A player who has had contrasting seasons in the red and blue, Christian Benteke needs our support more than ever – and it will benefit all parties.
The appointment of Frank de Boer in the summer of 2017 sparked optimism and excitement beyond recognition for Palace’s supporters.
The former Barcelona defender arrived with a great reputation having led his boyhood club, Ajax, to four successive Eredivise titles. After a brief spell with Internazionale, he soon occupied the vacancy left after Sam Allardyce’s ‘retirement’. Just 77 days later, de Boer was unemployed and relegation was already looking inevitable for Palace.
They had endured a nightmare start, sitting rock bottom after four games with no points and not even a goal to show for. A sigh of great relief was heard around Selhurst Park on October 14th, when Yohan Cabaye opened the scoring against Chelsea, boosting the confidence of the squad. However, there is one player who still has not fully found his feet – Christian Benteke.
Expectations were high for Benteke, following his blockbuster move from Liverpool. The Belgium international certainly lived up to the hype, bagging 17 goals in his debut season for the Eagles. Despite the consistent performances from star man Wilfried Zaha, Palace would have found themselves back in the Championship without his goals. He made such an impression that he sat among the club’s top 100 all-time scorers after just one season.
The following campaign, however, did not quite go as Christian would have hoped. Fans were becoming impatient at his lack of goals, as he went on to score just three times all season. Very much a ‘confidence player’, he was seemingly fazed by the teams – and more so his – inability to find the back of the net. His confidence took a huge knock, leaving him looking half the player Palace fans had previously worshiped.
Understandably when your team is finding goals hard to come by, fingers will be pointed at your reliant target-man. Yet, it is hard to understand why – two games into a new season – the Belgian is already on the end of unwarranted abuse from many who claim to ‘support’ the club.
On Monday, I saw a player who was angry at his performance. As Alexander Sørloth prepared to make his mark on a match that needed a goal, Benteke’s eyes were drawn towards the fourth official as he waited for the number 17 to appear on the electronic board. As he dropped into his seat in the dugout, his gloves were ripped off and thrown to the floor in frustration, knowing that he would have to wait until at least Sunday for his chance to get the Palace faithful back on his side.
Often fans will claim to be pleased with their players as long as they give 100%, which leaves some wondering why Benteke is disrespected by so many. Having suffered his least prolific season to date, along with his absence from Belgium’s World Cup squad, the 27-year-old was willingly back in Beckenham well before any of his teammates for pre-season – while many were on their holidays – ensuring he was in perfect shape ahead of the new campaign.
Something which has repeatedly been brought into question is his work rate, most of all his reluctance to chase down every loose ball. It seems fans are forgetting that Benteke is not the fastest of players, and there simply is no need to chase down a ball which is twenty yards or so ahead of him. It wastes energy which should be reserved for a more realistic chance. I cannot help but think that Zaha would not chase down many of these loose balls, despite being the much faster player, yet Benteke seems to receive an unreasonable amount of stick for not doing so.
The striker showed glimpses of old in the 4-1 win over Toulouse – confident, an aerial predator, scoring goals; he even chased down loose balls. The high press which many fans seem to expect is something he will have been told not to waste his energy on by Roy Hodgson. This is particularly important against teams such as Monday’s opponents Liverpool, as once you create space for them, they can cause you such damage.
The conclusive message in this piece is that if all Palace fans can get behind him, we will see the Benteke of old in no time. It is no coincidence that Wayne Hennessey’s upturn in form came at a time fans decided to cut him some slack. Bakary Sako is another example of what feeling appreciated can do for a player’s performances.
Boos and collective shouts of abuse after every little mistake does nothing for his confidence or our reputation as fans. The striker who once single-handedly kept Palace up thrived off fans support. Maybe it will take time for him to feel at home again, but this is a player who currently feels hated by the supporters of his club.
Benteke has put last season behind him. It is time we did the same.
