Benteke - BOOOOOO the puns
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I had a quick look at a Villa forum. They certainly don't want to lose him, but seem all the more annoyed that he might be signing for us.
Okay, he's going up in my books.
Who is Beecroft anyway, does he know anything?
[article]Liverpool do NOT have a deal in place to sign Christian Benteke.
Reports this morning suggested that the Belgium international was on the brink of completing a move to Anfield.
However, the situation remains unchanged with the Reds unwilling to pay his asking price, reports the Liverpool Echo.
Villa want £32.5m, but Liverpool don't want to pay more than £25million for the big frontman, who has two years remaining on his current contract.
Villa have no interest in selling Benteke and are highly unlikely to accept lower than the release clause.[/article]
I guess we'll just have to offer 30 million to Lyon for Alexandre ... the shame.
Reports this morning suggested that the Belgium international was on the brink of completing a move to Anfield.
However, the situation remains unchanged with the Reds unwilling to pay his asking price, reports the Liverpool Echo.
Villa want £32.5m, but Liverpool don't want to pay more than £25million for the big frontman, who has two years remaining on his current contract.
Villa have no interest in selling Benteke and are highly unlikely to accept lower than the release clause.[/article]
I guess we'll just have to offer 30 million to Lyon for Alexandre ... the shame.
I was really unimpressed with his performance in the FA cup final, but having thought about it more clinically. Villa were playing 10 men behind the ball and the service up to him was shite.
Benteke strikes me as a player that brings other into player.
Is he on the Suarez level? Nobody outside of Spain is. Is he on the fit-Sturridge level? Possibly. He's got a big a skill and pace about him. I'd liken him to Drogba in the way he can bully defenders but has some skill in his feet than an Carroll type who have little pace and their feet aren't very good.
If he signed, I don't see the problem in terms of where he fits in. In fact, I see his position more clearer than Firmino's (where we already have Coutinho). All this talk about a fluid, interchanging attack.. without a Suarez, it seems like tippy-tappy nonsense to me, where we have a lot of the ball but no incisiveness.
Unless it's a Lacazette (who is just about the only player I'd consider as a possible Suarez-like replacement), then bringing in a Benteke type might be the next best option (should Brendan intend on going 2 up top). Obviously, that will throw into question the position of Coutinho in a midfield 4, but i'd like to think Brendan has got some sort of plan for this. Coutinho on the left cutting inside? Firmino as the 10?
If there is no clear plan as to how to integrate a Benteke (and our best players), then Brendan will rightfully be sacked, but I just can't imagine him being that stupid.
Benteke strikes me as a player that brings other into player.
Is he on the Suarez level? Nobody outside of Spain is. Is he on the fit-Sturridge level? Possibly. He's got a big a skill and pace about him. I'd liken him to Drogba in the way he can bully defenders but has some skill in his feet than an Carroll type who have little pace and their feet aren't very good.
If he signed, I don't see the problem in terms of where he fits in. In fact, I see his position more clearer than Firmino's (where we already have Coutinho). All this talk about a fluid, interchanging attack.. without a Suarez, it seems like tippy-tappy nonsense to me, where we have a lot of the ball but no incisiveness.
Unless it's a Lacazette (who is just about the only player I'd consider as a possible Suarez-like replacement), then bringing in a Benteke type might be the next best option (should Brendan intend on going 2 up top). Obviously, that will throw into question the position of Coutinho in a midfield 4, but i'd like to think Brendan has got some sort of plan for this. Coutinho on the left cutting inside? Firmino as the 10?
If there is no clear plan as to how to integrate a Benteke (and our best players), then Brendan will rightfully be sacked, but I just can't imagine him being that stupid.
He'll be no Balotelli then?
He's harder working at Sturridge at harrying defenders, but is he better than Sturridge at off-the-ball movement?
Sturridge's game is about playing off the defender's shoulder and making himself available to run on to through balls from midfield. That's exactly what Coutinho and Firmino need.
That's the biggest issue with Benteke - he's a physical force no doubt, but is he going to be the 'runner' constantly finding space between defenders or will he be the 'pivot' needing runners around him? If he's the latter, our attack doesn't work at all. Coutinho, Firmino, Lallana, Markovic - none of them have the pace and ball-carrying ability to be wing-forwards around a central pivot. Without intelligent movement in front of them, their effect diminishes to mostly naught.
Sturridge's game is about playing off the defender's shoulder and making himself available to run on to through balls from midfield. That's exactly what Coutinho and Firmino need.
That's the biggest issue with Benteke - he's a physical force no doubt, but is he going to be the 'runner' constantly finding space between defenders or will he be the 'pivot' needing runners around him? If he's the latter, our attack doesn't work at all. Coutinho, Firmino, Lallana, Markovic - none of them have the pace and ball-carrying ability to be wing-forwards around a central pivot. Without intelligent movement in front of them, their effect diminishes to mostly naught.
benteke will be a disaster. heskey and carroll redux. he is no drogba.not even close.
looks abit like purple aki too.....(purpleteke??)
looks abit like purple aki too.....(purpleteke??)
4.56 %
4.59% going via Sky Sports
90%. I can see this happening and us even paying the full whack for him even if we have to go to the last day of the window. There are no concrete links or offers to any other strikers than him. We had a little sniff of Bacca but he's gone now. I think our striker eggs are in the Benteke basket.
BUT, I don't think it'll happen unless sterling gets sold. If by some miracle he stays then I think our main summer transfers are done.
BUT, I don't think it'll happen unless sterling gets sold. If by some miracle he stays then I think our main summer transfers are done.
I just have no idea what he'd be like. No idea at all. The presumption has to be that there's some kind of plan to make him more suitable to the team and the team more suitable to him, but there are far too many imponderables, IMHO, to envision how well or badly it will work. We know it won't be how it was for him at Villa, so that's no great guide. He's physically a potentially unplayable forward, but then so was Drogba and so is Balotelli, so that's no guarantee of anything, either. I'm not keen on us getting him mainly because I don't think we can afford another gamble.
What is there not to like about striker options of Sturridge, Benteke, Firmino, Origi and Ings in comparison with Balotelli, Lambert, Borini & an unfit Sturridge last year?
That would be a seriously strong line-up.
I went through all last season thinking what a difference a decent striker would make to this team instead of relying on a 3 foot winger playing up front on his own with a choice of a lazy poser ; a carthorse ; or a headless chicken coming on for the last 10 minutes. None of them lot could hit a cow's arse with a banjo.
That would be a seriously strong line-up.
I went through all last season thinking what a difference a decent striker would make to this team instead of relying on a 3 foot winger playing up front on his own with a choice of a lazy poser ; a carthorse ; or a headless chicken coming on for the last 10 minutes. None of them lot could hit a cow's arse with a banjo.
That could certainly turn out to be a strong line-up, but there's some way to go before we'll know. The Studge's fitness is anyone's guess; there are real questions about how, or even if, Benteke would fit into our overall style; Firmino's not actually a striker anyway, more of a no.10; Origi and Ings are untested at the very top level; and last but not least, there's the small matter of melding all these players, currently strangers to each other, into a fully functioning attacking unit.
The fact that our attack last season wasn't worth a light doesn't really have much relevance to whether we've now got it right. There's quality there and I'm cautiously optimistic, but that's as far as I'd go, for now at any rate.
The one thing that does already concern me about Benteke is his cup final failure. Dismal failure. We need, most of all, a forward who is a fighter. Someone who thrives on high pressure games. The type of forward who, even when all of his teammates are having a terrible day, is still up there, scrapping away, refusing to give up. You would never have imagined Keegan, for example, seeming as listless and fatalistic as Benteke seemed against the Gooners in a Wembley final. The same goes for Dalglish, Rush, Aldridge, Fowler and Suarez. That's the kind of striker we most need. Now I just haven't seen enough of Benteke to know how out of character that cup final non-effort was, and of course on the day he was fed nothing but a few hopeful long balls, but I just hope he's got a bit more fire in him than I fear he has.
Niall Quinn at his peak id take for 10mil now but no more.
id rather we kept the money in the bank or spend more on higuain.
pato would cost about 10mil. playing in brazil and has a great scoring record.
what is it with us buying big pointless lumps and persisting with them despite the lack of goals?
heskey the sausage,carrol,crouch
i hope this trend ends soon.
I thought Benteke was a one in two goalscorer. Hardly a lack of goals there.
Pato really struggled to stay healthy in Italy - and though he had his moments, I think the fact he went back to Brazil so young is very telling. It would be a risky signing ...
