FOR 12 months everyone associated with the Reds has been in a daze, heads cabbaged by a Luis Suarez puff of smoke making its way from Melwood to the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper, writes PHIL BROOKES-LENNON.
Liverpool supporters’ love for strikers dates back to our dads’ heroes, their dads’ heroes, their dads’ dads’ heroes…. anyway you get the picture.
From Billy Liddell to John Toshack, Kevin Keegan to Ian Rush, Robbie Fowler to Michael Owen (meh), Fernando Torres and finally to the Uruguayan himself.
No club in England has been spoilt with such an array of striking talent and we love an idol with danger in his boots and, to paraphrase Monty Python, we should know one when he comes along because we’ve seen a few.
But despite trying and failing last campaign to coax Mario Balotelli into the striker his ability warrants, Liverpool went into the close season with fans looking for someone to look to fill the void left by Suarez, someone to fill the songbook.
So to the signing of Christian Benteke our £32.5m new number nine.
Having been mooted well before last season’s shambles was brought to a close, the signing of the 24-year-old Belgian international was met in some quarters with reaction ranging from slight trepidation to outright hostility.
Brendan Rodgers quote Benteke is a bargain and going to score goals.
What a prediction from a man who bought Ricky Lambert.— Chris massey (@massambula1969) August 1, 2015
https://twitter.com/OfficialMoloney/status/624652702392393728
Benteke is good with arial balls no doubt but overall he is a lazy striker, there strikers waaaaaay better than him.
— Brother Man (@Sir_TM) July 16, 2015
Won’t fit our system, too lazy (that old chestnut), injury prone, not ‘a Liverpool player’ the list goes on.
What people really meant to say was ‘he’s not Luis Suarez’ and do you know what? That’s ok because nobody is.
Suarez is a special player, the best, probably in the top five ever to pull on a red shirt and easily the third best player in the world right now.
Steven Gerrard, who’s played alongside Fowler, Owen, Voronin and the wrecking machine that was peak form Fernando Torres, said he was the best he’d ever played with. But again that’s ok, too.
Imagine the fume if The Middle Earth of the social media world that is Twitter had been around when we replaced Keegan with Dalglish or Rushy with Aldridge? Imagine the implosion had we replaced a 40 goal-a-season striker with a fella pushing his 30s from Oxford?
Suarez was a joy to watch, a force of nature. To be able to say you were around as a fan when he played for us is something to be proud of — how we watched him grow, how he mesmerised the opposition as he drove the rest of his mates on.
Such as Stoke 3 Liverpool 5 — a typical barmy game from our 13-14 season. Goals everywhere, and not bothered about the back because we all knew we’d score more than them. Two nil up then pegged back to 2-2 then up again before nearly throwing it away at the end, but we knew we always had the ace up the sleeve in a once in a generation player who didn’t know what the concept of giving up was.
And so to yesterday and Benteke.
Seventy seven days on from THAT capitulation there, the game ends with Liverpool winning a goal to nil and taking three points home in the opening game of a new campaign.
Opening day wins are the best kind of wins, and while he didn’t make the headlines, the victory was achieved largely by the presence of Benteke.
Playing teams who sit back and allow you to have the ball is great when you have all the time in the world to pass it out and through midfield but yesterday was different.
Naturally, after handing us our backsides a couple of months or so ago, Mark Hughes (a canny manager, who has quietly done a fantastic job at the Potteries — no more the cloggers of yesteryear) played on the front foot with Diouf pushed up against our centre backs, the intention being to suffocate the space high up the pitch and pressure a potentially nervy Liverpool in a position where we could be hurt.
Stoke intention was to bully and humiliate Liverpool into submission as they did last time, and they got their eye well and truly wiped, because this time, Liverpool had an answer.
We didn’t just have an out-ball, we had THE out-ball.
Two things stuck out massively yesterday, the first was the lack of ‘fannying around’ at the back, the second, was when we decided to clear our lines, more often that not, it stayed cleared.
The option to use Benteke to take the pressure off our back four was used to great effect and the Belgian didn’t disappoint, diligently and intelligently patrolling the space in front of the Stoke defence, pulling it left and right to provide an option to relieve the pressure gauge.
And when it came, it stuck — Benteke winning the vast majority of his battles and using the ball intelligently to retain possession. It was a selfless display of a striker not desperate to steal the show.
As good as the 13-14 version of the Liverpool vintage was, dogging it in such a fashion was not in the armoury. We blitzed you and then we blitzed you again.
All well and good when you have a world-class talent turning and twisting the minds of the opposition, but what happens when this doesn’t work? When the Wurlitzer wanders off to Spain and his sidekick has an horrific run of luck with injuries?
The ball comes back, time and time again, the game gets stretched, a game plan built on confidence is decimated and without a dominant custodian, panic can, and will, set in.
Sometimes, you need to win by attrition. Both Martin Skrtel and the reinvigorated Dejan Lovren looked more comfortable in the face of aggression than they ever have done as a partnership — they had time to organise, to breathe and keep a calm head sitting in the middle of a pair of brand new full-backs, including a rookie who’s barely old enough to shave.
And given the run of fixtures that Liverpool are steaming into before the new year, a victory to nil away at a perennial thorn in the side should never be underestimated. The option to not have to ‘out football’ Arsenal, the option TO get into a fight with Chelsea, to bombard United and their fragile backline? That price tag suddenly doesn’t seem so big.
Clean sheets build confidence and let’s not forget, Liverpool invented defending from the front. No-one is saying that we should sacrifice our principles to obliterate the cannon fodder but confidence is bred from results. The understanding that was lacking in forward areas will only improve as Benteke’s team mates, some of them new additions themselves, get into the rhythm of this Liverpool side.
Stating the bleeding obvious, but Benteke, despite having far more ability than he is given credit for, is never and will never be Luis Suarez. The list of people who are or could be is equal to Chelsea’s points total so far. And with a near one in two ratio, Christian Benteke IS guaranteed to get Liverpool goals and win Liverpool games. And that’s OK with me.
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Pics: David Rawcliffe-Propaganda Photo
Good article.
I hope the team gels sooner than later.
Have high hopes for Firmino and he should deffo help Benteke.
Sturridge returning should help.
The midfield tho.
Hope we sort it out quick enough
As if to prove my point…. Well, we were never going to get an article on Benteke criticising a thoroughly forgettable performance, were we?
The laziness in this article beggars belief.
The stereotype of Stoke being physical, intimidating, aggressive and bullying? Check.
The standard dig at twitter? Check.
Not understanding that some criticism of a Rodgers decision comes from him not being a proven winner? Check.
Not understanding comparisons to completely hypothetical criticisms of decisions made by management in the 80s are pointless because they were made by proven winners and thus we would trust them more? Check.
Talk about less “fannying around” at the back (a key Rodgers principle) then talk about not sacrificing principles? Check.
Pretending Benteke contributed a lot more than he did just to be positive? Check.
Show the only gif of the only sort-of-exciting-thing Benteke did? Check.
I know it has gone out of fashion to say a good player or a popular player had a bad game. And I know we won so to some that means every LFC player must have been world class, but this article is bordering on farce.
He was completely ineffective & he posed no goal threat whatsoever – a bit of a problem for a £32.5m striker. As Ive said elsewhere, I don’t think this was his fault. He tried hard and did what he could but we were set up all wrong to get the best from him. But the difference between excusing his performance and saying he played well and was key to our win is massive.
Could have used the gif of the only sort-of-exciting-thing Coutinho did? He’s a donkey as well!
Where did I say Benteke was a donkey? I said he had a poor game, yet here we have an article talking about how good he was. Coutinho had a poor game by the way. Another irrelevant comment.
Ridiculous. Get over yourself.
Get over myself for having an opinion of LFC and sharing it in the comments section of a website about LFC. Wonderful. Another irrelevant post.
I feel more satisfied now with my article that it’s caused you to fume. Cheers
So I am “fuming” because I disagree with you? It might work like that for you but I have an ability to stay calm and talk rationally when disagreeing with someone. I don’t need to fume. I’m in control of my emotions. I’m not a child. I feel sorry you you if you fume every time you disagree with something, although in truth it would explain a lot about your article and your response.
No one is fuming I think most would agree with the overriding conclusion that old John Fashanu sorry Christian Benteke is certainly NO Suarez sunshine…
Where once there was a heart, now there is only ashes.
No Padraig, what’s bordering on farce is your attitude.
Genuinely, if the article had of read “Benteke put in the best debut performance of all-time” I (and every other fan, basking in the warmth of victory) would not have cared one single iota.
If yesterdays result alone isn’t enough to make you smile from ear-to-ear, at least for the next few days and the best you can offer is criticism of a positive article then you should probably reassess your existence or at the very least try to understand what it feels like for us ‘proper‘ positive fans when we win and by that I mean, glowing for few days and smiling every time you think about the result.
Here we go again.
I should reassess my existence because I can see that there were worrying signs in our performance despite the win? Where do you people come from? I should reassess my existence. And you call my attitude a farce?
Are you all so thick you can only concentrate on one thing at a time, ie the result and not the performance? Is it not possible to enjoy a win and talk about things that will need to improve if we are to keep winning? Obviously not. When people slag off Liverpool fans as deluded, stupid idiots no-one can converse with, it’s the likes of you they have in mind, not me.
Once again an ad hominem attack on my person and not my points. It’s like you people have no idea how to converse or win a debate. The things I post on here are the things I say down the pub – but would you immediately jump in to attack someone down the pub if they gave an opinion on Liverpool FC you didn’t like? I’d like to think not. Then again it comes down to maturity and judging from the responses, a lot of people post like 11 year olds in the playground.
“He said something negative about Liverpool, he must support Manure! hahaha”
“It’s like you people have no idea how to converse or win a debate.”
Must be everyone else eh?
No, not everyone else. Just a lot of people on here. As has been proven on this very thread.
Do you disagree?
Perhaps then you can explain how telling someone to fuck off, or calling them a wanker, attacking the format I use (lol) or saying they should reassess their very existence(!) is a good way to converse and debate.
I must have missed that class at uni.
Or you know that I’m right but can’t bare to admit it. No. You’d sooner jump in with the rest of these idiots abusing me for giving an opinion they don’t like. It really is like the playground. If we were back in school this would be called cyber bullying.
I just want to talk about what is in the article, or the merits of the article, but instead we have sycophants attacking me because I criticised the author. You’d swear all these idiots wrote the article themselves.
Here, check out the difference between Paul McCabe and Phil Brookes Lennon. Here’s Paul’s reponses to me: http://www.theanfieldwrap.com/2015/07/red-mist-inside-the-mind-of-an-online-liverpool-fan/
Compare that to Phil’s on this thread. Only one comes off as someone you could have a conversation with, the other comes off as an infantile clown. The proof of what I say is in both threads. Proof. Fact. Evidence. I keep repeating it.
Hi Padraig
The point I’m trying to make is that I don’t think you have accurately identified why you get the reaction you do to almost every post you make.
You think it’s because the vast majority of people here are abusing you for having an opinion they don’t like. Or because they are stupid. Or a combination of the two. You don’t seem to have concluded that the manner in which you attempt to converse or debate with people may at least be contributing to the results you get.
As I alluded to elsewhere if lots of people keep reacting badly to you, don’t you think you should look toward yourself? Statistically, not everyone on here will be stupid. Other posters & contributors make similar points to you without receiving the responses you do – a point you have made yourself. There is a common denominator at work.
If nothing else, by receiving the very reaction you do on the forum you choose to post on you are proving that it’s you that has “no idea how to converse or win a debate”, hence my reply. Even if you’re convinced that you’re debating with morons – your superior intellect is hardly winning hearts & minds for your logical, evidence-backed opinions is it?
ps.
“You’d sooner jump in with the rest of these idiots abusing me for giving an opinion they don’t like.”
I’m not jumping in – I’m just posting on a public forum. I am not abusing you or anyone else – I haven’t labeled you idiotic, moronic or sycophantic. You on the other hand …
Sorry – just read James Edey’s post below.
I think he’s making the same point – sorry for the duplication.
I wouldn’t bother about Padraig/Reddo mate, walks like a troll, talks like a troll…
What the lad did was the nuts and bolts of a lone central striker. If making up to 3 opposition defenders defend against you or the area you may move into is ineffectual. If linking into a midfield you have had less than a week to get to know quite well is ineffectual. If being an effective outball for the keeper in what tends to be a physical game where their forward players are asked to chase down the defenders so they have no time to pass accurately. It takes time for players to get to know each other, to create chances, to see the run before it happens. I guess you know all this so why not wait a few months until we have concrete evidence either way? Some of your points are good but your opposition to Rodgers is turning them all into white noise.
will you stop bullying and abusing padraig! ;-)
so if i disagree with you it is because i am an idiot or want to bully you?
Fuck me no wonder people don’t want to ‘debate’ with you.
Standard negative response to article which despite not being about Rodgers results in comments concerning him not being “proven winner.” Check.
The part of the article I was responding to spoke about a Brendan Rodgers decision. My response was to show that if Kenny made a decision in the late 80’s we would trust it as he KNEW what it took to win. Rodgers does not.
Basic reading comprehension mate.
Please point out the part of the article that mentions the Rodgers decision?? My basic reading is struggling to find this??
Curious – who are these “proven winners”? As far as I remember, Kenny hadn’t won a bean as a manager before getting the LFC job… for that matter nor had Shanks, Paisley, or Fagan.
Yeah Rodgers is only the manager isn’t he? Let’s absolve him from all blame for the last three years then? Dear me.
How is that relevant to this article?
Implied and explicit criticism of Rodgers in an article that had very little to do with him, check.
Dig at TAW for being naive, check.
Wilfully missing the point of the article, check.
Annoyingly whiny, slightly pompous voice in my head as I read your comments despite knowing I shouldn’t, check.
Annoying format only a wanker would use, check.
What are you doing reading a site when you don’t like any of the articles? Just trying to shit on our good feelings after the win?
Now being called a wanker for the format I use. Standard of intelligence on here is hilarious.
Tom has responded to me 4 or 5 times in the last few weeks and every single response was an irrelevance, just like this one. What a guy.
What because I think you are a troll posing to be a series of annoying Liverpool “supporters”? How is that irrelevant.
*posing as
Yeah you’re obviously overwhelmed with joy that it takes a forum reply to really rattle yer cage there big man
Reddo, could have really put more thought into that name, not very convincing.
I’m not going to beat about the bush. These kind and talented people take time to write interesting articles for our pleasure and all you can do is criticise. I bet you’re not even a paying member. Fuck off you dickhead. I wouldn’t bother replying to me because it’s that was the last time I will ever read one of your responses to arrogant bellend.
“Fuck off you dickhead”
“Arrogant bellend”
You must have a PhD to come up with these sort of retorts.
“Don’t both replying because your logic and intelligence will be far too much for me to handle – I don’t want to hear an opinion backed up with facts and evidence, they are in inconvenience to me”
I know. How dare I not have an opinion that is the same as the rest of the sheep. Once again someone on here proves my point by attacking me, but only when he is sure he is in the majority and joins in with the rest. What a pathetic frame of mind.
Never understood the resistance to Cristian Benteke. Have people not seen recent Liverpool-Villa matches?
He may work he might not, although, the EVIDENCE would suggest he is more likely to. The chestnut issue is thought provoking.
I was disappointed with the delivery Benteke got against Stoke but going to Stoke and playing quality football isn’t easy. Hopefully we’ll get much better at it and be able to mix it up. Sturridge with his pace playing with Benteke will be great to watch.
Only a matter of time (with hope in our hearts) before the Benteke-taka era of football takes hold. Sturridge coming back, Firmino and Coutinho buzzing about, Milner and Henderson arriving late into the box. Scary stuff.
Canny article. I think Benteke needs a bit more ‘space’ from his own players. Stoke looked more like 424 should leave out one of those supposed to be playing behind him and play Can with Milner and Hendo. With all the fuss over new signings, we have the potential ‘new’ signing that could eclipse them all and has already been at the club a year – Can in central midfield.
I only hope that if things don’t go well Benteke isn’t used to excuse other peoples failings. People talk about the game plan being to keep them from scoring, kudos, there were some close calls but in the ended we enjoyed success there, but surely the game plan wasn’t to go to Stoke and play for a draw. We had plenty of the ball and the midfield failed to create a single opportunity for Benteke, not even one.
“Its not easy going away to Stoke.”. Sure it isn’t. There are very few away games in the Premier League that are easy, maybe against relegation battlers, even there its not easy, so are we gonna go and play for a draw there too? I doubt it.
My point is, we have to give the strikers a chance to succeed, atleast a couple of decent chances on goal, particularly when playing teams like Stoke. Maybe it was first game jitters which is possible.
Not only do I not buy the argument that *the striker we buy/are linked with* is not Luis Suarez, because noone is, I genuinely do not understand anyone making it. I would think (or at least that’s the case with me) that when we buy players like Benteke or Balotelli, the complaints are not about wanting our new striker to be Suarez 2.0, an unearthed future top 5 in the world, 100 million to Barcelona player. It’s about buying a player of a similar (if not the exact same) mould. Think about this: the 13/14 season, the team played maybe the best football the club has ever played, it was the best Liverpool team in modern history, it made us dream of CL finals in which we’re beating Barcelona 5-2, that was the reality of the 13/14 season, you have to admit. So next year, the strikers that were the single biggest part of all that become unavailable – Suarez is sold, and Sturridge is a player who misses half of every season (can’t remember the exact stats, maybe it was a third, either way, you can’t rely on him for a season of Premier League football), so who are the centre forwards we’ve bought or have been linked with over the course of the next three transfers windows? How many of them are the type of player (not talking talent, talking about style of play, tactical fit) Suarez is? How many are the type Sturridge is? Alexis Sanchez… who else? Fingers crossed it’s Firmino too.
So don’t give me the argument that there’s not another Luis Suarez so that you can justify players who, in all fairness, are much closer to the mould of Andy Carroll than anyone else. Now, that’s lazy.
And before you deem me a Rodgers hater or not a real fan… I really do hope Benteke is a success and we have an amazing season – top 4, maybe a little Europa League push – but I’m really really sceptical over him. I’m putting my eggs in the Firmino basket more than anything. Benteke’s just a little too close to Balotelli for my likiing, a player I was willing on numerous times during last season, up until the Villa semifinal when his introduction ruined our season in my view, and I was devistated when we’ve signed him. And don’t get me wrong, I think Benteke is significantly better than Mario, I’m just afraid he’s a bad fit to our team – my best XI of it being: (4-3-3) Mignolet – Clyne, Skrtel, Sakho, Moreno – Can, Henderson, Milner – Firmino – CF – Coutinho. The CF is of course, Sturridge, but given he’s unavailable, who’s a good fit? I’m inclined to say Ings over Benteke.
Padraig,it looks like everyone can hear you but nobody’s listening.
Mohammed Ali once knocked George Foreman out.The interviewer asked him if he felt that Foreman was an awkward customer.Ali said “Welll he fell awkwardly!”
Stoke fell awkwardly and we got 3 points.That’s much as we can conclude at the moment.So onwards and upwards eh?
You don’t hear comments you read them, thought I’d point this out because it amuses me reading your comment. Hee Hee..
Thanks Reddo.It “LOOKS like”·There’ s a CLUE right there!
Great article, Phil. It made me rethink my first impression because I didn’t think he had a great game (partly due to the lack of cohesion between the big man and the others, and partly due to his lack of pressing).
But you make a valid point and the defense did look less shaky (apart from Skrtel’s powder-puff back passes). When you said, “The ball comes back, time and time again, the game gets stretched, a game plan built on confidence is decimated and without a dominant custodian, panic can, and will, set in,” I instantly broke out in a cold sweat remembering that happening every game last year. Thanks mate, the post gave me an education.
Cheers mate. Appreciate the feedback. Enjoyed contributing to the great work done by these lads
The first game of the season was about rebuilding fragile confidence after the worst defeat in fifty years . About creating a new, more robust and pragmatic style of play , being less of a soft touch and less predictable .It won’t be 13/14 but thankfully it won’t be last season either. It wasn’t a normal game and shouldn’t be judged as one.
The free-flowing , attractive football will come in the weeks to come when players settle in And a confidence boosting win at Stoke will only help that.
Benteke is a well-rounded striker who can do a bit of everything.He provides the team with options we have not before had during Brendan’s tenure. Our attack becomes multi-dimensional and less easy to defend against.THIS IS A GOOD THING.
He is not Suarez, Carroll, or Sturridge but more of a Mourinho style striker in the Drogba / Costa mould -don’t forget Rodgers tried to buy Diego Costa a couple of years ago .I am glad to see a bit more physical presence up there .He is a massive step up from what we had up front for the majority of last season.
To judge him on one game after minimal pre-season playing time is ridiculous.
We need to give the fella and the rest of the team a chance , have a bit of patience . He will get bags of chances in this team and score loads of them.
Truth is it’s too early to judge Benteke in a red shirt, isn’t it?
The lad needs time and he needs service (very little of which he got on Sunday). I thought he did OK within the restrictions of the game. It will be interesting to see how he gets on in the next where I expect us to play more expansively. Also, it will be interesting to see how he links with Firmino.
One final thing…Padraig….you make some fair points but they get lost in your aggressive tone. Maybe think on that rather than calling everyone else on here “children” (would you do that in the pub?).
Yea bit early to judge him, especially away to Stoke. I expect to see him better in the attacking sense this Mon night.
It’s why we bought him after all.
Thanks for taking the time to write the article Phil.
I was quietly impressed with Benteke’s performance. I think he held the ball up well, used it well and kept trying to make the right runs.
On the flip side, I think he was too isolated and that either the formation or the personnel (I think a bit of both) caused this. I’m hoping that we set up that way to make us a difficult to beat as possible and that we’ll change for the upcoming home games. Time will tell I guess.
Great result, not a great performance. And that’s ok.
I reckon we should judge him after about 10 games. Yesterday was (hopefully) a one-off in terms of our approach, and in that sense he did everything the manager would’ve asked of him.
I saw enough to make me think he’ll score and create goals.
I know Benteke scored in pre-season but until that goal i was wondering what a Liverpool goal with Benteke in looks like, early days yet but i thought hé would have a bit more pace, still Drogba had no pace and did ok, hopefully it will gel better each and every match
Ironically, given all the outcry over Benteke’s suitability, in terms of what he brings to the team tactically I think he is probably as close to Suarez as you are going to get (about 70-80%). Typically when we think of Suarez, we think of all the tracer bullet shots, the nutmegs, defenders pissing themselves at the prospect of getting nutmegged, the apoplectic fits of range at the linesman for giving the throw against us despite being in stoppage time and 4-0 up, etc… (ah the memories;). But, as Neil has mentioned a couple of times on the Tuesday review, one of Suarez’s vastly underrated qualities is his strength, which enabled him to fight for long balls and roll opponents in tight spaces. As I commented on this Tuesday’s review, hopefully Firmino helps to replace Suarez’s incessant pressing and trickery on the byline and we can finally start to replicate some of the football we played in 13/14.
Another misconception is that Suarez is fast, I don’t think he is particularly. Despite all the fuss around Benteke being slow, I reckon if you lined up Benteke and Suarez on the halfway line and got them to run to the goal square then it would be a pretty even race (I noticed they have little speed cameras on players now so if anyone sees values for Suarez or Benteke I would love to hear it). Doesn’t mean that they can’t get in behind though because once they do their strength lets him hold off the recovering defenders.
Also, if you missed this clip, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqIArOYuCNY, check it out tell me that all it needs is for Benteke to wheel away kissing his three fingers.
Hahahahahahahaha….
Don’t like getting called a troll?
Given that you’re the first to call me that, I have to say I don’t really mind it much. One question for you though: You’re the one actually making an argument for Benteke being the closest thing to Suarez we could get, and on numerous article in fact, so answer me this – Who’s really trolling here?
Is that some kind of riddle?
I made basically the same point on two articles because it seemed relevant to both. I think you need to reread the definition of trolling and stop doing it because you are really bad at it.
Please do share with us all, the place you received your education from, given that your dictionary has a definition of trolling, but not of riddle, so that folks will be mindful of steering their children away from it.
And, since you’ll inevitably reply to this, do try and remember that your “relevant” point was that of Benteke being 80÷ Suarez. All I’m saying is that I find your opinion to be hilarious. That’s the gist of it, so don’t expect I’ll be replying back.
These are the first two definitions of troll that I found on via Google
“Being a prick on the internet because you can. Typically unleashing one or more cynical or sarcastic remarks on an innocent by-stander, because it’s the internet and, hey, you can.”
“A person whose sole purpose in life is to seek out people to argue with on the internet over extremely trivial issues. Such arguments can happen on blogs, Facebook, Myspace and a host of others.”
Thought the first one was particularly apt