Christian Benteke

[Daniel 7]

heskey only looked good as a partner for owen. on his own he would have been ****e for sure. benters needs someone to play along side him. we dont get anyone up along side him, he is often isolated.

Nope. Heskey's best season was his first full one where Owen spent the most of it injured. He took on the main striker mantle and scored 20 odd goals. His problem was mental rather than ability.

[Gray]

What he lacked in skill, he made up for in heart. He was never lazy.

[Buzzo]

What he lacked in skill, he made up for in heart. He was never lazy.

I was thinking... 'No way....!!!! What....!!!!....Eh...?????'

And then I realised you were talking about Heskey.

[Gray]

I was thinking... 'No way....!!!! What....!!!!....Eh...?????'

And then I realised you were talking about Heskey.

Haha. Heart rate back to normal.

[danperkins]

Is he? What he did was enough to look good in a terrible Villa side, his play hasn't changed for us. All his issues are the same as his issues at Villa, they just stand out more here.

Course he is better than this Matt. Is that the standard we need, maybe not but there is no question he is better than this.

I don't want to make excuses for him & you're not going to wear them as you dislike him as a footballer.. but IMO he would be much more effective in a two with a partner.

[Fosterbloke]

Course he is better than this Matt. Is that the standard we need, maybe not but there is no question he is better than this.



I don't want to make excuses for him & you're not going to wear them as you dislike him as a footballer.. but IMO he would be much more effective in a two with a partner.

On dancing with the stars. In a football team, he'd still be ****e.

[marcus50bucks]

Michael Owen on what Christian Benteke needs to do to succeed at Liverpool FC

19:00, 11 JAN 2016 BY JOE RIMMER

'He's a great player but not in this Liverpool team' says former Reds striker, who warns Belgian must adapt to survive

Michael Owen has told Christian Benteke he must adapt to Liverpool’s style of play if he is to be a success at Anfield.

Benteke has found himself in and out of the team under boss Jurgen Klopp and, ahead of the clash with Arsenal, BT Sport pundit Owen warned the Belgian forward that he must improve his all round game for the Reds.

And Owen, who scored 158 goals in 297 appearances for Liverpool, has never quite been convinced Benteke fits in.

“I questioned it (his signing) at the start and I still question it now," he says.

“I think he’s a great player but I don’t think he’s a great player in this Liverpool team.

"Unless Liverpool change their way, but then you have to ask yourself if he’s good enough for the team to change their whole way of playing? The answer is probably no.

"You have to be a Suarez to have a team built around you.

“So right now it’s for Benteke to improve his all-round game, rather than for Liverpool to change their way of playing to suit him.

“I really like Benteke as player but I really don’t think he complements the team. They don’t cross the ball like he likes or get the ball direct enough for him to build his best form.”

Klopp has often used Benteke as a lone forward, but Liverpool’s best performances have often come when the 25-year-old has been left out of the team, with the former Dortmund manager looking for a more fluid frontline.

And Owen believes that Benteke could end up going the same way as Andy Carroll at Anfield if he fails to adapt.

“Liverpool is a unique club, you can’t just buy someone who is banging goals in for another team and expect them to do it here," he says.

"Because they often can’t, we saw that with Andy Carroll.

“To a certain extent, when Benteke signed I really liked him, in the same way I liked Carroll, but I just wasn’t sure that, because of his style of play, that he was a Liverpool type of player.

"That’s not to say you can’t improve and become more of a Liverpool type of player, and by that I mean that, of course, you have to score goals, but you have to be able to take a ball to feet, link play and be a really good football player."

Owen adds: "To be a Liverpool centre forward you have to have a great touch, you have to be able to come short, or go long, and I just think that Benteke relies so much on high crosses and that isn’t the Liverpool way. And it’s not football at the top level.

“At the top level, getting to the byline and hanging crosses up isn’t the way football is going at the moment. If you look at Barcelona and Real Madrid, it’s not wingers and beating players on the outside.

"The art of wide men beating players on the outside and crossing balls is reasonably rare now, and that’s where Benteke is one of the best around.

“If I was there I’d be working on trying to get him as a more rounded player. A player that actually works a lot, that runs channels and that can come off, hold the ball up and bring others into play.

"I think he’s a little bit one dimensional at the moment. Liverpool are trying to play to his strengths, but they aren’t playing to the team’s strengths and subsequently I just don’t think that, the way he’s playing at the minute, he’s quite suited.

“If you look at the best performances under Klopp it’s been without him in the team. That doesn’t sit well with me, because you would think he needs to be in the team but he needs to work and change his style a bit.”

Benteke has scored seven times in 21 games since signing for the Reds in a £32.5million deal, but during that time he’s played just 45 minutes alongside Daniel Sturridge, in a 1-1 draw with Norwich back in September.

Owen believes it’s a partnership that could work, should Sturridge finally prove his fitness.

He added: “He does suit playing up front on his own, he’s that type of modern player who is a presence and can occupy defenders, but maybe with somebody else he would improve.

“There would have to be a little bit of a change in what Klopp wants to do and his formation but, if Sturridge can get fit, then that might come into it.

“They could be a real combination. I think that’s where, full credit to him, Brendan Rodgers had all these good attacking players and he wasn’t scared to change his shape to compliment it. He even went to a back three to get all his best players in there.”

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport...arebar_twitter

[captainfog]

I stopped reading at "he's a great player..."

No he's not, he's rubbish. He's always been rubbish. Sure he can be effective for mid and bottom table sides who play mid and bottom table football, but if you aspire to anything more than that then he offers little of value.

[Fosterbloke]

I stopped reading at "he's a great player..."

No he's not, he's rubbish. He's always been rubbish. Sure he can be effective for mid and bottom table sides who play mid and bottom table football, but if you aspire to anything more than that then he offers little of value.

That's your opinion and you might be right but it's not his job to be disrespectful to fellow professionals.

[BobTheCharmer]

Since we have the big lad here and no one else right now, is it beyond the realms to think we could try and adapt our system to try and get more out of him? I like klopp a lot, but his approach seems very similar to Rodgers. One up front, lots of pressing and counter attacking. It didn't suit Carrol, Mario, Lambert and now Benteke. These are all strikers that suit crosses, partners and a different attacking approach. In the past managers seemed to play different ways to utilise what they had. Now days, managers seem very stuck in their ways and stubborn. That's not just us, that's across the whole of football. I get you need an ideology and preferred method, but sometimes you need to be prepared to go against this if you don't have the players you want.

[RichC]

I think with Benteke though he needs to adapt his game as well and adopt the high intensity game the rest of the squad is playing, agree about perhaps looking for more crosses for him to work off perhaps but that still requires him getting into positions that can cause the opposition problems and at present he's not doing that nearly enough.

Bloke looks shot confidence wise at the moment and I think that's only going to improve with him putting the hard work in on the pitch.

[Harv]

Nah, he's ****.

[Fredo]

I think with Benteke though he needs to adapt his game as well and adopt the high intensity game the rest of the squad is playing, agree about perhaps looking for more crosses for him to work off perhaps but that still requires him getting into positions that can cause the opposition problems and at present he's not doing that nearly enough.

Bloke looks shot confidence wise at the moment and I think that's only going to improve with him putting the hard work in on the pitch.

I've got a feeling Klopp will give him next pre season, get the time to have proper training sessions with him, before making any decision on his future.

[Yozza]

Rimmer.....

[Lecter]

Since we have the big lad here and no one else right now, is it beyond the realms to think we could try and adapt our system to try and get more out of him? I like klopp a lot, but his approach seems very similar to Rodgers. One up front, lots of pressing and counter attacking. It didn't suit Carrol, Mario, Lambert and now Benteke. These are all strikers that suit crosses, partners and a different attacking approach. In the past managers seemed to play different ways to utilise what they had. Now days, managers seem very stuck in their ways and stubborn. That's not just us, that's across the whole of football. I get you need an ideology and preferred method, but sometimes you need to be prepared to go against this if you don't have the players you want.

Who do we have that can cross a ball???

Murphy spent 45 minutes slating Klopp the other night for not bringing on Lallana to provide crosses for Benteke

I also think it goes deeper than just lack of crosses because I genuinely dont think hes in the box often enough and even when he is he doesnt attack the ball nearly enough