Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers heaped praise on £32.5million summer signing Christian Benteke after he opened his account for the club with the only goal of the game against new promoted AFC Bournemouth on Monday night.
The Belgian striker broke the deadlock in controversial fashion after he prodded home Jordan Henderson’s cross at the back post in the 16th minute, however, the goal should have been ruled out Philippe Coutinho was standing in an offside position and distracted Cherries goalkeeper Artur Boruc.
With the linesman failing to raise his flag, the goal stood and it proved to be the winner and the Reds head into their huge clash against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium next Monday with an 100% record from their first two games.
Speaking to the media after the game at Anfield, Rodgers singled out Benteke for special praise after his match winning contribution:
“I thought he was a real handful tonight – you saw all the facets of his game,” the Reds boss said [via the club’s official website].
“His hold-up play is outstanding, he’s got a wonderful touch for a big guy and you saw that this evening.”
“He can help the ball on to areas, he can take the ball in, control and switch the game, his touch is good and you see him linking and combining.”
“That will really help and once the players get used to seeing and working with that, it’ll offer us more opportunities to score goals,” Rodgers added.
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