a high profile isn't enough. With Greece winning the last euros it proves that you don't need big names and maybe it's time for england to drop bigger names and replace them with players that will work within the system we play.

All i'll say is if Scolari was in charge i doubt he would have any problem dropping Lampard after years of disappointing performances.

[ni_rover]

Derbyshire will never be world class and that wasn't a world class ball and I would agree that if the defender had done his job properly he would have cut it out (it looks as though he gets a touch on it). That is taking nothing away from Derbs, he's done well for us this season and it is great to see him being rewarded, but he's not the next Michael Owen, think of everything that Owen had done by Derbyshire's age. If Derbyshire has the ability to be world class then so do 90% of premiership strikers.

Derbyshire has done very well this season and he can get alot better. He has a good footballing head, some pace and he can find the net. Give the fella a chance and lets see if he can prove alot of people wrong. I have alot of confidence in him. Keep it going Matt!

[bob fleming]

Derbyshire has done very well this season and he can get alot better. He has a good footballing head, some pace and he can find the net. Give the fella a chance and lets see if he can prove alot of people wrong. I have alot of confidence in him. Keep it going Matt!

Well said that man!

We had two players score at the new Wembley on Saturday. Two lads who play for Blackburn Rovers! Anybody else's fans would be delighted. If Derbs and Bentley played for Spurs we'd be saying something along the lines of "Why don't have anyone coming through?", "How lucky are they to have two young English players playing for them?".

But what do some people say? "He'll never be world class." If you're not happy now you never will be.

[gazsimm]

Well said that man!

We had two players score at the new Wembley on Saturday. Two lads who play for Blackburn Rovers! Anybody else's fans would be delighted. If Derbs and Bentley played for Spurs we'd be saying something along the lines of "Why don't have anyone coming through?", "How lucky are they to have two young English players playing for them?".

But what do some people say? "He'll never be world class." If you're not happy now you never will be.

i am more then happy with matty and bentley scoring for the under 21's on saturday, but i think people are getting carried away, claiming matty is going to be the new michael Owen, i think he is miles away of becoming the same player as he was.

i hope i am proved wrong though

[Exiled_Rover]

Well said that man!

We had two players score at the new Wembley on Saturday. Two lads who play for Blackburn Rovers! Anybody else's fans would be delighted. If Derbs and Bentley played for Spurs we'd be saying something along the lines of "Why don't have anyone coming through?", "How lucky are they to have two young English players playing for them?".

But what do some people say? "He'll never be world class." If you're not happy now you never will be.

That's a silly post, Bob. Everyone is delighted that two of our young, English, players have succeeded on the international level. I think it's safe to say everyone is extremely pleased with their contribution to Rovers this season, and proud that they've represented their country whilst playing for us.

That said, when people come out with statements like the one about Derbyshire, they have to be challenged. World class, especially at such a young age, is people like Messi, Ronaldo et al. There's nothing to say Sir Matthew Derbyshire of Ewood (or whatever he's called) can't become an extremely useful Premiership player, but he certainly lacks that touch of genius that all world class players have.

[modes98]

Derbyshire has done very well this season and he can get alot better. He has a good footballing head, some pace and he can find the net. Give the fella a chance and lets see if he can prove alot of people wrong. I have alot of confidence in him. Keep it going Matt!

Your only defending him because he gave you his shirt and the fact that he is a top lad with a nice girlfriend.

That said the guy is deadly from the 6yard box, which is what you need from your strikers.

[mike at picture]

That's a silly post, Bob. Everyone is delighted that two of our young, English, players have succeeded on the international level. I think it's safe to say everyone is extremely pleased with their contribution to Rovers this season, and proud that they've represented their country whilst playing for us.

That said, when people come out with statements like the one about Derbyshire, they have to be challenged. World class, especially at such a young age, is people like Messi, Ronaldo et al. There's nothing to say Sir Matthew Derbyshire of Ewood (or whatever he's called) can't become an extremely useful Premiership player, but he certainly lacks that touch of genius that all world class players have.

Maybe, maybe not. I agree with Bob here, why are certain posters making negative comments on here about Matt Derbyshire? If somebody has gone overboard in their enthusiasm about him why not say "lets not get carried away" instead of "he'll never be world class"?

Personally I am overjoyed that a fellow Rover is representing our club with such distinction and is clearly so proud to be doing so. He is now doing the same for his country and some psoters (seemingly one in particular) are griping about the lad.

He's a willing runner, has a good football brain and looks a natural finisher with a bit of pace. Nobody is saying he's the finished article but he is great prospect. What's more he is one of us.

Perhaps that's the problem for some - local lad made good, living the dream. Jealousy?

[Exiled_Rover]

Why does everyone bring up the jealously aspect when it comes to local players - it's been thrown around with Dunn for years.

The simple fact of the matter is, whilst Derbyshire has the potential to be a good player (as you say, a good footballing brain and a bit of pace - though nothing exceptional), he's far from world class (he's too lightweight, has a shocking first touch and his finishing leaves something to be desired). If he works at it he's going to be a good Premiership striker. That'd be a great return from an academy player.

[orwot]

Your only defending him because he gave you his shirt and the fact that he is a top lad with a nice girlfriend.

That said the guy is deadly from the 6yard box, which is what you need from your strikers.

Hear hear!

couldn't keep his mouth shut if i remember correctly...

aye, he showed that on saturday turning in his goal. lucky, maybe but that's needed anyway.

[mike at picture]

Why does everyone bring up the jealously aspect when it comes to local players - it's been thrown around with Dunn for years.

The simple fact of the matter is, whilst Derbyshire has the potential to be a good player (as you say, a good footballing brain and a bit of pace - though nothing exceptional), he's far from world class (he's too lightweight, has a shocking first touch and his finishing leaves something to be desired). If he works at it he's going to be a good Premiership striker. That'd be a great return from an academy player.

Dont see your point about his touch. Where I sit in the BBE I see him chase many an awkward ball down the channels and I've yet to see him struggle with his control.

[OJRovers]

Some people seem to be complaining about Derbyshire's finishing, pace and control - I'd say it's difficult to judge him from 10 or so games this season.

Look at Shevchenko this season / Drogba last season - they were poor but I doubt anyone would argue they're not 'world class'. Give Derbs a chance he may just surprise a few people.

[RevidgeBlue]

Going back to Derbyshire, can anyone honestly say that he has been any more impressive this season than Lita?

I'm not looking it up but I suspect he's been a lot more impressive than Lita was at comparable stages of their professional career - i.e. after only fifteen or twenty games.

Get over it Eddie - local lad doing well - and could well get even better. Philip never said he was "world class" just opined he played a "world class ball". I don't think anyone knows exactly how good or otherwise he might turn out to be at this stage, as I say he's still only 20 and fifteen or twenty games in.

Some people, not just you, see a local name on the teamsheet and if they don't play like Maradona every single match they'll never be good enough. Very weird.

[thenodrog]

Some people, not just you, see a local name on the teamsheet and if they don't play like Maradona every single match they'll never be good enough. Very weird.

I've got 2 words to say to you Rev on that subject ...... Gary and Flitcroft!

[RevidgeBlue]

I've got 2 words to say to you Rev on that subject ...... Gary and Flitcroft!

He ain't "local" - he's from Bolton isn't he?

[Jan]

I've got 2 words to say to you Rev on that subject ...... Gary and Flitcroft!

That's Garry, isn't it?

[colin]

Interseting comment from Richard Williams in today's Guardian re David Bentley

Here's the link

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2007/03/...should_try.html

I hope it's OK to copy the gist:

"Risk-averse McClaren should try giving Bentley a spin

Steve McClaren should have responded to Saturday's near-debacle by picking up the phone and dialling David Bentley's number.

Richard WilliamsMarch 27, 2007 12:55 AM

"We'll see, we'll see," Steve McClaren said yesterday when asked if he had it in mind to shake his team up by making a couple of big changes for tomorrow's meeting with Andorra, or if he planned to tell the players who made up Saturday's starting line-up that it was now their job to go out again and redeem the drab effort against Israel.

Even after being kept waiting for two hours for the England head coach to turn up at yesterday's scheduled press conference, I had not expected much of an answer. From a Mourinho or a Wenger, of course, and also from a Scolari or a Hiddink, even such an unthreatening question would have provoked some sort of quotable and probably even enlightening response. That is all we want, after all: enlightenment from a man who, holding his job on behalf of a nation, is supposed to know what is going on. But only seven months after accepting a promotion that virtually all observers saw as ill advised, Sven-Goran Eriksson's former No2 is either afraid or incapable of saying anything interesting.

Or of doing such a thing, come to that. In my dreams, I would like to have seen McClaren responding to Saturday's near-debacle by picking up the phone and dialling David Bentley's number. Bentley, after all, was England's outstanding performer in the Under-21 match at the new Wembley, scoring the opening goal and otherwise inspiring an effective offensive performance a few hours before the senior team stumbled to a barren draw, their fourth goalless effort in their last five matches.

Bentley is talented and ambitious. He has confidence to burn. At 15, playing in the Arsenal academy's Under-17 side, he looked fully the equal of the young Glenn Hoddle or Joe Cole. Since then he has made his mistakes and paid his dues. Now, at 22, he might just be capable of transforming the only remotely interesting suggestion to fall from McClaren's lips yesterday - "Can we take a little bit more risk in the final third? Can we get more bodies into the box? Can we get better decisions? Can we be a little bit more positive?" - into something more than panicky rhetoric.

Of course the Blackburn midfielder will stay at home, at a time when his immediate insertion into the team for tomorrow, at the expense of Frank Lampard, could have given the squad the most abrupt of wake-up calls before a match in which, with respect to Andorra's footballers, selection is hardly critical. Nothing, it seems, must be allowed to disturb the self-esteem of England's established stars, whose performance is currently so far removed from the expectations of their supporters.

Unrealistic expectations have surrounded the England team since 1950, when the FA finally deigned to enter the World Cup. Curiously, the lack of perspective so marked in fans and media alike probably has its origins in that snobbish delay, mirrored in the Football League's subsequent refusal to allow English clubs to enter the European Cup until Sir Matt Busby finally took matters into his own hands. Successive humiliations at international level, starting with the 1-0 defeat in Belo Horizonte by the United States, have never quite dispelled that assumption of superiority, wholly unjustified save for a single day in the most helpful circumstances 41 years ago.

It would be stupid to suggest that the emergency inclusion of one player might be enough to solve the ills that afflict McClaren's England as they face the prospect of failing to qualify for the finals of Euro 2008, with all its dreadful financial implications. As he watches the gap between expectation and achievement widen at an alarming rate, however, the head coach needs to take his own mention of "risk" at face value and to make a few bold decisions. We'll see, indeed. But we should be careful with our expectations."

[T4E]

That's Garry, isn't it?

It's also 3 words.

As for Bentley - sod off McLaren!

[gumboots]

The problem with lads who are "world class" at an early age is that all too many of them never, for whatever reason, get any better. Think of the hype around Rooney 3 years ago and then look at his performances recently for England and even for United. He's good but he hasn't gone on to greater things. Look at Jeffers, worth a fortune a few years back and now unable to get a game with us. I'd rather have a player like Derbyshire who won't think he's got it made, who'll be prepared to work for what he gets and not take things for granted but who'll develop into a good premiership striker with the right help and advice. I'd like a few stars at Rovers, of course I would, but they cost big money we don't have and so we have to look realistically at what is available. I was delighted for Matt, scoring for U21s and absolutely delighted for the club too. Think what a boost it must be to the youngsters at Brockhall to see a guy they were playing with not so long ago doing so well.

[Eddie]

Bit harsh to lump Rooney and Jeffers together. Rooney works very hard, certainly as hard as Derbyshire does, he just hasn't been in very good form for most of this season (which could easily be attributed to the fact that he may well have been rushed back from an injury).

[gumboots]

Wasn't meaning to talk about attitude but about how hard it is to progress if you come through too early. I agree that Rooney does still work very hard but nobody could say that he is still hitting the heights he did earlier in his career.

[USABlue]

Let's keep our heads here lads and lassies. As fond as I am of our Matty the 2nd and as good as I feel about him being an excellent poacher of goals, world class is just plain silly.

Bentley earned his full cap on the back of his performance for th eunder 21's but "no balls McClaren" is not about to take a gamble with a new player who is not one of the big fours or otherwise media proclaimed big clubs. Chances are he will bring Bentley in when there is nowt left to play for, which will be soon with the way he's going.

[bluebruce]

He ain't "local" - he's from Bolton isn't he?

Er, no? Born Blackburn

[AggyBlue]

Er, no? Born Blackburn

I'm sure he was born in Horwich, which as you know comes under Bolton.

[gazsimm]

Er, no? Born Blackburn

he's a bolton lad and still lives in Bolton now

[Pugg]

Bentley earned his full cap on the back of his performance for th eunder 21's but "no balls McClaren" is not about to take a gamble with a new player who is not one of the big fours or otherwise media proclaimed big clubs. Chances are he will bring Bentley in when there is nowt left to play for, which will be soon with the way he's going.

I agree with this. It's not as though it's a gamble any more though, I mean they can't get much worse and Andorra are probably the best opposition to try him aganst. Plus, he wouldn't get any stick from the media because they are all calling for him!