Crystal Palace winger Andros Townsend has offered support to misfiring teammate Christian Benteke, suggesting the striker should not be judged on goalscoring alone.
Benteke, 27, last scored against Leicester City in a 5-0 drubbing of the Foxes in April, and he has not scored an away goal since January, though the Belgium international remains Roy Hodgson’s preferred central striker.
Palace parted with £30m to require the services of Benteke – a record fee for the south London club – though his price tag has not yet justified itself with the marksman netting only three Premier League goals last campaign.
He is currently on a goalscoring drought of five matches, and his starting position could be under threat should he continue to fire blanks. However, Townsend believes his starting berth is secure, suggesting Benteke’s overall gameplay is far more significant to the team than just goals alone.
“People focus on his goal record but he has offered a lot and played very well again,” Townsend told Standard Sport. “With strikers people tend to forget about the performance if they don’t score but Christian was good on Sunday and I’m sure he’ll be good again on Saturday.
“It was a frustrating day for everyone. Christian played very well again. He had a chance [with a header from Townsend’s cross] but the goalkeeper made a great save.
“He worked hard, he won a lot of headers, running the channel and causing all sorts of problems.”
In the past two matches, with the Eagles chasing an equaliser, Benteke has been substituted off in favour of Alexander Sorloth, and the mountainous Norwegian netted the winning goal against Swansea City on Tuesday night in the League Cup second round.
Cause for optimism
Despite losing the last two Premier League matches against an in-form Liverpool and in-form Watford, Townsend has been encouraged by the performances and remains optimistic.
This time last season, Palace were in precarious territory with then-manager Frank de Boer presiding the reigns at Selhurst Park. The Dutchman lost his first four matches in charge of the club and was sacked as a result, something Townsend remembers fondly.
He added: “Of course we’re optimistic, but we know from last season that you can have similar fixtures and end up losing all seven. There’s no easy games, whether you’re playing Liverpool or Watford.
“We’ll just have to work hard and keep producing performances like we have. Hopefully, the rub of the green will come and we will start winning.
“The positive is we’ve played well but we haven’t got the points we deserve. If we win on Saturday [at home to Southampton], six points from our first four games would be not bad. Not great, but not bad at all.”
Crystal Palace next face Southampton on Saturday.
The post Townsend defends misfiring Palace teammate Benteke: ‘He offers much more than just goals’ appeared first on Squawka News.
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