---
title: "Hodgson claims that Benteke and Wickham’s struggles are a “team issue” – and he’s right"
canonical: "https://readcrystalpalace.com/2019/08/30/hodgson-claims-that-benteke-and-wickhams-struggles-are-a-team-issue-and-hes-right/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Alex Murray"
section: "Articles"
published: "2019-08-30T19:15:16Z"
modified: "2019-08-30T19:15:16Z"
---

# Hodgson claims that Benteke and Wickham’s struggles are a “team issue” – and he’s right

Roy Hodgson has revealed ahead of Palace’s clash with Aston Villa that Christian Benteke and Conor Wickham’s scoring problems are a team issue.

Both forwards failed to net in the Carabao Cup clash with Colchester United, with the Eagles exiting the competition on penalties.

![Bryn Lennon/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readcrystalpalace.com/readcrystalpalace/sites/17/2019/08/1170561044.jpg)

Benteke and Wickham both had chances, but were unable to open their account for this season.

Speaking ahead of the clash with Dean Smith’s Aston Villa, Hodgson said, via [Football London](https://www.football.london/crystal-palace-fc/fixtures-results/every-word-hodgson-palace-villa-16839703):

> These are never easy games, because the opponents are always a lot better than they are given credit for, and they work very hard, it is an important occasion for them and there is a scalp on offer.
>
> But I think a lot of players in that game will look and say they didn’t perform as well as they can, and as a result, we didn’t do as well as a team.
>
> But to be fair they were playing with a centre-back making his debut at right-back \[Sam Woods\] and a central midfield player playing at left-back \[Jairo Riedewald\], so we were very unbalanced, but I had no option I’m afraid other than to do that.

Both of the forwards will be hoping for a change of fortunes this weekend against Aston Villa, with Benteke hoping to score against his old side.

* * *

### Read Crystal Palace’s verdict

The strikers both struggled against Colchester, but it has to be said it was a team effort on the night that lost Palace the game.

Would we be even discussing it if Andros Townsend scores his penalty in the shootout?

![Harriet Lander/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readcrystalpalace.com/readcrystalpalace/sites/17/2019/08/1165222920.jpg)

Confidence is huge for strikers, and Benteke and Wickham are obviously both going through a drought.

It only takes one goal to start a run, as shown by Norwich’s Teemu Pukki, and Palace and Hodgson will be hoping that Benteke and Wickham can get off the mark, and really get going for the Eagles.