Bent fears 'big trouble'

Spurs striker warns team-mates they must quickly improve

By James Dall   Last updated: 17th September 2008

Bent fears 'big trouble'

Bent: Spurs warning

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Tottenham Hotspur striker Darren Bent admits the club will be in 'big trouble' if they do not quickly improve on their poor early season form.

Juande Ramos' side had been expected to challenge for UEFA Champions League qualification this campaign after a summer of lavish spending.

However, Spurs lie bottom of the Premier League table after they slumped to their third loss of the term against Aston Villa on Monday.

Bent concedes the squad needs time to settle, but has warned his team-mates they are in danger of falling too far off the pace to allow them the chance to save their season.

Cohesion

He said in The Sun: "We've signed a lot of new players and it takes time for them to gel.

"But we need to get it sorted sooner rather than later because if we carry on as we are, we're going to be in big trouble.

"It's early days and I'm sure we'll get it right. But we need to do it quickly. We are bottom of the Premier League with one point and people are expecting results now."

Bent started alongside forward Roman Pavlyuchenko, who joined Spurs from Spartak Moscow this summer, for the first time against Villa, and the 24-year-old is hopeful they can soon form a potent partnership.

Communication

He added: "Everyone saw what he was capable of in the Euros and, hopefully, he can bring his energy and passion for the game to Tottenham.

"We've not really had time to get to know each other. We've only trained together for a few days because of the international break.

"We've got plenty of time now to work on our partnership and there are some positive signs. He speaks no English, but it's not a problem because football is a universal language and he knows what he's doing."