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Christian Benteke

I am one of Benteke's biggest fan on this forum - and no one more than me would be thrilled to see him come. And the reason is very simple... if there is one striker in the PL who can be unplayable it is him. When he is on his game, he is impossible to mark; no defender can match his strength, he can play both facing the goal and with his back to it. Not only is he a surefire bet to get at least two headers on target every game but he has a venomous hot from distance. He pulls defenders out of position allowing the midfielders to enter into the space - as we have seen from the goals from Delph and Cleverley in the past few months. For the fancy tactics that some posters spout about, as Harry always said... football is a simple game. It's about players who can cause damage to the opposition and lead to goals - whether that is through a Messi-esque dribble or bullying your opponent to a mistake through brutal force is irrelevant; the end result is the same.

Benteke needs a clever manager to get the best of him - as Sherwood has done; leaving lots of egg on the face of more than a few posters who lampooned him as a tactically incompetent dunce last season.

Would I pay 30 million? I would consider it very very seriously especially if it can include players going the other way, like Dembele or Adebayor.
 
^ Lambert got the best out of him in his first season - i don't think anyone was calling him a clever manager this season was they?

Seems like you've just shoehorned that particular point in to take a swipe at people and prolong the tired Sherwood 'debate'.
 
billyiddo said:
^ Lambert got the best out of him in his first season - i don't think anyone was calling him a clever manager this season was they?

Seems like you've just shoehorned that particular point in to take a swipe at people and prolong the tired Sherwood 'debate'.
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Or just maybe he is an exceptional player that can work under any manager. The Belgian manager also doesn't seem to have much trouble in getting the best out of him!
 
braineclipse said:
That context would only make Benteke a no brainer at that price if he was the only viable candidate for that role.

Oh and regression to the mean talking about a sample size of 7 games is a bit silly...
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What other candidate do you see that can provide that role?

While I accept regression to mean is a silly concept over 7 games, as you will perhaps know I am not a fan of the whole regression to mean concept when applied to football or footballers. However, do you really think Kane will have the same impact next season as this? It would take an optimist of Steff proportions to believe that.
 
Pirate55 said:
Or just maybe he is an exceptional player that can work under any manager. The Belgian manager also doesn't seem to have much trouble in getting the best out of him!
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maybe, that'd reinforce my point quite well if that was the case

he has a 1 in 3 record for Belgium - not sure that's getting the best out of him, not if his Villa form is the benchmark ;)
 
billyiddo said:
maybe, that'd reinforce my point quite well if that was the case

he has a 1 in 3 record for Belgium - not sure that's getting the best out of him, not if his Villa form is the benchmark ;)
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Only if your point was that he is a great player who would be just what we need ;)
 
Maltese Falcon said:
I am one of Benteke's biggest fan on this forum - and no one more than me would be thrilled to see him come. And the reason is very simple... if there is one striker in the PL who can be unplayable it is him. When he is on his game, he is impossible to mark; no defender can match his strength, he can play both facing the goal and with his back to it. Not only is he a surefire bet to get at least two headers on target every game but he has a venomous hot from distance. He pulls defenders out of position allowing the midfielders to enter into the space - as we have seen from the goals from Delph and Cleverley in the past few months. For the fancy tactics that some posters spout about, as Harry always said... football is a simple game. It's about players who can cause damage to the opposition and lead to goals - whether that is through a Messi-esque dribble or bullying your opponent to a mistake through brutal force is irrelevant; the end result is the same.

Benteke needs a clever manager to get the best of him - as Sherwood has done; leaving lots of egg on the face of more than a few posters who lampooned him as a tactically incompetent dunce last season.

Would I pay 30 million? I would consider it very very seriously especially if it can include players going the other way, like Dembele or Adebayor.
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I agree with most of the points you make although I would not like to see Dembele go. I would prefer Villa take Ade, Soldado, Paulinho, Capoue, Kaboul, Chiriches before Dembele, who I think can still play a useful role for us.

With regard to price, I was a strong advocate of buying Benteke in January when his stock was low for a variety of reasons. I think unfortunately we may have missed the boat now and can see him going to Liverscum or even Chelsea to replace Drogba. I think Mourinho would make him into the beast that Drogba became.
 
Pirate55 said:
What other candidate do you see that can provide that role?

While I accept regression to mean is a silly concept over 7 games, as you will perhaps know I am not a fan of the whole regression to mean concept when applied to football or footballers. However, do you really think Kane will have the same impact next season as this? It would take an optimist of Steff proportions to believe that.
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Lambert might be able to fill that role just fine for example. I know he's getting on a bit, but in his full season under Pochettino at Southampton that finished just a year ago he scored 13 and got 10 assists in 31 starts and 6 sub appearances. He would cost a fraction of what Benteke's buyout clause is. Quite a few potential targets from around Europe too, like the young Mitrovic at Anderlecht or much more experienced Llorente at Juventus. Both players we've been linked with in the past that would likely cost a lot less than Benteke.

You don't like the regression to the mean concept when applied to football, but if it seems to support your argument you'll throw it out there with a small enough sample size to make it completely irrelevant?

I don't know what impact Kane will have. As I've explicitly stated I want us to sign at the very least one striker this summer, I would prefer two. Just because I don't think Benteke at that cost is a "no brainer" or even good value doesn't mean that I think we should just rely on Kane...
 
Another question for the people who would like to see us sign Benteke. Quite a few of you seem to also seem to be posters who would also like to see us play with wingers or in a more traditionally English way. Is the attraction of Benteke that you think he is suited to your preferred way of playing or do you see him as being a good fit for Poch's preferred system?
 
another thing with Benteke is that if you are going to sign him for 30 mill, surely you are going to want to play him every week. He too will want to play every week and is the type that needs to be playing regularly to maintain his form.
 
milo said:
Another question for the people who would like to see us sign Benteke. Quite a few of you seem to also seem to be posters who would also like to see us play with wingers or in a more traditionally English way. Is the attraction of Benteke that you think he is suited to your preferred way of playing or do you see him as being a good fit for Poch's preferred system?
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I actually think Benteke is talented enough to be able to play either system, he is great in the air but he has a good first touch and can hold the ball up for runners.

32 mill is a hell of a lot of money though, however its obvious Tim needs to strengthen his Villa side and I can not see him being given much money by Learner. If we can offer him a couple of players we do not want then it may make the fee smaller. In a good side I really believe Benteke would be a big hit.
 
We won't get him: I doubt Poch wants to play a 4-4-2, and no high-profile player will want to sit on the bench behind Kane, a man guaranteed a start after the season he's had.

Lambert, Ings, Austin, some overseas player willing to rotate with Harry: that's who we'll get. Not a marquee signing like Benteke.
 
DubaiSpur said:
We won't get him: I doubt Poch wants to play a 4-4-2, and no high-profile player will want to sit on the bench behind Kane, a man guaranteed a start after the season he's had.

Lambert, Ings, Austin, some overseas player willing to rotate with Harry: that's who we'll get. Not a marquee signing like Benteke.
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That is where I disagree with you, I think we would play Kane in the hold behind Benteke so both will play.
 
We wont be paying the sort of price which Benteke will command this summer and player swaps are so rare that they are better ignored
 
parklane1 said:
That is where I disagree with you, I think we would play Kane in the hold behind Benteke so both will play.
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Where do we play Eriksen and Pritchard, then? Where do we play Mason, if we do end up getting a CDM to partner Bentaleb? Or Carroll, if we keep him around?

I think we're stocked at CAM, mate: certainly at least to the extent of not needing Kane to play there just to fit in a star striker.
 
AdamB said:
We wont be paying the sort of price which Benteke will command this summer and player swaps are so rare that they are better ignored
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Normally I would agree with that, however I have said earlier Tim will want to bring in several players to strengthen his team ( the new manager bounce will not last for ever) and his Villa side is lacking in several areas. He will not be able to get a lot of money from Learner and unless L'pool pay the get out clause he may have to do some dealing. I am not saying this will happen but as someone once said " its a funny old game".
 
DubaiSpur said:
Where do we play Eriksen and Pritchard, then? Where do we play Mason, if we do end up getting a CDM to partner Bentaleb? Or Carroll, if we keep him around?

I think we're stocked at CAM, mate: certainly at least to the extent of not needing Kane to play there just to fit in a star striker.
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Many of our C/M's are much of a much ness , I can see Dembele leaving and I would not bet on Pritchard becoming as much a regular player has Kane became this season. As for Mason I am still not convinced he is good enough to be first choice.

We need another forward and if Kane gets a injury or second season downturn ( many do )we will be knackered if all we have is Ade or Bobby to turn too.
 
Not saying we shouldn't have a second forward: I think we will get one. I just think it won't be Benteke, or a similar player of his calibre. Likely Ings, Austin, Claudio Beauvue, Franco Di Santo: that type of player, who won't mind rotating with Kane.

And as for our CAMs/CMs, I don't think Dembele will leave, for reasons of squad cohesion (could be a way to keep Jan around, since they're basically twins given their extremely long friendship) and the range of tactical options open to us with Dembele as opposed to without him. I think Mason can really come good in a CAM role, I think Eriksen at least deserves a starting spot at CAM, and I think Pritchard will surprise a few people next season. So again, I don't see a spot for Benteke in the side, mate.
 
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