I think most Palace fans are in agreement that on his day he is a top striker who isn't being given enough (if anything) by our midfield however he is also lazy and does not work hard enough for a team that's really struggling at the moment. Too much half hearted jogging etc when he should be calling for the ball if we're in possession or pressurising defenders if we're out of it

We can not afford the luxury of having players in the side not pulling their weight. That's my first point. CB is lazy. He should be making life really difficult for defenders when they have the ball. He doesn't. He lopes lazily. No presence.

Secondly, we can not afford the luxury of having a striker whose sole job is to score goals. Modern football will not tolerate this. To be up top on his own, he needs to be available to hit and it shouldn't matter how the ball arrives. It is his role to get it under control in an instant, keep possession and then either turn and go himself or bring others into it. He doesn't

No matter how he receives the ball he just doesn't get it under. We all know what a successful target man looks like. If we think of Drogba, Sparky Mark Hughes of old ,Diego Costa they are/were mobile skillful and able to do whatever they need to bring others into the game or go for goal themselves. It doesn't hold water that he only gets the ball drilled t him 'with snow on it'. The fcat is, even when the ball is on the deck, his control is woefully inadequate.

It is unbelievable how unable CB is to simply control the ball, hold it and link with others.

Ok, just say he does none of all that but gets 20 goals a season. He would need good service from both flanks to achieve that. We are not in a position to offer such service at the moment and so we are left with a striker who looks out of his depth, a massive bulk offering a lightweight threat.

I am astonished that I never saw his shortcomings before we signed him but there again, he wasn't playing regularly for Liverpool.

Now I understand why.

Edited by Glazier#1 (15 Jan 2017 10.30am)

I think some of you are mental .... benteke was bought as a focal point and a goal scorer .... both of which he is capable of . Lumping it forward to him aimlessly isn't the answer. I'm hoping if remy starts we can play them both ... remy running the channels etc. Need to lineup 4-4-2 . We will score goals! Our major problem is no presence in the side , pardews biggest mistake was selling jedinak , our captain and soul of club, scotty dann isn't up to that job I'm afraid