Jamie Carragher says he was impressed with Christian Benteke’s Liverpool debut but was surprised at how often Liverpool looked to hit it long to their new number nine.
Speaking exclusively on our latest podcast the Reds legend described the Reds’ new £32m man as “a handful” and revealed how the big Belgian had impressed him with his link up play at the Britannia.
“I played against him at Villa Park, we won 2-1 and Henderson scored the winner when he dinked it over the keeper in Brendan’s first season. He was a handful, with that physique and his power he’s caused Liverpool numerous problems over the last few years.
Despite a lack of goalscoring opportunities, Carragher felt Benteke performed well under difficult circumstances and he was pleasantly surprised at the big Belgian’s ball retention.
“I thought he did ok at Stoke. Liverpool didn’t attack too much and he didn’t have great service from wide areas, but whenever the ball came into him he didn’t lose it clumsily, which was a fear of mine from when I’ve seen him at times in the past.
“Every time the ball went up to Benteke he was neat and tidy and he kept it, he just didn’t have the opportunity to show what he’s about, scoring goals and using that pace and power. I think there was one opportunity in the second half when he ran onto a pass but it was great defending by Geoff Cameron who got back in with a great tackle.”
Carra then went on to express his surprise at how frequently Simon Mignolet took the direct approach and hit it long to his compatriot. To hear more listen to the full interview - which included Jamie's thoughts on the Lovren / Sakho debate and why Coutinho needs to play centrally - on the embedded player below, or by subscribing to the TLW podcast here.
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