Christian Benteke

[Fosterbloke]

That one two and barging run was quality. Perhaps it was a lack of fitness but I would liked to have seen a little more harrying of their defence but it's the first game so it's understandable why it didn't happen.

[Shaggy]

Too much hoofing up to him yesterday. He showed some good touches in terms of link up play.

[Exiled_red]

I felt he was quite isolated we need to get people up to support him, the likes of Coutinho, Ibe and Lallana yesterday or whoever else play those attacking roles in the coming games need to get closer. The other thing I thought was that we tried to focus almost al our attacking play through him. It was almost as if after a year with out a striker the players just thought all we have to do is give him the ball and that'll be it. We should also limit the number of direct balls up from the back we play to him. It's an option we now have but we don't need to use it all the time.

I though he was decent enough in what he did but as a team we didn't get him involved enough.

[dizzycat]

He found space when he needed to bit had nothing to work with really. I think the signs are promising. He'll be good for us. If Studger comes back anywhere near his best we'll score a lot of goals.

[redmike65]

Too static.

[Cormack74]

I only saw MOTD but their post game analysis suggested he wasn't.

[RedReet]

I only saw MOTD but their post game analysis suggested he wasn't.

Plus he busted a gut to try and get on the end of every long ball (and there were plenty), regardless of how far away he was.

Worked extremely hard IMO and just lacked that tiny bit of sharpness, as you'd expect.

[Pablo]

A goal against Bournemouth would be a huge boost for him. We never really created more than a half chance for him but if he draws a blank again then the pressure will slowly start to build.

It already looks like he'd be better with someone right up alongside him. He was too isolated as too many of our players like to drop deep to pick up the ball. I'd ask Firmino to play up top with him against Bournemouth.

[Slinky Skills]

The Villa supporting lad on my team raves about him, says he's going to be savage for us for years to come.

[Fierce]

The Villa supporting lad on my team raves about him, says he's going to be savage for us for years to come.

Yeah lad at work says exactly the same

[BigChief]

I couldn't help quietly mouthing 'beast' whenever he went up for a header or shrugged off 12+ stone men off the ball. There were about 3 or 4 goal scoring positions that he got himself into but the ball to him were atrocious. Coutinho and Henderson were at fault for the majority.

He's looking better than I thought he would.

[Chazza]

I hope you were watching on your own because randomly whispering 'beast' when around other people is odd and a tad creepy.

[captainfog]

5 touches in the Stokes penalty box all game.

[BigChief]

I hope you were watching on your own because randomly whispering 'beast' when around other people is odd and a tad creepy.

I'm sure I was on my own as I was stroking my own beast at the same time. I wouldn't normally do that while others are watching.

[BigChief]

5 touches in the Stokes penalty box all game.

Because Coutinho and Henderson couldn't get goal-scorable touches to him when he was clear in the box and onside.