Striker could be Klopp’s perfect Plan B
When the news broke last night that Crystal Palace had made a £25million bid for Christian Benteke, many Liverpool fans rejoiced and thanked the heavens.
After his £32.5million move last summer, the form of Big Ben has been less than inspiring at Anfield. He’s struggled to get fixate a starting place and get a good run in the team, particularly after the man who signed him, Brendan Rodgers, was sacked in October, and Jurgen Klopp took over as manager.
When the news broke last summer than Benteke had signed, I, like many Liverpool fans out there, knew straight away that he wasn’t the man we needed. The target last summer was still to try and sign a replacement for Luis Suarez, something we didn’t manage last summer and something we still can’t say we’ve achieved. Maybe that’s just because Suarez is one of those special players who simply cannot be replaced.
Liverpool’s forward options- where does Benteke fit in?
However, the recent signing of Sadio Mane from Southampton does seem more promising, and more of a step in that direction. His pace and finishing will fit much more comfortably into Klopp’s preferred style of play. The addition of Mane means Liverpool have a total of 5 players who can play in the striker’s role, with Mane joining Benteke, Divock Origi, Daniel Sturridge, and Danny Ings, who have all been known to fill that role last season.
Fans will are likely to think 5 is a bit excessive. We also saw Roberto Firmino take the role of the lone forward a couple of times last season, with occasions of success, including the game where Liverpool ran out 4-1 winners away and Manchester City in October. With the fully-fit strikers that Liverpool have now as options, we’re unlikely to see Firmino fill this position very often often in the coming season, but it’s handy for Klopp to have flexible players that provide him with options.
Now, onto Benteke. There are pros and cons to selling him, of course, like there is with every player. It’s definitely possible now that, with the addition of Mane, Benteke’s place in the pecking order at Anfield has potentially dropped even further. But that doesn’t mean he’s completely surplus to requirements. The bid from Crystal Palace is £25million. If Liverpool were to accept this and accept the £7.5million loss on the player, not many fans would complain. However, as a club, which is essentially being run as a business, to lose that money on an ‘asset’ after just 1 year is a huge failure and an embarrassing turnaround, something club owners FSG will not want to see happen. For that reason, I think it’s likely this bid will be rejected and the American sports group will hold out for £30million, a closer fee to the one they paid Aston Villa for the forward last summer. 
There are advantages to accepting the £25million bid, however. If you take into account that Liverpool have just spent £30million on Mane, shipping Benteke out for £25mil would equal a net spend of just £5million, and it’s likely Liverpool have ended up with a player who will be much more successful for them, a player who is much more likely to get more goals and adapt better to Jurgen Klopp’s style of play, and essentially that player has only cost £5million.
Seems like a good deal for the Reds, not a bad exchange given the ‘lack’ of goals Benteke got in a Liverpool shirt last season.
The perfect Plan B
However, I don’t think Liverpool should be accepting any offers that are incoming for Benteke this summer. We talk about Klopp’s ‘style of play’ all the time, how effective it is with fast players who press and win the ball high up the field. It’s a style of play that does rely heavily on players with pace and incredibly high fitness levels to do that, and to break forward quickly when the ball is won. That style of play, like any ‘plan A’, is always great, when it works.
However, there will always be games when you’re being frustrated. You’re needing a result and you’re struggling to break a team down. Whether you’re a goal down at home to a team like Manchester United, or chasing a winner away at West Brom, you’re always going to get teams who ‘park the bus’ every now and then, especially when you need a goal the most. This is when a good manager has to concede that his first-choice style of play is no longer effective, and needs a plan B to switch to.
To back up this claim, I have 2 examples. Example number 1 is Liverpool’s home fixture against Chelsea 2 years ago in the 2013/14 season. One of the biggest games in Liverpool’s recent history, with a win for the Reds meaning a big step to their first ever Premier League title. A v
ital slip from Steven Gerrard had lead to a Chelsea goal at the end of the first half, and a win just about kept Chelsea in the title race at the time. This allowed them to completely park the bus in the second half, and they did. They massively frustrated Liverpool, who despite having special players on the pitch including Suarez, and Gerrard, and Sturridge, and Coutinho, couldn’t break Chelsea down. The Blues broke away in injury time and got a second goal, and the loss meant title was snatched out of Liverpool’s hands.
The second example is England on Monday night. 2-1 down against Iceland, yet no real chances created until the introduction of Marcus Rashford with 5 minutes to go. It lead to England suffering an incredibly early exit to yet another big International tournament. A disappointment to the nation once again as Roy Hodgson resigns and England’s reputation on and off the field reaches rock bottom.
The link in both of these games? Neither side had a ‘big striker’ to bring on as a Plan B and change the game. The name that springs to mind in both games is actually Andy Carroll, who was no success for Liverpool either, but no matter how in-form a forward of Andy Carroll’s nature is, defenders are always likely to be worried if you bring on a 6ft 5in big Geordie bloke with a pony tail with 10 minutes to go while they’re trying to defend a precious lead. Someone like Carroll and Benteke can actually be a very valuable weapon if used correctly. Unfortunately, both players cost an extortionate amount of money, which always puts an unnecessary amount of pressure on a player. 
An example of the effectiveness of this Plan B is another game between Liverpool and Chelsea, while Carroll was still with Liverpool. The 2012 FA Cup final. Liverpool found themselves 2-0 down with 35 minutes to go at Wembley, but the introduction of Carroll changed the game, and while Liverpool still lost the final, Carroll got himself a goal and actually came within inches of equalising, only to be denied by an incredible Petr Cech save, a ‘goal’ that goal-line technology today may have actually decided crossed the line.
Christian Benteke got 10 goals in all competitions last season. 9 in the league, more than Eden Hazard and Wayne Rooney. He pulled an incredible goal out of the bag early on in the season at Old Trafford, an amazing bicycle kick that, in the end, meant very little, but a fine example of the talent that the lad has.
He got a vital equalizer late on in the season against Chelsea, deep into stoppage time. Goals from him meant the Reds beat Bournemouth at home and Crystal Palace away in the league. He has actually managed to salvage several important points for the club over the course of last season.
Keep hold of him Jurgen, just for another season at least, he could prove to be a very important and valuable extra option in those games where Liverpool just cannot score.
By Ben Kelly – @benkelly_10
