If Brendan Rodgers had any reservations as to whether Christian Benteke was ready to fire ahead of the Barclays Premier League season, they were immediately extinguished the moment his new forward unleashed a quite brilliant volley into the top corner of Swindon Town’s goal yesterday.
Benteke may only have had just over a week of pre-season training with Liverpool since signing in a £32.5million deal from Aston Villa but his powerful performance during this victory suggested the Belgian front man is already primed for the big kick-off.
This was Liverpool’s second game in the space of 24 hours but Rodgers will be satisfied after goals from Benteke and youngster Sheyi Ojo ensured that two entirely different teams ensured successive victories after the 2-0 win against HJK Helsinki in Finland on Saturday.
It leaves Liverpool in fine fettle after emerging from pre-season with five victories and one draw.
Rodgers revealed on Sunday that he ‘more or less’ knows the side that will start as Liverpool attempt to overcome their demons at Stoke, where they ended last season with a 6-1 defeat.
The side that played in Helsinki had rather laboured to success but those players — including the likes of James Milner, Adam Lallana and Philippe Coutinho — are likely to form the major part of the line-up that will start next week.
Benteke, it appears, is almost certain to be unleashed as well and Rodgers will hope that he can invigorate his side after the lethargy that they displayed for long periods in Finland on Saturday.
‘I will know by the end of next week for sure,’ said Rodgers, whose side were briefly pegged back against Swindon after Jonathan Obika equalised midway through the second half to cancel out Benteke’s opener.
‘Benteke scored a wonderful goal and considering he has only been back in training for just over a week, he looked really good. His goal was wonderful technique, even for a pre-season game.
‘You see his hold-up play, his movement, the goal — you won’t see too many better than that. It was top-level technique.’
Captain Jordan Henderson joined in the praise, saying: ‘He has trained well and he looks sharp. I think the quality we have added will make a big difference.’
Meanwhile, West Ham go into their Premier League opener against Arsenal on the back foot after suffering a 2-1 defeat against Germany’s Werder Bremen in their final pre-season match.
Following their 2-2 draw against Romania’s Astra Giurgiu in Europa League qualifying, the Hammers led for just one minute of the match as Diafra Sakho’s opener was cancelled out immediately by Anthony Ujah.
It was Ujah again 11 minutes later who provided what would be the winner for the 10th-placed side in last year’s Bundesliga. – Daily Mail