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Once a feared, dominant presence in attack, Christian Benteke’s fall from grace since his phenomenal days at Aston Villa has been a significant one.
The Belgium international has gone from being a striker who scored 49 goals in 101 games for the Villans – a strike rate just under a goal every other game – to a laughing stock of a player who has four goals in his last 57 games for Crystal Palace.
There was once a time when Benteke was scoring bicycle kicks for Villa and battering defenders left, right and centre, but he is now a gentle giant of a forward who is completely shot of confidence in front of goal.
How has it come to this?
Let’s put seven specific moments under the microscope, events that we think may have contributed to the 28-year-old’s fall from grace…
[snack_break title=”Scoring for fun at Villa Park”]
Every fall from grace needs somewhere to drop from.
Benteke, as aforesaid, had a brilliant goalscoring record at Villa Park, smashing all types of goals in with his head, right foot and left foot – he was simply unstoppable.
His form in the Midlands earned the 6 foot 3 forward a £32.5m move to Liverpool, such was the impressive nature of his play.
[snack_break title=”World Cup dreams dashed by Achilles injury”]
Just months before Benteke was set to jet off to Brazil with Belgium for the 2014 World Cup, disaster struck in training as he lined up a shot on goal.
His Achilles Tendon popped, with teammates saying they could hear the injury happen from 50 yards away.
Benteke was forced to watch his international teammates play at the World Cup, and also saw interest from Tottenham die down as a result – the everlasting issues could also still be affecting him today, as FYP Fanzine outline in this article.
[snack_break title=”Nightmare move to Liverpool”]
Benteke’s £32.5m move to Anfield should’ve been the defining moment of his career.
It should have seen him cement himself at a real heavyweight club, where he would hope to spearhead title challenges, cup runs and more.
However, just over two months after he was signed by Brendan Rodgers, the Irishman was sacked and replaced by Jurgen Klopp, a man who didn’t see the Belgian in his plans as Benteke admitted himself.
Benteke managed a respectable 10 goals during his single season at Anfield, but after starting the first six Premier League games of the season with Rodgers at the helm, he’d manage only eight more top flight starts under Klopp.
To see your dream move turn nightmarish so quickly must have been hard for the former Genk man.
[snack_break title=”Thriving under Sam Allardyce”]
An anomaly in this fall from grace, Benteke actually enjoyed a mini-revival in his first season after leaving Liverpool.
He hit eight goals in 18 games under Alan Pardew, then thrived in a crossing-focused system under Sam Allardyce with nine goals in 22 to end the campaign with 17 goals – he looked like he had found his feet once again.
However, this would prove to be a one-off.
[snack_break title=”Struggles under Roy Hodgson”]
Since Allardyce departed and Roy Hodgson took over from Frank de Boer’s swift tenure, Benteke has struggled massively under the 72-year-old.
The Belgian has just four goals in 53 games under Hodgson’s guidance, in a system that doesn’t deliver anywhere near as many crosses as Allardyce’s methods produced – as Football FanCast have previously analysed.
[snack_break title=”Greedy penalty born out of desperation”]
Benteke’s struggles in front of goal caused a truly ugly moment to rear its head in a 2-2 draw against Bournemouth in the 2017/18 season.
Wilfried Zaha had won a last-gasp penalty to give his side a chance to secure all three points, and designated penalty taker Luka Milivojevic – who had already scored a spot-kick in the same game – was stood over it.
However, Benteke – in all his desperation to score – went against Hodgson’s orders and took the spot-kick from the Serbian in selfish fashion, before firing a weak effort into the body of Asmir Begovic.
Palace had to settle for a point, and Benteke’s situation worsened.
[snack_break title=”Injury strikes again”]
The start of a new season gave Benteke the chance to right some wrongs and get back to the form of his first Palace campaign.
However, after a goalless start to 2018/19, Benteke was struck down by a knee injury in September, just as the season was getting underway.
That would see him miss 22 Eagles encounters across all competitions and he wouldn’t make his next top-flight start until February.
Clearly off the pace, Hodgson would allow Benteke just five Premier League starts for the rest of the term, as he turned in just one goal and one assist in the top flight for the entire season.
That marked two goal-shy campaigns in a row for Benteke, an inevitable confidence sapper for a striker who once challenged at the very top of the Premier League scoring charts.
Since that strike against Arsenal, we’re still waiting for Benteke’s next in the Premier League.
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