4/10 Benteke can’t deliver when it matters ... but Ings proves he can

AS Crystal Palace’s players trudged down the tunnel to the sound of supporters discussing how much they miss Wilfried Zaha, several youngsters were invited on to the pitch. Their task was simple enough: provide half-time entertainment by scoring past Palace mascot Pete the Eagle. Watching those young fans follow the fundamentals of football by shooting either side of the goalkeeper, you got the sense they could teach Christian Benteke a thing or two. Benteke is a £27million striker on north of £100,000 a week who needs to go back to basics. Benteke had another of those afternoons on Saturday. Free headers were wasted, including one from five yards that was aimed directly at goalkeeper Alex McCarthy moments before Southampton scored their second. It proved costly and meant Mark Hughes’ side left with their first Premier League win of the season. Palace fans, meanwhile, wonder why manager Roy Hodgson persists with starting a striker who has now scored three goals in his last 36 league games. ‘At the moment, we still consider him to be our best option in that position,’ Hodgson said. ‘It depends what your options are, doesn’t it? Had we had other options, maybe we might have considered those.’ Jordan Ayew, on loan from Swansea, and Norwegian newbie Alexander Sorloth are Hodgson’s back-ups. ‘It might not be the right moment,’ Hodgson said. Of course the moment may come when we think, “Better do something about this”.’ This turned into a tale of two former Liverpool strikers — Benteke and Danny Ings, the loanee who led Southampton to victory. Bookmakers had tipped Southampton as one of the favourites to go down after last season’s close call when they finished 17th. This year, Hughes has high hopes that Ings can become their not-so-secret weapon. Still only 26, the Winchester-born forward seems to thrive being back close to home and finally has a chance to get games under his belt. Ings opened the scoring at the start of the second half, then Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg made it two in stoppage time, while

Charlie Austin saw a poor penalty saved by Wayne Hennessey. ‘We didn’t quite understand the intensity, for whatever reason, of what we need to start games,’ Hughes said. ‘We’ve addressed that. That was evident last weekend and it was evident here. We’ve set a standard which we cannot slip below.’ Selhurst Park was strangely subdued, and not just because of the absence of the talismanic Zaha. The Eagles’ core fans, the ‘Holmesdale Fanatics’, are in a ticketing row with the club. As a result, there was no banging of drums, no banners and no singing from their ‘ultras’ area. It made a noticeable difference in the mood. Whether that translated on to the pitch, and contributed to Palace’s pitiful performance, only the players know. Hodgson did not buy it and continued: ‘It doesn’t matter whether you feel hard done by. You get the result you get. It’s important we don’t start thinking in those terms. People are building us up. I don’t want to be built up. I still think we’re one of those teams in the league who will have to be looking over our shoulder.’ Hughes’ Southampton stormed the Palace and got their reward, but this felt a reality check for the hosts. If Hodgson cannot find a way to get his striker scoring, or even win without Zaha, then they best expect a relegation scrap.