Bent striving for top 10

Striker Darren Bent has targeted a top 10 finish for Sunderland this season as they look to make up for last term's lost opportunity. The 26-year-old secured 25 goals during his debut campaign on Wearside, but the Black Cats could only manage 13th place in the Premier League, significantly short of where they felt they should have ended up. Steve Bruce's side are determined not to miss out this time around, despite enduring a middling start to the new season, drawing 2-2 with Birmingham in their curtain-raiser before losing 1-0 at West Brom last weekend. And Bent, who will feature against Manchester City at the Stadium of Light on Sunday, is keen to avoid last season's mistakes this term.

Higher

"It's funny because we should have finished so much higher than we did," said Bent. "Some of our performances last season - Arsenal at home, we were brilliant, Liverpool at home, Manchester United away, they were all big, big performances we put in."But we just let ourselves down at times with silly sending-offs and maybe a lack of concentration towards the end of games and conceding late goals."After what happened to us last season, we are definitely capable of a top-10 finish."A lot of people last season maybe got a bit carried away when we had played six games and won three out of the six."Everyone was saying, 'They have got to finish in the top seven, the top eight' - and that for a team that had nearly been relegated the season before was a bit much."But this season, we have got expectations. We want to finish in the top 10 and I am sure we can do that."Bent, who arrived at the Stadium of Light from Tottenham last summer for 10million, admits he set himself personal targets after making the move.
Collective
But the striker insists his objectives for this term are collective rather than individual. "Last season, there were a lot of personal goals to set because coming to a new area, I thought I had a point to prove," he added. "But f! or me, i t is probably the same as everyone else - for Sunderland to finish in the top 10, to have a really good season and maybe have a cup run if possible."If we could do that, it would be a really, really good season." Man. City 5/6, Draw 12/5, Sunderland 7/2


Football Betting Tips, Odds, Asian Handicap, Picks, Preview & Prediction

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mr. Hodgson Or: How We Learned To Stop Worrying And Blame The Manager

Image
The manager has risen from club secretary to official face of the club since the creation of football teams worldwide. He has moved from the man that kept the record books to man that is larger than the football team he manages. Commentators and pundits refer to Fergusons United or Wengers beautiful, passing football. He even has books written about him. The Manager by Barney Ronay, an excellent book that discusses the rise of the manager into the modern game, unearths some of the origins of the managers image and attempts todiscuss what kind of person the manager really is. While the book wasnt ever intended to be an academic study of the merits of various tactical thoughts of managers, it does address some of the often listed character traits ofsuccessfulmanagers. When all these traits are put together, to many the manager appears to be a father figure, a scary headmaster, a politician youd like to have a beer with, or somecombination. Yet despite all this popularity, he is little mo...
Keep reading

England World Cup camps need to lose doomsday siege mentality

Image
One day last week, near the junction of Maude Street and Rivonia Road, in the Johannesburg suburb of Sandton, a line of smiling young men in shirts and shorts strolled along the pavement towards their hotel. Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben, Robin Van Persie, Dirk Kuyt, Mark Van Bommel and the rest of the Dutch squad waited at the lights until there was a break in the traffic and then ambled across the road. These were some of the best known players in the world, superstars of the game, walking along city streets on their way back from training and looking as though they did not have a care. There was no security with them. None to speak of, anyway. There were no photographers running in front of them and taking their picture. There were no girlfriends tottering along beside them. None of them wore headphones. They did not insulate themselves. They seemed at one with their surroundings. It was only a snapshot of the way the Dutch are living their lives at this World Cup but ...
Keep reading

How an American Influence Is Rubbing Off On Manchester City

Image
Manchester Citys match day experience is becoming more and more American with each new season. While Maine Road was what you could expect a typical British experience of what it was like to see an English football match in the 80s, the City of Manchester Stadium experience seems as American as apple pie. In previous seasons, City have tried to focus on improving the match-day experience. Theyve added buskers, i.e. public performers, around the ground to add to the atmosphere. And recently theyve adopted American entertainment methods such as turning down the house lights before kick-off and trying to get everyone excited for the big match. Theyve also been a pioneer in English football in their usage of American social media sites such as Facebook, Foursquare, Flickr and others to create a bond with supporters. And now for their first home match in the league for the 2010-11 season, against Liverpool tonight, theyre set to unveil two new features. Both of them have a uniquely American...
Keep reading