Liverpool fans have been understandably frustrated with prized summer pickup Christian Benteke. He has yet to record a goal in the 2016 calendar year – including Liverpool’s most recent scoreless draw against West Ham United – and has just seven in all competitions after finishing the season with twice that many for Aston Villa last year. Needless to say, his scoring drought has drawn comparisons to some rather unsavory Reds flops.
Mario Balotelli – who infamously scored just one goal with Liverpool in 16 Premier League appearances last season – was one of the names most commonly brought up, as angry Reds fans wished they had kept the expensive flop instead of loaning him out and spending a small fortune on Benteke.
Benteke offers no more than Balotelli & costs twice as much. Both waste of space at #LFC
— Jay (@Jay82_LFC) January 30, 2016
I’d go as far to say Balotelli offers more than Benteke. Embarrassing to say the least. Offers absolutely nothing #LFC #EmiratesFACup
— Dan Rimmer (@dan_rimmer97) January 30, 2016
Would genuinely rather have balotelli upfront then benteke
— Craig Garwood (@garzy23) January 30, 2016
Other fans simply poked fun at Benteke’s almost literal inability to score no matter how many times he had a shot at an easy goal dead to rights (an occurrence that has happened no fewer than three times over the last few months).
Christian Benteke with his 278th chance on goal. #LFC pic.twitter.com/yZh93G9Ign
— Kloppholic (@Kloppholic) January 30, 2016
Coming away from the game and the desperation for a decent striker is painful. Benteke was an absolutely awful decision for LFC.
— Benjamin (@BenGranville) January 30, 2016
Benteke’s scoring drought comes at one of the worst possible times for Liverpool: they are still expected to be without star striker Philippe Coutinho for the foreseeable future and have a Capital One Cup Final with Manchester City coming up on the schedule.
If Benteke isn’t back to his Aston Villa form by then, Benteke could share a similar fate to Balotelli and find himself out of the BPL entirely.
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