Aston Villa striker and stand-in captain http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Darren-Bent-c10358 has been stripped of the captaincy by manager Paul Lambert to allow the player to focus on his goal scoring form.
The player was handed over the club captaincy following Stiliyan Petrov’s illness. The Bulgarian international was diagnosed with leukaemia earlier this year in March, and has since been receiving treatment.
The player’s illness has gone into remission, but Petrov is still under treatment and has suspended his football career. Bent was handed the captaincy before the competitive season started, and vowed to hold on to it permanently.
However, the striker has experienced a dip in form and has not been able to score for the club. He had missed most of last season’s end following a serious injury in the 2-2 draw against Queens Park http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Rangers-c40314 in February.
The injury kept the player out of England’s Euro 2012 squad and he spent most of the summer getting back in shape. Bent returned to play in Villa’s pre-season tour and had an impressive few games.
He hasn’t managed to score a goal for Villa this season, and manager http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Paul-c29347 Lambert believes that he needs to concentrate on finding his form as soon as possible.
At the moment, Bent is the club’s most senior and first choice striker, and the manager has removed him as captain to help him rediscover his goal scoring form.
New signing and Dutch centre half http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ron-Vlaar-c31697 has been made captain, and the manager believes his decision will benefit the entire team.
“In terms of my decision on the captaincy, I just wanted to give Darren a break. I just want him to concentrate on goals,” said Lambert.
“He has been excellent against Newcastle and Swansea in our last couple of games and has looked sharp. He is playing well, but I think changing it will help him. It will let him just concentrate on scoring goals for the team.”
The manager was full of praise for Vlaar, and added:
“Ron is amazing. He is colossal and has been since he came here. He has been excellent for us. He is not a young kid. He is not 21. He has been at a huge football club himself and I just think he is a top player.”
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