For me it has to be PVA.

His positional sense when defending is poor at best, and he doesn't get as many crosses into the box as he should considering he is so attack minded.

Forget his individual mistakes, this can happen to anyone. For me he has a much bigger underlining defensive problem that needs fixing if we are to give ourselves the best possible chance of staying up.

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Punch

@sxp55555

You know what you are going to get with Benteke - the man needs service which has not been great this season, especially with Zaha out at the beginning.

You also know that you are not going to get someone that runs around and puts pressure on the oppositions defence: Fraizer Campbell springs to mind, he was brilliant at this as was Cameron Jerome.

Yes, Benteke has missed a few sitters this season, but I wouldn't say he has been a letdown, as without proper service his goals to game ratio will reflect his form this season. This is the kind of player he has always been.

How I'd love a striker who can put himself about and MAKE things happen.

I guess we can all dream.

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I suppose you're right that he needs service, and my contribution is really a bit of a red herring. But I still often think about the goal he scored against us for Aston Villa, when (according to my fading memory) he picked up possession on the Arthur touch line, miles from goal, and just kept running and beating defenders till he scored. I think that's the night we lost 0-1, having had about 80% of the play.

Benteke - we've spent £40mill on him so far. Massively underwhelming in those first six games.

Big chest and massive boobs

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Based on his spell at Sunderland, most neutrals would have said that PVA was perhaps the worst defender in the league. His performances for us this season have proven this to be true.

Sadly, as he seems a nice lad, PVA's woeful positioning, non-existent game reading and powder puff man-marking leave us constantly exposed, and the only surprise is that he had to get injured before Hodgson (who prizes a well organised defence) left him out.

To dispel a lingering myth about him, his energy and enthusiasm for getting forward should not be mistaken for quality. He causes ten times more problems for our defence than he does for any of our opponents.

Sunderland were flailing about all over the place and looking clear favourites to go down when they received a pretty modest bid from us, a relegation rival, for this player. It says everything you need to know that they bit our hands off.

I wouldn't hold a barren spell in front of goal against Benteke, as all strikers have them. His general body language, lack of energy, fight and passion seem to come as part of the package based on his time with us, so that can hardly be called a specific disappointment this season.

Puncheon has been so bad for so long that I can't see how anyone could have been disappointed in his form this year.

Edited by TheBigToePunt (13 Nov 2017 5.26pm)