Benteke doesn't fit Spurs & not worth £32.5 million
3 min read
Liverpool fans will tell you that if a player performs well against Liverpool Brendan Rogers tries to sign them and Christian Benteke did just that in the FA Cup semi-final win over them.
There are plenty of suggestions that Brendan Rogers tenure in the hot seat is in jeopardy, former Spurs striker Alan Brazil suggested with Liverpool baulking at the Benteke price Rogers may be working under restrictions, but he has his end-of-season review meeting this week with chairman Tom Werner so wouldn't be making any moves in the market until after that anyway.
Koscielny and Mertesacker totally bossed him in the air to the extent that it became easy for him, Benteke was making half-hearted challenges. He seems like a fair weather striker, fine if the team are playing for him and things are going his way but sulks and hides when it doesn't.
Benteke excels with a long-ball game, he wants crosses to challenge for, he gets knock downs for midfield runners, but we don't play that system, we play a system that doesn't suit him. Before the Cup Final Tim Sherwood revealed why Benteke was scoring goals again.
Spurs don't cross the ball, we don't play with traditional wingers, we play with inverted wingers cutting in and shooting themselves. The full-backs provide the crosses and a lot of those are along the floor. If he doesn't get his crosses then he has little else to offer and disappears.
Benteke simply doesn't suit our game and he doesn't have the technical ability for our passing game. He showed that again when dropping deep in search of the ball, his touch was hopeless. He completed just 63.3 of his passes, Kane, Soldado and Adebayor completed 75%, 74% and 77% respectively. We need a mobile centre-forward, nit a battering ram one.
He put in no defensive work, was static off the ball, slow in possession and in the second half looked as if he had given up. he stopped anticipating long balls or crosses, Mertesacker was moving to attack the ball while Benteke was apologetically and half-heartedly stepping a couple of paces toward it and hardly getting off the ground.
He looked as though he couldn't win a header because he was mentally wrong, as if it didn't matter to because nobody was near him again. He had a dry spell earlier in th season when under Lambert he had no support. Tottenham strikers are often isolated, especially in the box so I can see him getting frustrated and going through the motions in games, it's too much money to take that gamble, especially when he doesn't have the passing game required for our style.
I am all for having mental winners at Tottenham, not fair weather mental winners, to me Benteke has a flaw in his mental make up which precludes his purchase. The Belgian striker certainly isn't worth £32.5 million (US$49.49m - AUS$64.35m - €45.12m) as a result, his game is too limited.
He isn't the answer for Tottenham and is overpriced anyway.
There are plenty of suggestions that Brendan Rogers tenure in the hot seat is in jeopardy, former Spurs striker Alan Brazil suggested with Liverpool baulking at the Benteke price Rogers may be working under restrictions, but he has his end-of-season review meeting this week with chairman Tom Werner so wouldn't be making any moves in the market until after that anyway.
Koscielny and Mertesacker totally bossed him in the air to the extent that it became easy for him, Benteke was making half-hearted challenges. He seems like a fair weather striker, fine if the team are playing for him and things are going his way but sulks and hides when it doesn't.
Benteke excels with a long-ball game, he wants crosses to challenge for, he gets knock downs for midfield runners, but we don't play that system, we play a system that doesn't suit him. Before the Cup Final Tim Sherwood revealed why Benteke was scoring goals again.
"We cross more balls into the box than any other club in the league and Christian has said that he feeds off crosses. There’s no point going to a club where they don’t cross the ball."
Spurs don't cross the ball, we don't play with traditional wingers, we play with inverted wingers cutting in and shooting themselves. The full-backs provide the crosses and a lot of those are along the floor. If he doesn't get his crosses then he has little else to offer and disappears.
Benteke simply doesn't suit our game and he doesn't have the technical ability for our passing game. He showed that again when dropping deep in search of the ball, his touch was hopeless. He completed just 63.3 of his passes, Kane, Soldado and Adebayor completed 75%, 74% and 77% respectively. We need a mobile centre-forward, nit a battering ram one.
He put in no defensive work, was static off the ball, slow in possession and in the second half looked as if he had given up. he stopped anticipating long balls or crosses, Mertesacker was moving to attack the ball while Benteke was apologetically and half-heartedly stepping a couple of paces toward it and hardly getting off the ground.
He looked as though he couldn't win a header because he was mentally wrong, as if it didn't matter to because nobody was near him again. He had a dry spell earlier in th season when under Lambert he had no support. Tottenham strikers are often isolated, especially in the box so I can see him getting frustrated and going through the motions in games, it's too much money to take that gamble, especially when he doesn't have the passing game required for our style.
I am all for having mental winners at Tottenham, not fair weather mental winners, to me Benteke has a flaw in his mental make up which precludes his purchase. The Belgian striker certainly isn't worth £32.5 million (US$49.49m - AUS$64.35m - €45.12m) as a result, his game is too limited.
He isn't the answer for Tottenham and is overpriced anyway.
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