Carroll provides stark reminder of Benteke & Liverpool's failings

The home support smugly chanted "you’re just a s*** Andy Carroll" at Christian Benteke after watching the Belgian direct an attempt towards the corner flag. Moments later, he was flagged offside. And within minutes, West Ham’s No.9 headed his side 2-0 to the good.

Their fans repeated the chorus and for Liverpool, it didn’t feel like a new year on Saturday afternoon, but a a depressing case of deja vu.

Carroll was bought by the Reds for £35 million in January 2011 and it was soon concluded that he wasn’t the right fit as the club’s star forward. Brendan Rodgers shipped him out on loan in 2012 and then permanently a year later. It always looked a curious move when he then opted to purchase Benteke - who is cut from a similar cloth - for just £2.5m less from Aston Villa last summer.

The Northern Irishman was steadfast in both decisions: that Carroll did not suit the club’s carpet football, and that Benteke was exactly the kind of forward who’d elevate Liverpool.

At Upton Park, while the West Ham forward proved dominant with his head, his counterpart managed to win just 15.4 per cent of his aerial duels. And that is supposedly one of Benteke’s primary strengths.

The 25-year-old is more explosive than Carroll, and is a better goalscorer. But just as their preferences are similiar, so too is their unsuitability to Liverpool.

The movement, intensity and work ethic that the Geordie couldn't offer also mirrors Benteke's shortcomings.

While the Belgium international is more willing to alter his style and attempt to master what is required of him, that Liverpool's two most expensive signings in the club's history seem to represent a repeated mistake is worrying.

Benteke was awful against West Ham, but he wasn't alone in delivering a non-performance. It should also be pointed out that he is the club's current top scorer with seven goals in all competitions.

Jurgen Klopp has had an in-depth discussion with the forward about sharpening his overall game. But the German, while believing he can extract the best out of Benteke, has also admitted the striker's style is not an automatic fit for his favoured full-throttle football.

With the former Villa man being Liverpool's only available striker at present, Klopp will have to persist with him. But it would shock few if the Reds boss looks at alternatives in the summer given Daniel Sturridge's injury worries as well as the fact Divock Origi is still developing and Danny Ings will be coming off a lengthy lay-off.

If the recruitment of a striker is a priority, Liverpool can ill-afford to part in excess of £30m again for a solution they already know to be a problem.