Regarding Benteke. I agree with Jimmy he offers nothing but Goal threat. He's useless elsewhere. But... As long as he is having others create chances for him it seems he will get goals. No chances at start of season and he was rubbish. Now others are creating chances and he is getting goals. We could do better but he does a job. If our creativity dries up again Benteke shouldn't play. Some tighter defensive teams. Bus parking teams he probably shouldn't play either. I think Ings could be the full package.
Benteke is about the only threat we have on crosses and set pieces. His presence, merely that was what produced the chance for Skrtel at City. Scored again yesterday, scored v Chelsea. If we play Benteke, we need to be pumping in service, if we want to play right through the opposition with fast moving counter attacks, maybe not the best choice. Horses for courses. When there are times when the midfield is clogged up, a ball winner up front is required, he's an important squad member
Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge suffered a new injury setback after picking up a foot problem in training but Reds boss Jurgen Klopp has played down how serious it is. "We have to accept the situation and that is Dan was very often injured in last few months and maybe years," said Klopp. "Everybody wants him back on the pitch but we all have to learn the situation. It's not that serious. It's completely normal after a long injury. We have to stay patient. "Usually, in a perfect world, you should train five weeks in a row when you have been out this long like in pre-season. But we know the world is not perfect so we have to try the best and quickest way." Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson has returned to training and it appears he has been hassling manager Jurgen Klopp to push him straight back into action. "Henderson wants (to come back), I can say that," said Klopp in the build-up to Sunday's game against Swansea. "But we have to wait to see how he adapts to training. If we see he is ready he will join in our game as he is an important player for us. I try to give myself the time to decide until tomorrow or Sunday when I have the latest information about how intensive they were. "He [Henderson] is always on the door, 'give me five minutes'. I like this but it is not always the best way."
So say Suarez was in the team and stopped scoring but still created chances.. Sounds good right? But who's going to stick the ball in the net.
Hopefully whoever he created chances for. In the Suarez era he created a buttload of goals for Studge.
Bit Sturridge didn't offer much other than a goal threat. He didn't chase, didn't press, didn't defend... He stuck the ball in the net when given a chance.
Not many teams have a proven 1 in 2 striker in their ranks, I'm more than happy with Benteke And he does more than score goals.....his physical presence all over the pitch.......aerial ability........etc. I don't get the 'he can't do this or that' argument..............Couts isn't great in the air, Moreno hasn't got a right foot, Lucas isn't pacy etc.etc.
Sturridge was a creative force as well as a goalscoring threat. He also does defend. He frequently drifts quite far back and helps in recovery. The last 18 months he's been bad at recovery though.
Sturridge creates his own chances and can create for others. He also creates space using his pace and by making intelligent runs.
The thing is - we shouldn't be relying on our striker to score all of the goals. We need to share this - amongst the midfielders as well. This is why it's crucial to have a striker who offers more than putting it back In the net, and helping others to score. The example against Rubin Kazan is the best example because he could have run into space to stretch the defence but instead ran into Clyne's space instead. By doing this, it shows that we have a striker who will score a worldie out of nothing but he'll ruin our attacking threat/flow for others. I'd sooner have a striker who scores 10 goals but gets 10 assists, than a striker who scores 20 goals. As we've seen, we've become far too reliant on individuals in the past few years. Your argument (it seems) is that we can only either have a 1 in 2 striker who offers nothing, or we have a striker who creates chances for others but doesn't score. Thats the issue - why should it be one or the other?
I wouldn't use the word stifles there, more that he's a poor fit - he doesn't have the mobility to fully complement their style. I think it was a poor performance all round, going forward. Based on last night's display, how much would you give for Firmino? Not a lot, but we know he's capable of much better. Benteke is definitely better suited to a type of game that we're not used to and not many of us want to see. He will always look a little bit like a fish out of water- but if that fish pops up with goals as often as he does then it's not as bad a fit as it could be. Far better than Mario,tbh. Recently, for the first time since Gnasher left, I've felt more confident that we can get back into a game if we go behind. A part of the reason for that is because I always think that Benteke is capable of sticking one in out of the blue. No-one else looked like scoring from open play last night.
That's illogical though. As the net return is still 20 goals and the reasoning that you'd be too reliant doesn't stack, as if the 10 goal / 10 assist striker is injured then you lose the assists and thus the goals anyway. 1 in 2 PL strikers are worth their weight.......teams that don't have them become reliant on goals coming from other players who aren't natural goalscorers and invariable score less goals.... Look at Leicester at the minute, take the super hot goalscorer out of that side and they'd be midtable or worse. With him they sit at the pinnacle of the table. They wouldn't have been able to substitute those goals with goals from other areas.
So I checked the indirect free kick rule and I was only about 15 years behind the times I guess it's because I don't watch other football now and only watch Liverpool. Has anybody mentioned how far forward Allen was playing? Was he asked to do you think because he looked like he was in the way a lot of the time.
