da brdice： Christian Benteke was in strange form as Crystal Palace drew 1-1 with Brighton & Hove Albion on Monday night.
On the chalkboard
da luck： The Belgian has been struggling for form this season and is still yet to score for Roy Hodgson’s side in 2019/20; Wilfried Zaha scored the Eagles’ goal at Selhurst Park.
Nevertheless, this was perhaps a troubling display from the ex-Liverpool star.
Per WhoScored, he had 37 touches of the ball and also won a staggering 14 aerial duels, almost three times as many as the second-highest, James Tomkins.
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Benteke also had four shots on goal, rattling the post with a cross-cum-shot, and registered a pass completion rate of just 29%, completing five of his 17 attempted passes.
He also failed to win a tackle or complete a dribble.
Did he really play for us?! No Palace fan has managed to name all of these obscure Eagles signings….
Can’t be overlooked
Benteke’s form is a problem for Palace.
He hasn’t been scoring goals for too long and, despite his excellent aerial ability, he is useless on the ground, as evidenced by this display.
Indeed, just six Eagles players have scored a league goal this season, with only five – Jordan Ayew, Luka Milivojevic, Jeffrey Schlupp, Patrick van Aanholt and Zaha – netting more than once.
Note that only one of those players is a proper striker.
With Benteke’s inability to hit the back of the net, Roy Hodgson has a puzzle to solve; they need to unlock the 29-year-old’s potential and get him scoring again.
Otherwise, he should simply be dropped; he isn’t contributing enough.
Meanwhile, Wilfried Zaha has admitted to one thing at Palace.