Dominic Fifield has written a piece for The Athletic defending Christian Benteke after his recent performance for the Eagles as they beat rivals Brighton this weekend, leading supporters to praise the target man as ‘outstanding’.
The Belgian striker received a 6.9 rating from SofaScore as he won 5 aerial duels and assisted Jordan Ayew with a great pass in Crystal Palace’s 1-0 victory. It was their first Premier League victory at the Amex and meant that they are now on 36 points, their best tally at this stage in the Premier League.
Benteke, who has only scored 5 times in the Premier League in the last 3 seasons, has received a lot of criticism from Palace fans for his lack of goals but is proving to be essential to Roy Hodgson’s plans. In his piece, Dom Fifield explains how his recent performance emphasises that he can bring something else to the side, as his aforementioned stats would suggest.
With that in mind, fans had mixed opinions as they replied to Fifield’s article:
While he could maybe do better with some chances, I find a lot of the criticism of him to be vitriolic & much of it based on an ignorance of his all round contribution to the team
— Nav_is_tweeting (@tweetingnav) March 1, 2020
The new late-career Chamakh… but better in the air. And that’s not an insult. Finishing has gone to pot but everything else is excellent
— Paul (@cpfcpatriot) March 1, 2020
A small section of Tweets, perhaps. By and large he has been given so so much time, support and understanding. He does need to score more goals though. All the build up play in the world won’t change even his own assessment of his job. He has to score more.
— Dave (@DPMoore88) March 1, 2020
What he offered yesterday was just as good as goals, love to see him grab a few before end of season tho
— bigz (@bigz__17) March 1, 2020
I have no problem with Benteke staying and playing at Palace! But, he is on goalscorers wagers and it could stop us signing another big earning goalscorers who might get double figures.
— Dan Hodder (@hodderhoff) March 1, 2020
Bravo, Dom. The Benteke critics are so wrong. He was outstanding yesterday
— Bruce Millington (@brucemillington) March 1, 2020
Crystal Palace fans, do you think Benteke still brings something to the starting 11? Comment Below!
