Bentley - is he as good as we think he is?

[Southend Pier]

Have to say he looked in la la land for the second one

 

[bazzashrimper]

ok - if you had to value our defence right now...

White £100k Thompson £100k Phillips £50k Prosser £250k Coker £250k Bentley £500k

any arguments?

these are relative not absolute figures, of course

White £0k Thompson £0k Phillips £0k Prosser £10k Coker £25k Bentley £200k

Phillips really worth money? Do you not think we would snap someones hand off if they took him off our hands and paid his wages. IMO similar for Thompson who I've never been impressed with, but PB sees something.

 

[Welly7]

His progress has slowed in my opinion and there are a few mistakes that he's made which he wouldn't have done earlier in the season. Still our best bet between the sticks though.

 

[mgh]

Clearly people don't know what relatively means- that's not what they are worth on the open market but what they are worth compared to each other. Thompson is young and has time to improve... Look at Prosser. Coker is as good as any left back we've seen at Roots Hall this year.
Show me any keeper who doesn't make mistakes... Again no keeper is better than him in this league.

 

[Ayrshire Blue]

A goalkeeper is only as good as his defence and our defence is non existent at the moment.

 

[Neil 24]

I blame brown licking his arse after every game instead of keeping him groumded he has become slightly over confident id like to see him stayin put for another 2 or 3 seasons to gain more experience

 

[Jam_Man]

What has he done that show he has become over confident?!

Bentley was getting bigged up and he is a decent young keeper. I didnt quite ever buy he was as good as some people seemed to think as he was being judged in a winning side.

Look at Flahavan, player of the year when we went up, slated when we got relegated.

Keepers look good when you are winning and get more flack when you aren't, whether its their fault or not.

He certainly has made the position his own and deserves to be our no.1

 

[Norwichshrimper]

As we all know, he can only be the greatest keeper ever, or the worst keeper ever....there is never any middle ground on here.

 

[onceknownasrab]

Bentley has potential. He is too young to be playing consecutively and everyone expecting him to not make mistakes. He is learning, even the basics. Shot stopping, coming for crosses, commanding the box, integrating with and organising the defence. You name it and he still has bags of room for improvement. However for his age he is full of possibility. Time will tell.

 

[Uncle Leo]

I think he's really good, with lots of potential. He's also really young and will become better for these experiences. Hell, Roy Carroll was interviewed in the Grauniad this week, talking about how he's still trying to improve at the age of 36.

Bentley will end this season still shy of his 21st birthday and with over 50 professional appearances under his belt. That's a good base from which to work on.

 

[tottenham541]

needs to command his 6 yard box more, was at fault for first goal last night, should of at least got a punch on it, even worse coming from a corner, keepers can go through everyone and still get away with lots.

 

[Ayrshire Blue]

ok - if you had to value our defence right now...

White £100k Thompson £100k Phillips £50k Prosser £250k Coker £250k Bentley £500k

any arguments?

these are relative not absolute figures, of course

Thank you, I needed a good laugh after last night.

 

[Blues 'n twos]

needs to command his 6 yard box more, was at fault for first goal last night, should of at least got a punch on it, even worse coming from a corner, keepers can go through everyone and still get away with lots.

Said that last night and after seeing the highlights stand by it, but that said he has bags of "potential", needs coaching.

 

[Somerset Ex-TTB]

We do not have a **** defense. 2nd best in the division with 12 clean sheets in 33 games. That is a clean sheet better than 1 in 3 games.

Bentley is good, but has made one or two errors this season, but is still young for a GK and will get better and better.

 

[tottenham541]

Said that last night and after seeing the highlights stand by it, but that said he has bags of "potential", needs coaching.

he is21, h ha so much time in the game and a lot to learn, he will make it to the top but there is no rush.

 

[EL2T]

His distribution is a bit hit and miss (his kicking goes all over, but he does look to throw the ball and start counter attacks), he isn't very comfortable with crosses (which was in stark contrast with the York goalkeeper) and his footwork seems to be pretty suspect (he makes moving across goal look to be a real chore at times).

If he hadn't come up from our youth team I couldn't see him receiving the adulation that he does.

That said he does pull off some great stops and he is very young, probably ten years off his peak. It's pretty clear he's not the finished article, but you couldn't really expect him to be. For the level we're at, he doesn't look particularly out of place, and maybe with time he can improve beyond that. Unlike several 'prospects' we've had come through the ranks, he does look like he could make a career out of pro football, the level at which he plays is down to how much he improves.

On balance, his current ability is probably somewhat over-rated on this board. But hey, we've got to get excited by something at the moment right?

 

[davewebbsbrain]

Why are we dissecting Bentley? Have we run out of people to blame for our recent dip?

 

[Beefy]

Positioning, dealing with crosses, setting up free-kicks, these are all things which come with experience. Goalkeeping is so much more than shot-stopping. More than any other position goalkeeping is about learning from your mistakes.

Bentley is a better keeper now than he was a year ago and he's a worse keeper now than he will be in ten years time.

 

[Zeuss]

I haven't seen the Northampton goals yet but I have seen enough of Bentley to know that he should be spending the rest of this season learning from the bench.Despite his many fine diving stops and undoubted promise, he's barely adequate for 1st team football at this stage of his career.A lot of fans kid themselves he's a lot better than he is,probably because he's young,local and waves to the crowd-unlike Paul Smith-a highly competent experienced keeper.Situation not helped by ridiculous claims by the manager who just loves the sound of his own voice.

 

[Jam_Man]

I haven't seen the Northampton goals yet but I have seen enough of Bentley to know that he should be spending the rest of this season learning from the bench.Despite his many fine diving stops and undoubted promise, he's barely adequate for 1st team football at this stage of his career.A lot of fans kid themselves he's a lot better than he is,probably because he's young,local and waves to the crowd-unlike Paul Smith-a highly competent experienced keeper.Situation not helped by ridiculous claims by the manager who just loves the sound of his own voice.

Yeah all those clean sheets he kept back that up. How many times as he conceded 5 ? :facepalm: