TheAuthority Posted December 17, 2018 VT Supporter Share Posted December 17, 2018 On 03/12/2018 at 18:05, Xela said: Like you say, all his agent was interested in was moving him around as often as possible. I don't even believe his agent was an agent in the real sense. Benteke was his only client - I think he used to teach him English or something. Such a shame. Really loved him as a player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villakram Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 You do not recover from an achilles injury... maybe ~90% level if you are lucky. It's the one true career changer above all others. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villalad21 Posted December 18, 2018 Share Posted December 18, 2018 Really looks like both Lukaku and Benteke are equally shit right now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
privateer Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 On 16/12/2018 at 23:20, Brumstopdogs said: I don't know if it's the lens/angle but he looks facially bloated. That's not the lean face of the loping athlete we had. Whatever, I've said before, I've as much goodwill and affection for him as he ever had for us. None. He had one purpose in his life when he hit England - having gone on strike to get to England - and that was to make as much money from his job as he could, as quickly as he could. Nothing wrong with that but it is mutually exclusive with loyalty and legacy building in most cases. You could call that image Chalk And Cheese. Jack is playing for the club he has feelings for and for the joy of playing. The loadsamoney is a fortunate and welcome by-product for him. Benteke is all about the filthy lucre. It's a job. He couldn't and didn't give a rat's ass about AVFC or the fans. What he did give a rat's ass about was handing in transfer request after less than a year. Now that's his prerogative of course. But at that point he killed any nascent liking I might have had for him. I don't care if he withdrew his request, he showed what he was and made clear he'd be moving on and didn't see us as a place he'd forge his legend and bring success. So when he went, I was pleased we got a good wedge and thought, "Well **** him, who gives a damn what happens to him now." I now I still think "**** him". In fact I now think "**** him and the horse he rode in on." He used us a springboard once when he was an improving up and coming striker. As for any notion of him using us as springboard now his career is in the crapper? Don't make me laugh. If we are going to have players who are not going to hang around long, Tammy is the kind of player we should be giving short term playing time to. Young, hungry players like Benteke once was. The Benteke of now? Jog on, if he's fit enough. If he's missing the Midlands so badly, maybe Wolves will take him but maybe Walsall is where he should be now to try to get things back on track. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GENTLEMAN Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 9 hours ago, privateer said: I don't know if it's the lens/angle but he looks facially bloated. That's not the lean face of the loping athlete we had. Whatever, I've said before, I've as much goodwill and affection for him as he ever had for us. None. He had one purpose in his life when he hit England - having gone on strike to get to England - and that was to make as much money from his job as he could, as quickly as he could. Nothing wrong with that but it is mutually exclusive with loyalty and legacy building in most cases. You could call that image Chalk And Cheese. Jack is playing for the club he has feelings for and for the joy of playing. The loadsamoney is a fortunate and welcome by-product for him. Benteke is all about the filthy lucre. It's a job. He couldn't and didn't give a rat's ass about AVFC or the fans. What he did give a rat's ass about was handing in transfer request after less than a year. Now that's his prerogative of course. But at that point he killed any nascent liking I might have had for him. I don't care if he withdrew his request, he showed what he was and made clear he'd be moving on and didn't see us as a place he'd forge his legend and bring success. So when he went, I was pleased we got a good wedge and thought, "Well **** him, who gives a damn what happens to him now." I now I still think "**** him". In fact I now think "**** him and the horse he rode in on." He used us a springboard once when he was an improving up and coming striker. As for any notion of him using us as springboard now his career is in the crapper? Don't make me laugh. If we are going to have players who are not going to hang around long, Tammy is the kind of player we should be giving short term playing time to. Young, hungry players like Benteke once was. The Benteke of now? Jog on, if he's fit enough. If he's missing the Midlands so badly, maybe Wolves will take him but maybe Walsall is where he should be now to try to get things back on track. I think we got his best form, prior to his injuries, and made a decent amount of money on him. I feel the same about him as you, I think it is the mark of his character. IIRC he made a 'stepping stone' comment when he first arrived at the Villa and also his hilarious tweet announcing he had signed for Burnley when it was Palace. As you say to him it's a job, which is fine, but it cuts both ways, he doesn't get the goodwill. Regardless, I would not want him back as I think he wouldn't be a good option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farlz Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 Genuinely makes me sad to see how poor he's become now. What a player he was for us, pretty much carried the team on his back for the 3 seasons he was here. The best striker I've seen in a Villa shirt, absolutely incredible at times. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyblade Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 2013 Benteke looked like he was going to become the best in the world. That injury before the Euros really sucked too, he could have pushed on from there. I remember a similar thing happening to Darren Bent in 2012. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villan-scott Posted December 20, 2018 VT Supporter Share Posted December 20, 2018 An absolute monster for us, and my favourite player for a long while. Until Grealish and McGinn this season. I was listening to Talksport the other day and Allardyce was talking about him, saying if Palace get him fit he’s top class. He likened him to Andy Carroll that when he is rehabbing from injury he doesn’t give it his all, which makes a huge difference. He also said that he was better than Andy Carroll at attacking the ball in the air. The biggest revelation was the explanation of the Westwood floaty corners for all those years. That’s how Benteke wanted them according to Allardyce. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa89 Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 18 hours ago, Keyblade said: 2013 Benteke looked like he was going to become the best in the world. ah no he didn't. A lot of people on here have a very rose tinted view of him. He was lazy, constantly getting caught offside and missed a lot of chances while he was here. No doubt he was a very good player for us but he was never half as good as some people seem to think. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KMitch Posted December 21, 2018 Share Posted December 21, 2018 His move to Liverpool didn't make any sense at all. I remember reading a statistic that he won more headers than any other striker in the top 5 leagues in Europe in his last season for us, but he signed for Liverpool, who crossed the ball the least of any team in the Premier League the same season. Bigger club, champions league football, and a higher salary are why he signed for Liverpool, but it effectively destroyed his career. I also disagree with the sentiment that he was lazy. He singlehandedly kept us in the Premier League in at least one of the seasons he was playing for us. Our entire game plan revolved around Benteke and we looked completely lost if he was out of the team or having a bad performance. He got frustrated because our midfield lacked creativity and needed to try to make things happen himself, which is why he got caught offside a lot. He had a bit of arrogance about him, like knew he was our best player and handled himself accordingly. His performances backed it up, though, unlike Gabby who still thought it necessary to rub it in our faces after he hadn't scored a goal in almost a year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S-Platt Posted December 21, 2018 VT Supporter Share Posted December 21, 2018 Tekkers was a diamond in the rough whilst he was with us. He will always be remembered fondly due to the shite around him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A'Villan Posted December 21, 2018 Share Posted December 21, 2018 There was a period of time where you could easily argue that we had the most in form striker in the league. I think perceptions of how good he was were inflated because he was not a big name signing yet came and scored 19 goals in his debut season. Some of his solo efforts were very impressive. He was not lazy for Villa, he was always attempting to beat his man and putting himself right where we wanted him. I remember the goal when we were playing Norwich, he had his back to goal, chested down a pass and hit it first time on the volley from near the top of the box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted December 21, 2018 Share Posted December 21, 2018 Was a stat during his time here that only Aguero, Suarez and Van Persie had more league goals than him and them players weren't playing with Westwood, Weimann and Gabby He was that good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim Posted December 21, 2018 Share Posted December 21, 2018 The new Michael Ricketts... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Albrighton Posted December 21, 2018 VT Supporter Share Posted December 21, 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, Zatman said: Was a stat during his time here that only Aguero, Suarez and Van Persie had more league goals than him and them players weren't playing with Westwood, Weimann and Gabby He was that good Yep it was this, always my go to stat when people suggest he wasn’t that good in the first place. Plus how many games did he miss while out injured? Fantastic record really. Edited December 21, 2018 by Shropshire Lad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Pangloss Posted December 21, 2018 Share Posted December 21, 2018 11 hours ago, villa89 said: ah no he didn't. A lot of people on here have a very rose tinted view of him. He was lazy, constantly getting caught offside and missed a lot of chances while he was here. No doubt he was a very good player for us but he was never half as good as some people seem to think. "Best in the world" a step too far, but certainly was on track to become one of the best strikers in the world IMO. He literally had the lot, finishing with his feet or head, great hold up play, very good one touch passing and an ability to lay the ball off, was deceptively quick and had good control of the ball. He's what you'd call a 'complete number 9' and there's really not many of those around. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaJ100 Posted December 21, 2018 Share Posted December 21, 2018 Apparently, an achilles I jury like what Benteke has is incredibly rare in a young man. It's more a degenerative issue cause by excessive wear and tear over time. It seems likely Benteke is actually older than his given age. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa89 Posted December 21, 2018 Share Posted December 21, 2018 24 minutes ago, VillaJ100 said: It seems likely Benteke is actually older than his given age. Kanu and Obafemi Martins spring to mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Stevo985 Posted December 21, 2018 VT Supporter Popular Post Share Posted December 21, 2018 3 hours ago, VillaJ100 said: Apparently, an achilles I jury like what Benteke has is incredibly rare in a young man. It's more a degenerative issue cause by excessive wear and tear over time. It seems likely Benteke is actually older than his given age. Hell of an accusation to throw at him to be honest. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Pangloss Posted December 21, 2018 Share Posted December 21, 2018 6 hours ago, jim said: The new Michael Ricketts... Absolutely zero parallels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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