Christian Benteke Player Thread (Liverpool -> Crystal Palace)

Dybala apparently was cheaper than this lad ...

I think everyone was cheaper and everyone is better. I don't think anyone would have believed he could be so ineffective

Benteke's girlfriend loves him because he always finishes last or sometimes never finishes at all.

He has really been disappointing, had high hopes for him but has let us and himself down.

He has really been disappointing, had high hopes for him but has let us and himself down.

Look at the majority of Rodgers signings though, most of them regarded as not Liverpool quality and then we slate them when they don't cut it.  play to his strengths and he'll get goals but that wasn't rodgers philosophy or Klopps.

He hasn't helped himself on occasions, but we haven't helped him either. When every phone in is dominated by people calling him sh!te, every errant touch on the pitch greeted by groans of derision, every forum full of people calling him a donkey we shouldn't really be surprised that he looks low on confidence. Add to that that he can't get a game and that we still don't have a coherent plan (or don't seemingly want to think of one) that uses him effectively, there's no wonder he looks a shadow of the player we saw a couple of months ago.

I use that "couple of months ago" statement quite deliberately too, he scored at his usual rate of a goal every two matches when he first arrived, despite playing in a dysfunctional team who did little to support him. Good footballers don't become bad players overnight, just like Firmino hadn't suddenly become a bad player when he started the season really poorly, or Mezut Ozil hadn't become a bad player when he was sh!te for a season and a half at Arsenal.

Unfortunately for Benteke he's now at that point where every time someone fires a cross over the forum is full of people giving it "FFS where was Benteke then?", God knows what they'd be saying if we still had Jermaine Pennant. Benteke isn't playing well, but the reaction amongst Liverpool people to his every appearance is shocking really.

When we won those two games 1-0 after Christmas, with Benteke the goal scorer in both games... he was still getting the flack then. He won us the game, but he didn't win it well enough.

Some people just become obsessed with hating on a player that they then ignore everything else and look for the bad. 

He was horrible tonight, simply horrible. A man his size needs a mean streak and needs to push people around.

If you put Costa's mentality with Benteke's size and skill he could single handedley wipe out ISIS.

He hasn't helped himself on occasions, but we haven't helped him either. When every phone in is dominated by people calling him sh!te, every errant touch on the pitch greeted by groans of derision, every forum full of people calling him a donkey we shouldn't really be surprised that he looks low on confidence. Add to that that he can't get a game and that we still don't have a coherent plan (or don't seemingly want to think of one) that uses him effectively, there's no wonder he looks a shadow of the player we saw a couple of months ago.

I use that "couple of months ago" statement quite deliberately too, he scored at his usual rate of a goal every two matches when he first arrived, despite playing in a dysfunctional team who did little to support him. Good footballers don't become bad players overnight, just like Firmino hadn't suddenly become a bad player when he started the season really poorly, or Mezut Ozil hadn't become a bad player when he was sh!te for a season and a half at Arsenal.

Unfortunately for Benteke he's now at that point where every time someone fires a cross over the forum is full of people giving it "FFS where was Benteke then?", God knows what they'd be saying if we still had Jermaine Pennant. Benteke isn't playing well, but the reaction amongst Liverpool people to his every appearance is shocking really.

It aint his fault in all honesty Mick, but i can see why people are getting pretty pissed with him and the situation.

 What the F**k we were thinking when we paid £32.5m on him i have no idea. We made the mistake once before with Andy Carroll and you would think that would be enough. Simply put it was never going to work, he sticks out like a sore thumb.

It aint good enough to crunch numbers in that gimp transfer comittee program thunderball thing they use.

Anyone with a tiny bit of football sense in the entire set up could tell you he is a Carroll/Ballotelli type, a type who do not prosper here with how we look to play.

As a result of the way we play we will never get the best out of him and now his confidence is shot to sh*t. It was all very predictable really.

We need pace and skill in the forward positions to get the best from the likes of Firmino, Coutinho, Lallana, Ibe. I mean there isn't a good crosser of the ball in our entire squad to benefit him.

The squad is a weird, fu**ed up, childrens football computer game F***ing mess.

Amateur hour stuff, and to be honest it is like that all over the F***ing pitch from keeper to forwards.

Camel and comittees and all that sh*t but that is what happens when too many people, with different ideas and visions all pipe up to create a team. It needs sorting out because i will lose my sh*t if in two seasons time we sign another big lump (Rudy Gustede probably) no matter what his goal scoring record is.

If you put Costa's mentality with Benteke's size and skill he could single handedley wipe out ISIS.
 

Now that's an idea to get rid of him , send him to fight the Daesh he could bore them to death .

After listening to pundits, experts and general cu*ts for the last week I'm firmly convinced that we need to close ranks on this lad. He's an LFC player and needs us to get behind him, f**k all the kicking and do what we do best.

YNWA

Trust me, I root for him with all I've got every game, but that doesn't change the fact that he's been crap.

"As a result of the way we play we will never get the best out of him and now his confidence is shot to sh*t. It was all very predictable really. "

It's clear he isn't being used to his potential.

It's possible that we could play to his strengths and he would still flop but right now we aren't doing so.

Why are the manager and coaches not addressing this?

Oy look here,here is what i think about this man after yesterdays performance.
I think that this man should not start in any game until the end of the season,if he doesnt understand by himself that he needs to spend more time on the training ground than any other our player,than he has some serious personality issues.
His inability to finish yesterday was so obvious that it was painful.
Go to the training ground,work hard on your finishing and do not come back until you dont get to perfection,because for 32.5 million pounds that is what you need to do.

Oy look here,here is what i think about this man after yesterdays performance.
I think that this man should not start in any game until the end of the season,if he doesnt understand by himself that he needs to spend more time on the training ground than any other our player,than he has some serious personality issues.
His inability to finish yesterday was so obvious that it was painful.
Go to the training ground,work hard on your finishing and do not come back until you dont get to perfection,because for 32.5 million pounds that is what you need to do.

For £32.5m, I expect him to be tearing defences apart. And not having to refine his technical skills. If that's the case I'd rather work on a youngster who doesn't have that much bad habits in him to correct.

For £32.5m, I expect him to be tearing defences apart. And not having to refine his technical skills. If that's the case I'd rather work on a youngster who doesn't have that much bad habits in him to correct.

The man is pissing me of from game to game,F***ing incredible.
He was so F***ing indifferent on the pitch,slow,poor visioned that it was F***ing annoying.

Someone needs to tell him the two centre backs of the other team double teamed his misses before the game. Needs to get angrier and use his frame.

The man is pissing me of from game to game,f**king incredible.
He was so f**king indifferent on the pitch,slow,poor visioned that it was f**king annoying.

His link up play is alright, but poor in the box. If anything he needs to learn how to muscle his way into bullying not one but two centre halves. Has been pocketed last night.

With Benteke I'm just a little surprised sometimes that people's memories are so short. Only two or three months ago he arrived at Liverpool and scored regularly (he's still out top scorer in-fact) and has scored all types of goals for us. there's been towering headers, overhead kicks, tap ins, cool finishes etc. The same type of goals in all honesty that he's scored throughout his career in English football. We aren't talking goals when we're 3-0 up either (that hasn't happened much in truth), we're talking the only goal in 1-0 wins on more than one occasion, goals to bring us back into the game when we're behind etc, goals away from home, you name it.

And now, he's playing sh!te we can all see that. So, has he become a sh!te player overnight? Was he always a sh!te player? Has he got an identical twin brother who is sh!te and has taken his place? What?

Of course some or all of those things above may be true, but perhaps (and I know this is a bit out there but indulge me), just perhaps his sh!teness is temporary? Perhaps there is a chance that one day he won't be sh!te any more? Could it even be that he's lacking in a bit of confidence?

Now if we take the contrary view, my completely outlandish "confidence theory" and reject the "he is just utter sh!te" conclusion, how do we alter the course of his and our season to get him playing well again? THAT is what we ought to be looking at IMHO, and as I've been saying for sometime now, it's not as if when we don't play him or do play him but not to his strengths that we're exactly rattling the goals in.

Yes I'm aware that if we played Norwich every week there wouldn't be too much of an issue, but we've just been through three and a half hours of football, at home, against Stoke and West Ham and haven't scored a goal. Not only have we not scored a goal, but we haven't exactly racked up a string of near misses either. Now I get that we have injuries, lots of games, tired players and the like. I totally get that. But we do have an option to play just a little differently to the way we are too. Perhaps a couple of videos of how Benitez used Peter Crouch might refresh peoples memories a bit (I don't remember Crouchie "running the channels" overly, or being a massively "mobile" front man) or failing that we could just watch a couple of videos of any Aston Villa/Liverpool match over the last three seasons or so. That ought to do it, and it might work.

Please though spare me the "Benteke is sh!te" nonsense, because he's a million miles from that.     

Can we just have one game where we put in 10 crosses to him and see what happens? Just one.

I don't care about 'oh but his positioning'. No. Boss should say right lads, Ben is going to be on the F***ing penalty spot most of the night, whip it into his kopf and see what happens.

It's without doubt worth at least a try.

And before anyone gets on my back I'm not delusional to the fact that his time on the ball lately has been dire, I just think while we have this guy lets at least give him the chance to play the way that best suits him at least one time.

Can we just have one game where we put in 10 crosses to him and see what happens? Just one.

I don't care about 'oh but his positioning'. No. Boss should say right lads, Ben is going to be on the f**king penalty spot most of the night, whip it into his kopf and see what happens.

It's without doubt worth at least a try.

And before anyone gets on my back I'm not delusional to the fact that his time on the ball lately has been dire, I just think while we have this guy lets at least give him the chance to play the way that best suits him at least one time.

The truth is mate we don't have a natural crosser in the team, so we are going to have to build a platform to get it into the box if we are going to see him be really dominant. If we had a David Beckham, a John Barnes or someone of that ilk who was going to get it and ping it in with some accuracy and predictability, then we could just (as someone said earlier) "Ping crosses in". We don't though, only Smith looks like he has the natural inclination to do it, and I'm sure in time Ibe will too. This is why people keep talking about Benteke being "on his heels", because the poor f***** never knows when or from where the ball is going to come in from. Nine times out of ten we refuse the option to cross ii when it's on, then randomly someone will fire it across the box and the chorus of "WTF was Benteke?" rings out.

To use him effectively and to help him regain his confidence we have to IMHO do two things..

1. We have to have a pattern of play which we work on at Melwood which involves the ball being worked out wide, laid back, then crossed first time. "Whipped" with outswing. Not fiddled around with, not checked back and thought about, not stepped over and Cruyff turned, just put in first time once the lay off backwards comes. That way, the moment it goes wide to a fella with his back to goal Benteke can get himself ready to gamble on the cross coming in, he can move into a postion where he can attack the ball. He can do this we know very well, simply because he did it very effectively for three seasons with Aston Villa. When a team does this with a striker as powerful as Benteke, it is extremely difficult to play against.

2. When Benteke drops in and looks to receive it to feet centrally (which he currently does about 30 times a game) we should encourage him to do it on the half turn rather than square to the goal. Then, we should give him the ball (quickly) and let him run, hit it, whatever. As he often shows (even now) he is an excellent footballer with a deft touch, when he runs with it he is hard to stop. When he is confident and runs with it he is extremely difficult to stop.

I think if we do those two things, he will fairly quickly become a very good player again. If anyone wishes to see video examples of what I'm on about, watch any videos of him over the last three seasons.

The truth is mate we don't have a natural crosser in the team, so we are going to have to build a platform to get it into the box if we are going to see him be really dominant. If we had a David Beckham, a John Barnes or someone of that ilk who was going to get it and ping it in with some accuracy and predictability, then we could just (as someone said earlier) "Ping crosses in". We don't though, only Smith looks like he has the natural inclination to do it, and I'm sure in time Ibe will too. This is why people keep talking about Benteke being "on his heels", because the poor f***** never knows when or from where the ball is going to come in from. Nine times out of ten we refuse the option to cross ii when it's on, then randomly someone will fire it across the box and the chorus of "WTF was Benteke?" rings out.

To use him effectively and to help him regain his confidence we have to IMHO do two things..

1. We have to have a pattern of play which we work on at Melwood which involves the ball being worked out wide, laid back, then crossed first time. "Whipped" with outswing. Not fiddled around with, not checked back and thought about, not stepped over and Cruyff turned, just put in first time once the lay off backwards comes. That way, the moment it goes wide to a fella with his back to goal Benteke can get himself ready to gamble on the cross coming in, he can move into a postion where he can attack the ball. He can do this we know very well, simply because he did it very effectively for three seasons with Aston Villa. When a team does this with a striker as powerful as Benteke, it is extremely difficult to play against.

2. When Benteke drops in and looks to receive it to feet centrally (which he currently does about 30 times a game) we should encourage him to do it on the half turn rather than square to the goal. Then, we should give him the ball (quickly) and let him run, hit it, whatever. As he often shows (even now) he is an excellent footballer with a deft touch, when he runs with it he is hard to stop. When he is confident and runs with it he is extremely difficult to stop.

I think if we do those two things, he will fairly quickly become a very good player again. If anyone wishes to see video examples of what I'm on about, watch any videos of him over the last three seasons.

Nailed it.  I'd be surprised if this isn't practiced at Melwood, tbh, given the investment we made in Big Ben's services.  You're spot on though - its not so much that he doesn't anticipate the cross, its that he doesn't know what cross, or when, to anticipate!
That said, he does seem to lack the knack of making a darting, positive move that a crosser/AM can see and feed quickly; instead he seems to stand and wait, or drop out of the box as if to say, "Ok lads, I'm going to run in as soon as you hit it."

Thinking of the (admittedly low-level) football I've experienced, a decent striker will usually demand (very forcefully) the kind of service he thrives on, and tell the dressing room exactly what he wants, when, where and how.  Then if he doesn't get it he'll let everybody know about it.  I don't see it enough with Ben.  Maybe he and the team have been told that's not the way we're going to do it?
Getting on his back as so many do is easy. So easy its crass, sheep-like and lazy.  Plus it doesn't help him play any better.

Screw that just play Firmino up front until Origi and God bless him Studge are back.
Forwards get their confidence back by scoring goals, Benteke is fluffing his chances - no one can score for him!

Can we just have one game where we put in 10 crosses to him and see what happens? Just one.

I don't care about 'oh but his positioning'. No. Boss should say right lads, Ben is going to be on the f**king penalty spot most of the night, whip it into his kopf and see what happens.

It's without doubt worth at least a try.

And before anyone gets on my back I'm not delusional to the fact that his time on the ball lately has been dire, I just think while we have this guy lets at least give him the chance to play the way that best suits him at least one time.

No because FSG/not enough passion/doesn't get the club/ it's all Brendan's fault etc etc.

Basically anything apart from being allowed to question the manager as he gives cool press conferences. And did you see his glasses getting broke? f***in boss la!

Is the situation so bad that some are trying to see positives in Balotelli? Anyone suggesting so needs their head seen to, utter mental cases

I'd rather eat sh*t than see him in a Liverpool shirt ever again.

But that doesn't mean I'm happy with Benteke - he was f**king atrocious last night. He gets somewhere between £120k- £140k a week did you know?

I feel physically sick he earns this much and that we wasted so much - I'm really beginning to think he is worse than Carroll now. There was nothing to him last night, the guys behind him (particularly Allen and Brannagan) did well enough and he let everyone down. He has no future as far as I'm concerned and I'd quite happily see him sold tomorrow.

If you really want to get depressed, look at how much he is paid (because he certainly doesn't f**king earn it) in the time you view this page....

http://www.whatfootballersearn.com/player/christian-benteke/