Seen a lot of people saying 'get off Benteke's back he's just won us 6 points'. Why is he singularly credited with the wins? The whole team contributed and he put the finishing touch to team moves. Unfortunately the fact remains that his movement is a massive issue and seriously stunts our attacking play. In particular he has two movement habits which are detrimental to the team.
First issue is his constant movement to the back post whilst we build up play outside the box. Watch the Firmino compilation and get to the part where he hits the post. Firmino has initially received the ball back to goal and through his dribble dragged Brown away from his position. Lallana has occupied their left back and Moreno their right back. There is a huge space between Van Aanholt and Coates and all he has to do is make a simple run into it and he'll be in. Instead, he hangs around at the back post, forcing Firmino to turn again and eventually resort to taking a low percentage shot.
His other bad movement habit is never making a near post run when someone gets near the byline. Each time we actually do some decent wingplay and get to the byline he drops off and waits for the cutback. This time watch Can's compilation and get to where Can bursts past Cattermole down the right wing. If Benteke makes a near post run here he's in a fantastic position for a high percentage shot on goal. Instead he drops off almost to the edge of the D, a space Firmino already occupies, and the pass is easily intercepted. I believe this is what Can and Benteke were having a conversation about at the end of the game rather than about Benteke's missed one on one. I genuinely can't recall Benteke making a near post run during his time here, which is a massive problem because it's the best place to move when you want to finish cutbacks.
We've scored 8 goals in the 10 league games he has started and 14 goals in the 9 league games he has not started in. He's also played little part in our best high scoring games 3-1 Chelsea, 3-2 Villa, 4-1 City, 6-1 Southampton.
It seems harsh blaming one player for a team's attacking struggles but when the strikers style is so disconnected with the team behind him it becomes a real problem. I still believe he could be successful if given time to be coached and learn new movements, but there's not much patience in football and we can't really afford to wait for him. He's going to have to learn very fast if he's to be a success here. We still haven't seen Firmino, Coutinho and Sturridge on the same pitch. Surely those players along with Ibe, Origi,Ings and new signings are the way forward in terms of attacking within Klopp's system.
