England squad announced but still no place for Darren Bent
Despite having scored seven goals in eight Premiership matches, which makes him the league’s top scoring Englishman, and having had the benefit of Fabio Capello’s being at Old Trafford on Saturday to watch him score a superb goal against the champions, Darren Bent has again been ommitted from the England squad. What does he have to do to get in it?
When England qualified for the World Cup early in September, I argued the case for the Sunderland man’s inclusion, and since then only Fernando Torres has bettered Bent’s scoring record in the Premier League. Surely two qualifying games which are effectively dead rubbers would have been an ideal opportunity to see whether he can recreate this form at an international level?
It is of course difficult to question the wisdom of a manager who has led England to World Cup qualification undefeated. However, on form alone, it is difficult to see how Emile Heskey and Peter Crouch, both who have had made the majority of their league appearances this season from the bench, deserve a place in the squad ahead of Bent.
They are very different types of strikers to Bent of course, and that may be were the problem lies for the former Ipswich, Charlton and Spurs man. His playing style is too similar to that of Wayne Rooney and Jermain Defoe, both of whom Capello is likely to prefer and both of whom he would most likely couple with a target man.
Capello, a renowned disciplinarian, may also take issue with Bent’s sometimes questionable professionalism. The Twitter rant which he used to force through his move to Sunderland was one example of this, as was his decision to allow Kenwyne Jones to take a penalty against Wolves last weekend, much to the disgust of Steve Bruce.
In terms of playing form, there is little more Bent can do to force his way into Capello’s thoughts. He needs to demonstrate he has the right attitude however, and may also require some good fortune to get his break. He was extremely unlucky to miss out in 2006 and on current form would be unlucky to miss out next summer.
