Christian Benteke

[Gibbo]

Going off Morse's player of the season Benteke has been our 5th best player so far.

Lovren is second!

[Lecter]

Going off Morse's player of the season Benteke has been our 5th best player so far.

Lovren is second!

Thats a damning indictment for those who vote

[Tribute]

Reckon he'll be on the bench again tonight and hopefully can come on and score a winner again...

[Lecter]

Reckon he'll be on the bench again tonight and hopefully can come on and score a winner again...

Transfer window is shut mate, Leicester cant buy him now till the summer

[danperkins]

What is the right service for Benteke??

I keep hearing this but if someone could actually tell me so I can keep it in mind next time I watch him

I've seen us play plenty of decent balls into the box over the last few weeks

Many of them he hasnt been anywhere near and that wasnt because the ball was poor or an incorrect decision its because he hasnt been attacking the ball (or even in the box in some cases)

Some of them have been right on the button exactly where he was but he hasnt scored (Exeter, West Ham etc..)

By whom? Smith seems the only one with halfway decent delivery.

Benteke's movement in the box is odd and a bit **** to be honest but the quality of our delivery for a long time now has been dire. Both aspects aren't helping our cause at the moment.

Stevie G from open play was great, apart from that it's a struggle to think of anyone who can delivery a good cross into the box in years & that's not getting onto corners.... which it seems we are allergic to.

Yes Benteke's movement has to improve dramatically but so does the sub standard delivery. Although Benteke has been a big let down, the criticism he gets is way over the top, no wonder the poor ****er's confidence is shot to ****. He needs to improve no doubts and we better hope he does, as we are blunt as is.

[Irishnev]

Although Benteke has been a big let down, the criticism he gets is way over the top, no wonder the poor ****er's confidence is shot to ****. He needs to improve no doubts and we better hope he does, as we are blunt as is.

The thing is Dan that it's not like he is reading online forums about people giving out about him. All strikers go through bad patches but the great ones keep getting into the positions to miss - you say his confidence is shot, I say he is acting cowardly and refusing to get into the position to miss. Yes this is a direct result of his lack of confidence but a top striker would believe in himself and put himself into position rather than hiding in plain sight.

[Lecter]

By whom? Smith seems the only one with halfway decent delivery.

Benteke's movement in the box is odd and a bit **** to be honest but the quality of our delivery for a long time now has been dire. Both aspects aren't helping our cause at the moment.

Stevie G from open play was great, apart from that it's a struggle to think of anyone who can delivery a good cross into the box in years & that's not getting onto corners.... which it seems we are allergic to.

Yes Benteke's movement has to improve dramatically but so does the sub standard delivery. Although Benteke has been a big let down, the criticism he gets is way over the top, no wonder the poor ****er's confidence is shot to ****. He needs to improve no doubts and we better hope he does, as we are blunt as is.

Theres been tons of balls played in the box that should be attacked

Ibes one along the 6 yard box v Arsenal

Exeter we put balls in the box (both home and away). Owen was going ape**** at Benteke in the home game in particular

Norwich the same

Didnt see the West Ham game so cant comment but didnt Benteke miss a sitter also off a cross??

I also want to know what people are judging the quality of the cross on??

Are they judging it that nobody is getting on the end of it, as that doesnt necessarily mean the cross isnt good, it just means we arent attacking the ball well enough

Delivery from set pieces and corners is ****e but I am not convinced from open play it is poor, its more to do with willingness to get numbers in the box and attack the ball

Benteke is ****ing horrendous, all this ****e about confidence. Well if he was getting into positions and missing then I would have sympathy for him and his confidence but the lack of effort and urgency is ****ing appalling

He cant **** off soon enough for me

[Lecter]

The thing is Dan that it's not like he is reading online forums about people giving out about him. All strikers go through bad patches but the great ones keep getting into the positions to miss - you say his confidence is shot, I say he is acting cowardly and refusing to get into the position to miss. Yes this is a direct result of his lack of confidence but a top striker would believe in himself and put himself into position rather than hiding in plain sight.

Hes hiding plain and simple

I dont even think its lack of confidence, I think its laziness and a lack of desire more than anything

Hes so static, hes always waiting for the ball to come straight to his head and its no wonder hes struggling to score because not only is he asking for a nigh on perfect cross its difficult to generate any pace or direction if you are standing like a ****ing statue 12-15 yards out from goal

He needs to gamble and attack anything that comes into the box

Waiting for the ball / cross is terrible forward play and only goes to highlight his severe deficiencies in terms of desire, game intelligence etc..

[Big-Red-Ed]

And yet he was practically a 1 in 2 striker for a poor Villa. I agree he's pure kak and I want rid but the bif oaf is a bit of an enigma.

[danperkins]

The thing is Dan that it's not like he is reading online forums about people giving out about him. All strikers go through bad patches but the great ones keep getting into the positions to miss - you say his confidence is shot, I say he is acting cowardly and refusing to get into the position to miss. Yes this is a direct result of his lack of confidence but a top striker would believe in himself and put himself into position rather than hiding in plain sight.

Theres been tons of balls played in the box that should be attacked

Ibes one along the 6 yard box v Arsenal

Exeter we put balls in the box (both home and away). Owen was going ape**** at Benteke in the home game in particular

Norwich the same

Didnt see the West Ham game so cant comment but didnt Benteke miss a sitter also off a cross??

I also want to know what people are judging the quality of the cross on??

Are they judging it that nobody is getting on the end of it, as that doesnt necessarily mean the cross isnt good, it just means we arent attacking the ball well enough

Delivery from set pieces and corners is ****e but I am not convinced from open play it is poor, its more to do with willingness to get numbers in the box and attack the ball

Benteke is ****ing horrendous, all this ****e about confidence. Well if he was getting into positions and missing then I would have sympathy for him and his confidence but the lack of effort and urgency is ****ing appalling

He cant **** off soon enough for me

As regards him being cowardly, IMO it's a lack of confidence. If he's not in there to miss.. he can't miss and be responsible. I do get the feeling from his time at LFC that he has the Heskey's about him, big huge imposing lad but just doesn't have that nasty streak. But then again we've seen him at Villa bouncing defenders around the place. I certainly am not defending Benteke and he's isn't a top striker. I do't think anyone ever thought he was, but we did think he would score goals which unfortunately he's not.

As regards Lec points, I thought it was a general consensus on here and from LFC supporters everywhere that our crossing, free kicks & corners where of a sub standard nature. IMO Benteke isn't ****e, but he has been ****e for us as a whole in his time here. His movement is too static but I don't think apart from Smith, we have any good crossers of the ball. I thought comes the start of the season that Milner and Hendo would be Benteke's bread and butter with their crossing.

I do agree we do not get enough numbers in the box & I feel playing Benteke as a lone man up top is one of the reasons for this.

1) He cannot play as a lone striker, not tactically aware enough. Gormless at times
2) 2 strikers means more options to aim for
3) Our midfielders do not get into enough attacking positions & do not contribute enough goals.

Klopp seems to want to play one up top, clearly Benteke cannot play this role. I'm not sure if Benteke is lazy or timid. IMO pressure has got to him and style of play doesn't suit him. Often we see a player playing for second tier clubs or lower end clubs and they look fantastic, but when they make the step up to playing for a big club, they can't handle that constant pressure to perform and every mistake is highlighted.. whereas they would get away with it with playing for lower league sides.

We didn't sign any more strikers, we cannot rely on Sturridge & apart from playing Firmino in the false 9 role with Coutinho back up.. we are short of options at the moment. I do feel he needs a few goals to kick start things but I think once the summer hits.... he's a goner. As I said i'm not defending him, I do believe he's getting a bit too much stick but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't pissed off with him.

[Mattshark]

And yet he was practically a 1 in 2 striker for a poor Villa. I agree he's pure kak and I want rid but the bif oaf is a bit of an enigma.

Villa played a very a low percentage limited style that didn't highlight his deficiencies. Teams also defended very differently against Villa than they do against us allowing us less space and time. On top of that, everyone was crap at Villa so his crapness stood out less.

All his issues were present at Villa though, he isn't doing much different.

[danperkins]

Villa played quick counter attacking football and have done for years... if anything his issues would have been highlighted massively there. They have relied on pace from the wide areas, crossing and set pieces. He doesn't get that here IMO. Totally difference setup and style of play. IMO we don't have an established style of play under Klopp yet anyways....we've been too inconsistent and have had too many injuries for him to properly implement that.

Is isn't scoring goals here that's the difference but I disagree that he is exactly the same player he was at Villa. Anyways he hasn't been good enough for whatever reasons and must do better until the summer or he is out on his arse.

[G]

I've noticed what I thought to be a strange quirk in recent games, when Benteke was sat on the bench we often sent crosses into the box but when he's on the pitch we do it a lot less which I thought was strange. Until I remembered that the ****er is literally never in the box and the other players know this so they don't bother to swing a ball in cos he won't be there.

[Tribute]

He's also missed a couple of glaring one-on-ones in consecutive games. That could have cost us big time. Could be confidence, could be he's just actually more **** the longer he has to think about a chance.. and fluffs it. Reminiscent of Sterling...

[Buzzo]

He's ****.

He's worse than that though because he is lazy and ****. It's impossible to blame the service to him when he doesn't move. He remembers every ow and then that he's got to get about the pitch a bit, and he then ends up looking clumsy and seems to be unable to follow the fundamentals of forward play. He doesn't even hold the ball up well...

Heskey > Tekkers