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Christian Benteke to Crystal Palace: Why the crossing game will suit him

Christian Benteke/Alan Pardew image 19/08/2016

With Christian Benteke completing a move to Crystal Palace, Adam Bate examines the numbers that suggest the powerful striker could have belatedly found the perfect club for his talents.

Pardew on Benteke
Pardew on Benteke

Crystal Palace boss Alan Pardew explains why he wanted to sign Christian Benteke.

"There's no point going to a club where they don't cross the ball." Tim Sherwood's view on Christian Benteke's proposed transfer to Liverpool last summer might have been seen at the time as the bluster of a man attempting to hold onto Aston Villa's best player, but a year on and the striker himself might well feel his former boss had a point.

After a stuttering season at Anfield in which the man who signed him, Brendan Rodgers, was sacked eight games into the campaign, Benteke soon found himself out of Jurgen Klopp's plans. In the end, he started 14 Premier League games. The good news for Benteke is that the reasons for his problems at Liverpool could now be a source of optimism for success at Crystal Palace.

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Crystal Palace have agreed a £32m fee with Liverpool for Benteke

Alan Pardew certainly seems to have identified the issue. "For us, it's about getting him back to doing what he does best," said Pardew. "I think his style of play and the way he feeds off crosses - we're the top crossing team in the Premier League bar one, I think - with the wide players we've got he's going to enjoy that."

The numbers are indeed encouraging. Palace attempted 689 crosses from open play last season, second only to Southampton and 73 more than the third team on the list. When dead-ball situations are included, Palace tried to put the ball into the box from wide areas more than any other side in the Premier League last term.

Premier League crosses in 2015/16

Team Crosses from open play
Southampton 696
Crystal Palace 689
West Brom 616

It didn't really work for them. Palace were in the bottom three for goals scored last season, with a particular problem finding the net from inside the area. Only bottom-club Aston Villa scored fewer goals from open play. But the hope will be that the acquisition of Benteke - signed for a club record fee - could help transform those numbers.

Lofting the ball into the box for Dwight Gayle is one thing but aiming for the head of Benteke is another matter altogether. Even with restricted game-time, the 6'3" Belgian won 130 aerial duels in a Liverpool shirt. That was not only more than all but two Premier League forwards in 2015/16 but, remarkably, more than every single Palace forward put together.

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Liverpool's Christian Benteke (centre) celebrates scoring the opening goal against Leicester City at Anfield

Aerial duels won in 2015/16

  • 130 - Christian Benteke
  • 117 - Connor Wickham, Dwight Gayle, Emmanuel Adebayor, Marouane Chamakh, Fraizer Campbell, Glenn Murray and Patrick Bamford.

As a result, the return to a team committed to a crossing game could see Benteke capture the sort of form that persuaded Liverpool to pay so much money for him in the first place. After all, even coming off the back of a frustrating year on Merseyside, the 25-year-old still ranks among the top five goalscorers in the Premier League over the past four years.

Benteke actually scored nine Premier League goals for the Reds at a rate of better than a goal every other full game. His final 11 appearances for Aston Villa yielded 11 goals. "We cross more balls into the box than any other club," said Sherwood of that Villa side. Well, the stats suggest that Palace cross it even more.

Christian Benteke's goalscoring record in the Premier League as of August 19th 2016
Image: Benteke's goalscoring record in the Premier League as of 19/08/2016

Of course, the equation might not prove quite so simple. Yannick Bolasie, for example, has departed for Everton and was the Palace player responsible for more of those crosses than anyone else. But Wilfried Zaha remains and with Andros Townsend now at Selhurst Park, Benteke should not be too short of service from wide areas.

For Pardew, the signing must be a relief having spent much of the summer chasing a striker. The mood around the club has not been too good for a while, an inevitable by-product of having won only two Premier League games since Christmas. The home defeat to West Brom on the opening day exacerbated concerns.

It's about getting him back to doing what he does best.
Alan Pardew on Christian Benteke

Even in the days since that result, the sales of that great entertainer Bolasie as well as popular club captain Mile Jedinak have hardly added to the feel-good factor in south London. But while two of the players that the Palace fans wanted around have left, the one man that the club really needed may well have just arrived.

No Palace player scored more than five goals last season. Benteke managed rather more than that in a Liverpool team ill-suited to his style and a Villa side that was heading in the wrong direction. Pardew won't be the only one confident that - in the right circumstances - Benteke can help turn things around for Palace. It's set up for him to thrive.

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